2 Timothy 1:12

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) For the which cause I also suffer these things.—Because he had been the teacher and apostle, had all these sufferings—the prison, the chains, the solitude, the hate of so many—come upon him. There was no need to refer to them more particularly. Timothy knew well what he was then undergoing. The reason of the Apostle’s touching at all upon himself and his fortunes will appear in the next clause, when, from the depths, as it would seem, of human misfortune, he triumphantly rehearses his sure grounds of confidence. Timothy was dispirited, cast down, sorrowful. He need not be. When tempted to despair, let him think of his old master and friend, Paul the Apostle, who rejoiced in the midst of the greatest sufferings, knowing that these were the sure earthly guerdon of the most devoted work, but that there was One, in whom he believed, able and, at the same time, willing to save him for yet higher and grander things.

Nevertheless I am not ashamed.—Not ashamed of the suffering I am now enduring for the cause of the Lord. He then, by showing the grounds of his joyful hope, proceeds to show how men can rise to the same lofty heights of independence to which he had risen, whence they can look down with indifference on all human opinion and human reward and regard.

For I know whom I have believed.—Better rendered, whom I have trusted; yea, and still trust. “Whom” here refers to God the Father.

That which I have committed unto him.—More exactly, my deposit. Considerable diversity of opinion has existed among commentators of all ages as to the exact meaning which should be assigned to the words “my deposit.” Let us glance back at what has gone before. St. Paul, the forsaken prisoner, looking for death, has been bidding his younger comrade never to let his heart sink or his spirit grow faint when oncoming dangers threaten to crush him; for, he says, you know me and my seemingly ruined fortunes and blasted hopes. Friendless and alone, you know, I am awaiting death (2Timothy 4:6); and yet, in spite of all this crushing weight of sorrow, which has come on me because I am a Christian, yet am I not ashamed, for I know whom I have trusted—I know His sovereign power to whom I have committed “my deposit.” He, I know, can keep it safe against that day. St. Paul had intrusted his deathless soul to the keeping of his Heavenly Father, and having done this, serene and joyful he waited for the end. His disciple Timothy must do the same.

“That which I have committed unto Him, my deposit,” signified a most precious treasure committed by St. Paul to his God. The language and imagery was probably taken by the Apostle from one of those Hebrew Psalms he knew so well (Psalm 31:5)—“Into thy hand I commend my spirit,” rendered in the LXX. version (Psalm 30:5), “I will commit” (parathēsomai). In Josephus, a writer of the same age, the soul is especially termed a parakatatheke—deposit. The passage is one in which he is speaking against suicide (B. J. iii. 8, 5). Philo, also, who may almost be termed a contemporary of St. Paul, uses the very same expression, and also calls the soul “a deposit” (p. 499, ed. Richter). Both passages are quoted at length by Alford, who, however, comes to a slightly different conclusion.

Against that day.—The day of the coming of Christ—“that day when I (the Lord of Hosts) make up my jewels.” He will keep my soul—“my deposit”—safe against that day when the crown of life will be given to all that love His appearing.

MacLaren's Expositions

2 Timothy

A QUIET HEART

2 Timothy 1:12THERE is some ambiguity in the original words of this text, lying in that clause which is translated in our Bibles - both Authorised and Revised - ‘that which I have committed unto Him.’ The margin of the Revised Version gives as an alternative reading, ‘that which He hath committed unto me.’ To a mere English reader it may be a puzzle how any words whatever could be susceptible of these two different interpretations. But the mystery is solved by the additional note which the same Revised Version gives, which tells us that the Greek is ‘ my deposit,’ or I might add another synonymous word, ‘my trust.’

Now you can see that ‘my trust’ may mean either something with which I trust another, or something with which another trusts me. So the possibility of either rendering arises. It is somewhat difficult to decide between the two. I do not purpose to trouble you with reasons for my preference here. Suffice it to say that, whilst there are strong arguments in favour of the reading ‘that which He has committed unto me,’ I am inclined to think that the congruity of the whole representation, and especially the thought that this ‘trust,’ whatever it is, is something which God has to keep, rather than which Paul has to keep, shuts us up to the adoption of the rendering which stands in our Bibles.

Adopting it, therefore, though with some hesitation, the next question arises, What is it that Paul committed to God? The answer to that is, himself, in all his complex being, with all his fears and anxieties, during the whole duration of his existence. He has done what another Apostle exhorts us to do, ‘committed the keeping of his soul to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.’ Now that was a long past act at the time when Paul wrote this letter. And here he looks back upon life, and sees that all the experiences through which he has passed have but confirmed the faith which he rested in God before the experiences, and that, with the axe and the block almost in sight, he is neither ashamed of his faith, nor dissatisfied with what it has brought him.

I. Notice, then, in the first place, ‘the deposit’ of faith.

You observe that the two clauses of my text refer to the same act, which in the one is described as ‘In whom I have trusted’; and in the other as ‘committing something to Him.’ The metaphor is a plain enough one. A man has some rich treasure. He is afraid of losing it, he is doubtful of his own power to keep it; he looks about for some reliable person and trusted hands, and he deposits it there. That is about as good a description of what the New Testament means by ‘ faith’ as you will get anywhere.

You and I have one treasure, whatever else we may have or not have; and that is ourselves. The most precious of our possessions is our own individual being.

