The holy spirit helper

THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Timothy 1:14 14Guardthe good depositthat was
entrusted to you-guard it with the help of the Holy
Spirit who lives in us.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Importance Of Preserving The Precious DepositOfDoctrine
2 Timothy 1:14
T. Croskery
I. THERE IS A SYSTEM OF TRUTH DEPOSITEDIN THE HANDS OF
THE CHURCH. "That gooddeposit keepthrough the Holy Ghost who
dwelleth in us."
1. The truth is not discoveredby the Church, but deposited in its keeping.
This is the significance ofthe words of Jude, when he speaks of"the faith once
delivered to the saints." That is
(1) "the faith" - a systemof gospeldoctrines recognizedby the Church at
large;
(2) "delivered," not discoveredor elaboratedout of the Christian
consciousness;
(3) "once" delivered, in reference to the point of time when the revelationwas
made by inspired men;

(4) deposited in the hands of men - "to the saints" - as trustees, for its safe
keeping. It is "a gooddeposit;" goodin its Author, its matter, its results, its
end.
II. IT IS THE DUTY OF MINISTERS AND MEMBERSOF THE CHURCH
TO KEEP THIS DEPOSIT.
1. They ought to do it, because it is a commanded duty.
2. Becauseit is for the Church's edification, safety, and stability.
3. Becauseit is for the glory of God.
4. They cannotdo it exceptin the power of "the Holy Ghostwho 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 rejectthe adulterations and mixtures of false systems. - T.C.

Biblical Illustrator
That goodthing which was committed unto thee.
2 Timothy 1:14
The sacredtrust
A. Reed, D. D.
I. THE CHARGE, — the truth, the Word of God, which —
1. Unfolds the true God.
2. Proclaims life and salvationthrough the Redeemer.
3. Brings life and immortality to light.
II. THE DUTY. We should have —
1. A correctknowledge ofthe 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 ofits responsibility.
III. THE ASSISTANCE.
1. Our necessitiesare connectedwith the Holy Spirit's ability.
2. Rejoice in His readiness to help.
(A. Reed, D. D.)
Goodthings
J. Barlow, D. D.

Here are those reprehended who never had any care to possessthese worthy
things. Nothing in man, or out of him, that is of greaterworth, and nothing
less regarded. We do count that personblessedthat hath his house hung with
rich arras, his chests full of gold, and his barns stuffed with corn; and yet we
never have esteemof these excellentand rare things. Truly, the leastdegree of
faith is more worth than all the gold of Ophir; a remnant of true love than all
the gaygarments 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, shalldeclare it to
be so. Are they worthy things? Then put them to the best uses, and abuse
them not. And, in the lastplace, seeing these be worthy things, let us all labour
to possessthem, 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 gottenis to be preserved
J. Barlow, D. D.
Because, if grace grow weak,the pattern will not be practised. When all the
parts of the natural body be in a consumption, canwe walk and work in the
duties of our particular callings? And if the new man wax pale, and pine
away, the paths of God's commands will not be run or trodden. For, as all
natural actions proceedfrom the body's strength, and the purest spirit, so do
all spiritual from the vigour of grace and the new man. When men have got
some competencyof wealth, they lie long in bed, and will not up to work, and
so their riches waste. In like manner it falleth out with God's children; for
when they have attained to some competencyof gifts, they are highly
conceited, grow idle, neglectthe means, and so are over. takenwith spiritual
poverty, than the which what greaterloss? We must then learn here, not only
to get grace, but to keepit. 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 neverpinch us, pierce us? Shall Jonahbe so dejectedfor his
gourd, and we never be moved when grace is withered, ready to perish? Shall

the earthwormsigh at the loss of goods, and we never shrink at the shipwreck
of heavenly gilts? No greaterdamage than this, none less regarded, more
insensible. Let our plants begin to pine, our hair waxgrey 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 greatmourning. Then get grace,
keepgrace;so shall corruption be expelled, extenuated, and the pattern of
sound words observed, practised.
(J. Barlow, D. D.)
The Holy Spirit dwells in man
J. Barlow, D. D.
But He is infinite, therefore in all persons. True, yet He is in the faithful in a
peculiar and specialmanner, 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 saidto be in man,
although He be not wholly included in him. We accountit a fearful thing to
pull down or batter a prince's palace, it is death to washor clip the king's
coin, and shall we not tremble to wrong and injure this building, for such
cannot escapethe damnation of hell. This is for the comfort of the faithful.
For what greaterhonour than this, to have the high God to dwell in our
hearts? Should our sovereignbut come into a poor man's cottage,he would
rejoice, and goodreason, 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 solacethemselves in the remembrance of that? And here
let man learn a lessonand 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 descendso 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, cleanseththe inward man, though never so full of
filthiness in former time (1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:18). Thou wilt say,

Sir, by what way may I come to this thing? Why, thou must geta new heart,
for He will never lodge in the old, for that's naught.
(J. Barlow, D. D.)
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
E. H. Hopkins.
I. THE AUTHOR OF LIFE.
1. Before Be dwells in us He quickens us (Ephesians 2:1; John 3:5, 6; John
6:63).
2. Believers are temples of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians
6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16).
3. True of all believers (Romans 8:9).
4. Christ's promise respecting it (John 14:16, 17).
II. THE SOURCE OF UNITY.
1. His indwelling makes that unity a fact(Ephesians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 6:17; 1
Corinthians 12:13-20).
2. That factto be recognisedand cherished(Ephesians 4:3).
3. One building inhabited by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:22.)
III. THE PLEDGE OF GLORY.
1. The salvation bestowedand the salvation yet to be revealed. Grace and
glory (2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter1:5; Psalm 84:2).
2. The indwelling Spirit the earnestof our inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2
Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14).
3. Recognise His presence.
4. Honour and obey Him (Ephesians 4:30).

(E. H. Hopkins.)
RealChristianity
N. Smyth, D. D.
The providence of God requires all Christians and all Churches to show what
Christianity really is. Christianity is a largerand 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 calledto make realon earth?
I. THE CHRISTIANITYWHICH THE WORLD NEEDS PROBABLY
TRANSCENDS ANYSINGLE 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 successwith their
definitions of what every one knows by his own healthy pulse-beatings. The
definition is not made easierwhen 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, andwe
can hardly fail to leave whole realms of Christianity out when we have
finished our fences ofsystem and denomination.
II. CHRISTIANITY IS A LARGER THING THAN ANY ONE
PARTICULAR ASPECT OR EXEMPLIFICATION OF IT WHICH MEN
MAY BE TEMPTEDTO PUT IN THE PLACE OF IT. Christianity, as a
whole, is greaterthan the parts of it which men have hastily seizedupon, and
contended for as the faith of the saints. Christianity is that goodthing which
all the Churches hold in common, and it is greaterthan all. The Christianity
of Christ is that goodthing 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 ofpersons
are calledto 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 ofuniversal 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 supposederror the faith once
delivered to the saints, they narrow that faith into a theologicalconceptionof
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 saidbefore 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
Nazarethin the world. Hence, it would be a vain expectationto imagine that
the world can long retain the influence of Christ, the healing aroma of
Christianity, and let the Jesus ofthe 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 beganto exist on earth first upon the
afternoonof a certainday when the last of the Hebrew prophets, looking upon
Jesus as He walked, said, "Beholdthe Lamb of God." And two of his disciples

