And there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
Ver. 4. Sopater of Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus, &c.] These all were the very "glory of Jesus Christ," 2 Corinthians 8:23, and yet counted the offscouring of all things: περιψημα , 1Co 4:13 these precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, were esteemed as earthen pitchers,Lamentations 4:2. These worthies of whom the world was not worthy, Hebrews 11:38, were cast out of the world as it were by an ostracism. These jewels of Jesus Christ, these "excellent ones of the earth," these earthly angels, were shamefully slighted, and trampled upon by the fat bulls of Bashan with the feet of insolence and cruelty. Howbeit as stars (though we see them sometimes in a puddle, though they reflect there, yet) have they their situation in heaven; so God's saints, though in a low condition, yet they are fixed in the region of happiness. Content they are to pass to heaven (as Christ their head did) as concealed men, and would not change estates with the earth's mightier monarchs.