We cannot ‘keep’ that. There are dangers all round us. We are like men travelling in a land full of pickpockets and highwaymen, laden with gold and precious stones. On every side there are enemies that seek to rob us of that which is our true treasure - our own souls. We cannot keep ourselves. Slippery paths and weak feet go ill together. The tow in our hearts, and the fiery sparks of temptation that are flying all round about us, are sure to come together and make a blaze. We shall certainly come to ruin if we seek to get through life, to do its work, to face its difficulties, to cope with its struggles, to master its temptations, in our own poor, puny strength. So we must look for trusty hands and lodge our treasure there, where it is safe.

And how am I to do that? By humble dependence upon God revealed, for our faith’s feeble fingers to grasp, in the person and work of His dear Son, who has died on the Cross for us all; by constant realisation of His divine presence and implicit reliance on the realities of His sustaining hand in all our difficulties, and His shielding protection in all our struggles, and His sanctifying spirit in all our conflicts with evil. And not only by the realisation of His presence and of our dependence upon Him, nor only by the consciousness of our own insufficiency, and the departing from all self-reliance, but as an essential part of our committing ourselves to God, by bringing our wills into harmony with His will. To commit includes to submit.

‘And, oh, brother! if thus knowing your weakness, you will turn to Him for strength, if the language of your hearts be

‘Myself I cannot save,

Myself I cannot keep,

But strength in Thee I surely have,

Whose eyelids never sleep.’

And if thus, hanging upon Him, you believe that when you fling yourself into necessary temptations, and cope with appointed heavy tasks, and receive on your hearts the full blow of sent sorrows, He will strengthen you and hold you up; and if with all your hearts you bow, and you say,’ Lord! keeping me is Thy business far more than mine; into Thy hands I commit my spirit,’ be sure that your trust will not be disappointed.

Notice, further, about this deposit of faith, how Paul has no doubt that he has made it, and is not at all afraid to say that he has. Ay! there are plenty of you professing Christians who have never got the length which all Christian people should arrive at, of a calm certainty in the reality of your own faith. Do you feel, my brother, that there is no doubt about it, that you are trusting upon Jesus Christ? If you do, well; if the life confirms the confidence. But whilst the deepened certitude of professing Christians as to the reality of their own faith is much to be desired, there is also much to be dreaded the easy-going assurance which a great many people who call themselves Christians have of the reality of their trust, though it neither bows their wills to God’s purposes, nor makes them calm and happy in the assurance of His presence. The question for us all is, have we the right to say ‘I have committed myself to Him’? If you have not, you have missed the blessedness of life, and will never carry your treasure safely through the hordes of robbers that lurk upon the road, but some day you will be found there, lying beggared, bleeding, bruised. May it be that you are found there before the end, by the merciful Samaritan who alone can bind up and lead to safety.



II. Now note, secondly, the serenity of faith.

What a grand picture of a peaceful heart comes out of this letter, and its companion one to the same friend, written a little before, but under substantially the same circumstances! They are both full of autobiographical details, on which some critics look with suspicion, but which seem to me to bear upon their very front the token of their own genuineness.

And what a picture it is that they give! He is ‘Paul the aged’; old, if not in years - and he probably was not an old man by years - yet old in thought and care and hardships and toils. He is a prisoner, and the compulsory cessation of activity, when so much was to be done, might well have fretted a less eager spirit than that which burned in his puny frame. He is alone, but for one faithful friend; and the bitterness of his solitude is increased by the apostasy of some and the negligence of many. He is poor and thinly clad; and he wants his one cloak ‘before winter.’ He has been before the emperor once, and though he ‘was delivered from the mouth of the lion’ then, he knows that he cannot expect to put his head into the lion’s mouth a second time with impunity, and that his course is run. He has made but a poor thing of life; he has disappointed all the hopes that were formed of the brilliant young disciple of Gamaliel, who was bidding fair to be the hammer of these heretical Christians. And yet there is no tremor nor despondency in this, his swan-song. It goes up in a clear burst of joyful music. It is the same spirit as that of the Psalmist: ‘There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.’ And serenely he sits there, in the midst of dangers, disappointments, difficulties, and struggles, with a life behind him stuffed full of thorns and hard work and many a care, and close before him the martyr’s death, yet he says, with a flash of legitimate pride, ‘I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have trusted, and that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.’

My brother, you must have Paul’s faith if you are to have Paul’s serenity. A quiet committal of yourself to God, in all the ways in which I have already described that committal as carried out, is the only thing which will give us quiet hearts, amidst the dangers and disappointments and difficulties and conflicts which we have all to encounter in this world. That trust in Him will bring, in the measure of its own depth and constancy, a proportionately deep and constant calm in our hearts.

For even though my faith brought me nothing from God, the very fact that I have rolled my care off my shoulders on to His, though I had made a mistake in doing it, would bring me tranquillity, as long as I believed that the burden was on His shoulders and not on mine. Trust is always quiet. When I can say, ‘I am not the master of the caravan, and it is no part of my business to settle the route, I have no responsibility for providing food, or watching, or anything else. All my business is to obey orders, and to take the step nearest me and wait for the light,’ then I can be very quiet whatever comes. And if I have cast my burden upon the Lord, I am not delivered from responsibility, but I am delivered from harassment. I have still tasks and duties, but they are all different when I think of them as His appointing. I have still difficulties and dangers, but I can meet them all with a new peacefulness if I say, ‘God is Master here, and I am in His hands, and He will do what He likes with me.’ That is not the abnegation of will, it is the vitalising of will And no man is ever so strong as the man who feels ‘it is God’s business to take care of me; it is my business to do what He tells me.’

