This section has three scriptures
2 Timothy 1:12-14
12 For the which cause I also suffer these things:
nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day.
13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou
hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in
Christ Jesus.
14 That good thing which was committed unto thee
keep by the Holy Ghost [Spirit] which dwelleth in us.
TRUST HUMAN AND DIVINE
2 Timothy 1:12–14
The verses paraphrased:
And that is the reason why I am going through these
things I am going through. But I am not ashamed, for
I know him in whom my belief is fixed, and I am
quite certain that he is able to keep safe what I
have entrusted to him until the last day comes. Hold
fast the pattern of health-giving words you have
received from me, never slackening in that faith and
love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard the fine trust
that has been given to you through the Holy Spirit
who dwells in you.
THIS passage uses a very vivid Greek word in a
significant double way which is full of meaning.
Paul talks of that which he has entrusted to God,
and he urges Timothy to safeguard the trust God has
placed in him. In both cases, the word is
parathe¯ke¯, which means a deposit committed to
someone’s trust. A man might deposit something with
a friend to be kept for his children or his loved
ones; or he might deposit his valuables in a temple
for safe-keeping, for the temples were the banks of
the ancient world. In each case, the thing deposited
was a parathe¯ke¯. In the ancient world, there was
no more sacred duty than the safe-guarding of such a
deposit and the returning of it when in due time it
was claimed.
Paul says that he has made his deposit with God. He
means that he has entrusted both his work and his
life to him. It might seem that he had been cut off
in mid-career; that he should end as a criminal in a
Roman prison might seem the undoing of all his work.
But he had sowed his seed and preached his gospel,
and he left the result in the hands of God. Paul had
entrusted his life to God; and he was sure that in
life and in death he was safe. Why was he so sure?
Because he knew in whom he had believed. We must
always remember that Paul does not say that he knew
what he had believed. His certainty did not come
from the intellectual knowledge of a creed or a
theology; it came from a personal knowledge of God.
He knew God personally and intimately; he knew what
he was like in love and in power; and to Paul it was
inconceivable that he should fail him. If we have
worked honestly and done the best that we can, we
can leave the result to God, however meager that
work may seem to us. With him in this or any other
world, life is safe, for nothing can separate us
from his love in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Barclay
commentary [on the concept of "doing the
best you can" see sermon, "Transcendent"]
Now to the other commentaries beginning with the
general and moving to the specific.
To the same purport is that (2 Timothy 1:14), That
good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the
Holy Ghost [Spirit], which dwelleth in us. That good thing
was the form of sound words, the Christian doctrine,
which was committed to Timothy in his baptism and
education as he was a Christian, and in his
ordination as he was a minister. Observe,
(1.) The Christian doctrine is a trust committed to
us. It is committed to Christians in general, but to
ministers in particular. It is a good thing, of
unspeakable value in itself, and which will be of
unspeakable advantage to us; it is a good thing
indeed, it is an inestimable [in-es-
tuh-muh-buhl] jewel, for it discovers to
us the unsearchable riches of Christ, Ephesians 3:8.
It is committed to us to be preserved pure and
entire, and to be transmitted to those who shall
come after us, and we must keep it, and not
contribute any thing to the corrupting of its
purity, the weakening of its power, or the
diminishing of its perfection: Keep it by the Holy
Ghost [Spirit] that dwelleth in us. Observe, Even those who
are ever so well taught cannot keep what they have
learned, any more than they could at first learn it,
without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. We must
not think to keep it by our own strength, but keep
it by the Holy Ghost [Spirit].
Quoted verse
Ephesians 3:8
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints,
is this grace given, that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
(2.) The Holy Ghost [Spirit] dwells in all good
ministers and Christians [firstfruits];
they are [God's]
temples, and God enables them to keep the gospel
pure and uncorrupt; and yet they must use their best
endeavours to keep this good thing, for the
assistance and indwelling of the Holy Ghost [Spirit]
do not exclude men's endeavours, but they very well
consist together. ~Matthew
Henry Main
Note: Regarding,
"they must use their best endeavors": For
firstfruits this is the process of yielding to
Christ working in and through you as opposed to just
purely your strength or will. You will see this
confirmed in the next commentary.
Now from the Matthew Henry Concise
Paul exhorts Timothy to hold fast the Holy
Scriptures, the substance of solid gospel truth in
them. It is not enough to assent to the sound words,
but we must love them. The Christian doctrine is a
trust committed to us; it is of unspeakable value in
itself, and will be of unspeakable advantage to us.
It is committed to us, to be preserved pure and
entire, yet we must not think to keep it by our own
strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit
dwelling in us; and it will not be gained by those
who trust in their own hearts, and lean to their own
understandings. ~Matthew
Henry Concise
Now to the specific commentaries.
Verse 14 is naturally broken into three parts.
Commentaries differ in which of the three they
discuss.
1] That good thing which was committed unto thee.
2] Keep by the Holy Spirit
3] Which dwelleth in us.
1] That good thing which was
committed unto thee.
The good thing - This
wholesome doctrine. ~John
Wesley Explanatory Notes
That good thing - That
fair, honorable trust, good and beautiful in itself,
and honorable to him who receives it.
~Vincent's Word Studies
That good thing which was
committed unto thee (tēn kalēn parathēkēn).
- Simply, “the good deposit.” ~Robertson's
Word Pictures
That good thing which was
committed unto thee; - see 1 Timothy 6:20.
The reference here in the phrase, “that good thing
committed to thee,” is to the sound Christian
doctrine with which he had been entrusted, and which
he was required to transmit to others.
