Bible Strands

Onesimus

A man, in the time of the New Testament · named in 4 verses

the name means profitable Strong's Lexicon

Onesimus was a runaway slave who became a Christian through Paul's ministry and was the subject of Paul's letter to Philemon.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Useful, a slave who, after robbing his master Philemon (q.v.) at Colosse, fled to Rome, where he was converted by the apostle Paul, who sent him back to his master with the epistle which bears his name. In it he beseeches Philemon to receive his slave as a "faithful and beloved brother." Paul offers to pay to Philemon anything his slave had taken, and to bear the wrong he had done him. He was accompanied on his return by Tychicus, the bearer of the Epistle to the Colossians (Philemon 1:16, 18).

Easton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1897 — public domain, quoted in full and unedited.

First named at Colossians 4:9.

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Verses that name Onesimus