Philemon Chapter 1 verse 11 Holy Bible
who once was unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me:
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Who in the past was of no profit to you, but now is of profit to you and to me:
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once unserviceable to thee, but now serviceable to thee and to me:
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Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
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who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.
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who once was to thee unprofitable, and now is profitable to me and to thee,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 11. - Who was aforetime unprofitable ... to me. The play upon words seems unmistakable, and is peculiarly Pauline. Onesimus means "useful," or "profitable;" ἄχρηστος, "unprofitable," and εὔχρηστος is emphatic, "very profitable." "Useful he is named, but in time past he was (I confess it) not useful, but useless; in future, however, he will be of great use to us both." Compare with this the corresponding passage of Pliny's 'Letter to Sabinianus,' given in the Introduction. "Unprofitable" is a figure of speech, a euphemism, for "useless and even injurious." St. Paul makes the best of Onesimus's fault that it will in justice allow. But an old commentator says bluntly that Onesimus was "damnosus fuga et furto." How could he have been, in his unconverted state, otherwise than "unprofitable" to his master? "Olim paganus," says a Lapide, "jam Christianus; olim fur, jam fidelis servus; olim profugus, jam redux."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(11) In time past . . . unprofitable, but now profitable.--The name Onesimus means "useful," or "profitable," though derived from a different root from the words here used. It is hardly possible not to see in this passage a play on words, though (curiously enough) this is not noticed by the old Greek commentators. St. Paul seems to say, "He belied his name in days past; he will more than deserve it now."To thee and to me.--St. Paul says "to thee," for he was sending back Onesimus. He adds "to me," in affectionate notice of his kindly ministrations already rendered to his spiritual father.
