II Timothy 1:1-18
Who was Onesiphorus? I’m surprised that I did not search this question last year. An online article said that “St. Onesiphorus was bishop at Colophon (Asia Minor), and later at Corinth. Both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches hold that he died a martyr in the city of Parium (not far from Ephesus) on the shores of the Hellespont.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onesiphorus) From Scripture his only mention is in today’s verse 16 and later in II Tim 4:19. In both of those verses Paul mentions “the household of Onesiphorus”, not Onesiphorus himself. In addition, Paul speaks of Onesiphorus only in the past tense; these two items lead some scholars to believe that Onesiphorus was dead at the time of Paul’s writing. One other item that struck me was the beginning of his name, with the first five letters identical to the slave, Onesimus, of whom we learned in Philemon. Is there some meaning to “Onesi”?
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you… [and] By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. (vv. 6, 14) My Study Bible commented further on these verses, that any gifting that we have received from the Holy Spirit is not a one-time thing, but an ongoing activity in our lives that needs to be nourished, developed, and used. So when you’ve seen me write or speak of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that exist in each and every one of us, know for sure that those gifts are not yet fully developed. God is working on bringing those gifts to fruition in you!
There are also a lot of comments from last year in the links below.
See also: October 7 / II Timothy 1:1-7; October 8 / II Timothy 1:8-12; October 9 / II Timothy 1:13-18