Philemon 1:7

‘For I had much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you (S), brother.’

And Paul emphasises that he is able gladly to bear witness to the fact of Philemon’s love. He declares that he himself also had joy and comfort in his love, because he saw how the hearts of the saints (God’s people) were refreshed through Philemon’s love and ministries. In other words he had great joy in Philemon’s generous spirit, and in what it achieved, a generous spirit that he is now about to call on.