| Geneva Study Bible At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. People's New Testament 4:16 At my first answer. This seems to point to a first hearing of the case, which had then been adjourned, perhaps to wait for witnesses. Then, as now, cases were often postponed, or there were second trials. No man stood with me. None of his brethren dared to appear in his support. It was the last year of the reign of Nero, and times were terrible. Wesley's Notes 4:16 All - My friends and companions. Forsook me - And do we expect to find such as will not forsake us? My first defence - Before the savage emperor Nero. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 16. At my first answer-that is, "defense" in court, at my first public examination. Timothy knew nothing of this, it is plain, till Paul now informs him. But during his former imprisonment at Rome, Timothy was with him (Php 1:1, 7). This must have been, therefore, a second imprisonment. He must have been set free before the persecution in A.D. 64, when the Christians were accused of causing the conflagration in Rome; for, had he been a prisoner then, he certainly would not have been spared. The tradition [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 2.251] that he was finally beheaded, accords with his not having been put to death in the persecution, A.D. 64, when burning to death was the mode by which the Christians were executed, but subsequently to it. His "first" trial in his second imprisonment seems to have been on the charge of complicity in the conflagration; his absence from Rome may have been the ground of his acquittal on that charge; his final condemnation was probably on the charge of introducing a new and unlawful religion into Rome. stood with me-Greek, "came forward with me" [Alford] as a friend and advocate. may it not be laid to their charge-The position of "their," in the Greek, is emphatic. "May it not be laid to THEIR charge," for they were intimidated; their drawing back from me was not from bad disposition so much as from fear; it is sure to be laid to the charge of those who intimidated them. Still Paul, like Stephen, would doubtless have offered the same prayer for his persecutors themselves (Ac 7:60). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 4:14-18 There is as much danger from false brethren, as from open enemies. It is dangerous having to do with those who would be enemies to such a man as Paul. The Christians at Rome were forward to meet him, Ac 28, but when there seemed to be a danger of suffering with him, then all forsook him. God might justly be angry with them, but he prays God to forgive them. The apostle was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, that is, of Nero, or some of his judges. If the Lord stands by us, he will strengthen us in difficulties and dangers, and his presence will more than supply every one's absence. | 
