Melampaui Status: Rekonstruksi Relasi Sosial sebagai Fondasi Spiritualitas Persahabatan dalam Narasi Onesimus dan Filemon
Abstract
The Epistle to Philemon is frequently reduced to a document about slavery, whereas its rhetorical core is the reconstruction of social relations that generates a spirituality of friendship. This article examines the narrative of Onesimus, a slave bearing fugitivus status who encountered Paul within a context of imprisonment, as a process of theologization transforming relational categories from ownership into kinship. Employing narrative-rhetorical analysis integrated with socio-historical reading of Roman slavery, this research traces Paul's lexical shift from "doulos" to "adelphos agapetos" as a marker of ontological reconstruction. Findings reveal four dimensions: imprisonment functions as a liminal space for theologization; koinonia and philia rhetoric displace the patronus-cliens hierarchy; reconciliation is built through Paul's vicarious substitution; and the spirituality of friendship becomes the foundation of Christian communal ethics. The implication is that the contemporary church is summoned to practice cross-status friendship as a concrete expression of ecclesiology.
Abstrak
Surat Filemon kerap direduksi menjadi dokumen tentang perbudakan, padahal inti retorisnya adalah rekonstruksi relasi sosial yang melahirkan spiritualitas persaudaraan. Artikel ini mengkaji narasi Onesimus, seorang budak yang berstatus fugitivus dan berjumpa dengan Paulus dalam konteks pemenjaraan, sebagai proses teologisasi yang mengubah kategori relasional dari kepemilikan menjadi kekerabatan. Dengan metode analisis naratif-retoris yang dipadukan dengan pembacaan sosio-historis atas institusi perbudakan Romawi, penelitian ini menelusuri pergeseran leksikal Paulus dari doulos ke adelphos agapetos sebagai penanda rekonstruksi ontologis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan empat temuan: pemenjaraan berfungsi sebagai ruang liminal teologisasi; retorika koinonia dan philia menggantikan hierarki patronus-cliens; rekonsiliasi dibangun melalui substitusi vikarius Paulus; dan spiritualitas persahabatan menjadi fondasi etika komunitas Kristen. Implikasinya, gereja kontemporer dipanggil untuk mempraktikkan persahabatan lintas status sebagai ekspresi konkret dari eklesiologi.
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