A Letter of Mercy and a Life on the Line. 

It is 61 A.D., and the Apostle Paul, under house arrest in Rome, writes a personal letter asking Philemon, a leader in the church at Colossae, to forgive a runaway slave. Paul entrusts that slave with the letter and sends him home, where his very life hangs in the balance.

Everything known about Onesimus and Philemon comes from Paul’s brief epistle. While theologians often focus on Paul’s appeal for forgiveness, far less attention is given to Onesimus himself, a man who under Roman law could have faced severe punishment or even death for fleeing his master.

Onesimus imagines the life behind the letter, tracing Onesimus’s journey from a childhood marked by loss and slavery to his years serving on Philemon’s estate, his desperate flight to Rome, and his attempt to build a new life among the city’s outcasts and thieves. 

Encounters with Paul, first in Ephesus and later in Rome, gradually draw Onesimus toward faith in Christ. Yet the freedom he discovers brings an unexpected challenge: confronting his past and accepting the consequences of his choices. 

Blending careful historical research with engaging storytelling, Onesimus offers a richly imagined portrait of a man briefly mentioned in Scripture. Through themes of betrayal, redemption, forgiveness, and freedom, Onesimus presents a deeply imagined and personal perspective on a familiar biblical account.