2 Timothy 1:14

(14) That good thing which was committed unto thee.—“The good thing committed unto thee,” or the deposit, differs from the “deposit” of 2Ti_1:12, inasmuch as the “deposit” of 2Ti_1:12 was something committed by St. Paul to God; while, on the other hand, in 2Ti_1:14 a trust committed by God to Timothy is spoken of. But the Apostle, remembering the solemn meaning of the word in the first instance, uses it with especial emphasis on this second occasion. Yes, he seems to say, God will keep the most precious deposit you or I shall intrust to Him—our soul—safe against that day; do thou, in thy turn, keep safe, unharmed, the deposit He, through me, has intrusted to thee. In what God’s deposit with men like Timothy and St. Paul consisted has been discussed in the Note to 1Ti_6:20. “The treasure of the Catholic faith”—that was to be kept unchanged, unalloyed. The epithet “good,” which is here applied to this most sacred trust, we find joined to “the doctrine” (“the good doctrine,” 1Ti_4:6), and to “the fight” (“the good fight,” 1Ti_6:12).

Keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.—But this glorious deposit of the Catholic faith must be preserved, let Timothy and others holding a like position with Timothy mark well, by no human agencies. He indicates here the only means that must be employed to preserve this sacred charge safe and pure, when he bids us keep the deposit by the Holy Ghost—the Holy Ghost which, St. Paul adds, dwells in us.

It would seem that the Apostle here was warning Timothy, as the representative Christian teacher, that the sacred deposit of the Catholic faith was to be preserved by no weak compliance with the scruples of false teachers or of doubting men, by no timid accommodation, by no yielding a little here and a little there to prejudice or vanity. By no such or any other short-sighted human arts of defence was the deposit of faith to be guarded. But the Holy Ghost will keep His own, and will show His faithful teachers in every age how to hand down the lamp of holy Catholic doctrine still burning brightly, with flame undimmed, to their successors in the race of life.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti_1:14

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.

5. An abiding sense of its responsibility.

III. The assistance.

1. Our necessities are connected with the Holy Spirits ability.

2. Rejoice in His readiness to help. (A. Reed, D. D.)

Good things

Here are those reprehended who never had any care to possess these worthy things. Nothing in man, or out of him, that is of greater worth, and nothing less regarded. We do count that person blessed that hath his house hung with rich arras, his chests full of gold, and his barns stuffed with corn; and yet we never have esteem of these excellent and rare things. Truly, the least degree of faith is more worth than all the gold of Ophir; a remnant of true love than all the gay garments in the world. Hope of heaven will more rejoice the heart of David than his sceptre and kingdom. But men do not think so, neither will they have it so; yet the day of death, like an equal balance, shall declare it to be so. Are they worthy things? Then put them to the best uses, and abuse them not. And, in the last place, seeing these be worthy things, let us all labour to possess them, for of how much more value a thing is, by so much the more we should strive to obtain it. (J. Barlow, D. D.)

Grace once gotten is to be preserved

Because, if grace grow weak, the pattern will not be practised. When all the parts of the natural body be in a consumption, can we walk and work in the duties of our particular callings? And if the new man wax pale, and pine away, the paths of Gods commands will not be run or trodden. For, as all natural actions proceed from the bodys strength, and the purest spirit, so do all spiritual from the vigour of grace and the new man. When men have got some competency of wealth, they lie long in bed, and will not up to work, and so their riches waste. In like manner it falleth out with Gods children; for when they have attained to some competency of gifts, they are highly conceited, grow idle, neglect the means, and so are over taken with spiritual poverty, than the which what greater loss? We must then learn here, not only to get grace, but to keep it. We will mourn if we lose our money, grieve if we be deprived of our corn, natural strength and earthly commodities. And shall the loss of grace never pinch us, pierce us? Shall Jonah be so dejected for his gourd, and we never be moved when grace is withered, ready to perish? Shall the earthworm sigh at the loss of goods, and we never shrink at the shipwreck of heavenly gilts? No greater damage than this, none less regarded, more insensible. Let our plants begin to pine, our hair wax grey or fall, it will make some impression. But grace may decay, the spirit faint, and few be wounded in heart. Yet to such a time shall come of great mourning. Then get grace, keep grace; so shall corruption be expelled, extenuated, and the pattern of sound words observed, practised. (J. Barlow, D. D.)

