Philemon 1:18

But if he hath wronged thee at all, or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account; I Paul write it with mine own hand, I will repay it: that 50say not unto thee that thou owest to me even thine own self besides.

Many believe that Onesimus robbed his master before he ran off, "but of this there is no evidence. Why then impute crimes to men where there is no proof?."[33] "Had the apostle been sure that Onesimus had robbed his master, he certainly would not have spoken in this hypothetical way."[34]

I Paul write it ... This legal-type bond in which Paul assumed any debt Onesimus might have incurred was for the purpose of clearing away any obstacle that might yet have stood in the way of his appeal. "It is likely that the whole of the letter was written by Paul himself, which was not his usual custom."[35]

This magnanimous action upon Paul's part in taking unto himself the whole debt of Onesimus is similar to the fact of Christ's assumption on the part of any sinner saved by grace the whole of the sinner's debt, which, as in the case of Onesimus, is utterly beyond the power of the sinner to discharge himself. No more wonderful lines were ever written of one brother's action upon behalf of another. It is of this supremely important truth that Paul here speaks in somewhat of a veiled manner, reminding Philemon of the debt which once he the master owed, and how it was all discharged in Christ.

[33] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 396.

[34] Adam Clarke, op. cit., p. 666.

[35] Ibid.