~Barnes Notes
Quoted verse
1 Timothy 6:20 [see
Lesson]
O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy
trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and
oppositions of science falsely so called:
That good thing which was
committed unto thee. - The sound faith just
alluded to. Don't let it be perverted. Keep it by
the help of the Holy Spirit. This charge is given in
view of the conduct of some from the province of
Asia, where Timothy was then dwelling, referred to
in 2 Timothy 1:15.
~People's New Testament
Quoted verse
2 Timothy 1:15 [see
Lesson]
This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia
be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and
Hermogenes.
That good thing - The
everlasting Gospel, keep by the Holy [Spirit];
for without a continual spiritual energy man can do
nothing. This indwelling Spirit will make them
effectual to thy own salvation, and enable thee to
preach them to the salvation of the souls of others.
~Adam Clarke
That good thing which was
committed to thee - By which he means either
his ministerial work and office, which is a good
work, the dispensation of which was committed to
him, and which it became him so to observe, as that
the ministry might not be blamed; or else the good
and excellent gifts of the Spirit, which qualified
him for the discharge of that work, and which were
not to be neglected, but to be stirred up,
exercised, and improved, lest they should be lost,
or took away; or rather the Gospel, which was
committed to his trust, to preach: and this may be
called a good thing, from the author of it, who is
good, whence it is named the Gospel of God, and the
Gospel of Christ; and from the matter of it, it
consists of good things come by Christ, the High
priest, and which it publishes, such as peace,
pardon, righteousness, and eternal salvation by him;
and from the end and use of it, it being both for
the glory of God, the magnifying the riches of his
grace, and the exaltation of Christ; and also is the
power of God in regeneration and sanctification unto
salvation to everyone that believes. And it being
said to be "committed to" Timothy, denotes the
excellency of it; that it is a treasure, as indeed
it is a rich one, it contains the riches of grace,
even the unsearchable riches of Christ, is more
valuable than thousands of gold and silver: and that
it is a trust, and requires faithfulness in
ministers, who are the stewards of it; and that it
is to be accounted for. Wherefore great care should
be had in dispensing and keeping it: ~John Gill
That good thing which was
committed unto thee. - Taken in connexion
with the foregoing reference to the healthy or
health-giving words, the phrase includes what has
been technically called the ‘depositum fidei;’ but
it has, as in 2 Timothy 1:12, a wider range not the
doctrine or the truth only, but all of which Timothy
had been made, if one may so speak, the trustee, all
spiritual gifts that he had himself received, and
the Church committed to his charge. ~Popular Commentary
Quoted verse
2 Timothy 1:12 [see
Lesson]
For the which cause I also suffer these things:
nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day.
That good thing which was
committed unto thee.
The sacred trust
I. The charge,—the truth, the Word of God, which—
1. Unfolds the true God.
2. Proclaims life and salvation through the
Redeemer.
3. Brings life and immortality to light.
II. The duty. We should have—
1. A correct knowledge of the Word.
2. A devoted attachment to it.
3. A desire to preserve it in its integrity.
4. A willingness to communicate it freely to others
[via your character and
invoking] .
5. An abiding sense of its responsibility.
III. The assistance.
1. Our necessities are connected with the [power
of the Holy Spirit].
2. Rejoice in [God's]
readiness to help. ~Biblical Illustrator
2] Keep by the Holy Spirit.
Guard (phulaxon) [Keep].
As in 1 Timothy 6:20 [quoted
above]. God has also made an investment
in Timothy (cf. 2 Timothy 1:12 -
quoted above).
Timothy must not let that fail.
~Robertson's Word Pictures
Keep by the Holy Spirit
- By the aid of the Holy Spirit. One of the best
methods of preserving the knowledge and the love of
truth is to cherish the influences of the Holy
Spirit. ~Barnes Notes
Keep by the Holy Spirit.
- It should be kept pure and incorrupt, free from
all the adulterations and mixtures of men; and safe
and sound, that it be not snatched away from the
churches by false teachers. And whereas the apostle
knew, that neither Timothy, nor any other, were
sufficient of themselves, for these things, he
directs to the keeping of it by the Holy Ghost [Spirit]; who
makes men overseers of churches, bestows gifts upon
them, to fit them for their work, and leads them
into all the truths of the Gospel; and under his
influence and teachings, and by the assistance of
his grace, are they enabled to discharge their
trust, abide by the Gospel, and persevere in the
ministration of it to the end.
~John Gill
Through the Holy Ghost
[Spirit]
which dwelleth in us. -
The plural of the pronoun is generic, not personal
of Paul and Timothy only. The apostle assumes that
the Holy Spirit is actually dwelling in all
believers, enabling them to do that which by nature
they cannot do. ~Popular
Commentary
3] Which dwelleth in us.
Which dwelleth in us (tou
enoikountos en hēmin). - It is only through the
Holy Spirit that Timothy or any of us can guard
God’s deposit with us.
~Robertson's Word Pictures
Which dwelleth in us -
in all believers, who are the temples of the Holy
Ghost [Spirit]; and in all the churches, which are built up
by him, an habitation for God; and in all the
ministers of the word, to direct, instruct, support,
and uphold them; and who dwells with them, and
continues in them, and that for ever, John 14:16. ~John Gill
Quoted verse
John 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
another Comforter, that [it]
may abide with you for ever;
Which dwelleth in us. - in all believers, not merely
in you and me. The indwelling Spirit enables us to
keep from the robbers of the soul the deposit of His
word committed to us by God.
~Jamieson, Fausset, Brown |