independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended
Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)
The salutation 1:1–3
1
Παῦλος δέσμιος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ Τιμόθεος ὁ ἀδελφὸςindependent — the senders — δέσμιος, not ἀπόστολος: no title of authority in this letter
Φιλήμονι τῷ ἀγαπητῷ καὶ συνεργῷ ἡμῶνphrase modifier — dative of address — the addressee, greeted as beloved co-worker
2
καὶ Ἀπφίᾳ τῇ ἀδελφῇphrase modifier — the second addressee — likely Philemon's wife
καὶ Ἀρχίππῳ τῷ συστρατιώτῃ ἡμῶνphrase modifier — the third addressee — cf. Col 4:17
καὶ τῇ κατ' οἶκόν σου ἐκκλησίᾳ·phrase modifier — the house church — the private appeal will have witnesses
3
χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.independent — the greeting
The thanksgiving 1:4–7
4
Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου πάντοτεindependent — the main verb — the customary thanksgiving, here aimed at the appeal to come
μνείαν σου ποιούμενος ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν μου,participial — manner — mention in prayer
5
ἀκούων σου τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ τὴν πίστινparticipial — causal — the report that fuels the prayer (construed with the prayer-report of v. 4)
ἣν ἔχεις πρὸς τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους,relative — one relative serving both nouns — read chiastically: faith toward the Lord, love for the saints
6
ὅπως ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεώς σου ἐνεργὴς γένηταιpurpose — the prayer's aim (on ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν, v. 4) — the letter's notoriously obscure verse: κοινωνία taken as the generous sharing your faith produces
ἐν ἐπιγνώσει παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν εἰς Χριστόν.phrase modifier — the sphere of the becoming — every ambiguity of v. 6 compounds here (ἐν ἡμῖν or ἐν ὑμῖν; εἰς Χριστόν as goal)
7
χαρὰν γὰρ πολλὴν ἔσχον καὶ παράκλησινcause — γάρ — the ground of the thanksgiving
ἐπὶ τῇ ἀγάπῃ σου,phrase modifier — the occasion — the love of v. 5, now grounds for joy
ὅτι τὰ σπλάγχνα τῶν ἁγίων ἀναπέπαυται διὰ σοῦ, ἀδελφέ.content — wherein the love gave joy — σπλάγχνα and ἀναπαύω both return at vv. 12 and 20, where Paul asks the same refreshment for himself
The appeal for Onesimus 1:8–22
vv. 8–14 — the appeal: authority waived, the name withheld, the son sent back
8
Διό, πολλὴν ἐν Χριστῷ παρρησίαν ἔχωνparticipial — concessive — leans on παρακαλῶ below: the authority he owns and declines to use
ἐπιτάσσειν σοι τὸ ἀνῆκον,content — epexegetic infinitive on παρρησίαν — the command that will never be given
9
διὰ τὴν ἀγάπην μᾶλλον παρακαλῶ,independent — the main verb — appeal chosen over command, for the sake of the love just praised (v. 7)
τοιοῦτος ὢν ὡς Παῦλος πρεσβύτης, νυνὶ δὲ καὶ δέσμιος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ·participial — the self-description — old man and prisoner: pathos in place of rank (πρεσβύτης sometimes read as 'ambassador')
10
παρακαλῶ σε περὶ τοῦ ἐμοῦ τέκνου,independent — the appeal resumed — the subject introduced as 'my child', name still withheld
ὃν ἐγέννησα ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖςrelative — begotten in prison — converted under Paul's captivity
Ὀνήσιμον,phrase modifier — the name at last — held to the sentence's final word, after child and chains have pled for him
11
τόν ποτέ σοι ἄχρηστονphrase modifier — the pun begins — Ὀνήσιμος means 'Useful', and he had been ἄ-χρηστος
νυνὶ δὲ σοὶ καὶ ἐμοὶ εὔχρηστον,phrase modifier — the pun completed — εὔχρηστος: the man now lives up to his name (with a possible overtone of χρηστός/Χριστός)
12
ὃν ἀνέπεμψά σοι,relative — the deed already done — ἀνέπεμψα, epistolary aorist: Onesimus carries the letter
αὐτόν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τὰ ἐμὰ σπλάγχνα·phrase modifier — apposition — τὰ ἐμὰ σπλάγχνα: to receive Onesimus is to receive Paul's own heart (echoing v. 7)
13
ὃν ἐγὼ ἐβουλόμην πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν κατέχειν,relative — the confessed wish — imperfect ἐβουλόμην: a desire entertained and relinquished
ἵνα ὑπὲρ σοῦ μοι διακονῇ ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου,purpose — the wish's aim — ὑπὲρ σοῦ: Onesimus would have been Philemon's proxy at the prison
14
χωρὶς δὲ τῆς σῆς γνώμης οὐδὲν ἠθέλησα ποιῆσαι,independent — coordinate counter to ἐβουλόμην — wanting yielded to willing: nothing without Philemon's γνώμη
ἵνα μὴ ὡς κατὰ ἀνάγκην τὸ ἀγαθόν σου ᾖpurpose — the reason for restraint — goodness extorted is not goodness
ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἑκούσιον.phrase modifier — the elliptical counterpart — the whole letter's strategy in two words
vv. 15–16 — the providential surmise: parted for an hour, restored forever
15
τάχα γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο ἐχωρίσθη πρὸς ὥραν,independent — the providential surmise — τάχα guards the claim; ἐχωρίσθη a divine passive: not 'he ran away' but 'he was parted'
