GET OUT OF THE SHACKLES! - WHY HOPEFULLY ONESIMUS?

"Ave Christus, morituri te salutamus!"

"Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." (Galatians 4:7/NASB)

"For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." (Romans 6:14/NASB)

I wil begin posting/re-posting this once a month so anyone reading will understand my blog title and my purposes for creating this blog. So why hopefully Onesimus?  Why such an odd name for a blogspot?  Other then the fact that I am a somewhat odd person there are actually some very good reasons for the name.  It is a title that will (hopefully) stick in your mind and the name actually comes from another blog that I have posted on one of my other blog sites (these no longer exist).  The idea came to me when I began writing that post and I decided to use it for this blog.  Please let me explain more fully;

First; Onesimus has a meaning and it is simply this-"useful".  I am hoping that what is written here will prove to be useful to whoever reads this blog.  Hence the title "hopefully Onesimus=hopefully useful"...at present I am the only one reading this blog (I hope that changes)

Second Point; Onesimus is/was a name.  I don't think anyone names their children Onesimus today (I could be very wrong).  It is Greek, which explains a lot of things as far as names go.  You know those ancient Greeks, they always had to have some greater purpose or meaning in all they said or did.  In this case it was naming someone that ended up being a slave.

Third; A slave named Onesimus did actually exist.  In Paul's letter to Philemon he specifically discusses an escaped slave by the name of-Onesimus-...Onesimus was the slave of Philemon.  Paul is urging Philemon to accept Onesimus back as a brother in Christ.  He is also sending Onesimus back to Philemon.  It is an interesting situation with a great deal of moral and ethical implications, but those will be discussed in other posts.  Lets just say that I can definitely identify with Onesimus (as I think most of us can) after all we are all slaves to something or someone...it's simply a matter of who or what.

"Simul iustus et peccator"*
*Martin Luther

image source;
Get Out of the Shackles - wallpaper