The Holy Spirit dwells in man

But He is infinite, therefore in all persons. True, yet He is in the faithful in a peculiar and special manner, both by His working and presence. Secondly, He is incomprehensible, notwithstanding, as we may say the sun is in the house, though a part of the beams be but there; so the Spirit is said to be in man, although He be not wholly included in him. We account it a fearful thing to pull down or batter a princes palace, it is death to wash or clip the kings coin, and shall we not tremble to wrong and injure this building, for such cannot escape the damnation of hell. This is for the comfort of the faithful. For what greater honour than this, to have the high God to dwell in our hearts? Should our sovereign but come into a poor mans cottage, he would rejoice, and good reason, for that all his life long. And shall the King of Glory dwell with the sons of men make His chamber of presence in their hearts, and they want hearts to solace themselves in the remembrance of that? And here let man learn a lesson and wonder. Is it the spirit of God in Paul and others, where the spirit of all uncleanness not long before ruled? Admire His humility that would descend so low as to dwell in so mean a habitation. He that dwells in that light that none can attain unto, now dwelleth where was a palpable darkness. Thirdly, where He takes up His lodging there is holiness. This fire purifieth the heart, cleanseth the inward man, though never so full of filthiness in former time (1Co_6:11; Eph_5:18). Thou wilt say, Sir, by what way may I come to this thing? Why, thou must get a new heart, for He will never lodge in the old, for thats naught. (J. Barlow, D. D.)

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit

I. The author of life.

1. Before Be dwells in us He quickens us (Eph_2:1; Joh_3:5-6; Joh_6:63).

2. Believers are temples of the Holy Ghost (1Co_3:16; 1Co_6:19; 2Co_6:16).

3. True of all believers (Rom_8:9).

4. Christs promise respecting it (Joh_14:16-17).

II. The source of unity.

1. His indwelling makes that unity a fact (Eph_4:4; 1Co_6:17; 1Co_12:13-20).

2. That fact to be recognised and cherished (Eph_4:3).

3. One building inhabited by one Spirit (Eph_2:22.)

III. The pledge of glory.

1. The salvation bestowed and the salvation yet to be revealed. Grace and glory (2Ti_1:9; 1Pe_1:5; Psa_84:2).

2. The indwelling Spirit the earnest of our inheritance (2Co_1:22; 2Co_5:5; Eph_1:14).

3. Recognise His presence.

4. Honour and obey Him (Eph_4:30). (E. H. Hopkins.)

Real Christianity

The providence of God requires all Christians and all Churches to show what Christianity really is. Christianity is a larger and better thing than Christendom yet knows. Still the Holy Spirit dwells in the apostolic succession of the whole true Church of Christ, showing it what the things of Christ are, and helping it realise them in Christianity. How, then, are we to understand what the Christianity is, which we are still called to make real on earth?

I. The Christianity which the world needs probably transcends any single definition of it which we shall be likely to give. Philosophers have tried many times to define the simple word life, and at best they have had only clumsy success with their definitions of what every one knows by his own healthy pulse-beatings. The definition is not made easier when we prefix the adjective Christian to the word life. If we labour to define in words so large and divine a reality as Christianity, we shall be sure to narrow it in our verbal enclosures, and we can hardly fail to leave whole realms of Christianity out when we have finished our fences of system and denomination.

II. Christianity is a larger thing than any one particular aspect or exemplification of it which men may be tempted to put in the place of it. Christianity, as a whole, is greater than the parts of it which men have hastily seized upon, and contended for as the faith of the saints. Christianity is that good thing which all the Churches hold in common, and it is greater than all. The Christianity of Christ is that good thing committed unto us, which is large enough to comprehend all the ideals of Christian prophets, and prayers of devout hearts, as well as the works of faith which have been done on earth. It would be easy to illustrate from current life and literature the natural tendency of the human heart to substitute some favourite part of Christianity for the divine whole of it. And the unfortunate contentions and hindrances to the gospel which follow from this mistake are all around us. Thus one class of persons are called to benevolent works by the Divine charity of Christ, but in their zeal for man they may not realise sufficiently that the charity of God is the benevolence of universal law, and the Christ is the Life because He is also the Truth. Others, on the contrary, impressed by the order and grandeur of the truths of revelation, repeatedly fall into merely doctrinal definitions of Christianity; and, even while defending from supposed error the faith once delivered to the saints, they narrow that faith into a theological conception of Christianity which may have indeed much of the truth, but little of the Spirit of Christ.

III. Christianity is that good thing which we have received from Christ. In other words, Christianity is not a spirit merely, or idea, or influence, which we still call by the name of Christ, but which we may receive and even enhance without further reference to the historic Christ. Christianity is more than a spirit of the times, more than a memory of a life for men, more than a distillation in modern literature of the Sermon on the Mount, more than a fragrance of the purest of lives pervading history and grateful still to our refined moral sense. Jesus once said before the chief among the people, I receive not honour from men; and the patronage of culture cannot make for our wants and sins a Christ from the Father. Christianity is the direct continuation of the life and the work of Jesus of Nazareth in the world. Hence, it would be a vain expectation to imagine that the world can long retain the influence of Christ, the healing aroma of Christianity, and let the Jesus of the Gospels fade into a myth. Christianity, uprooted from its source in Divine facts of redemption, would be but as a cut flower, still pervading for a while our life with its charity, but another day even its perfume would have vanished. The Christianity of Christ is a living love.

