Critics sometimes argue that Paul's action in Philemon 12 ("I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart") contradicts Deuteronomy 23:15 ("Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee"). However, this objection overlooks that the context of Deuteronomy 23:15 pertains to a slave who had escaped from a foreign nation to Israel. Furthermore, Paul's letter to Philemon reflects a different social and religious context under the New Covenant, where Paul appeals to Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother in Christ.