The Usefulness of an Onesimus: The Sexual Use of Slaves and Paul’s Letter to Philemon

Paul’s Rhetorical Efforts to Establish Good Will in First Thessalonians

“… 49. This is acknowledged by many scholars, including Osiek (2003: 262-64), Williams (2010: 31-36), Marchal (2011: 751-53) and Glancy (2015: 216). Glancy (2015) convincingly argues that available evidence suggests that most Greek-speaking Jews would accept sexual use of domestic slaves as well.…”

“… 50. Chariton, Callirhoe 2.6.2 (LCL 481: 110): κύριος γὰρ εἶ καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχεις αὐτῆς, ὥστε καὶ ἑκοῦσα καὶ ἄκουσα ποιήσει τὸ σοὶ δοκοῦν (cf. Marchal 2011: 757-58). …”

“… 53. Pace Marchal (2011: 769), who argues that Paul recommends the opposite: that Christian men avoid πορνεία by acquiring a morally neutral σκεῦος for their sexual needs, such as a domestic slave. Such an exhortation would be in line with Greco-Roman values and leave the need for captatio benevolentiae unexplained. …”