beard him speak, and they followedJesus. These menare now like new men in
another world; in Christ's presence allDivine things seempossible 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 againwith the memory in their hearts of a better world. After
a few years in Jesus'companionship, after all that they had witnessedof His
death and resurrection, they are themselves as men belonging to another
world, citizens of a better country, sojourning for a brief seasonhere. "Old
things are passedaway," 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 collectionof 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, andmartyr — he is the doctrine of Christ! The son
of thunder become the apostle of love — he is the doctrine of Christ! The
persecutorbecomes one who dies daily for the salvation of the Gentiles — he
is the doctrine of Christ!
V. CHRISTIANITY IS THE COMPANYOF DISCIPLES IN NEW
RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER, AND TOWARDS ALL MEN,
THROUGH CHRIST. The new redeemedsocietyis Christianity. A man
cannot be a Christian, at leastnot a whole Christian, by himself alone. To seek
to live a Christian life by one's self, in the secrecyofone's ownheart, is an
endeavour foreignto the original genius of Christianity. Christianity, when it
is finished, will be the best societygatheredfrom all the ages, the perfect
societyof the kingdom of heaven. How can a man expectto fit himself for that
blessedsocietyby neglecting here and new to enter into the fellowshipof

believers who seek to prepare themselves for that final societyof the Lord by
meeting and breaking bread togetherat His table? To be a Christian,
therefore, is to be actually a followerof 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 catchus 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!" exclaimedthe minister;
"is not that everything?"
An essentialprovisionof Christianity
J. Dixon, D. D.
Is not this powerof God, through the Holy Ghost, an essentialprovisionof
Christianity? Could the Word of God be "a living Word" without it? We can
no more conceive ofChristianity 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 basedupon 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, producedin perfect uniformity in all ages and
amongstall classes — we perceive that there must exist beneath the surface
some uniform power; and what canthis be but the powerof 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.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
That goodthing - The everlasting Gospel, keepby the Holy Ghost; for without
a continual spiritual energyman can do nothing. This indwelling Spirit will
make them effectualto thy own salvation, and enable thee to preachthem to
the salvationof the souls of others.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/2-timothy-
1.html. 1832.
return to 'Jump List'
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
That goodthing which was committed unto thee; - see the notes at 1 Timothy
6:20. The reference here in the phrase, “that goodthing 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 andthe love of truth is to cherish the
influences of the Holy Spirit.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14". "Barnes'Notes onthe
New Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/2-
timothy-1.html. 1870.
The Biblical Illustrator
2 Timothy 1:14
That goodthing which was committed unto thee.
The sacredtrust
I. The charge,--the truth, the Word of God, which--
1. Unfolds the true God.
2. Proclaims life and salvationthrough the Redeemer.
3. Brings life and immortality to light.
II. The duty. We should have--
1. A correctknowledge ofthe 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 ofits responsibility.
III. The assistance.
1. Our necessitiesare connectedwith the Holy Spirit’s ability.
2. Rejoice in His readiness to help. (A. Reed, D. D.)
Goodthings
Here are those reprehended who never had any care to possessthese worthy
things. Nothing in man, or out of him, that is of greaterworth, and nothing
less regarded. We do count that personblessedthat hath his house hung with
rich arras, his chests full of gold, and his barns stuffed with corn; and yet we
never have esteemof these excellentand rare things. Truly, the leastdegree of
faith is more worth than all the gold of Ophir; a remnant of true love than all
the gaygarments 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, shalldeclare it to
be so. Are they worthy things? Then put them to the best uses, and abuse
them not. And, in the lastplace, seeing these be worthy things, let us all labour
to possessthem, 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 gottenis 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, canwe walk and work in the
duties of our particular callings? And if the new man wax pale, and pine
away, the paths of God’s commands will not be run or trodden. For, as all
natural actions proceedfrom the body’s strength, and the purest spirit, so do
all spiritual from the vigour of grace and the new man. When men have got

some competencyof wealth, they lie long in bed, and will not up to work, and
so their riches waste. In like manner it falleth out with God’s children; for
when they have attained to some competencyof gifts, they are highly
conceited, grow idle, neglectthe means, and so are over taken with spiritual
poverty, than the which what greaterloss? We must then learn here, not only
to get grace, but to keepit. 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 neverpinch us, pierce us? Shall Jonahbe so dejectedfor his
gourd, and we never be moved when grace is withered, ready to perish? Shall
the earthwormsigh at the loss of goods, and we never shrink at the shipwreck
of heavenly gilts? No greaterdamage than this, none less regarded, more
insensible. Let our plants begin to pine, our hair waxgrey 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 getgrace,
keepgrace;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 specialmanner, 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 saidto be in man,
although He be not wholly included in him. We accountit a fearful thing to
pull down or batter a prince’s palace, it is death to washor clip the king’s
coin, and shall we not tremble to wrong and injure this building, for such
cannot escapethe damnation of hell. This is for the comfort of the faithful.
For what greaterhonour than this, to have the high God to dwell in our
hearts? Should our sovereignbut come into a poor man’s cottage,he would
rejoice, and goodreason, 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 solacethemselves in the remembrance of that? And here
let man learn a lessonand 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 descendso 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, cleanseththe inward man, though never so full of
filthiness in former time (1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:18). Thou wilt say,
Sir, by what way may I come to this thing? Why, thou must geta new heart,
for He will never lodge in the old, for that’s 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 (Ephesians 2:1; John 3:5-6; John
6:63).
2. Believers are temples of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians
6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16).
3. True of all believers (Romans 8:9).
4. Christ’s promise respecting it (John 14:16-17).
II. The source ofunity.
1. His indwelling makes that unity a fact(Ephesians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 6:17; 1
Corinthians 12:13-20).
2. That factto be recognisedand cherished(Ephesians 4:3).
3. One building inhabited by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:22.)
III. The pledge of glory.
1. The salvation bestowedand the salvation yet to be revealed. Grace and
glory (2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter1:5; Psalms 84:2).
2. The indwelling Spirit the earnestof our inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22; 2
Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14).