IV. Christianity is a changed relationship of human souls to God through Christ. Go back to the beginning of Christianity to find out what it is. It began to exist on earth first upon the afternoon of a certain day when the last of the Hebrew prophets, looking upon Jesus as He walked, said, Behold the Lamb of God. And two of his disciples beard him speak, and they followed Jesus. These men are now like new men in another world; in Christs presence all Divine things seem possible to them; they are changed from the centre and core of their being; they are verily born again, for they live henceforth lives as different from their former lives before they came to Christ as though they had actually died out of this world, and come back to it again with the memory in their hearts of a better world. After a few years in Jesus companionship, after all that they had witnessed of His death and resurrection, they are themselves as men belonging to another world, citizens of a better country, sojourning for a brief season here. Old things are passed away, says the last-born of the apostles; Behold, all things are become new. This, then, is Christianity--Peter, and John, and other men, living with Christ in a new relationship to God. It is a happy, hopeful, all-transfiguring relationship of human souls to God. Christ giving His Spirit to the disciples, disciples witnessing of the Christ--this, this is Christianity. What, then, is Christianity? It is, we say, the doctrine of Christ. What is the doctrine of Christ? Men sound in the faith; men made whole, men living according to Christ. The doctrine of Christ is not a word, or a system of words. It is not a book, or a collection of writings. He wrote His doctrine in the book of human life. He made men His Scriptures. His doctrine was the teaching of the living Spirit. The doctrine of Christ--lo! Peter, the tempestuous man, strong one moment and weak another, become now a man of steady hope, confessor, and martyr--he is the doctrine of Christ! The son of thunder become the apostle of love--he is the doctrine of Christ! The persecutor becomes one who dies daily for the salvation of the Gentiles--he is the doctrine of Christ!

V. Christianity is the company of disciples in new relationship with one another, and towards all men, through Christ. The new redeemed society is Christianity. A man cannot be a Christian, at least not a whole Christian, by himself alone. To seek to live a Christian life by ones self, in the secrecy of ones own heart, is an endeavour foreign to the original genius of Christianity. Christianity, when it is finished, will be the best society gathered from all the ages, the perfect society of the kingdom of heaven. How can a man expect to fit himself for that blessed society by neglecting here and new to enter into the fellowship of believers who seek to prepare themselves for that final society of the Lord by meeting and breaking bread together at His table? To be a Christian, therefore, is to be actually a follower of Christ with His disciples. And to make real and not merely nominal work of it We shall need often with deliberate resolution to give ourselves up to our own faiths, to throw ourselves manfully upon their current, and to let them catch us up and bear us whither they will. (N. Smyth, D. D.)

A sufficient endowment

The influence of Mr. Moody is wonderful, said a lady to her minister; he is not intellectual, nor eloquent, nor learned, and his appearance is not prepossessing. Ah! replied the minister, but he has the Spirit of God in him. Yes, she responded, and that is all. All! exclaimed the minister; is not that everything?

An essential provision of Christianity

Is not this power of God, through the Holy Ghost, an essential provision of Christianity? Could the Word of God be a living Word without it? We can no more conceive of Christianity as destitute of this Divine influence than as destitute of Christ. We look upon the face of nature and perceive that all its external forms are based upon one common principle of life; and were this withdrawn all things must die. So in like manner, looking upon external Christianity--its doctrines, its Sabbaths, its worship, its points of holiness, joy, and moral excellence, produced in perfect uniformity in all ages and amongst all classes--we perceive that there must exist beneath the surface some uniform power; and what can this be but the power of God through His Holy Spirit? And this belongs to the system, is inherent, permanent, certain. By the impulses of this power the Word of God effects its glorious triumphs; and, when it is withdrawn, Christianity sinks into the condition of an empty form. (J. Dixon, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2 Timothy

GOD’S STEWARDS

2Ti 1:14

THE Apostle has just been expressing his confidence for himself that ‘God is able to keep that which I have committed’ unto him ‘against that day.’ Here, with intentional parallelism, he repeats the leading ideas and key-words of that great confidence, but in a wholly different connection. Whether we suppose that the rendering of our version in the twelfth verse is correct or no, there still remains the intentional parallelism between the two verses. In discoursing upon that twelfth verse, I gave reasons for adhering to the translation of our version and regarding the parallel as double. There are two committals. God commits something to us; we commit something to God. But whether that be so or no, there are, at all events, two keepings. God keeps, and we have to keep. And if, on the other hand, in both verses the Apostle speaks of a charge committed to men by God, then the contrasted parallel between the two keepings remains and is even increased, because then it is the same thing which God keeps and which we keep. So the whole connection between man’s faithfulness and God’s protection is suggested here. The true Christian life in its entirety may either be regarded as God’s work or the believer’s. We keep ourselves when we let God keep us, and God keeps us by making us able to keep ourselves.

