In the beginning, we stood up for him (7)
I believe the answer is:
stewart
'him' is the definition.
'in the beginning we stood up' is the wordplay.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'the beginning' becomes 'start' (start is a kind of beginning).
'stood up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in a down clue, letters go up).
'we' written backwards gives 'ew'.
'start' going around 'ew' is 'STEWART'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for stewart that I've seen before include "chap..." , "Racing driver" , "Northern clan" , "Man" , "Scottish house" .)