3. Recognise His presence.
4. Honour and obey Him (Ephesians 4:30). (E. H. Hopkins.)
RealChristianity
The providence of God requires all Christians and all Churches to show what
Christianity really is. Christianity is a largerand 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 calledto make realon 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
successwith their definitions of what every one knows by his own healthy
pulse-beatings. The definition is not made easierwhenwe 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, andwe canhardly 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 aspector
exemplification of it which men may be tempted to put in the place of it.
Christianity, as a whole, is greaterthan the parts of it which men have hastily
seizedupon, and contended for as the faith of the saints. Christianity is that
goodthing which all the Churches hold in common, and it is greaterthan all.
The Christianity of Christ is that goodthing 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 offaith which have been done on earth. It
would be easyto 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 gospelwhichfollow 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 ofuniversal law, and the Christ is the Life because He is also
the Truth. Others, on the contrary, impressedby the order and grandeur of
the truths of revelation, repeatedly fall into merely doctrinal definitions of
Christianity; and, even while defending from supposederror the faith once
delivered to the saints, they narrow that faith into a theologicalconceptionof
Christianity which may have indeed much of the truth, but little of the Spirit
of Christ.
III. Christianity is that goodthing which we have receivedfrom Christ. In
other words, Christianity is not a spirit merely, or idea, or influence, which we
still callby 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. Jesusonce saidbefore 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 Nazarethin the world. Hence,
it would be a vain expectationto imagine that the world canlong 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 anotherday even its perfume would have
vanished. The Christianity of Christ is a living love.
IV. Christianity is a changedrelationship 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, “Beholdthe Lamb
of God.” And two of his disciples beard him speak, and they followedJesus.
These men are now like new men in another world; in Christ’s presence all
Divine things seempossible to them; they are changedfrom 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 againwith the
memory in their hearts of a better world. After a few years in Jesus’
companionship, after all that they had witnessedofHis death and
resurrection, they are themselves as men belonging to another world, citizens
of a better country, sojourning for a brief seasonhere. “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 systemof words. It is not a
book, or a collectionof 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 persecutorbecomes one who dies daily
for the salvationof 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 societyis
Christianity. A man cannot be a Christian, at leastnot a whole Christian, by
himself alone. To seek to live a Christian life by one’s self, in the secrecyof
one’s own heart, is an endeavour foreign to the original genius of Christianity.
Christianity, when it is finished, will be the bestsocietygatheredfrom all the
ages, the perfect societyof the kingdom of heaven. How can a man expectto

fit himself for that blessedsocietyby neglecting here and new to enter into the
fellowship of believers who seek to prepare themselves for that final societyof
the Lord by meeting and breaking bread togetherat His table? To be a
Christian, therefore, is to be actually a followerof Christ with His disciples.
And to make real and not merely nominal work of it We shall need often with
deliberate resolutionto 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!” exclaimedthe minister;
“is not that everything?”
An essentialprovisionof Christianity
Is not this powerof God, through the Holy Ghost, an essentialprovisionof
Christianity? Could the Word of God be “a living Word” without it? We can
no more conceive ofChristianity 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 basedupon 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, producedin perfect uniformity in all ages and amongst
all classes--we perceive thatthere must exist beneath the surface some
uniform power; and what canthis be but the powerof 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.)

Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Exell, JosephS. "Commentary on "2 Timothy 1:14". The Biblical Illustrator.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/2-timothy-1.html. 1905-
1909. New York.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
That goodthing which was committed unto thee guard through the Holy
Spirit which dwelleth in us.
"The goodthing" here is the gospelwhich long ago had been committed to
Timothy when he became a preacherof the word of God; but at the time of
this letter, with the death of the apostle looming ahead, there was a special
sense in which the propagation of the truth would be left in the hands of
Timothy, committed to his trust.
It was especiallynecessarythat in those days before the New Testamentwas
available the utmost concernshould have been exercisedon the part of men
like Timothy in order to be positively certain that they preservedand
transmitted to posterity the true teachings and writings of the inspired men.
We may surely believe that Timothy lived up to this trust.
Through the Holy Spirit that dwelleth in us ... Supernatural guidance through
the blessedSpirit gave the apostles possessionof"all truth"; and this is a
promise that the same Holy Spirit would aid men like Timothy in the
guarding of it.
Copyright Statement

James Burton Coffman Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Bibliography
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Coffman
Commentaries on the Old and New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/2-timothy-1.html. Abilene
Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
That goodthing which was committed to thee,.... By which he means either his
ministerial work and office, which is a goodwork, the dispensationof 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 excellentgifts of the Spirit,
which qualified him for the discharge ofthat work, and which were not to be
neglected, but to be stirred up, exercised, and improved, lestthey should be
lost, or took away;or rather the Gospel, which was committed to his trust, to
preach: and this may be calleda goodthing, from the author of it, who is
good, whence it is named the Gospelof God, and the Gospelof Christ; and
from the matter of it, it consists ofgoodthings come by Christ, the High
priest, and which it publishes, such as peace, pardon, righteousness, and
eternal salvationby 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 powerof God in regenerationand sanctificationunto
salvationto everyone that believes. And it being said to be "committed to"
Timothy, denotes the excellencyof it; that it is a treasure, as indeed it is a rich
one, it contains the riches of grace, eventhe 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 accountedfor. Wherefore greatcare should be had in dispensing and
keeping it:

keepby 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
snatchedawayfrom 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 ofchurches, 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 ofhis 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, John
14:16.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "The New John Gill
Exposition of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/2-timothy-1.html. 1999.
Geneva Study Bible

9 That goodthing which was committed unto thee keep10 by the Holy Ghost
which dwelleth in us.
(9) An amplification, takenfrom the dignity of so greata benefit committed to
the ministers.
(10) The taking awayof an objection. It is a hard thing to do it, but the Spirit
of God is mighty, who has inwardly endued us with his power.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Beza, Theodore. "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14". "The 1599 Geneva Study
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/2-timothy-1.html.
1599-1645.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Translate as Greek, “Thatgoodlydeposit keepthrough the Holy Ghost,”
namely, “the sound words which I have committed to thee” (2 Timothy 1:13; 2
Timothy 2:2).
in us — in all believers, not merely in you and me. The indwelling Spirit
enables us to keepfrom the robbers of the soul the deposit of His word
committed to us by God.

Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on 2
Timothy 1:14". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/2-timothy-1.html. 1871-8.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
That goodthing which was committed unto thee (την καληνπαρατηκην — tēn
kalēnparathēkēn). Simply, “the gooddeposit.”
Guard (πυλαχον— phulaxon). As in 1 Timothy 6:20. God has also made an
investment in Timothy (cf. 2 Timothy 1:12). Timothy must not let that fail.
Which dwelleth in us (του ενοικουντος ενημιν — tou enoikountos en hēmin).
It is only through the Holy Spirit that Timothy or any of us canguard God‘s
deposit with us.
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography

Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Robertson'sWord
Pictures of the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/2-timothy-1.html.
Broadman Press 1932,33.Renewal1960.
Vincent's Word Studies
That goodthing which was committed ( τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην)
That fair, honorable trust, goodand beautiful in itself, and honorable to him
who receives it. The phrase N.T.oSee on2 Timothy 1:12. Comp. the good
warfare, 1 Timothy 1:18; teaching, 1 Timothy 4:6; fight, 1 Timothy 6:12;
confession, 1 Timothy 6:12.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14". "Vincent's Word
Studies in the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/2-timothy-1.html. Charles
Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
That goodthing which was committed unto thee keepby the Holy Ghost
The goodthing — This wholesome doctrine.
Copyright Statement

