2 Timothy 1:15

2 Timothy 1:15. This thou knowest. With a singular naturalness, the apostle turns from his earnest exhortation to what we may call the ‘news' of his letter. Yet it is not altogether news. He is telling Timothy what in part he knew before, and his motive in so doing is not far to seek.

All they which are in Asia be turned away from me. The words ‘they which are in Asia' (not ‘from') seem to refer, not to a recent fact in St. Paul's imprisonment at Rome, his being shunned by Phygellus and Hermogenes, but to something that had happened when he was last at Ephesus. His appeal to Timothy's knowledge of the facts, and the specific mention of Rome in the case of Onesiphorus, confirm this view, but it is fair to add that many commentators of repute take the other view.

Phygellus and Hermogenes. Of these we know nothing certain. Suetonius (Demit. c. 10) mentions a certain Hermogenes of Tarsus who was put to death by Domitian. If we could assume identity, the fact that it was a fellow-townsman and old acquaintance that shunned him would add a special sting to the pain thus inflicted on the sensitive heart of the apostle.