Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Timothy 1:17

"but, when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me" — 2 Timothy 1:17 (ASV)

But when he was in Rome. What the employment of Onesiphorus was is not known. It may have been that he was a merchant and had occasion to visit Rome on business. In any case, he took pains to seek out the apostle, and his attention was the more valuable because it cost him trouble to find him. It is not everyone, even among professing Christians, who, in a great and splendid city, would go to the trouble to seek out a Christian brother, or even a minister, who was a prisoner, and endeavor to relieve his sorrows. This man, so kind to the great apostle, will be among those to whom the Savior will say, at the final judgment, I was in prison, and ye came unto me, (Matthew 25:36).