That, dear friends, is the only armour that will resist the cuts and blows that are sure to be aimed at you. What sort of armour do you wear? Is it of pasteboard painted to look like steel, like the breastplates and helmets of actors upon the stage in a theatre? A great deal of our armour is. Do you get rid of all that make-believe, and put on the breastplate of righteousness, and for a helmet the hope of salvation, and, above all, take the shield of faith; and trust in the Lord whate’er betide, and you will stand against all assaults. Paul’s faith is the only recipe for securing Paul’s serenity.

And then, further, note how this same quiet committal of himself into the loving hands of his Father - whom he had learned to know because he had learned to trust His Son - is not only the armour against all the dangers and difficulties in life, but is also the secret of serene gazing into the eyes of close death. Paul knew that his days were nearly at an end; he was under no illusions as to that, for you remember the grand burst of confidence, even grander than this of my text, in this same letter, with which he seems to greet the coming of the end, and exclaims, with a kind of Hallelujah! in his tone, ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. And there is nothing left for me now, now when the struggles are over and the heat and dust of the arena are behind me, but, panting and victorious, to receive the crown.’ He knows that death is sure and near; and yet in this same letter he says, ‘I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and save me into His everlasting kingdom.’ Did he, then, expect to escape from the headsman’s block? Was he beginning to falter in his belief that martyrdom was certain? By no means. The martyrdom was the deliverance. The striking off of his head by the sharp axe was the ‘saving of him into the everlasting kingdom.’ His faith, grasping Jesus Christ, who abolished death, changes the whole aspect of death to him; and instead of ,a terror it becomes God’s angel that will come to the prisoner and touch him, and say, ‘Arise!’ and the fetters will fall from off his feet, and the angel will lead him through ‘the gate that opens of its own accord,’ and presently he will find himself in the city. That is to say, true confidence in God revealed in Jesus Christ is the armour, not only against the ills of life, but against the inevitable ill of death. It changes the whole aspect of the ‘shadow feared of man’

Now I know that there is a danger in urging the reception of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the ground of its preparing us for death. And I know that the main reasons for being Christians would continue in full force if there were no death; but I know also that we are all of us far too apt to ignore that grim certainty that lies gaping for us, somewhere on the road. And if we have certainly to go down into the common darkness, and to tread with our feet the path that all but two of God’s favourites have trod, it is as well to look the fact in the face, and be ready. I do not want to frighten any man into being a Christian, but I do beseech each of you, brethren, to lay to heart that you will have to grapple with that last enemy, and I ask you, as you love your own souls, to make honest work of this question, Am I ready for that summons when it comes, because I have committed my soul, body, and spirit into His hands, and I can quietly say, ‘ Thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave, nor wilt Thou suffer Thy servant to see corruption’?

Paul’s faith made him serene in life and victorious over death; and it will do the same for you.

III. So note, further, the experience of faith.

In the first clause of our text the Apostle says: - ‘I know whom I have trusted.’ And it is because he knows Him that therefore he is persuaded that ‘He is able to keep.’

How did Paul know Him? By experience. By the experience of his daily life. By all these years of trial and yet of blessedness through which he had passed; by all the revelations that had been made to his waiting heart as the consequence and as the reward of the humble faith that rested upon God. And so the whole past had confirmed to him the initial confidence which knit him to Jesus Christ.

If you want to know the worth of Christian faith, exercise it. We must trust, to begin with, before experience. But the faith that is built upon a lifetime is a far stronger thing than the tremulous faith that, out of darkness, stretches a groping hand, and for the first time lays hold upon God’s outstretched hand. We hope then, we tremblingly trust, we believe on the authority of His word. But after years have passed, we can say, ‘We have heard Him ourselves, and we know that this is the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’

Further, none who truly commit themselves to God ever regret it. Is there anything else of which you can say that? Is there any other sort of life that never turns out a disappointment and bitterness and ashes in the mouth of the man that feeds upon it? And is it not something of an evidence of the reality of, the Christian’s faith that millions of men are able to stand up and say,’ Lo! we have put our confidence in Him and we are not ashamed?’ ‘This poor man cried and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his troubles. They looked unto God and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed.’ You cannot share in the conviction, the issue of experience which a Christian man has, if you are not a Christian. My inward evidence of the reality of the Gospel truth, which I have won because I trusted Him when I had not the experience, cannot be shared with anybody besides. You must ‘taste’ before you ‘see that the Lord is good’ But the fact that there is such a conviction, and the fact that there is nothing on the other side of the sheet to contradict it, ought to weigh something in the scale. Try Him and trust Him, and your experience will be, as that of all who have trusted Him has been, ‘that this hope maketh not ashamed.’

IV. Lastly, note here the goal of faith.

‘Against that day.’ The Apostle has many allusions to that day in this final letter. It was evidently, as was natural under the circumstances, much in his mind. And the tone of the allusions is remarkable. Remember what Paul believed that day was - a day when he ‘and all men would stand before the judgment’ bar of an omniscient and all-righteous, Divine Judge, to receive ‘the deeds done in the body.’ A solemn thought and a firm conviction, and a profound impression as to that day, were in his mind. And in the face of all this, he says, ‘I know that He will keep this poor soul of mine against that day.’