These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "JohnWesley's
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/2-timothy-1.html. 1765.
Abbott's Illustrated New Testament
That goodthing; the sacredtrust of the ministry.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Abbott, John S. C. & Abbott, Jacob. "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14".
"Abbott's Illustrated New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ain/2-timothy-1.html. 1878.
Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
14Keepthe excellent thing committed to thee This exhortation is more
extensive than the preceding. He exhorts Timothy to considerwhat 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 (149)denotes that which is of high or singular value; and, therefore,
Erasmus has happily translated it (egregium ) “excellent,” forthe 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 lestwe lose by our indolence what
God has bestowedupon 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 receivedit, 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 hastnot 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 (150)By this he means, that the assistanceofthe Holy
Spirit is present to believers, provided that they do not reject it when it is
offered to them.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Calvin, John. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Calvin's Commentary on
the Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/2-timothy-
1.html. 1840-57.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
THE CHURCH AND ITS FAITH
‘That goodthing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost
Which dwelleth in us.’
2 Timothy 1:14
There is no Church throughout the world that has a nobler or more sublime
faith than the Church of England. What are we doing to preserve the
sublimity of this faith? Are we trying to preserve its noble simplicity? Are we
trying to do honour to our own Church, or are we contentto be honoured by
her in living on the glory of her past?
I. We ought to support such agenciesas the Church uses to promote its efforts
throughout the civilised world. Every Churchman ought to be a missionary in
the bestsense of the word. Every Churchman who believes that the Church
represents the best symbol of God’s truth ought to subscribe to the utmost of
his powerto support the Church in all its agencies—bothnational and
parochial.
II. We ought in our own circles to proclaim the Church’s faith.—We ought to
present its claim to our friends; not to let ourselves be held back by that false
liberalism which teaches that any form of faith is as goodas another. We
ought to feelthat we have accessto the Well of Living Waterfor which the
whole world is athirst.
III. We ought to live our daily lives so as to setforth before men the moral and
spiritual loveliness of the faith we have received. It is a shame to us that we see
men and womenoutside the Church who are living holier, purer, and more
devoted lives than we are. We ought to see that, little though our life may be,
though we may be poor, men may be able to say that the faith in us has helped

towards goodness andfaithful service. Do not be Church people only in name.
Do not let this faith seemto you merely a thing to argue about. Open your
hearts to this faith which commends itself to your reason. Openyour
innermost spirit to this faith which alone can satisfy your soul. Let us live in
it! Let us set it forth before men visibly in all that we think, in all that we do,
in all that we are.
Illustration
‘It is the Church of England which represents the religious genius of the
country. The Church of England has made the British race what it is. It is the
Church of England that struggledfor long centuries to secure the liberty and
freedom which is our boastto-day; it is the Church of England that broke
down the tyranny of kings;it is the Church of England that shattered
paralysing ecclesiasticism;it is the Church of England that gave us the Word
of God in our own tongue; it is the Church of England which has established
the schools,colleges, anduniversities for the advancement of learning; it is the
Church of England that alone until quite recent times provided for the
educationof the poor. This may seemto us a very boastful theme, but it is a
theme that you may take to the highestCourt of History and substantiate for
yourselves.’
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Nisbet, James. "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14". Church Pulpit
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cpc/2-timothy-
1.html. 1876.

John Trapp Complete Commentary
14 That goodthing which was committed unto thee keepby the Holy Ghost
Ver. 14. The goodthing that was, &c.]Thy crownof recompence, Revelation
3:11. Or thy converts, thy crownof rejoicing, 1 Thessalonians 2:19. Orthe
purity of thy doctrine, 1 Timothy 6:20. The gospelis 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 togetherfor this faith of
the gospel, Philippians 1:27, resolving either to live with it or die for it. Let us
earnestlycontend 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, Titus 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.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Trapp, John. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/2-timothy-
1.html. 1865-1868.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
14.]that goodly depositkeep, through the Holy Spirit who dwelleth in us (not
thee and me merely, but all believers: cf. Acts 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
ἐφέστηκενἤδη κ. ἐφεδρεύει).
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Alford, Henry. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". Greek TestamentCritical
ExegeticalCommentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/2-timothy-1.html. 1863-
1878.
Heinrich Meyer's Critical and ExegeticalCommentaryon the New Testament
2 Timothy 1:14. The exhortation in this verse is most closelyconnectedwith
that in 2 Timothy 1:13, for παραθήκη here, as in 2 Timothy 1:12, is the
ministry of the gospel.
τὴν καλὴν παραθήκηνφύλαξον]ἡ καλὴ παραθήκη is, like ἡ καλὴ διδασκαλία,
1 Timothy 4:6; ὁ καλὸς ἀγὼν κ. τ. λ., to be takenin a generalobjective sense.
There is no sufficient reasonfor interpreting παραθήκη otherwise than in 2
Timothy 1:12—whether, with Wiesingerand Hofmann, as equivalent to “the

sound doctrine,” or, with van Oosterzee, as equivalentto τὸ χάρισμα. Since all
that the apostle has enjoined on Timothy from 2 Timothy 1:6 onward has
specialreference to the discharge ofhis office, we may surely understand
παραθήκη to have the same meaning here as in 2 Timothy 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 2 Timothy 1:12 Paul looks to God for the
preservationof the παραθήκη, while here he lays it on Timothy as a duty;
God’s working does not exclude the activity of man. φυλάσσειν here, as in 2
Timothy 1:12, is: “to keepfrom harm uninjured,” and from the tendency of
the whole epistle it is clearthat this exhortation referred to the heresy which
perverted the gospel.
διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου]Chrysostom:οὐ γὰρ ἐστὶν ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς οὐδὲ
δυνάμεως, τοσαῦτα ἐμπιστευθέντα ἀρκέσαιπρὸς 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 shownby the words: τοῦ
ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν. On ἐνοικοῦντος, comp. 2 Timothy 1:5. ἐν ἡμῖν denotes
the Spirit as the one principle of the new life, working in all believers. ἡμῖν,
here as in 2 Timothy 1:6, must not be referred simply to Paul and Timothy;
nor is it to be overlookedthat Paul does not sayἐν σοί.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Meyer, Heinrich. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". Heinrich Meyer's
Critical and ExegeticalCommentary on the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hmc/2-timothy-1.html. 1832.

Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
2 Timothy 1:14. τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην, this gooddeposit) namely, the sound
words [words of salvation] which I have committed to thee; comp. ch. 2
Timothy 2:2.— διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου, by the Holy Spirit) He is the earnestof
the heavenly deposit, which he who keeps, also keepsthe deposit committed to
him; whence His indwelling is pressedupon our notice.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". Johann
Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/2-timothy-1.html. 1897.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
That goodthing which was committed unto thee keep:this is expounded by 1
Timothy 6:20; he means the doctrine of the gospel, orhis office in the
publication of it; Be faithful in the ministerial work.
By the Holy Ghostwhich dwelleth in us; to which purpose beg the assistance
and operationof the Holy Spirit, which dwelleth both in all believers, and
more particularly assisteththe ministers of the gospel. We can neither keep
our minds sound in the faith, as to the doctrine of it, nor our souls steadyin
the exercisesoffaith or love, without the assistanceofthe Holy Spirit; which
yet the Lord giveth to them that ask him, and it abides in them who do not
vex, quench, grieve, or resistit.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14". Matthew Poole's English
Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/2-timothy-1.html. 1685.
Alexander MacLaren's Expositions ofHoly Scripture
2 Timothy
GOD’S STEWARDS
2 Timothy 1:14
THE Apostle has just been expressing his confidence for himself that ‘God is
able to keepthat which I have committed’ unto him ‘againstthat day.’ Here,
with intentional parallelism, he repeats the leading ideas and key-words of
that greatconfidence, but in a wholly different connection. Whether we
suppose that the rendering of our version in the twelfth verse is corrector no,
there still remains the intentional parallelism betweenthe 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. Godcommits something to us; we commit something to God. But
whether that be so or no, there are, at all events, two keepings. Godkeeps, 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 contrastedparallel between
the two keepings remains and is even increased, because thenit is the same
thing which God keeps and which we keep. So the whole connectionbetween

man’s faithfulness and God’s protectionis suggestedhere. The true Christian
life in its entirety may either be regardedas God’s work or the believer’s. We
keepourselves when we let God keepus, and God keeps us by making us able
to keepourselves.
I. Note then, first, our charge.
The Apostle is evidently thinking mainly of the gospelmessagewhich was
entrusted to Himself and to Timothy. That is shownby the whole context. The
previous verse is, ‘ Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hastheard
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 gospelas the deposit committed to the trust of Christian men
lies in other words of the first epistle, where the Apostle speaks ofthe ‘gospel
of the glory of the blessedGodwhich was committed to my trust.’ And it
crops up in other expressions ofhis, such as that he was ‘put in trust of the
gospel.’It also underlies the very common representationof himself and his
colleaguesas 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 solemnresponsibility laid by the great
gift bestowedupon all Christian men. Whosoeverhas acceptedthe messageof
salvationfor himself is, ipso facto, put in charge of that messageforcarrying
it to others. The trust which I place in the gospelmakes the gospela trust
which is committed to me. And every believer, howsoeverimperfectmay be
his graspof the truth, howsoevernarrow may be the sphere of his agency, has
given into his hands this greatcharge, that the Word of God is committed to
his trust.
You Christian people are responsible in this connectionfor two things, for the
preservationof the truth and for the diffusion of the truth.
You are responsible for its preservation. Some of us, in a specialmanner, have
it given to us in charge to oppose prevailing tendencies which rob the gospelof
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 wellas in its sweetnessand
its graciousness. Butfor most of us, the responsibility for the preservationof
the truth lies mainly in another direction, and we are bound to keepit 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 seento the exclusionof the things that axe unseenand
eternal, do not rob us of the treasure which we say that we value. See to it that
you keepit 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 betweenyour eyes that all your thoughts
may be enlightened; and inscribing it on the posts of your doors and your
gates that, whensoeveryougo 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
preservationof God’s Word, and the gospelwhich we have receivedwe have
receivedwith this written upon it, ‘Hold fastthat 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, orof an order of ministers or clergyin God’s
Church, but every Christian man and womanwho has the Word is thereby
bound to tell the Word faithfully.
And then, subordinately and connectedwith this, I may put another thought,
that the reputation and characterof our Masterare committed to us to keep.
People take their notions of Jesus Christa greatdeal 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 representationwhich 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 setforth 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 connectiontherewith 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 greatdeal within us in
order that the true selfmay rise into sovereignmajestyand power. We have to
cultivate shy graces,unwelcome duties, sides of our characterwhich are not
naturally prominent. The faults that we have are not to be cured simply by the
repressionof 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 towerheaven-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. Godgives these to us that we may by
exercise strengthenthem. And so, brother, as a man, your natural selfis 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 keepin the
sense ofpreserving. ‘Keeping’ is the consequence ofthe ‘guarding’ which my
text enjoins. We may geta 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 expressionemployed to
describe the occupationof the shepherds on the upland slopes ofBethlehem
on Christmas Eve. They were ‘keeping watchover their flocks by night.’ That
is how you have to watchyourselves 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 layimmured; or of the

four quaternions of soldiers that had to take charge of Peterwhen 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 awaysome of the flock, the escape ofsome of the
prisoners, the filching from them of some of their treasure. Let me expand the
apostolic exhortationinto two of three precepts.
Cultivate the sense ofstewardship. It is a very hard thing for us to keepfresh
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 togetherand
went awayinto a far country.’ And the next step came just as naturally after
that: ‘He wastedhis substance in riotous living.’
If sense of stewardshipand responsibility is weakenedwithin us, the
mainspring of all goodis weakenedwithin 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 sadcommentary 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 slightestsense 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
awayin some rockycave amongstthe mountains, guarded by mythological

creatures, ofwhom 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 againstthe 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 watchthat 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 disbeliefof this generationwill affectChristian people, as I am
afraid of the unconscious drift sweeping them awaybefore they know. The
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews has a solemnfigure in regardof this
matter. He says:‘Let us take the more earnestheedto the things which we
have heard, lest at any time we should drift pastthem.’ And that is exactly
what befalls Christian men and womenwho do not continually renew their
familiarity with God’s Word and the gospelto which they trust. Before they
know where they are, the silent-flowing, swift streamhas sweptthem down,
and the truths to which they fancied they were anchoredare 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 ofthe man in the Old
Testamentfor 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 escapedfrom their slack fingers. If you will put plucked flowers into a
glass without any wateryou cannotbut expectthem 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 wonderthat
they should shrivel up and lose their sweetnessforyou. Keep that word hid in
your hearts that you sin not againstHim and it.
And then, further, exercise your gifts. The very worstway to keepthe talent is
to keepit in a napkin. The man who buried it in the earth, and then dug it up
and presentedit to his lord, did not know how much weight it

had lostby rust and decay while it was hidden away. Forthough gold does not
rust, the gold of the talent that we possessdoes;and the sure wayto make our
gifts dwindle is that we neglectto use them. It seems an odd way to keepcorn,
to fling it broadcastout of a basketoverthe fields, but ‘there is that
scattereth, and yet increaseth.’Live your faith; let what you believe be the
guide of your practice;increase your graspupon it by meditation and by
prayer, use your capacities,exerciseyour 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 greatindwelling Guest and
Helper. So, then, there arise two thoughts from this.
The one is that we keepourselves bestwhen 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 greatAlly 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 connectionwith God’s work, to Him,
we too may be sure that ‘the angelof the Lord encampeth round about them
that fear Him,’ and that He will keepus. 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 keepourselves when we give ourselves to God to keep.
But another thought here is that God keeps us by enabling us to keep
ourselves. ‘Throughthe Holy Spirit that dwelleth in us’ - so His protection is
no mere outward wallof 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 powerthat shall preserve us from all evil. God fights
for us, not in the sense offighting instead of us, but in the sense offighting by

