Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, written probably while he is imprisoned in Ephesos in 56—57 (or, as some scholars believe, while imprisoned in Rome in the early 60s), promotes a theology of self-emptying love as an antidote to partisanship and a response to adversity, and reveals much about the sharing of missionary work between Paul and the congregations he serves.

In the generally joyful Phillippians, a probable composite of three letters, Paul, in the first letter, thanks the Philippians, with whom he has good relations, for a gift they send him; in the second, he delivers a hopeful report of his legal situation and encourages them to Christian living; in a third, he attacks a Judaizing gnostic group attempting to mislead the Philippians.

Paul makes an eloquent appeal on behalf of a runaway slave, Onesimus, whom he has converted to Christianity, in his Epistle to Philemon, possibly written during his Ephesian imprisonment or during his Roman imprisonment five years later.

He displays in the letter the depth of his Christian humaneness by asking Philemon—a wealthy Christian of Colossae whom he has also converted—for Onesimus's quiet return to his former station (or, in another interpretation, for his complete freedom to become an evangelist).