You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
15 This [touto] thou knowest, [eido] that [hoti] all [pas] they which are in [en] Asia
[Asia] be turned away from [apostrepho] me; [me] of whom [hos] are [esti] Phygellus [Phugellos] and [kai] Hermogenes. [Hermogenes] KJV-Interlinear
15 You are
aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are
Phygelus and Hermogenes. NASB
To be rejected by the world is bad, but not so bad as being rejected on a personal level by friends and family.
The world, when it rejects, is an ambiguous and impersonal thing. You are just one of billions of people and simply get lost in the shuffle of life.
But when you become rejected or ostracized on a more personal level, by friends, fellow workers, associates, family and so forth, then life becomes more personal and more difficult to live with.
And that is where Paul finds himself here.
Paul was arrested, charged, imprisoned and as such became tainted in the eyes of people who had come to know him pretty well. But not so well that they would stick with him through thick or thin.
He mentioned those in Asia, and he mentions two people by name.
So the ambiguous people, those with names not mentioned, were more distant. They just did not want to get involved. No one wants to come under a cloud by association. So folks will generally drift away from bad news, regardless of whether it is legitimate or not.
Of the two names mentioned, Phygelus (fugitive) and Hermogenes (born of Hermes a Greek god (messenger) of eloquence), we know nothing except for their names.
And through their names, it seems that on the one hand, one simply ran from the association with Paul and the other used eloquent words or rhetoric to excuse himself and disassociate himself in self righteousness, from Paul.
Like bad office gossip, there will always be those who lack integrity and honor, and of whom will abandon so called friends and associates, at the drop of a pin.
They have neither character of value, nor friendship with substance. They are weak and vain and will take up with gossip as though it is truth, when in fact it is not.
Oddly enough doctrine from the Bible is truth, and should be taken very seriously. But far too many people will hear things on the street, hear things in the news, hear things in off-hand conversations, will hear lyrics in a mere song, and they will accept them as truth without question, when in fact they lack all substance
And just as we have no further information concerning these two men, so their lives faded from history without substance or merit.
People who profess doctrine, but lack in their integrity of pursuit of truth, will fade out of sight quickly. A spiritual life constructed with emotion (eloquence) and lacking substance (fugitive), amounts to an empty spiritual life with no value.
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End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
