2 Timothy 1:12

I.. suffer these things] this imprisonment, etc. Whom I have believed] i.e. trusted. That which I have committed unto him] himself and all his hopes.

13, 14. As God will keep safe that which is committed to Him, so Timothy is by the help of the Holy Ghost to keep the good thing committed unto thee, and that good thing is the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of (from) me. There is nothing so near the heart of the aged Apostle, who knew that he was himself about to depart from the world, as that the faith which he had himself received and preached should be regarded and treasured as a sacred deposit, left in charge of the Church for the salvation of mankind. The First Epistle ends with an earnest appeal to keep the deposit, and the Second Epistle begins with the same charge. For it is one of the chief duties of bishops and rulers of the Church to recall their clergy, straying into error, to the primitive 'pattern' (RV) of doctrine which is set before us in the sound words of the gospel.

15-18. Urging Timothy to be faithful to what he had taught him, St. Paul points to two cases, in the first of which his converts had shown unfaithfulness, and in the second courage. The Asiatic Christians, that is, some—in his bitter disappointment St. Paul says all—of those who lived in proconsular Asia, represented by Phygelus (this seems to have been the spelling of the name) and Hermogenes, of whom we know nothing more, had repudiated St. Paul's authority. On the other hand, Onesiphorus had bravely ministered to him in his imprisonment in Rome, and before that at Ephesus. In memory of his kindness St. Paul prays that God may bless his family and utters an aspiration that mercy may be shown to him at the last day. From the form of the expression, and the fact that both here and in 2 Timothy 4:19 only the household of Onesiphorus is mentioned, it has been inferred with considerable probability that Onesiphorus was dead. On this supposition many Protestant scholars find in the utterance of St. Paul an instance of prayer for a deceased person, but others regard it only as a pious hope or wish.