ἵνα αἰώνιον αὐτὸν ἀπέχῃς,purpose — providence's aim — πρὸς ὥραν answered by αἰώνιον; ἀπέχῃς, the receipt-in-full word
16
οὐκέτι ὡς δοῦλον ἀλλὰ ὑπὲρ δοῦλον, ἀδελφὸν ἀγαπητόν,phrase modifier — the reclassification — what Philemon gets back is not the thing he lost
μάλιστα ἐμοί, πόσῳ δὲ μᾶλλον σοὶphrase modifier — the a fortiori — if brother to Paul, how much more to the man of his own house
καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ ἐν κυρίῳ.phrase modifier — in both spheres — as household member and as fellow Christian
vv. 17–20 — the request at last, and the promissory note
17
Εἰ οὖν με ἔχεις κοινωνόν,conditional — protasis — leans on the request below: κοινωνός picks up the κοινωνία of v. 6
προσλαβοῦ αὐτὸν ὡς ἐμέ.independent — the actual request at last — one imperative, deferred since v. 8: take Onesimus as Paul himself
18
εἰ δέ τι ἠδίκησέν σε ἢ ὀφείλει,conditional — protasis — the theft or debt named only hypothetically: tact to the last
τοῦτο ἐμοὶ ἐλλόγα·independent — ἐλλόγα — a bookkeeping term: transfer the debit to Paul's ledger
19
ἐγὼ Παῦλος ἔγραψα τῇ ἐμῇ χειρί,independent — the autograph — epistolary aorist: a signed promissory note before witnesses (v. 2)
ἐγὼ ἀποτίσω·independent — ἀποτίσω — the legal repayment formula, in two emphatic words
ἵνα μὴ λέγω σοιpurpose — praeteritio — saying the thing by professing not to say it
ὅτι καὶ σεαυτόν μοι προσοφείλεις.content — the unspoken said — Philemon's own conversion is the counter-debt that swallows the ledger
20
ναί, ἀδελφέ, ἐγώ σου ὀναίμην ἐν κυρίῳ·independent — the optative wish — ὀναίμην puns once more on Ὀνήσιμος: 'let me find you useful'
ἀνάπαυσόν μου τὰ σπλάγχνα ἐν Χριστῷ.independent — the imperative — do for Paul's σπλάγχνα (which is Onesimus, v. 12) what you did for the saints' (v. 7)
vv. 21–22 — confidence, and a guest room
21
Πεποιθὼς τῇ ὑπακοῇ σουparticipial — causal — leans on ἔγραψά below: ὑπακοή at last names what παρακαλῶ never demanded
ἔγραψά σοι,independent — epistolary aorist — the letter looks at itself
εἰδὼς ὅτι καὶ ὑπὲρ ἃ λέγω ποιήσεις.participial — the confidence — ὑπὲρ ἃ λέγω: a door left open, perhaps toward manumission
22
ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἑτοίμαζέ μοι ξενίαν,independent — the second imperative — Paul intends to come and see
ἐλπίζω γὰρcause — the ground of the request
ὅτι διὰ τῶν προσευχῶν ὑμῶν χαρισθήσομαι ὑμῖν.content — the hope — χαρισθήσομαι, a divine passive: Paul himself as God's gift of grace, in answer to their prayers
The greetings and the grace 1:23–25
23
Ἀσπάζεταί σε Ἐπαφρᾶς ὁ συναιχμάλωτός μου ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ,independent — the greetings — Epaphras of Colossae first (Col 1:7; 4:12)
24
Μᾶρκος, Ἀρίσταρχος, Δημᾶς, Λουκᾶς, οἱ συνεργοί μου.phrase modifier — the verb carried over — the same circle as Col 4:10–14
25
Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν.independent — the grace — the closing benediction, verb supplied
Analysis. Philemon is a masterpiece of tact, and the layout is built to show where the tact lives: in delay. The letter has remarkably few flush-left verbs, and the ones that matter are all verbs of asking, not commanding — παρακαλῶ stated twice (vv. 9, 10), while the thing Paul could have said, ἐπιτάσσειν, is left hanging as an infinitive under the boldness he declines to use (v. 8). From παρακαλῶ σε περὶ τοῦ ἐμοῦ τέκνου the sentence keeps postponing its object: first the relative 'whom I begot in my chains', and only then the name — Ὀνήσιμον, a single indented word — followed by a column of appositions and relatives (useless/useful, sent back, my very heart, whom I wished to keep) that runs from v. 11 to v. 16 before any imperative appears. The actual request, προσλαβοῦ αὐτὸν ὡς ἐμέ, arrives flush-left only at v. 17, under a forward-leaning conditional, ten verses after the appeal began; the promissory note of vv. 18–19 (ἐλλόγα, ἀποτίσω — bookkeeping terms) is set as clipped main clauses with the praeteritio ἵνα μὴ λέγω σοι indented beneath it, saying the thing it professes not to say. Interpretive choices the layout takes a side on: ἀκούων (v. 5) is construed with the prayer-report of v. 4 rather than directly with Εὐχαριστῶ, and the ὅπως of the notoriously obscure v. 6 is attached to ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν — it is the prayer's aim, with ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεώς σου read as the generous sharing that flows from Philemon's faith; the pairing of v. 5 is taken as chiastic (faith toward the Lord, love for all the saints); ἐχωρίσθη (v. 15) is read as a divine passive — God parted Onesimus from Philemon; and the wordplays are named in the tags: ἄχρηστον/εὔχρηστον punning on the name Ὀνήσιμος ('Useful'), and the optative ὀναίμην (v. 20) — 'may I have profit of you' — punning on it again. Each dependent line steps in exactly one column from the line it hangs from and sits beneath its anchor word; the letter never chains deep (five levels at most) — its art is not the long sentence but the withheld one.