Ah, my brother! it is easy for you to shuffle out of your thoughts the judgment-seat before which we must all stand, and so to be quiet. It is easy for you to question, in a so-called intellectual scepticism, the New Testament revelations as to the future, and so to be quiet. It is easy for you to persuade yourselves of the application there of another standard of judgment than that which Scripture reveals, and to say, ‘If I have done my best God will not be hard upon me,’ and so to be quiet. But, supposing that that certain tribunal blazed upon you; supposing that you could not get rid of the thought that you were to stand there, and supposing that you realised, further, the rigidity of that judgment, and how it penetrates to the discerning of the thoughts and intents of the heart, would you be quiet then? Should you be quiet then?

This man was. How? Why? Because, in patient trust, he had put his soul into God’s hands, and a lifetime had taught him that his trust was not in vain.

If you want like peace in life, like victory in death, like boldness in the Day of Judgment, oh, dear friend! - friend though unknown - let me plead with you to seek it where Paul found it, and where you will find it, in simple faith on God manifest in His Son.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:6-14 God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power, of courage and resolution, to meet difficulties and dangers; the spirit of love to him, which will carry us through opposition. And the spirit of a sound mind, quietness of mind. The Holy Spirit is not the author of a timid or cowardly disposition, or of slavish fears. We are likely to bear afflictions well, when we have strength and power from God to enable us to bear them. As is usual with Paul, when he mentions Christ and his redemption, he enlarges upon them; so full was he of that which is all our salvation, and ought to be all our desire. The call of the gospel is a holy call, making holy. Salvation is of free grace. This is said to be given us before the world began, that is, in the purpose of God from all eternity; in Christ Jesus, for all the gifts that come from God to sinful man, come in and through Christ Jesus alone. And as there is so clear a prospect of eternal happiness by faith in Him, who is the Resurrection and the Life, let us give more diligence in making his salvation sure to our souls. Those who cleave to the gospel, need not be ashamed, the cause will bear them out; but those who oppose it, shall be ashamed. The apostle had trusted his life, his soul, and eternal interests, to the Lord Jesus. No one else could deliver and secure his soul through the trials of life and death. There is a day coming, when our souls will be inquired after. Thou hadst a soul committed to thee; how was it employed? in the service of sin, or in the service of Christ? The hope of the lowest real Christian rests on the same foundation as that of the great apostle. He also has learned the value and the danger of his soul; he also has believed in Christ; and the change wrought in his soul, convinces the believer that the Lord Jesus will keep him to his heavenly kingdom. 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the which cause I also suffer these things - That is, I suffer on account of my purpose to carry the gospel to the Gentiles; see the notes at Colossians 1:24.

Nevertheless I am not ashamed - compare the notes at Romans 1:16.

For I know whom I have believed - Margin, "trusted." The idea is, that he understood the character of that Redeemer to whom he had committed his eternal interests, and knew that he had no reason to be ashamed of confiding in him. He was able to keep all that he had intrusted to his care, and would not suffer him to be lost; see Isaiah 28:16.

And am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him - That is, the soul, with all its immortal interests. A man has nothing of higher value to intrust to another than the interests of his soul, and there is no other act of confidence like that in which he intrusts the keeping of that soul to the Son of God. Hence, learn:

(1) that religion consists in committing the soul to the care of the Lord Jesus; because:

(a) We feel that we cannot secure the soul's salvation ourselves.

(b) The soul is by nature in danger.

(c) If not saved by him, the soul will not be saved at all.

(2) that the soul is a great and invaluable treasure which is committed to him.

(a) No higher treasure can be committed to another;

(b) In connection with that the whole question of our happiness on earth and in heaven is entrusted to him, and all depends on his fidelity.

(3) it is done by the true Christian with the most entire confidence, so that the mind is at rest. The grounds of this confidence are:

(a) what is said of the mighty power of the Saviour;

(b) his promises that he will keep all who confide in him (compare the notes at John 10:27-29;

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. For the which cause—For the Gospel cause of which I was appointed a preacher (2Ti 1:10, 11).

I also suffer—besides my active work as a missionary. Ellicott translates, "I suffer even these things"; the sufferings attendant on my being a prisoner (2Ti 1:8, 15).

I am not ashamed—neither be thou (2Ti 1:8).

for—Confidence as to the future drives away shame [Bengel].

I know—though the world knows Him not (Joh 10:14; 17:25).

whom—I know what a faithful, promise-keeping God He is (2Ti 2:13). It is not, I know how I have believed, but, I know WHOM I have believed; a feeble faith may clasp a strong Saviour.

believed—rather, "trusted"; carrying out the metaphor of a depositor depositing his pledge with one whom he trusts.

am persuaded—(Ro 8:38).

he is able—in spite of so many foes around me.

that which I have committed unto him—Greek, "my deposit"; the body, soul, and spirit, which I have deposited in God's safe keeping (1Th 5:23; 1Pe 4:19). So Christ Himself in dying (Lu 23:46). "God deposits with us His word; we deposit with God our spirit" [Grotius]. There is one deposit (His revelation) committed by God to us, which we ought to keep (2Ti 1:13, 14) and transmit to others (2Ti 2:2); there is another committed by God to us, which we should commit to His keeping, namely, ourselves and our heavenly portion.

that day—the day of His appearing (2Ti 1:18; 2Ti 4:8).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For the which cause I also suffer these things; for the preaching and publishing of which gospel, or for the teaching of the Gentiles, I suffer these things, being accused by the Jews as a seditious person stirring up the people, and by them delivered to the Romans, and by them imprisoned.

