Love Over the Letter, Philemon Vs.8-9a

"Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love."

     Paul, in petitioning Philemon to accept back his former slave Onesimus after he had run away, chose to appeal to Philemon on the basis of the love of Christ, though he knew perfectly well that the letter of the word of God required forgiveness and acceptance of the formerly rebelious servant. Though Paul could have said, "this is what you are required to do as a believer and follower of Christ," he instead chose, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to highlight the mercy, grace, and love of God.
     This demonstrates the vast difference between the old covenant, where man was expected to follow the letter of the law with precision to avoid and atone for sin, and the new covenant, where God gave His Son as a ransome to pay for our sin, and now writes His law upon our hearts.
     Before Christ came and died on the cross and before the Holy Spirit indwelt the people of God, people were bound by the law of Moses. Though the law was given to show what man's hearts should be like, what God expects, it was powerless to change a man's heart, and thus though one would follow and obey the law, he was still helplessly bound by sin. Sacrifices would be continually made, and yet the sin was not purged, but remained within the heart of man.
     However, after Christ came and died on the cross for our sins, after iniquity was purged and death defeated, man was no longer held to the law, to follow it and obey it, but rather to simply believe on Him who the Father sent and receive by faith the work of God. Rather than following a written code of morality, God now writes His law upon the hearts of His people by the power of the Holy Spirit, and people by faith respond and by love obey. That means that no longer are we hopelessly trapped by sin, doomed to commit the same offenses over and over again, but we are made new by the transforming of our minds and by the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
     Paul, a former Pharisee and a Jew who blamelessly kept the law, could have appealed to the law. He could have asked Philemon to obey the command to forgive others as God had forgiven him. But he did not. Instead he brings to rememberance the new covenant and the reality of the Spirit in our hearts who works at changing us and teaching us to love as Christ loves-- sacrificially, unconditionally.