You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.

May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. (2 Timothy 1:15-18)

Paul has become a lightning rod, a focal point for criticism and persecution, and the government treats him like a criminal. Many people have deserted him. We do not know how many of these abandoned him because they were afraid to be associated with him, as when Peter denied that he even knew Jesus, and how many of these also repudiated the doctrines that he taught. We do know that there were defections from the gospel and that there were teachers of strange doctrines. So, if we can make the distinction, some people abandoned not only the man, but also the religion he preached.

Scripture condemns an over-adulation of men. It is obviously unacceptable to make a mere man into some kind of god. And the respect that we have toward ministers of the gospel must not be the kind that divides Christians into sects by identifying ourselves with persons. Paul rebukes the Corinthians for forming cliques based on loyalty to Peter, Paul, Apollos, and so on. The Corinthians might consider themselves current on religious scholarship and personalities, and each group might congratulate themselves for their discernment and good taste, but the apostle regards it an unspiritual way of thinking.

However, although our direct and ultimate loyalty is offered to God alone, there is a legitimate loyalty to the human representatives of the gospel. God himself often arranges human relationships for us that he teaches us to nurture, and in which we are to apply the biblical principles of love and faithfulness. Thus it is not wrong, but even obligatory, to exhibit a relative loyalty to men for Christ’s sake. As Jesus says, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:40-42).

Onesiphorus will certainly receive his reward “on that day.” While other people, including those who claimed to be Christians, were afraid and embarrassed to be associated with a prisoner, he “searched hard” for Paul until he found him. He did it for Paul the man as his friend, but he did it for Christ’s sake, as a Christian and for a Christian. As Jesus says in another place, “I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:36-40). You cannot judge a man based on his circumstances. Suppose you know a man’s good doctrine and character firsthand, but now he has fallen into disfavor, what will you do?

Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus include principles that apply to all Christians, but they also address situations that especially pertain to ministers of the gospel. Although we would like to think the best of people, the fact is that many people are weak and fickle. A minister cannot put too much confidence in his supporters, especially if they have never been tested by pressure. Such pressure can take the form of criticism, slander, and persecution against the minister. A few men might prove themselves faithful in the face of negative public opinion and even serious danger. Such men are reliable and are to be entrusted with the task of transmitting and continuing the Christian faith. Of course, it is not that we would withhold gospel teaching from unreliable men, but we must deliberately discover those who are reliable and establish them in the ministry, so that the Christian religion may advance in this generation, and may continue to future generations.

God entrusts the work of the gospel to men, but that does not mean he needs their service. Commenting on a previous passage, William Barclay writes, “The idea of God’s dependence on men is never far from New Testament thought. When God wants something done, he has to find a man to do it….he has to find some instrument to do his work.” This is a demonic doctrine. Rather than something that is “never far” from New Testament thought, this opinion is in direct contradiction to explicit New Testament teaching about God. As Paul says, “He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).

It is an attack on God’s nature to allege that he depends on his creatures for anything. Even on a human level, a father may tell his son to perform certain chores around the house, like taking out the trash, but that does not mean he is dependent on his son to do them. He can do them himself, and he will probably do a much better job. In fact, his son may sometimes make a mess of things, and the father may have to come clean up or fix the problem. You ask, then why does he tell his son to do the chores? If you are a father and you do not know the answer to this, you should probably take out the trash yourself until you figure it out. And think about what we discussed earlier about the “drama” of redemption.