“The faith which is mentioned here (v5) refers to the Lord Jesus; the love, to the saints… The meaning is, that he had strong faith in the Lord Jesus, and ardent love toward all who were Christians.”
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Barnes refers us to Colossians 1:4 for a similar construction. It reads: “Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints…”
All translation that I have checked translate pisitis in v5 as “faith,” with the exception of the GOD’S WORD to the Nations Bible Society translation. It has “faithfulness.” as seen here: “I hear about your faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God’s people.” (Phm 1:5, GW) Notice that they also agree with Barnes that pisitis is to the Lord Jesus and “love toward all who were Christians.”
Some scholars agree that pisitis should be understood to mean faithfulness but they believe that “love and faith” are “toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints” as the majority of translations, including the KJV and the ESV, have it. Here are a few examples…
In Philemon 5, the noun pistis means “faithfulness” and not “faith” since Paul is describing outward manifestations of Philemon’s conduct toward the Lord Jesus and the body of Christ. Therefore, in Philemon 5, the noun pistis is used of an attribute of Philemon and means “faithfulness,” which is an attribute of divine love. Pistis denotes that Philemon was “faithful” in fulfilling his responsibilities to the Lord and the body of Christ in that he exercised love toward the Lord Jesus as demonstrated by the exercise of divine love toward his fellow believer. Philemon’s faithfulness toward the Lord Jesus was manifested by his faithfulness in serving the body of Christ.
Pastor William E. Wenstrom.
Exegesis and Exposition of Paul’s Epistle to Philemon
“Philemon also encouraged Paul by his love and loyalty.” Life Application Study Bible (LASB)
The meaning of “faith” in this place is fidelity or faithfulness, a quality which is to be manifested first “toward the Lord Jesus” (vertically), and then “toward all the saints” (horizontally).
Dr. James Coffman
Coffman, James Burton.
“Commentary on Philemon 1:5”. “Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible”.
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/philemon-1.html.
Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
“The objects of Philemon’s love and faith were ‘all the saints’ and ‘the Lord Jesus’ (Phm. 1:5) respectively…love for the saints grows out of faith in Christ.”
Dr. Thomas Constable
“This sequence is especially significant because there is no proper human relationship unless there is first a right relationship with God.”
John B. Nielson
John B. Nielson, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. IX (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1965), p. 703.
Quoted by Coffman, James Burton.
(compare Constable above)
-Allen