I. Note then, first, our charge.

The Apostle is evidently thinking mainly of the gospel message which was entrusted to Himself and to Timothy. That is shown by the whole context. The previous verse is, ‘ Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.’ And the same connection appears in the First Epistle to Timothy, where the same exhortation is repeated: ‘Keep that. which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, ‘which some professing have erred concerning the faith.’ The same idea of the gospel as the deposit committed to the trust of Christian men lies in other words of the first epistle, where the Apostle speaks of the ‘gospel of the glory of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.’ And it crops up in other expressions of his, such as that he was ‘put in trust of the gospel.’ It also underlies the very common representation of himself and his colleagues as being ‘stewards of the mysteries of God.’ But all these expressions describe no prerogative of an apostle, or of a teaching office or order in the Church, but declare the solemn responsibility laid by the great gift bestowed upon all Christian men. Whosoever has accepted the message of salvation for himself is, ipso facto, put in charge of that message for carrying it to others. The trust which I place in the gospel makes the gospel a trust which is committed to me. And every believer, howsoever imperfect may be his grasp of the truth, howsoever narrow may be the sphere of his agency, has given into his hands this great charge, that the Word of God is committed to his trust.

You Christian people are responsible in this connection for two things, for the preservation of the truth and for the diffusion of the truth.

You are responsible for its preservation. Some of us, in a special manner, have it given to us in charge to oppose prevailing tendencies which rob the gospel of its glory and of its power, to try to preach it to men, whether they will hear or forbear, in its simplicity and its unwelcomeness, as well as in its sweetness and its graciousness. But for most of us, the responsibility for the preservation of the truth lies mainly in another direction, and we are bound to keep it for the food of our own souls, and to see that the atmosphere in which we live, and the prevailing tendencies around us, the worldliness, the selfishness, the absorption in the things seen to the exclusion of the things that axe unseen and eternal, do not rob us of the treasure which we say that we value. See to it that you keep it as what you profess that it is, the anchor of your hope and the guide of all your lives, binding it upon the palms of your hands that all your work may be sanctified; writing it between your eyes that all your thoughts may be enlightened; and inscribing it on the posts of your doors and your gates that, whensoever you go forth to work, you may go out under its guidance, and when you come back to rest and solitude, you may bear it with you for your meditation and refreshment. The charge that is given to us is the preservation of God’s Word, and the gospel which we have received we have received with this written upon it, ‘Hold fast that which thou hast; let no man take thy crown.’

And then, further, all of us Christian people are responsible for the diffusion of that Word. It is given to us that we may spread it, and this is no exclusive prerogative of an apostolic class, or of an order of ministers or clergy in God’s Church, but every Christian man and woman who has the Word is thereby bound to tell the Word faithfully.

And then, subordinately and connected with this, I may put another thought, that the reputation and character of our Master are committed to us to keep. People take their notions of Jesus Christ a great deal more from you than from the Bible, and the Christian Church is the true scripture which most men know best. The written revelation is often negatived, or at all events neutralised, by the representation which we Christians make of Christ. He has given into our hands His reputation, as if He said: ‘Live so that men may know what sort of a Christ I am; and so set forth the spirit of life that was in Me that men may be led to believe that there is something in the truths and principles which make men like you.’

But there is a wider application legitimately to be given to the words of my text, on which I touch for a moment. The great trust which is committed to us all is ourselves; and in connection therewith we are responsible for two things - first, for the development of character; and second, for the exercise of capacity.

We are responsible for the development of character. We have to cut off and suppress, or, at least, to subordinate and regulate, a great deal within us in order that the true self may rise into sovereign majesty and power. We have to cultivate shy graces, unwelcome duties, sides of our character which are not naturally prominent. The faults that we have are not to be cured simply by the repression of them, but by the cultivation of their opposites. All this is given to us to do, and nobody can do it for us. We are stewards of many things, but the most precious gift of which we are stewards is this awful nature of ours, with possibilities that tower heaven-high, and evils that go down to the depths of hell, shut up within the narrow room of our hearts. The man who has himself put into his own hands can never want a field for diligent cultivation. And we are responsible for the use of capacities. God gives these to us that we may by exercise strengthen them. And so, brother, as a man, your natural self is your charge; as a Christian, the word which brings your’ better self, is that which is committed to you to keep.

II. Now, secondly, notice our keeping of our charge.

The word rendered here ‘to keep’ rather means ‘to guard’ than to keep in the sense of preserving. ‘Keeping’ is the consequence of the ‘guarding’ which my text enjoins. We may get a picture which may help us to understand the drift of the apostolic exhortation, if I remind you of two of the uses of the word in its non-metaphorical sense in Scripture. It is the expression employed to describe the occupation of the shepherds on the upland slopes of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. They were ‘keeping watch over their flocks by night.’ That is how you have to watch yourselves and the word that is committed to your care. Again, it is the word employed to describe the vigilant watchfulness of the sentry outside the prison gates where the apostles lay immured; or of the four quaternions of soldiers that had to take charge of Peter when he was chained to them. And that is how we have to watch, as the shepherd over his flock, as the sentry over the prison house, or as the guard over some treasure. So Christian men and women have to live, exercising all the care needful to prevent the stealing away some of the flock, the escape of some of the prisoners, the filching from them of some of their treasure. Let me expand the apostolic exhortation into two of three precepts.

