GRACE & PEACE
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
“You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus” (2 Tim. 1: 15-17).
Paul is urging Timothy not to give way to a very natural temptation. When Paul says that “all who are in Asia” turned away from him, he is talking about all the Christians in Asia. Paul was accused of being a master troublemaker, and it would not do to be standing too close to him. You might damage your testimony in the Christian church if you get too close to an apostle of the Christian church. Among those who had made this rudimentary mistake were Phygelus and Hermogenes. The irony is that by trying to spare their names and reputations from shame, the only thing we will know about them to the end of the world will be their cowardice. On the flip side, we know the courage of Onesiphorus, and his household. He was not ashamed of Paul’s chains — when he was in Rome, he hunted Paul down so that he could be associated with him. He was also faithful in his service to Paul in Ephesus. His character was constant, even though locations changed. Paul earnestly invokes the Lord’s blessing on Onesiphorus when the day finally comes when all motives are weighed.
This was a problem in the first century, and it is a problem now. Christians are more concerned with respectability than with righteousness. They are more concerned with putting up a fine show for man, than with lifting up pure hearts before God. Let a public controversy break out, and many Christians — “all who are in Asia” — will head for the tall grass, and will blame the Christian who is standing in the arena facing the lions for being too provocative.