Philemon — Greek text and reception
Choose a chapter to explore the source readings and their notes. Original references, source labels, and review records are retained.
Source guide and review record
SAINTS TRANSLATION
Philemon
V2 • Working translation draft • Sep 13, 2026
Complete working translation draft, V1, Sep 8, 2026. All 25 source verses independently translated from the directly accessed Greek running text, then reviewed against that text for clauses, pronouns, negatives, and sequence. Selected reception passages were consulted in the English presentations identified below. No Hebrew parallel or LXX counterpart is supplied for this New Testament letter. No NA28/UBS, manuscript, or critical-apparatus collation is claimed. Independent specialist review remains outstanding.
1 chapter • 25 translation rows
Reader’s guide
The three columns identify the verse, give its literal-smooth English translation from the declared Greek, and distinguish textual observations from attributed reception.
One chapter; SBLGNT numbering, 1:1–25; one source verse per row, 25 source verses and 25 rows. Sentences may continue across consecutive rows. Editorial pericope headings are navigation aids. The five Hebrew/Greek comparison classifications do not apply to this single-source translation.
Source basis and review scope
Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010); official Faithlife/SBLGNT electronic text, repository version 1.2 (Jul 10, 2023), accessed Sep 8, 2026.
Sources, Method & Decisions
Source register
[G] Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010); official Faithlife/SBLGNT electronic text, repository version 1.2 (Jul 10, 2023), accessed Sep 8, 2026. Philemon 1:1–25, complete Greek running main text, read directly verse by verse. Publisher-maintained electronic Greek transcription; main text only. No manuscript images or apparatus collated. Source Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[LIC] SBLGNT licensing and version declaration. Version history and CC BY 4.0 declaration; license also directly read at SBLGNT license. Publisher repository metadata and license. Source Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[CHR1] John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on Philemon; NPNF, First Series, volume 13 (1889), New Advent presentation. Comments on Philemon 1:1–3, including the conjecture about Apphia and the house Church. English translation of a patristic homily, consulted directly. Source Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[CHR2] John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on Philemon; NPNF, First Series, volume 13 (1889), New Advent presentation. Comments on Philemon 1:4–16; all verse-specific discussions are used, with 1:15–16 identified as a combined passage. English translation of a patristic homily, consulted directly. Source Accessed Sep 8, 2026.
[CHR3] Chrysostom, Homily 3 on Philemon. Same edition and presentation; direct exposition of 1:17–25. The opening quotation covers 1:17–19, with separate discussion of each clause. Biblical wording in this English presentation does not establish the Father’s precise Greek text.
[BUN] Bunyan, Saved by Grace, Question II. John Bunyan, Saved by Grace; Acacia John Bunyan transcription, Question II, [Fourth], numbered statements 1–2 preceding “Of the Father’s grace.” Explicit references to Philemon 3 and 25 within a doctrinal argument about saving grace; this is not Pilgrim’s Progress.
Contextual term record
κύριος → Lord. Divine title at 1:3, 5, 16, 20, 25; Christ remains Christ where separately present.
ἐκκλησία → Church. The Christian community meeting in a house, 1:2.
ἅγιοι → saints. The holy members of the believing community, 1:5, 7; no later canonization status is implied.
κοινωνία / κοινωνός → fellowship / partner. The shared-participation word family at 1:6, 17; avoid reducing it to verbal evangelism.
σπλάγχνα → heart / hearts. An inward-parts idiom for deep affection and inward refreshment at 1:7, 12, 20.
δοῦλος → slave. Explicit social condition at 1:16; retain as a slave, not merely servant.
πρεσβύτης → old man. The written main-text reading at 1:9, without an emendation to ambassador.
Material decisions
Greek base text copyright 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 license). This independent English translation and its editorial notes adapt that Greek text; they are not the publishers’ English translation and imply no publisher endorsement. The source is supplied without warranties under its license.
Initial version: new English translation from source G; no intentional departure from its main-text reading. Apparatus boundary symbols in the electronic text are editorial markers, not translated words.
Preserved singular and plural addressee changes in notes at 1:2–5, 22, 25; no invented singularity for the wider Church greeting.
Retained the conditional nature of wrongdoing or debt in 1:18 and the uncertainty of perhaps in 1:15. Did not import a runaway-slave narrative or declare manumission within the translation.
Reception includes Chrysostom’s homiletic exposition and Bunyan’s explicit doctrinal citations in the named English presentations. These attributed readings do not establish agreement of all Christian traditions.
Open questions and remaining review
The present review reconsidered 1:5–6 and retained their open syntax and semantic range, especially fellowship and eis Christon. Independent specialist assessment remains outstanding.
The social and legal implications of 1:16 and the more of 1:21 remain interpretive questions; no independent legal or historical reconstruction was undertaken.
Version record
V1: First working translation of the declared scope under the updated Saints Translation reference.
Final review — Sep 11, 2026
All 25 selected Greek verses and all existing notes have been checked against the final reference. The reading wording is retained. Every verse now has a textual observation and a precisely located reception note, with 27 verified reception references across Chrysostom and Bunyan. Sources were checked on the review date. No manuscript or critical-apparatus collation, exhaustive reception search, or independent specialist certification is claimed.
Collation against Nestle–Aland 28
On 13 September 2026 every verse of this book where the SBLGNT and NA28 differ was identified from the edition marks of Tyndale House's Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY 4.0) and the SBLGNT apparatus, and the rendering above was read at each one. 1 verses differ; 1 of them would read differently in English if NA28 were translated instead of the SBLGNT, and each of those carries a note above beginning "NA28". The collation is against TAGNT's edition marks and the SBLGNT apparatus; a printed NA28 apparatus has not been consulted, and NA28's square brackets are inferred, not recorded.
At no place was the rendering found to follow a reading other than the SBLGNT it declares.