Cultivate the sense of stewardship. It is a very hard thing for us to keep fresh the feeling that all which we are and have is given to us, and that not for ourselves, but for God. The beginning of evil is the weakening of that sense of responsibility, and the dawning of the dream that we are our own. The prodigal son’s downfall began with saying, ‘Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.’

And the next step came naturally after that: ‘He gathered all together and went away into a far country.’ And the next step came just as naturally after that: ‘He wasted his substance in riotous living.’

If sense of stewardship and responsibility is weakened within us, the mainspring of all good is weakened within us, and we shall become self-willed, self-indulgent, self-asserting, God-forgetting. If we think that the talent or the pound is ours, we shall spend it for our own purposes, and that is ‘waste.’

And is it not a sad commentary on the tendency of human nature to forget stewardship, and to lose the impression of responsibility, that that very word ‘talents,’ which is borrowed from Christ’s parable, is used in common speech without the slightest sense that it suggests anything about stewardship, faithfulness, or reckoning? Let us, then, take care to cultivate the sense of responsibility.

Again, let us exercise unslumbering vigilance. A great political thinker says, ‘The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.’ The price of keeping the treasure that God has given us is the same. There are old legends of fabulous riches hid away in some rocky cave amongst the mountains, guarded by mythological creatures, of whom it is said that their eyes have no lids. They cannot shut them, and they never sleep. And that is what Christians need to be, with lidless, wide-opened, vigilant eyes; watching ever against the evils that are ever around us, and the robbers who are ever seeking to drag the precious deposit from our hands. Live to watch, and watch that you may live.

Then, again, familiarise yourselves with the truth which you have in charge. I am not half so much afraid that intellectual doubts and the formulated conscious disbelief of this generation will affect Christian people, as I am afraid of the unconscious drift sweeping them away before they know. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews has a solemn figure in regard of this matter. He says: ‘Let us take the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should drift past them.’ And that is exactly what befalls Christian men and women who do not continually renew their familiarity with God’s Word and the gospel to which they trust. Before they know where they are, the silent-flowing, swift stream has swept them down, and the truths to which they fancied they were anchored are almost invisible on the far horizon. For one man who loses his Christianity by yielding to the arguments of the other side there are ten who lose it by evaporation. ‘As thy servant was busy here and there,’ was the lame excuse of the man in the Old Testament for letting his prisoner run away, ‘he was gone!’ And God knows how he has gone and Where he went.

That is true about a great many who are professing Christian people. The Word has slipped out of their hands, and they do not know how, nor exactly when it escaped from their slack fingers. If you will put plucked flowers into a glass without any water you cannot but expect them to wither; and if you will refrain from refreshing your belief and your trust by familiarity with the truths of the gospel, and by meditating upon these, you cannot wonder that they should shrivel up and lose their sweetness for you. Keep that word hid in your hearts that you sin not against Him and it.

And then, further, exercise your gifts. The very worst way to keep the talent is to keep it in a napkin. The man who buried it in the earth, and then dug it up and presented it to his lord, did not know how much weight it

had lost by rust and decay while it was hidden away. For though gold does not rust, the gold of the talent that we possess does; and the sure way to make our gifts dwindle is that we neglect to use them. It seems an odd way to keep corn, to fling it broadcast out of a basket over the fields, but ‘there is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.’ Live your faith; let what you believe be the guide of your practice; increase your grasp upon it by meditation and by prayer, use your capacities, exercise your faculties, and they will grow, and you will be strong.

III. Lastly, note our Ally in our keeping of our charge.

‘Through the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.’ Then all is to be done, not in our own strength, but in the strength of the great indwelling Guest and Helper. So, then, there arise two thoughts from this.

The one is that we keep ourselves best when we give ourselves to God to keep us. The Apostle has just been doing that for himself, and he now would exhort Timothy to do the same. Our faith brings this great Ally into the field. If we commit to God what God has committed to us, then, as the patriarch, upon his dangerous and doubtful path, beheld in the heavens above him the camp of the angels hovering over his little camp, so, if we commit the keeping of ourselves and of all our responsibility in connection with God’s work, to Him, we too may be sure that ‘the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him,’ and that He will keep us. Then there will be a fourth in the furnace like unto the Son of Man, and no fire shall consume anything but the bonds of those who, in the very fire, trust themselves to the strong hands of God. We best keep ourselves when we give ourselves to God to keep.