our sides when we fight. A faith which says, ‘Godwill 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 keepourselves
when God keeps us; God keeps us
when we keepourselves. Boththings are true, and therefore our fitting
temper is the double one of self-distrusting confidence and of earnest
diligence.
Dearbrother, we travel on a dangerous road. We never can tell from behind
what rock a gun barrel may be levelledat us, or where the highwayman may
swoopdown 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 awayat
the back of the caravan, and we ourselves straying hither and thither
gathering flowers, or seeking easyplaces 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 keepus 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 keepthee ever more.’
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
MacLaren, Alexander. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". Alexander
MacLaren's Expositions ofHoly Scripture.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mac/2-timothy-1.html.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
That goodthing; that goodcharge or trust, namely, the office of preaching the
gospeland presiding over the interests of the church.
By the Holy Ghost; by his aid.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Edwards, Justin. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Family Bible New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fam/2-timothy-
1.html. American TractSociety. 1851.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
14. τὴν καλὴν παραθήκηνφύλαξον. See the note on 1 Timothy 6:20; and for
καλήν, a characteristic adjective ofthe Pastorals, see on1 Timothy 1:8. Cp.
Philo Quod det potiori insid. 19 παραδοῦναι … ἐπιστήμης καλὴν
παρακαταθήκηνφύλακι πιστῇ.
διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν, through the Holy Spirit who
dwelleth in us, sc. in all Christians, but especiallyin you and me, Paul and
Timothy, to whom grace for ministry has been given. Cp. for the phrase as
applied to all Christians, Romans 8:11.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
"Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools
and Colleges".https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/2-timothy-
1.html. 1896.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
14. Goodthing… committed—That deposit; namely, the gift of 2 Timothy 1:6.
Keep—By faithfulness in its discharge, not solelyin his own strength, but by
the Holy Ghost.
In us—The common inheritance of all Christians.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Whedon's
Commentary on the Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/2-timothy-1.html. 1874-
1909.
PeterPett's Commentary on the Bible

‘That goodthing which was committed to you guard through the Holy Spirit
which dwells in us.’
And he is to guard ‘that goodthing’ which was committed to him. This may
refer to the pattern of sound words. Alternatively it may mean ‘the Gospel’(1
Timothy 6:20). Note the means of guarding it, it is by the illumination of the
indwelling Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth (compare 1 Corinthians 2:9-16), for
it is He Who illuminates the truth and makes it realwithin our hearts
(compare 1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27). And Timothy must jealouslyguard it in
the Spirit’s power. Thus Timothy is being called on to carry on the work of
Paul, and to carefully guard the truth that he has proclaimed and taught.
‘Dwell in.’ Compare 2 Timothy 1:5; Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 6:16;
Colossians 3:16. A Paulinism.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Pett, Peter. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "PeterPett's Commentary on
the Bible ". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/2-timothy-
1.html. 2013.
Expository Notes ofDr. Thomas Constable
He should guard God"s revelationthat God had entrusted to him as a
minister of the gospel(cf. 1 Timothy 6:20). The indwelling Holy Spirit (as well
as the Song of Solomon, 2 Timothy 1:13) would enable him to do so.

"The appeal has come full circle. It began with God"s Spirit and his power
and it has ended with the Spirit"s enabling power." [Note:Ibid, p382.]
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14". "Expository
Notes ofDr. Thomas Constable".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/2-timothy-1.html. 2012.
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
2 Timothy 1:14. That goodthing which was committed unto thee. Takenin
connexion with the foregoing reference to the healthy or health-giving words,
the phrase includes what has been technically calledthe ‘depositum fidei;’ but
it has, as in 2 Timothy 1:12, a wider range
not the doctrine or the truth only, but all of which Timothy had been made, if
one may so speak, the trustee,
all spiritual gifts that he had himself received, and the Church committed to
his charge.
Through the Holy Ghostwhich dwelleth in us. The plural of the pronoun is
generic, not personalof Paul and Timothy only. The apostle assumes thatthe
Holy Spirit is actuallydwelling in all believers, enabling them to do that which
by nature they cannotdo.

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Schaff, Philip. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Schaff's Popular
Commentary on the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/scn/2-timothy-1.html. 1879-
90.
The Expositor's Greek Testament
2 Timothy 1:14. τὴν καλὴν παραθήκην:The faith, which is a ὑποτύπωσις in
relation to the growing apprehensionof it by the Church, is a παραθήκη,
deposit, in the case ofeachindividual. On the constantepithet καλός see 1
Timothy 1:18, and on παραθήκη 1 Timothy 6:20. There is a specialforce in
καλήν here, as distinguishing the precious faith from τὴν παραθήκηνμου of 2
Timothy 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 workethin you” (Philippians 2:12-
13).
πνεύματος ἁγίου:This verse and Titus 3:5 are the only places in the Pastorals
in which the Holy Spirit is mentioned.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Nicol, W. Robertson, M.A., L.L.D. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". The
Expositor's Greek Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/egt/2-timothy-1.html. 1897-
1910.
George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
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 depositedin the hands of God, here
he speaks ofwhat 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 ofthe care Timothy must take to preserve the
same sound doctrine, and to teachit to others. See 1 Timothy vi. 20. (Witham)
===============================
[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Bonum depositum custodi; Greek:ten kalenparakatathekenphulaxon.
====================
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Haydock, George Leo. "Commentaryon 2 Timothy 1:14". "George
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hcc/2-timothy-1.html. 1859.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
That good. . . thee = The gooddeposit. Greek. parathe ke, as in 2 Timothy
1:12.
Holy Ghost. App-101.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bullinger, Ethelbert William. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "E.W.
Bullinger's Companion bible Notes".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bul/2-timothy-1.html. 1909-
1922.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged
[ Teen(Greek #3588)kaleen(Greek #2570)paratheekeen(Greek #3866)]'The
goodly depositkeepthrough the Holy Spirit'-namely, 'the sound words which
I have committed to thee' (2 Timothy 1:13; 2 Timothy 2:2).
In us - in all believers; also in you and me. Keep the indwelling Spirit, and He
will keepfor thee from all robbers the deposit of His Word.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on 2
Timothy 1:14". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -
Unabridged". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfu/2-timothy-
1.html. 1871-8.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(14) That goodthing which was committed unto thee.—“The goodthing
committed unto thee,” or the deposit, differs from the “deposit” of 2 Timothy
1:12, inasmuch as the “deposit” of 2 Timothy 1:12 was something committed
by St. Paul to God; while, on the other hand, in 2 Timothy 1:14 a trust
committed by God to Timothy is spokenof. But the Apostle, remembering the
solemn meaning of the word in the first instance, uses it with especial
emphasis on this secondoccasion. Yes, he seems to say, God will keepthe most
precious deposit you or I shall intrust to Him—our soul—safe againstthat
day; do thou, in thy turn, keep safe, unharmed, the deposit He, through me,
has intrusted to thee. In what God’s depositwith men like Timothy and St.
Paul consistedhas been discussedin the Note to 1 Timothy 6:20. “The
treasure of the Catholic faith”—that was to be kept unchanged, unalloyed.
The epithet “good,” whichis here applied to this most sacredtrust, we find
joined to “the doctrine” (“the gooddoctrine,” 1 Timothy 4:6), and to “the
fight” (“the good fight,” 1 Timothy 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 sacredcharge safe and
pure, when he bids us keepthe deposit by the Holy Ghost—the Holy Ghost
which, St. Paul adds, dwells in us.

