The Epistle to Philemon qppears to be a letter from Paul to an important man in Colossae on behalf of his errant slave, Onesimus, whom Paul is sending back to his master. We compared the letter with an extant letter from Pliny the Younger, who wrote on behalf of a freedman who had misbehaved. This indicates that Paul may have been acting as an "amicus domini" to save Onesimus from punishment. Later, there was a bishop of Colossae named Onesimus, and, according to Ignatius, a bishop of Ephesus with the same name. If, as tradition suggests, these were all the same person, then Paul's letter may well have been effective. It has even been suggested that Onesimus was an early collector of Paul's letters, and kept the letter of Philemon in the collection as a personal reference. Did Paul ask Philemon top give Onesimus his freedom? This is not explicitly stated, but some early church documents show that the church had no difficulty with master and slave both being Christians, the latter being a slave "according to the flesh" while a brother "in the spirit". Paul asks that Onesimus be a a brother in the spirit and in the flesh, implying a requested change of legal status for Onesimus.