But another thought here is that God keeps us by enabling us to keep ourselves. ‘Through the Holy Spirit that dwelleth in us’ - so His protection is no mere outward wall of defence around us, nor any change of circumstances which may avert danger, but it is the putting within us of a divine life-principle which shall mould our thoughts, regulate our desires, reinforce our weakness, and be in us a power that shall preserve us from all evil. God fights for us, not in the sense of fighting instead of us, but in the sense of fighting by our sides when we fight. A faith which says, ‘God will take care of me,’ and does not take care of itself, is no faith, but either hypocrisy or self-deceived presumption. Faith will intensify effort instead of leading to shirk it; and the more we trust Him, the more we should ourselves work. We keep ourselves when God keeps us; God keeps us

when we keep ourselves. Both things are true, and therefore our fitting temper is the double one of self-distrusting confidence and of earnest diligence.

Dear brother, we travel on a dangerous road. We never can tell from behind what rock a gun barrel may be levelled at us, or where the highwayman may swoop down upon us to rob us of our treasure. That is no country to travel through carelessly, in loose order, with our gun upon another horse away at the back of the caravan, and we ourselves straying hither and thither gathering flowers, or seeking easy places to walk in; but it is a land in which we must be unslumberlngly vigilant, and screw ourselves up to all effort. And it is a country in which we shall certainly be robbed unless we commit ourselves unto Him who alone is able to keep us from falling.

‘Still let me guard the holy fire, And still stir up Thy gift in me.’

If we say, in life and in death, ‘Father! into Thy hands I commit my spirit,’ then we may be humbly, but not idly confident that the old promise will be fulfilled to us:

‘The Lord will keep thee ever more.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:14 Timothy must guard the precious truth (literally guard the good deposit; see study notes on 1:12; 3:11) by faithfully proclaiming it and preventing false teachers from distorting it (see study note on 2:2; see also 1 Tim 6:20).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2Ti 1:14. Τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην, this good deposit) namely, the sound words [words of salvation] which I have committed to thee; comp. ch. 2Ti 2:2.—διὰ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου, by the Holy Spirit) He is the earnest of the heavenly deposit, which he who keeps, also keeps the deposit committed to him; whence His indwelling is pressed upon our notice.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti_1:14. The exhortation in this verse is most closely connected with that in 2Ti_1:13, for παραθήκη here, as in 2Ti_1:12, is the ministry of the gospel.

τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον] ἡ καλὴ παραθήκη is, like ἡ καλὴ διδασκαλία, 1Ti_4:6; ὁ καλὸς ἀγὼν κ.τ.λ., to be taken in a general objective sense. There is no sufficient reason for interpreting παραθήκη otherwise than in 2Ti_1:12whether, with Wiesinger and Hofmann, as equivalent to the sound doctrine, or, with van Oosterzee, as equivalent to τὸ χάρισμα. Since all that the apostle has enjoined on Timothy from 2Ti_1:6 onward has special reference to the discharge of his office, we may surely understand παραθήκη to have the same meaning here as in 2Ti_1:12; besides, as already remarked, it is not conceivable that Paul, in two sentences so closely connected, should have used the same word with different meanings. It need not excite wonder that in 2Ti_1:12 Paul looks to God for the preservation of the παραθήκη, while here he lays it on Timothy as a duty; Gods working does not exclude the activity of man. Φυλάσσειν here, as in 2Ti_1:12, is: to keep from harm uninjured, and from the tendency of the whole epistle it is clear that this exhortation referred to the heresy which perverted the gospel.

διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου] Chrysostom: οὐ γὰρ ἐστὶν ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς οὐδὲ δυνάμεως, τοσαῦτα ἐμπιστευθέντα ἀρκέσαι πρὸς τὴν φυλακήν. Timothy is not to employ any human means for preserving the παραθήκη; the only means is to be the Holy Spirit, i.e. he is to let the Spirit work in him free and unconfined, and only do that to which the Spirit impels him. The Spirit, however, is not something distant from him, as is shown by the words: τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν. On ἐνοικοῦντος, comp. 2Ti_1:5. Ἐν ἡμῖν denotes the Spirit as the one principle of the new life, working in all believers. Ἡμῖν, here as in 2Ti_1:6, must not be referred simply to Paul and Timothy; nor is it to be overlooked that Paul does not say ἐν σοί.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ti 1:14 . τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην : The faith, which is a ὑποτύπωσις in relation to the growing apprehension of it by the Church, is a παραθήκη , deposit , in the case of each individual. On the constant epithet καλός see 1Ti 1:18 , and on παραθήκη 1Ti 6:20 . There is a special force in καλήν here, as distinguishing the precious faith from τὴν παραθήκην μου of 2Ti 1:12 .

φύλαξον διὰ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου : φυλάσσειν is more than ἔχειν : it implies here final perseverance; and that can only be attained through the Holy Spirit. God must co-operate with man, if man’s efforts are to be successful. Cf. “Work out your own salvation … for it is God which worketh in you” (Phi 2:12-13 ).