It would seemthat the Apostle here was warning Timothy, as the
representative Christian teacher, that the sacreddepositof 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
Ghostwill keepHis 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.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Ellicott, Charles John. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "Ellicott's
Commentary for English Readers".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/2-timothy-1.html. 1905.
Treasuryof Scripture Knowledge
good
2:2; Luke 16:11;Romans 3:2; 1 Corinthians 9:17; 2 Corinthians 5:19,20;
Galatians 2:7; Colossians4:11;1 Timothy 1:11; 6:20
by the

Romans 8:13; Ephesians 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19;1 Peter1:22
which dwelleth
John 14:17; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:16;
Ephesians 2:22
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Torrey, R. A. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "The Treasury of Scripture
Knowledge". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/2-timothy-
1.html.
The Bible Study New Testament
Keep the goodthings. "Guard them, preserve them intact!" Through the
powerof the Holy Spirit. Paul's confidence in God (2 Timothy 1:12) is that He
will supply the power(2 Timothy 1:7)! This does not take awaythe human
element, therefore Paul places this obligation on Timothy.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Ice, Rhoderick D. "Commentary on 2 Timothy 1:14". "The Bible Study New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ice/2-timothy-
1.html. College Press, Joplin, MO. 1974.
1:14 That goodthing which was committed unto thee keepby the Holy Ghost
"Goodthing" relates to the Gospel, according to Clarke. Barnes suggests that
it is the gooddoctrine he had been taught. "The reference here in the phrase,
"that goodthing committed to thee," is to the sound Christian doctrine with
which he had been entrusted, and which he was required to transmit to
others." Wesleyagreeswith Barnes.
Gill suggestsit relates to either his gifts or his work.
If it relates to his gift, it has to jump back severalverses and out of context in
my mind. I think that the doctrine or teaching thought would be most
consistentwith the text.
Robertsonintroduces the thought that this could be translated "good
deposit." If this is the case, it could be as generalas just the time and effort
that God had depositedin Timothy.
This has some distinct possibilities of application if nothing else. There would
be the efforts of Timothy's mother and grandmother into his life, the efforts of
Paul not to detract from the efforts invested by the Holy Spirit. Much had
been invested in Timothy and he ought to give serious thought to how he uses
this effort - how gooda stewardis he being in his life.
I might suggestwe as individuals take a moment or two and wonder if we are
being goodstewards of all the efforts that have been placed in us and our
spiritual lives. Are we doing as much as we should be with our spiritual
preparation? Are we really succeeding to the maximum?

There have been times that I have contemplated the effort I have invested in
people and their seeming use of that effort. I know in my mind that it is up to
the Lord to watchover my effort and that I need to allow Him to work in the
life, but you sometimes wonderanyway.
When I was teaching, the faculty always put in one hundred and ten percent
of their life to the students learning. One year we had a young man that
seemingly gotsidewise to the Lord over the summer. Previously he had been a
greatstudent - interested, engaged, learning and excited. When he came back
he was slouchy, uninterested, and sloppy with his work. He was still engaged,
but in all the wrong activities.
This young man had not kept the goodthings he had learned - he had setthem
aside for things that were hindering his walk with the Lord.
END OF STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Paul has mentioned both God the Fatherand Jesus Christ in the early parts of
this letter. In this verse, the Holy Spirit becomes the focus. He "dwells within
us." The Holy Spirit beganthis indwelling work at Pentecost(Acts 2). In
Romans 5:5 Paul noted, "Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love
has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given
to us." Interestingly, this is the only time the Holy Spirit is mentioned
specificallyin 2 Timothy. Paul also wrote about the Spirit in his first letter to
Timothy (1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1).
The Holy Spirit's role here is that of protectionand strength. Similar words
were used to end Paul's first letter to Timothy: "guard the deposit entrusted
to you" (1 Timothy 6:20). Just as Paul had been entrusted (2 Timothy 1:12),
Timothy had likewise beenentrusted with much. Paul instructed him to guard
the investment in his life and persevere as a devoted followerof Christ.
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Guard The Deposit
Contributed by Philip Harrelson on Apr 30, 2014
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Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:14
Denomination: Pentecostal
Summary: This messageplacesgreatemphasis on the ministry of intercessory
prayer.
1 2 3 4
Next
2 Timothy 1:14 KJV That goodthing which was committed unto thee keepby
the Holy Ghostwhich dwelleth in us.
2 Timothy 1:14 The MessageGuard this precious thing placedin your custody
by the Holy Spirit who works in us.

2 Timothy 1:14 Murdock Keep thou the gooddeposit, by the Holy Spirit who
dwelleth in us.
2 Timothy 1:14 Amplified Guard and keep[with the greatestcare]the
precious and excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you],
by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us.
2 Timothy 1:14 ESV By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good
deposit entrusted to you.
2 Timothy 1:14 NASB Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the
treasure which has been entrusted to you.
I. INTRODUCTION—THE WATCHMAN
A. Ezekiel’s View of the Watchman
-The Bible is clearon the importance of the work of the watchman. Perhaps
the classicpassageonthe conceptof being a watchman is in the book of
Ezekiel.
Ezekiel3:17 KJV Sonof man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of
Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
-The responsibilities, rewards, and the penalties of watchmen are strongly laid
out later on in Ezekiel33. Suffice it to say that it is a crucial position that God
puts a greatemphasis on. He was a man who neededto be disciplined,
responsible, steady, honest, and wise.
-It was a very important priority for the watchmanto make sure that his
senses were highly sensitive to what was going on around him. The safetyof
the city was resting on his ability to ferret out any attack that might be
lurking beyond the walls.
-From the book of Ezekielwe see the watchmanhad to warn the people of
danger when it came their way. But there was not just the cry of danger that
thundered from him, there were also the instructions that came from telling
them where the refuge was.
-His cries sounded like this:

• Flee from the wrath to come. . .
• Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. . .
• Save yourselves from this untoward generation. . .
• The gates ofhell shall not prevail againstit. . .
• No weaponformed againstthee will prosper. . .
-Every true watchman always has an element of fear and faith in his cry!
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B. The Other Functions of the Watchman
-There are some other words that are used in the Bible in conjunction with
this idea of a watchman.
• Protector—Psalm121:5, 7-8—The watchmanserves as a protector.
• Keeper—Genesis2:15—Adamwas seenas a keeper. He was the watchman
assignedby Godto keepwhat was given to him, keeping it from the attack of
the serpent.
• Doorkeeper/Gatekeeper—The watchmenofold guarded the gates and doors
of cities and vineyards. They were responsible for the entrance. It can apply to
us as far as our homes, churches, cities, and other places where we come and
go.
• Preserver—The watchmanalso had a responsibility to maintain things.
Maintenance ministry is not always bad. There are matters in the church that
need to be kept so they are in goodworking order.