Nevertheless I am not ashamed; yet I am not ashamed of my chains.

For I know whom I have believed, I have committed myself to God,

and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day; and I am out of doubt concerning God’s ability to keep until the day of judgment my soul, or my whole concerns both for this life and another, which I have by faith committed to him. Some, by that which I have committed unto him, in this text, understand the church or body of believers; others understand the fruit and reward of his labours and suffering. Mr. Calvin would have life eternal here meant; our eternal salvation is in Christ’s keeping. I rather incline to the first notion; so it agreeth with 1 Peter 4:19. God commits his gospel to our trust who are ministers, 1 Timothy 6:20; we, according to the phrase of Scripture, are said to commit our souls to him, Luke 23:46 Acts 7:59. I am, saith Paul, unconcerned as to my sufferings, I have intrusted God with all my coucerns in order to this life and that which is to come, and I know he is able to secure them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the which cause I also suffer these things,.... The present imprisonment and bonds in which he now was; these, with all the indignities, reproaches, distresses, and persecutions, came upon him, for the sake of his being a preacher of the Gospel; and particularly for his being a teacher of the Gentiles: the Jews hated him, and persecuted him, because he preached the Gospel, and the more because he preached it to the Gentiles, that they might be saved; and the unbelieving Gentiles were stirred up against him, for introducing a new religion among them, to the destruction of their idolatry and superstition; and the sufferings which he endured were many; and he was appointed to them, as well as to the Gospel, which he preached.

Nevertheless I am not ashamed; neither of the Gospel, and the truths and ordinances of it, for which he suffered; but he continued to own and confess it constantly, and to preach it boldly; none of these things moved him from it: nor of the sufferings he endured, for the sake of it; since they were not for murder, or theft, or sedition, or any enormity whatever, but in a good cause; wherefore he was so far from being ashamed of them, that he took pleasure in them, and gloried of them. Nor was he ashamed of Christ, whose Gospel he preached, and for whom he suffered; nor of his faith and hope in him. For it follows,

for I know whom I have believed. A spiritual knowledge of Christ is necessary to faith in him: an unknown Christ cannot be the object of faith, though an unseen Christ, as to bodily sight, may be, and is. Knowledge and faith go together: they that truly know Christ, believe in him, and the more they know him, the more strongly do they believe in him: such who spiritually and savingly know Christ, have seen the glories of his person, and the fulness of his grace; and they approve of him, as their Saviour, being every way suitable to them, and disapprove of all others; they love him above all others, and with all their hearts; and they put their trust in him, and trust him with all they have; and they know whom they trust, what an able, willing, suitable, and complete Saviour he is. This knowledge which they have of him, is not from themselves, but from the Father, who reveals him to them, and in them; and from himself, who gives them an understanding that they may know him; and from the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: and be it more or less, it is practical, and leads to the discharge of duty, from a principle of love to Christ; and is of a soul humbling nature, and appropriates Christ to a man's self; and has always some degree of certainty in it; and though it is imperfect, it is progressive; and the least measure of it is saving, and has eternal life connected with it: and that faith which accompanies it, and terminates on the object known, is the grace, by which a man sees Christ in the riches of his grace; goes to him in a sense of need of him; lays hold upon him as a Saviour; receives and embraces him; commits its all unto him; trusts him with all; leans and lives upon him, and walks on in him till it receives the end of faith, even eternal salvation.

And I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. By that which he had committed to him is meant, not the great treasure of his labours and sufferings for Christ, as if he had deposited these in Christ's hands, in order to be brought forth at the great day of account to his advantage; for though his labours and sufferings were many, yet he always ascribed the strength by which he endured them to the grace of God; and he knew they were not worthy to be compared, nor made mention of, with the glory that was to be revealed in him. Rather this may be understood of the souls of those he had been instrumental in the converting of, whom he had commended to Christ, hoping to meet them as his joy and crown of rejoicing another day; though it seems best of all to interpret it either of his natural life, the care of which he had committed to Christ, and which he knew he was able to preserve, and would preserve for usefulness until the day appointed for his death; or rather his precious and immortal soul, and the eternal welfare and salvation of it: and the act of committing it to Christ, designs his giving himself to him, leaving himself with him, trusting in him for eternal life and salvation, believing he was able to save him to the uttermost; even unto the day of death, when he hoped to be with him, which is far better than to be in this world; and unto the day of the resurrection, when both soul and body will be glorified with him; and to the day of judgment, when the crown of righteousness will be received from his hands. And what might induce the apostle, and so any other believer, to conclude the ability of Christ to keep the souls of those that are committed to him, are, his proper deity, he having all the fulness of the Godhead, or the perfections of deity dwelling in him; his being the Creator and upholder of all things; his having accomplished the great work of redemption and salvation, by his own arm; his mediatorial fulness of grace and power; and his being trusted by his Father with all the persons, grace, and glory of the elect, to whom he has been faithful. And now the consideration of all this, as it was a support to the apostle, under all his afflictions, and sufferings for the Gospel, and in a view of death itself, so it may be, as it often has been, a relief to believers, under all the sorrows of this life, and in a prospect of death and eternity. Philo the Jew (b) speaks in like manner as the apostle here of , "the depositum of the soul": though he knew not where to commit it for safety, as the apostle did, and every true believer does.

(b) Quis rer. Divin. Haeres. p. 498, 499.