Πνεύματος Ἁγίου : This verse and Tit 3:5 are the only places in the Pastorals in which the Holy Spirit is mentioned.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The taking away of an objection. It is a hard thing to do it, but the Spirit of God is mighty, who hath inwardly endued us with his virtue.

An amplification, taken of the dignity of so great a benefit committed of the ministers.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Translate as Greek, "That goodly deposit keep through the Holy Ghost," namely, "the sound words which I have committed to thee" (Ti2 1:13; Ti2 2:2).

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 — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. That good thing] The everlasting Gospel, keep by the Holy Ghost; 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's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14 Keep the excellent thing committed to thee This exhortation is more extensive than the preceding. He exhorts Timothy to consider what God has given to him, and to bestow care and application in proportion to the high value of that which has been committed; for, when the thing is of little value, we are not wont to call any one to so strict an account.

By “that which hath been committed,” I understand him to mean both the honor of the ministry and all the gifts with which Timothy was endued. Some limit it to the ministry alone; but I think that it denotes chiefly the qualifications for the ministry, that is, all the gifts of the Spirit, in which he excelled. The word “committed” is employed also for another reason, to remind Timothy that he must, one day, render an account; for we ought to administer faithfully what God has committed to us.

Τὸ Καλόν denotes that which is of high or singular value; and, therefore, Erasmus has happily translated it (egregium) “excellent,” for the sake of denoting its rare worth. I have followed that version. But what is the method of keeping it? It is this. We must beware lest we lose by our indolence what God has bestowed upon us, or lest it be taken away, because we have been ungrateful or have abused it; for there are many who reject the grace of God, and many who, after having received it, deprive themselves of it altogether. Yet because the difficulty of keeping it is beyond our strength, he therefore adds, —

By the Holy Spirit As if he had said, “I do ask from thee more than thou canst, for what thou hast not from thyself the Spirit of God will supply to thee.” Hence it follows, that we must not judge of the strength of men from the commandments of God; because, as he commands by words, so he likewise engraves his words on our hearts, and, by communicating strength, causes that his command shall not be in vain.

Who dwelleth in us By this he means, that the assistance of the Holy Spirit is present to believers, provided that they do not reject it when it is offered to them.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

14. That good thing which was committed unto thee] The good deposit as in 2Ti_1:12 and 1Ti_6:20, catholicae fidei talentum; see notes on both verses.

keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us] Guard through the Holy Ghost. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost is ‘the gift of God’ in 2Ti_1:6, the ‘Grace of Holy Orders’ for the office and work of a priest; cf. Act_13:2; Act_13:4.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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:

keep by the Holy Ghost. 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; 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.

Which dwelleth in us; in all believers, who are the temples of the Holy Ghost; 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, Joh 14:16.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

Ver. 14. The good thing that was, &c.] Thy crown of recompence, Rev 3:11. Or thy converts, thy crown of rejoicing, 1Th 2:19. Or the purity of thy doctrine, 1Ti 6:20. The gospel is Christ’s depositum with us, committed to our keeping; as our souls are our depositum with him, committed to his. (Theophyl.) Let us therefore strive together for this faith of the gospel, Php 1:27, resolving either to live with it or die for it. Let us earnestly contend for this faith "once (only) delivered," Jude

3. Once for all; another edition of it is never to be expected. "Hold fast the faithful word," as with both hands, Tit 1:9. O pray, pray, saith a Dutch divine, upon his deathbed, pontifex enim Romanus, et Concilium Tridentinum mira moliuntur, for the pope and his complices are doing their utmost to bereave us of our present enjoyments. And are there not still such factors for the devil, such pioneers hard at work among us? Let us carefully countermine them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That good thing which was committed unto thee; - see the notes at 1Ti 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 intrusted, and which he was required to transmit to others.

Keep by the Holy Ghost - 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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Keep the good (doctrine) deposited or committed[7] in trust to thee. This is different, though the word be the same, from what he spoke of, ver. 12. There he mentioned what he had committed and deposited in the hands of God, here he speaks of what God hath committed, and deposited in the hands of Timothy, after it was delivered to him by St. Paul and the other preachers of the gospel: that is, he speaks of the care Timothy must take to preserve the same sound doctrine, and to teach it to others. See 1 Timothy vi. 20. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Bonum depositum custodi; Greek: ten kalen parakatatheken phulaxon.

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George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

That good thing which was committed unto thee keep: this is expounded by 1Ti 6:20; he means the doctrine of the gospel, or his office in the publication of it; Be faithful in the ministerial work.

By the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us; to which purpose beg the assistance and operation of the Holy Spirit, which dwelleth both in all believers, and more particularly assisteth the ministers of the gospel. We can neither keep our minds sound in the faith, as to the doctrine of it, nor our souls steady in the exercises of faith or love, without the assistance of the Holy Spirit; which yet the Lord giveth to them that ask him, and it abides in them who do not vex, quench, grieve, or resist it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Good thing… committed—That deposit; namely, the gift of 2Ti_1:6.

