What Does Philemon 1:3 Mean?
Favor to you, and wholeness, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.THE KEY
Favor and wholeness arrive from God the Father and Jesus as gifts, not as conditions you must first create.
THE MEANING
Favor and wholeness meet you as gifts whose source is God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The verse addresses you as someone who can receive favor freely shown and peace that reaches toward restored relations and well-being.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the belief that you must make yourself worthy or manufacture peace before God can meet you: both favor and peace come from their source.
THE ROOT
χάρις
charis
GROWS FROM
χαρι-
chari- stem
Favor or gracious giving.
The related verb χαρίζομαι (charizomai, to grant as a favor) and noun χάρισμα (charisma, a favor-gift) keep favor connected to what is given. Here, favor is directed toward you and comes from God; it is received, not produced by the recipient.
ALSO GROWS
charizomai: Grant as a favor; freely give.
χαρίζομαι
Its verb form shows favor moving from a giver toward someone who receives it.
charisma: A gift of favor.
χάρισμα
It makes explicit the connection between favor and what is given.
εἰρήνη
eirēnē
GROWS FROM
εἰρην-
eirēn- stem
Peace, concord, well-being.
The related Greek family includes both being at peace and making peace. English “peace” can suggest quiet alone, while εἰρήνη also carries concord and well-being; paired here with favor, it points toward wholeness that reaches into relationships.
ALSO GROWS
eirēneuō: Be at peace; live in peace.
εἰρηνεύω
This verb shows peace as a lived condition, not merely a quiet moment.
eirēnopoieō: Make peace.
εἰρηνοποιέω
This branch connects peace with restoring relations, a depth beyond inner calm.
THE PATTERN
God’s favor and wholeness are gifts that reach people through relationship and restore peace.
The LORD lift up his face upon you, and give you wholeness.Therefore, aligned through trust, we have wholeness with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.The favor of the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, and the love of God, and the sharing in common of the Set-Apart Breath, be with you all. Amen.THE THREAD
And from his fullness we have all taken, and favor for favor.John uses the same word, χάρις (charis, favor), and describes it as received from fullness. That makes the direction in Philemon clear: favor moves from its source toward you.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us