Geneva Study Bible

{6} For the which cause I also suffer these things: {7} 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.

(6) He confirms his apostleship by a strange argument, that is, because the world could not abide it, and therefore it persecuted him that preached it.

(7) By setting his own example before us, he shows us how it may be, that we will not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, that is, if we are sure that God both can and will keep the salvation which he has as it were laid up in store by himself for us against that day.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Timothy 1:12. Διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν (see on 2 Timothy 1:6) refers to what immediately precedes: “therefore, because I am appointed apostle.”

καὶ ταῦτα πάσχω] goes back to 2 Timothy 1:8. Και expresses the relation corresponding to what was said in 2 Timothy 1:11.

ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐπαισχύνομαι] viz. of the sufferings; said in reference to μὴ οὖν ἐπαισχυνθῇς in 2 Timothy 1:8. Imprisonment is to me not a disgrace, but a καύχημα; comp. Romans 5:3; Colossians 1:24. The apostle thereby declares that his suffering does not prevent him from preaching the μαρτύριον τοῦ κυρίου (2 Timothy 1:8) as a κήρυξ κ.τ.λ. The reason is given in the next words: οἶδα γὰρ ᾧ πεπίστευκα. Heydenreich inaccurately: “I know Him on whom I have trusted;” de Wette rightly: “I know on whom I have set my trust.”

This is defined more precisely by: καὶ πέπεισμαι, ὅτι δυνατός ἐστι κ.τ.λ., which words are closely connected with those previous, in the sense: I know, that He in whom I trust is mighty, etc.

The confidence that God can keep His παραθήκη, is the reason of his οὐκ ἐπαισχύνεσθαι. With οἶδα … καὶ πέπεισμαι, comp. Romans 14:14; with on ὅτι δυν. ἐστι, comp. Romans 11:23; Romans 14:4; 2 Corinthians 9:8.

On the meaning of τὴν παραθήκην (Rec. παρακαταθήκην) μου, expositors have spoken very arbitrarily. Theodoret says: παρακαταθήκην, ἢ τὴν πίστιν φησὶ καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα, ἢ τοὺς πιστοὺς, οὓς παρέθετο αὐτῷ ὁ Χριστὸς ἢ οὓς αὐτὸς παρέθετο τῷ κυρίῳ, ἢ παρακαταθήκην λέγει τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν.

The same substantive occurs again at 2 Timothy 1:13; so, too, at 1 Timothy 6:20.

It is hardly possible to imagine that Paul in 2 Timothy 1:14 should have meant something else by παραθήκη than he means here; all the less that he connects the same verb with it in both passages. Though here we have μου, and God is the subject, still the supposition is not thereby justified.[16] The genitive ΜΟΥ may either be subjective or objective. In the former case, Ἡ ΠΑΡΑΘ. ΜΟΥ is something which Paul has entrusted or commended to God; in the latter, something which God has entrusted to Paul, or laid aside for him (a deposit destined for him). With the former view Hofmann understands by ΠΑΡΑΘΉΚΗ the apostle’s soul which he has commended to God; but there is nothing in the context to indicate this. Hofmann appeals to Psalm 31:6; but against this it is to be observed that nothing can justify him in supplying the idea of “soul” with the simple word παραθήκη.

With the latter view of the genitive, Wiesinger understands by it the ΖΩῊ ΚΑῚ ἈΦΘΑΡΣΊΑ (2 Timothy 4:8 : Ὁ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗς ΣΤΈΦΑΝΟς) already mentioned; so, too, Plitt; van Oosterzee, too, agrees with this view, though he, without good grounds, explains ΜΟΥ as a subjective genitive. Against this interpretation there is the fact that with the sentence ΕἸς Ὃ ἘΤΈΘΗΝ the apostle’s thought has already turned from the ΖΩῊ ΚΑῚ ἈΦΘΑΡΣΊΑ to his ΔΙΑΚΟΝΊΑ. The following interpretation suits best with the context: for what other reason could there be for the apostle’s ΟὐΚ ἘΠΑΙΣΧΎΝΟΜΑΙ than the confidence that God would keep the ΔΙΑΚΟΝΊΑ in which, or for whose sake, he had to suffer, would keep it so that it would not be injured by his suffering.

It is less suitable to understand by the ΠΑΡΑΘΉΚΗ the gospel, because the ΜΟΥ, pointing to something entrusted to the apostle personally, does not agree with this. By adding ΕἸς ἘΚΕΊΝΗΝ ΤῊΝ ἩΜΈΡΑΝ, the apostle sets forth that the ΠΑΡΑΘΉΚΗ is not only kept “till that day” (Heydenreich, Wiesinger, Otto[17]), but “for that day,” i.e. that it may be then manifested in its uninjured splendour. The phrase ἐκείνη ἡ ἡμέρα is equivalent to ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, “the day of Christ’s second coming”; it is found also in 2 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 4:8, 2 Thessalonians 1:10, and more frequently in the Gospels. On the meaning of the preposition εἰς, comp. Meyer on Php 1:10.

