But without your consent would I do nothing; that your benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.
All Commentaries on Philemon 1:14 Go To Philemon 1
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
Hence, but I did not want to do anything... As if he said: if I should keep him, it would please you who do not wish to resist but it would be a kind of force. But I did not want that, indeed I wanted it to come about voluntarily. Exodus 25.2: ‘Of every man who offers of his own accord, you shall take them,’ that is, the first fruits. 2 Corinthians 9:7: ‘Let each one give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or from compulsion, for “God loves a cheerful giver.”’
