20a

Yes, brother: Paul was again asking Philemon to welcome Onesimus. See verse 17.

some benefit: Paul was not asking Philemon to help him in some general way. He wanted Philemon to do a specific thing for him. He wanted him to forgive Onesimus and receive him back. So the meaning is clearer in the Contemporary English Version: “do this for me” (referring to the favor Paul asked for in verse 17).

in the Lord: The main idea of this phrase seems to be that Paul wanted Philemon to think about Paul’s request as a fellow believer in Christ would. And he wanted Philemon to think of Onesimus as a fellow Christian, not only as a slave. Paul believed that as Philemon thought like this, he would do what Paul was asking him to do.

20b

Refresh my heart: “Cheer me up,” “make me happy,” “set my heart at rest,” “relieve my worry.” Paul was saying, in other words here, what he already said in verse 20a. He used the same phrase here that he used in verse 7.

in Christ: This is the same kind of phrase as “in the Lord” (20a). Another way to say it is: “as a fellow Christian.”

Verse 20b means the same as verse 20a. Paul was still saying that he wanted Philemon to do what he had asked him to do. Here are two ways to translate it:

Make me happy as a Christian brother by doing this favor for me.

-or-

Cause me to be happy as your Christian brother: do this favor for me.

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