[16] Wiesinger adduces three counter-reasons—(1) in ver. 14 φυλάσσειν is represented as Timothy’s business, here as God’s; (2) in ver. 14 παραθήκη refers to the doctrine, here it is represented as a personal possession; (3) in ver. 14 he is discussing the right behaviour for Timothy, here the confidence in the right behaviour. But against the first reason, it is to be observed that φυλάσσειν of every gift of grace is the business both of God and of the man to whom it is entrusted; in ver. 11 it is expressly said, διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου. Against the second reason, it may be urged that to interpret παραθήκη of doctrine in ver. 14 is at least doubtful; but even if it were correct, still the gospel, too, might be regarded as something given personally to the apostle; comp. 1 Timothy 1:11 : τὸ εὐαγγέλιον … ὁ ἐπιστεύθην ἐγώ; Romans 2:16 : to τὸ εὐαγγέλίον μου. Against the third reason, it may be said that no one can really keep the blessing entrusted to him without having confidence that God keeps it for him, and no one can have this confidence without himself preserving the blessing (διὰ πν. ἁγίου).

[17] Otto wrongly uses this passage to support his assertion that in this epistle “there is no trace to be found of forebodings and expectations of death.” He says: “If Paul has confidence in the Lord, that he can maintain for him the παραθήκη till the παρουσία, he must also have hoped that his official work would not be interrupted by his bodily death, since the apostle in it does not in any way express the hope that God would maintain for him his official work till the day of Christ.” The “for him” is arbitrarily imported, and φυλάσσειν does not mean “maintain.”

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Timothy 1:12. διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν: i.e., because I am a preacher of the Gospel. Cf. Galatians 5:11.

οὐκ ἐπαισχύνομαι: Non confundor. I am not disappointed of my hope, as in ref.

πεπίστευκα … πέπεισμαι: The perfects have their usual force. For πέπεισμαι see Romans 8:38 and note on 2 Timothy 1:5.

τὴν παραθήκην μου is best taken as that which I have deposited for safe keeping. Cf. the story of St. John and the robber from Clem. Alex. Quis Dives, § 42, quoted by Eus. H. E. iii. 23, τὴν παρακαταθήκην ἀπόδος ἡμῖν. Here it means “my soul” or “myself,” cf. Psalms 30 (31):6, εἰς χεῖράς σου παραθήσομαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου, Luke 23:46, 1 Peter 4:19, 1 Thessalonians 5:23. This explanation of παραθήκην harmonises best with ἐπαισχύνομαι, πεπίστευκα, and φυλάξαι. The whole verse has a purely personal reference. Nothing but a desire to give παραθήκη the same meaning wherever it occurs (1 Timothy 6:20, q.v.; 2 Timothy 1:14) could have made Chrys. explain it here as “the faith, the preaching of the Gospel”. So R.V.m., that which he hath committed unto me. “Paulus, decessui proximus, duo deposita habebat: alterum Domino, alterum Timotheo committendum,” Bengel. This exegesis compels us to refer ὧ to God the Father.

εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν: The day of judgment and award, 1 Corinthians 3:13.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. For the which cause I also suffer these things] R.V. places ‘also’ after ‘suffer’ that the emphasis may belong as much to ‘these things’ as to ‘suffer’ according to the order of the Greek; and substitutes yet for ‘nevertheless,’ which is too emphatic for the Greek word.

am not ashamed] The reference to 2 Timothy 1:8 is obvious, as ‘these things’ are the chains and dungeon of ‘the Lord’s prisoner.’ Cf. Romans 1:16.

I know whom I have believed] Rather with R.V. him whom, because it is the relative not the interrogative pronoun that is used.

to keep that which I have committed unto him] R.V. places in the margin the alternative sense, according to its rule when the balance of authority is nearly even, ‘that which he hath committed unto me’; and gives the literal Greek ‘my deposit.’ The genitive of the personal pronoun rendered ‘my’ may be either subjective here or objective; hence the uncertainty, which the context does not clear up entirely. On the whole, looking to the speciality of the phrase and its use in 1 Timothy 6:20, and below 2 Timothy 1:14 of Timothy’s guarding of the sound doctrine handed on to him, and here only besides,—it seems most probable that St Paul is adopting, to describe God’s commission to him, the same words in which he describes the same commission to Timothy. And by a change very characteristic of St Paul, when we might have expected the phrase to run ‘am persuaded that I shall be enabled to guard’ it is made to run ‘am persuaded that he is able to guard.’ Cf. ‘yet not I, but Christ liveth in me’ Galatians 2:20. The guarding, thus, is exactly the same, viz. God’s, in the 14th verse, ‘guard through the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.’ Compare Romans 7:24-25 with Romans 8:9. See note on 1 Timothy 6:20, for a fuller account of the ‘deposit’ itself, as the commission to hand on sound doctrine. If at the end of the first epistle this had become the Apostle’s chief absorbing anxiety, much more is it so now, in the very hour of his departure.

against that day] With a view to, in readiness for, that day; cf. Judges 6, ‘angels … he hath kept … unto the judgment of the great day.’

