“At my
first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged
against them.” 2 Timothy 4:16 NKJV
Have
you ever felt alone as a believer in Christ?
While most of us might say certainly, because believers are outnumbered
by unbelievers and most of them are hostile to hearing the gospel, it might
surprise you to know that Paul in this verse is talking about being abandoned
by fellow believers! If I were to ask
you “who killed Paul”, I am sure most would say Caesar Nero and you would
technically be correct. Yet it can
easily be asked, and justifiably so, how big of a part did Paul’s fellow
believers play in his death because of their attitude towards him and their
refusal to even acknowledge his presence in Rome?
Just
how bad was it? Did you notice that in
this passage Paul says that “all forsook me”? The Greek word for “forsook” is egkataleipō, which is translated to mean, ”abandon, desert, leave in straits, leave helpless, totally abandoned, utterly forsaken, to leave behind among, to leave surviving”. Frankly I find this truly hard to
believe. Not only were the believers in Rome unwilling to come to Paul’s
defense or to stand beside him with a show of support, if we look even closer
at what Paul tells us about this situation we see that the believers there
probably denied even knowing he was there.
“The
Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me,
and was not ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out
very zealously and found me.” 2 Timothy
1:17 NKJV
The
word translated here as zealous is also translated as “very diligently”. Have you ever wondered why Onesiphorus had to
work so hard to find Paul? It was
certainly no secret to the believers in Rome that Paul was there, and I find it hard to believe that they had no idea where he was being held. That said, the logical conclusion is the no
one was even willing to tell Onesiphorus where Paul was! Picture this man travelling all that way to
support Paul and then finding out that every believer he asked knew nothing. Paul who?
Sorry. Never heard of him.
Is
this beginning to sound too harsh of a criticism of the believers in Rome? Clement of Rome was one of the early church
fathers, and is believed to be one of Paul’s converts and the Clement mentioned
by Paul in his letter to the Philippians.
One of the things he is most known for is his letter to the church at
Corinth, which, outside of the New Testament, is one of the earliest Christian
documents in existence. While the letter
was written to address problems pertaining to authority within the church, in
it he lists seven examples of how jealousy and envy among believers resulted in
trouble, as well as death and destruction to others. One of the examples he wrote of was Paul.
At
first I found this incredibly hard to believe, yet as I began to consider the
possibility of Paul suffering at the hands of fellow believers the thought occurred
to me that there was no reason he would not suffer the same as many believers in
the church today. Jealousy and envy are
not new problems within the body, and there are certainly those who preach
today who have suffered at the hands of others.
The closer we get to the end of this age; it would seem that those who
choose to stand on the principals of the gospel as taught by the Word of God
are subject to much the same treatment as Paul endured.
“Some
indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill:
The former preach
Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my
chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed
for the defense of the gospel.”
Philippians 1:15-17 NKJV
Envy
and jealousy are self-explanatory but what about the “strife” that Paul
mentions here? It is the Greek word for “wrangling”
which would seem to indicate that there were those who were jealous of Paul’s
ministry and decided to attack his positions on doctrine by preaching something
different than the gospel Paul taught.
Obviously that is certainly nothing new within the Church today as there
are many disagreements among believers on doctrinal issues, with the results
often approaching the level of what Paul reveals to us that he had to
endure. Yet the response of Paul to this
type of treatment from fellow believers is not only what most of us would
expect from him, it is what we should strive for as well should we ever suffer
the same as he did.
What
then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is
preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. For I know that this
will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in
nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also
Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is
Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians
1:18-21 NKJV
Paul
taught and defended the Gospel of Christ to the very end. It did not matter to him what others thought
of him, nor how he was treated as a result of their jealousy or envy, but only
that the Gospel was preached to an unbelieving world. Many believers today are being ridiculed and
attacked because of their beliefs or positions on what the Word of God
teaches. The temptation is always to
either strike back or withdraw to a safer position but as Paul shows us by his
example, our response should always be to rejoice in our affliction and
continue to share what God has laid on our hearts and preach the Gospel just as
Paul did. Paul knew his time was short,
and wanted only for Christ to be glorified by his suffering, and the Gospel be
preached with boldness. Doesn’t that
seem to be where we are today? By most
accounts, our time on this earth is just about over. We should all follow Paul’s example and share
the Gospel boldly with anyone who will listen.
Keep
watching.
