Footnotes

1. Philemon 1:23 sn Epaphras is probably a shortened form of the name Epaphroditus. This is probably the same individual whom Paul spoke of as “my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier” in Phil 2:25 (see also Phil 4:18). He is also mentioned in Col 1:7 and 4:12, where he is a founder of the church in Colossae (BDAG 360 s.v. ᾿Επαφρᾶς).
2. Philemon 1:24 sn Aristarchus accompanied Paul on his journey as a prisoner to Rome in Acts 27:2. He is also mentioned as a fellow prisoner in Col 4:10.
3. Philemon 1:24 sn Demas is most likely the same individual mentioned in Col 4:14 and 2 Tim 4:10. Apparently, he later on abandoned the faith because of his love of the world.
4. Philemon 1:25 tn Grk “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with your spirit.” The elided verb, normally an optative, has been rendered as “be.”
5. Philemon 1:25 tc Most witnesses, including several excellent ones (א C D¹ Ψ 0278 1241 1505 1739^c M lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amēn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, several good witnesses (P^87vid A D* 048^vid 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa) lack the ἀμήν, rendering the omission the preferred reading.