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Timothy 1:12. Ταῦτα πάσχω, I suffer these things) These adversities happen to me.—γὰρ, for) Confidence as to the future drives away shame.—ᾧ) He says ᾧ, not τίνι. I know Him, in whom I have placed my faith, although the world knows Him not.—πεπίστευκα) I have believed, and committed to Him my deposit. Here the faithfulness of God is intended; comp. ch. 2 Timothy 2:13 : His power also is presently afterwards mentioned [He is able],—πέπεισμαι, I am persuaded) Romans 8:38.—δυνατὸς, able) against so many enemies.—τὴν παραθήκην, my deposit) There is one deposit which, committed to us by God, we ought to keep, 2 Timothy 1:13; comp. ch. 2 Timothy 2:2, παράθου, commit: there is another which, committed to God by us, and mentioned in this verse, He keeps; and this is indeed our soul, 1 Peter 4:19; comp. Luke 23:46, that is, ourselves and our heavenly portion. Paul, with death immediately before him, had two deposits, one to be committed to the Lord, and another to Timothy.—φυλάξαι, to keep) even in death.—ἐκείνην, that) 2 Timothy 1:18, ch. 2 Timothy 4:8.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Suffer also for also suffer, A.V.; yet for nevertheless, A.V.; him whom for whom, A.V.; guard for keep, A.V. For the which cause (ver. 6, note) I suffer also. The apostle adds the weight of his own example to the preceding exhortation. What he was exhorting Timothy to do he was actually doing himself, without any wavering or hesitation or misgiving as to the result. I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him. The ground of the apostle's confidence, even in the hour of extreme peril, was his perfect trust in the faithfulness of God. This he expresses in a metaphor drawn from the common action of one person entrusting another with some precious deposit, to be kept for a time and restored whole and uninjured. All the words in the sentence are part of this metaphor. The verb πεπίστευκα must be taken in the sense of "entrusting" (curae ac fidei alicujus committo), as Luke 16:11. So πιστευθῆναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, "to be entrusted with the gospel" (1 Thessalonians 2:4); οἰκονομίαν πεπιστεῦμαι, "I am entrusted with a dispensation" (1 Corinthians 9:17; see Wisd. 14:5, etc.). And so in classical Greek, πιστεύειν τινί τι means "to entrust something to another" to take care of for you. Here, then, St. Paul says (not as in the R.V., "I know him whom I have believed," which is quite inadmissible, but), "I know whom I have trusted [i.e. in whom I have placed confidence, and to whom I have committed the keeping of my deposit], and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have entrusted to him (τὴν παραθήκην μου) unto that day." The παραθηκή is the thing which Paul entrusted to his faithful guardian, one who he knew would never betray the trust, but would restore it to him safe and sound at the day of Christ. What the παραθήκη was may be difficult to express in any one word, but it comprised himself, his life, his whole treasure, his salvation, his joy, his eternal happiness - all for the sake of which he risked life and limb in this world, content to lose sight of them for a while, knowing that he should receive them all from the hands of God in the day of Christ. All thus hangs perfectly together. There can be no reasonable doubt that παραθήκην μου means, "my deposit" - that which I have deposited with him. Neither is there the slightest difficulty in the different applications of the same metaphor in ver. 14 and in 1 Timothy 6:20. For it is as true that God entrusts to his faithful servants the deposit of the faith, to be kept by them with jealous fidelity, as it is that his servants entrust to him the keeping of their souls, as knowing him to be faithful. 2 Timothy 1:12

Vincent's Word Studies

I am not ashamed

Comp. 2 Timothy 1:8, and Romans 1:16.

Whom I have believed (ᾧ πεπίστευκα)

Or, in whom I have put my trust. See on John 1:12; see on John 2:22; see on Romans 4:5.

Able (δυνατός)

Often used with a stronger meaning, as 1 Corinthians 1:26, mighty; Acts 25:5, οἱδυνατοὶ the chief men: as a designation of God, ὁ δυνατός the mighty one, Luke 1:49 : of preeminent ability or power in something, as of Jesus, δυνατός ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ λόγῳ mighty in deed and word, Luke 24:19 : of spiritual agencies, "The weapons of our warfare are δυνατὰ mighty," etc., 2 Corinthians 10:4. Very often in lxx.

That which I have committed (τὴν παραθήκην μου)

More correctly, that which has been committed unto me: my sacred trust. The meaning of the passage is that Paul is convinced that God is strong to enable him to be faithful to his apostolic calling, in spite of the sufferings which attend it, until the day when he shall be summoned to render his final account. The παραθήκη or thing committed to him was the same as that which he had committed to Timothy that; he might teach others (1 Timothy 6:20). It was the form of sound words (2 Timothy 1:13); that which Timothy had heard from Paul (2 Timothy 2:2); that fair deposit (2 Timothy 1:14). It was the gospel to which Paul had been appointed (2 Timothy 1:11); which had been intrusted to him (1 Timothy 1:11; Titus 1:3; comp. 1 Corinthians 9:17; Galatians 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 2:4). The verb παρατιθέναι to commit to one's charge is a favorite with Luke. See Luke 12:48; Acts 20:32. Sums deposited with a Bishop for the use of the church were called παραθῆκαι τῆς ἐκκλησίας trust-funds of the church. In the Epistle of the pseudo-Ignatius to Hero (vii.) we read: "Keep my deposit (παραθήκην) which I and Christ have committed (παρθέμεθα) to you. I commit (παρατίθημι) to you the church of the Antiochenes."

That day (ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν)

The day of Christ's second appearing. See on 1 Thessalonians 5:2. In this sense the phrase occurs in the N.T. Epistles only 2 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 4:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; but often in the Gospels, as Matthew 7:22; Matthew 26:29; Mark 13:32, etc. The day of the Lord's appearing is designated by Paul as ἡ ἡμέρα, absolutely, the day, Romans 13:12; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:4 : ἡμέρα τοῦ κυρίου the day of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2 : the day of Jesus Christ or Christ, Philippians 1:6, Philippians 1:10; Philippians 2:16: the day when God shall judge, Romans 2:16 : the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, Romans 2:5 : the day of redemption, Ephesians 4:30.