ONESIPHORUS . The name of a Christian mentioned twice in St. Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy ( 2 Timothy 1:15-18; 2 Timothy 4:19 ). From the first reference we learn that he showed special kindness to the Apostle during his imprisonment at Rome, when others, from whom he might have expected sympathy and help, held aloof from him; from the second we infer that he and his family lived at Ephesus. From St. Paul’s expression ‘the household of Onesiphorus,’ it has been inferred that Onesiphorus himself was dead, and this text has been urged in proof of the lawfulness of prayers for the dead. There is much probability in this view, but the breathing of such a pious wish has nothing in common with the later abuses which gathered round this practice.
Morley Stevenson.