The Examples of Defection and Devotion

Jim Butler2 Timothy 1:15–18

2 Timothy 1:15–18 sets before Timothy two contrasting examples: Phygelus and Hermogenes, who defected from the Apostle Paul and thereby revealed their apostasy from the gospel itself, and Onesiphorus, who sought Paul out in his Roman imprisonment, refreshed him repeatedly, and was unashamed of his chains. The sermon argues that the faithful Christian life requires both the avoidance of those who abandon the gospel and the active cultivation of godly examples drawn from Scripture and the local congregation. Practical application centers on the ordinary, unheroic ministry of encouragement — refreshing suffering brothers — as the pattern every believer is called to imitate.