Keep—By faithfulness in its discharge, not solely in his own strength, but by the Holy Ghost.

In us—The common inheritance of all Christians.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Guard for keep, A.V; through for by, A.V That good thing (thn kalhkhn, R.T., for parakataqhkhn); see 1Ti_6:20, and note. This naturally follows the preceding verse. Faithfulness in maintaining the faith was closely connected with the maintenance of sound words.

The importance of preserving the precious deposit of doctrine.

I THERE IS A SYSTEM OF TRUTH DEPOSITED IN THE HANDS OF THE CHURCH. "That good deposit keep through the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in us.

1. The truth is not discovered by the Church, but deposited in its keeping. This is the significance of the words of Jude, when he speaks of "the faith once delivered to the saints." That is

(1) "the faith a system of gospel doctrines recognized by the Church at large;

(2) "delivered," not discovered or elaborated out of the Christian consciousness;

(3) "once" delivered, in reference to the point of time when the revelation was made by inspired men;

(4) deposited in the hands of men the saints as trustees, for its safe keeping. It is "a good deposit;" good in its Author, its matter, its results, its end.

II IT IS THE DUTY OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH TO KEEP THIS DEPOSIT.

1. They ought to do it, because it is a commanded duty.

2. Because it is for the Churchs edification, safety, and stability.

3. Because it is for the glory of God.

4. They cannot do it except in the power of "the Holy Ghost who dwelleth in us.

(1) Because he leads us into all truth;

(2) because he by the truth builds up the Church as "a habitation of God;

(3) because he gives the insight and the courage by which believers are enabled to reject the adulterations and mixtures of false systems. T.C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The good thing - This wholesome doctrine.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ver. 14. Very naturally and fitly coming after this exhortation, rightly understood, is the charge in this verse: the goodly deposit keep through the Holy Spirit that dwelleth in us. The goodly deposit, or good thing entrusted to him, is just the scheme of divine doctrine and obligation, which he had received in trust as a believer and an evangelist, and the living type of which had formed itself in his heart from the apostolic words he had so often listened to. He is called to keep or guard this (φύλαξον); yet not as in his own strength and wisdom, but through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So that there is no inconsistence between what is thus charged on Timothy respecting his deposit, and what the apostle represented himself as doing in regard to his own—trusting in the faithfulness and power of God to keep it. In both cases alike the effective guardianship was of God—the assurance of a safe and triumphant issue stood in their personal relation to Him; but God’s keeping, in their case as in all others, had man’s for its necessary counterpart—through this alone could it be justly expected to realize itself

Patrick Fairbairn — An Exposition of Ezekiel (1851), Jonah (1849), and The Pastoral Epistles (1874) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. 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 verse 15.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

14. παραθήκην. The Attic παρακαταθήκην is adopted by the rec. text but on poor authority; παραθήκην, the Hellenistic form, is certainly right.

14. τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην φύλαξον. See the note on 1Ti 6:20; and for καλήν, a characteristic adjective of the Pastorals, see on 1Ti 1:8. Cp. Philo Quod det potiori insid. 19 παραδοῦναι … ἐπιστήμης καλὴν παρακαταθήκην φύλακι πιστῇ.

διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν, through the Holy Spirit who dwelleth in us, sc. in all Christians, but especially in you and me, Paul and Timothy, to whom grace for ministry has been given. Cp. for the phrase as applied to all Christians, Rom 8:11.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14.] that goodly deposit keep, through the Holy Spirit who dwelleth in us (not thee and me merely, but all believers: cf. Act 13:52. Chrys. remarks: οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς οὐδὲ δυνάμεως, τοσαῦτα ἐμπιστευθέντα, ἀρκέσαι πρὸς τὴν φυλακήν. διὰ τί; ὅτι πολλοὶ οἱ λῃσταί, σκότος βαθύ· ὁ διάβολος ἐφέστηκεν ἤδη κ. ἐφεδρεύει).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. τὴν κ. παραθήκην] cf. τῆς κ. διδασκαλίας, 1Ti 4:6. The thought of his own deposit with God 12 suggests that deposit which Christ has left with him, a far more precious and ideal thing; cf. Philo, Quod det potiori, 19, ἐπιστήμης καλὴν παρακαταθήκην.

διὰ Πν. Ἁγίου] cf. Rom 8:11. This is true of all Christians, but the thought here is, probably, still that of the special gift to ministers for their work 6, 7.

τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος] perhaps consciously recalling ἥτις ἐνῴκησε 5.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That good thing which was committed [την καλην παραθηκην] . That fair, honorable trust, good and beautiful in itself, and honorable to him who receives it. The phrase N. T. o. See on verse 12. Comp. the good warfare, 1Ti 1:18; teaching, 1Ti 4:6; fight, 1Ti 6:12; confession, 1Ti 6:12.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.