Achrestos describes someone formerly characterized as being of no use to another person.

The attested use describes a person’s former lack of usefulness in relation to another, contrasted in the verse with present usefulness.

1. Formerly of no use to someone · dominant

   In Philemon 1:11, the accusative singular masculine form describes the person spoken of as formerly not useful to the addressee; the APB renders the contrast, "who was once useless to you but is now useful both to you and to me."

   Philemon 1:11

In the Anselm Project Bible: In Philemon 1:11, the APB presents the clause with "useless" in contrast to later usefulness. This reflects the verse’s contrast rather than a precise lexical mapping.