Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary

Remaining Loyal 

2 Timothy 1:15 This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; 17 but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. 18 The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day--and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus. (NKJV)

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The Apostle Paul is writing his second letter to Timothy. Paul had been under house arrest in Rome from AD 60-62, when he wrote the Prison Epistles of Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians, with Timothy as his amanuensis.

He was a free man from AD 62-64, when he wrote two of the three Pastoral Epistles of 1 Timothy and Titus. It is believed that Luke was Paul’s amanuensis for the Pastoral Epistles.

The reasons are three-fold. Luke ended his writing of the Book of Acts with Paul’s release from house arrest, Paul mentions that Luke is the only one with him during the writing of 2 Timothy (2 Timothy 4:11), and Timothy had been dispatched to Ephesus.

Paul was again arrested, probably AD late 64-early 65, after Rome burned on AD July 18, 64, an event for which Nero blamed Christians, for political reasons.  Paul was held at Mamertime Prison in Rome, basically a holding tank for prisoners awaiting execution.

The Pastoral Epistle 2 Timothy was likely written from this prison in A.D. late 65-early 66 since Paul urges Timothy to arrive prior to the winter with Paul’s writing materials (2 Timothy 4:21).

At the time of this writing, Timothy is working with the house churches of Ephesus, and is still contending with false teaching in the church. The church is being changed, by the false teachers.

In the previous passage, Paul instructed Timothy, and the church, on remaining faithful to the Gospel, specifically Paul’s teachings on such. These are some final instructions to the church at Ephesus.

Paul, later in this letter, instructs Timothy to leave the church and return to him. Paul needs Timothy by his side, and this passage gives us some insights as to why he so needs Timothy with him at this time.

Paul writes “This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me” (v. 15a), This would include the seven churches of Asia Minor listed in Revelation 1-3: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, among others.

This desertion was significant, and two-fold. There was a personal desertion, but more importantly there was a desertion of his teachings.

The personal desertion was because of Paul’s imprisonment. Not only were the Asian churches embarrassed for his imprisonment, but they also were concerned that they too would be persecuted if they continued to support Paul.

They feared imprisonment. Paul, in the previous passage encouraged Timothy not to fear imprisonment, and it appears that he indeed was imprisoned for a short time when he returned to Paul (Hebrews 13:23).

Aul continues by writing “among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes that he has been deserted by all the churches in Asia” (v. 15b). So, in addition to the desertion of the churches, Paul specifically mentions the desertions of Phygelus and Hermogenes.

This specific mention would lead us to conclude that these two had been loyal to Paul previously and that their desertion had been particularly painful, and costly. This is the only mention of these two in the Bible, so we do not have additional details on the nature of their relationship with Paul.

So Paul obviously is feeling alone and frustrated at this time. He believes that Timothy would be more of a help to his ministry by his side than with the churches that had turned against his teachings. I believe that this turn of events also spurred Paul to turn away from the Gentiles, and to his own people, the Hebrews, to whom he wrote his last writing, the Book of Hebrews.

Next, Paul writes “The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain” (v. 16). The prayer of mercy for Onesiphorus’ family and the use of past tense leads us to believe that Onesiphorus had died.

Prison life had its own set of personal challenges.  Provision was often self- supplied, as the prison itself only offered sparse provisions.

Paul’s loyal friend, Onesiphorus, had provided generously for Paul in the past.

Onesiphorus “refreshed” Paul, meaning that he provided both spiritual and physical provision for Paul. He also “was not ashamed” of Paul’s chains.

Paul continues “but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. 18 The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day--and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus” (vv. 17-18). Onesiphorus showed his loyalty to Paul by searching hard for Paul, and for being a faithful servant to Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. If indeed Onesiphorus is now dead, Timothy’s presence with Paul would be needed more now than ever before.

Some false teachers claim that verse 18a supports prayer to pray souls of the dead into Heaven. Obviously, that is not the case here, and would also not be consistent with the teaching of the Bible as a whole.

This passage is about loyalty to the Gospel and those who minister the Gospel. It tells of those who are disloyal during the hard times.

Ministers of the Gospel often must go against the culture, or even churches, when they bow to the culture and violate the teachings of the Bible. The disloyal often would prefer to side with the culture, instead of God.

They will turn their backs on the Gospel itself, in order to remain popular in the culture. They are the Phygelus’ and the Hermogenes’ of today’s world.

Then there are the Onesiphorus’ and the Timothys, those who remain loyal to ministers and the Gospel. This loyalty also extends to meeting the personal needs of ministers, just as it did for Paul.

This is the mark of a true Christian. This is the difference between a Christian in name only and one who is sold out to Christ.

The eyes of the Lord search the world for those who will remain faithful to Him. As He does, we need to make sure that we are an Onesiphorus or a Timothy.

We need to make sure that we remain loyal to His ministers and to His Gospel.