-All of these roles were necessaryfor the work of the watchmanto be well-
executed.
II. THE WATCHMAN AS A GUARD
-In this Scripture that we read from 2 Timothy, we find crucial priority of a
man who was to be a watchman. He was to be a guard. The word “guard” and
“bodyguard” are also ways to express the role of the watchman.
-There are things that have been entrusted to us whether they are our
families, our churches, our cities, or spiritual treasures that have to be
guarded. There is a high calling that comes to us in this role of guarding and
protecting eachother and those things which have been passedon to us in
spiritual matters.
-We are “bodyguards”—shields who coverone another.
A. A Greek Word Study—PHULASSO
-When Paul was writing to Timothy, he used a word PHULASSO which has a
number of connotations to it.
• To guard and keepwatch
• To have an eye upon: lest he escape
• To guard a person or thing that he may remain safe
• To keepfrom violence and to protect
• To keepfrom being snatchedaway
• To preserve safely
• To guard from being lost or perishing
• To guard one's self from a thing
-Scatteredthroughout the New Testamentthat same word is used twenty-five
times in various ways:
• Beware—2Peter3:17

• Keep—Acts 12:4; 16:4; 21:25;Romans 2:26; Galatians 6:13; 2 Thess. 3:3;
1Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12; 1:14; 1 John 5:21; Jude 24
• Keepest—Acts 21:24
• Keeping—Luke 2:8
• Kept—Matt. 19:20; Luke 8:29; 18:21;Acts 7:53; 22:20; 23:35;28:16
• Observe—1 Tim. 5:21
• Observed—Mark 10:20
• Saved—2 Peter2:5
• Ware—2 Tim. 4:15
-All of the ways that this word is usedis helpful in showing other angles of
what takes place when we make a commitment to becoming a guard.
B. Guard Your Heart
Proverbs 4:23 KJV Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the
issues of life.
-It is imperative that my heart be guarded againstthe intruders that long to
defile it. The heart in this context is symbolic for the feelings, the will, and
even the intellect. If the enemy can get into the soul, he will destroythe mind,
the will, and the emotions.
-There are deceptions, lies, and distorted perceptions that actively seek to
control us so that we are rendered ineffective for God. I pray that there can be
a baptism of discernment to keepus moving in a spiritual direction.
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-I am not spending long on this particular point, except to try to reinforce to
you the necessityof keeping your heart clean, godly, and holy. These are
things that just make us more effective for the Kingdom of God.
C. When Guards Become Intercessors
-Could it be there is another even greaterangle to being a guard? If we are to
guard, keepwatchover, to protect, and keepboth people and things safe, then
the ministry of the guard can take place only when we become intercessors!
-All of us have heard stories about people being moved by a burden of prayer.
When this impulse to pray came on them, they would pray usually without
even understanding what the need was.
One woman was moved to pray for her son one morning around 9 A.M.
Suddenly it was like a spirit of fear came on her and she immediately started
praying for him. She prayed for about 20 minutes or so and the burden lifted.
Becauseofit being the days before we had cellphones, she had to wait until
later in the day to find out what had takenplace. It just so happened that he
was working at a constructionsite and was speaking to one of the foremen. He
thought that it might be goodto move from where they were standing. So both
men drifted overabout 20 feet where they were standing and shortly after
they moved, a huge steelbeam feel to the concrete where they had been
standing. If they had been standing there, both would have been seriously
injured or even killed by the beam.
-That is just one story among many about the impact that prayer can have on
us if we are just willing to listen to that inner voice of the Spirit.
-In Daniel10 we find that Danielreceiveda messagefrom the Lord
concerning a greatconflict in the heavens. The Hebrew word that is translated
as “thing” in the KJV can sometimes be translatedas “concern.”

-There are times when the Lord moves us to a place of intercessionthat there
is heaviness or a feeling of a burden placed on you to pray. It can also be
accompaniedby an anguish of heart or even a wrestling feeling in our spirit.
-But we have to make sure that we are available to God to give ourselves to prayer.
Once God starts revealing these kinds of secrets to you, a holy trust is developed.
DON’T TAKE THE MATTER LIGHTLY!!!
-If you feel the power of the Spirit moving on you, be obedient and cry out to God
on behalf of spiritual leaders, family members, brothers and sisters in the Lord, or
for churches. My effectiveness in prayer greatly depends on availability,
sensitivity, and obedience.
D. Guards Who Battle Against the Hindrances of Prayer
-God gives us authority in prayer but there are many necessities of life that we
allow to hinder what we do with prayer.
• Laziness hinders prayer.
• Unspiritual attitudes hinder prayer.
• Carnal lifestyles hinder prayer.
• Spiritual warfare hinders prayer.
-But in the grand scheme of things, we must pray to be effective in the Kingdom of
God.
-Great watching in prayer will require expenditures of time, of strength, and of
commitment. The man who will watch in prayer will alternate between watching,
wrestling and weeping.
• Guarding in prayer will costyou sleep.
• Guarding in prayer will consume some tears.
• Guarding in prayer will demand that you change.
• Guarding in prayer will leave you in great loneliness (for much is accomplished
in private prayer).

• Guarding in prayer will set you apart from the world, from your friends, and from
your creature comforts.
-Our generation wants to be eased of pain—God wants to transform that pain. The
pain is what compels us to the place of prayer. Instead of allowing the painful
situations of life to control us we must let the pain press us into the place of prayer.
There is a depth of ministry of prayer that will be found when we are pushed into
the place of prayer.
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-The problem is not the pain. . . . it is the prayerlessness.
• Some say ‘where are the miracles?’. . . I ask where are the guards.
• Some say ‘where is the power?’ . . . I ask where agony in prayer.
• Some say ‘where are the signs?’ . . . I ask where are the olive presses of sacrifice.
• Some say ‘where is God?’ . . . I answer. . . . . ‘He has been forsaken in the place
of prayer.’
E. The Emotions of the Guard Who Is Given to Prayer
-The word “prayer” is found 114 times in the Bible, the word “pray” is found 313
times in the Bible. When you look into the context of the times that these two
words are mentioned, one finds that much emotion will be poured out in prayer.
• Crying out in prayer.
• Prayer and fear.
• Prayer and pleading.

• Prayer and commitment.
• Prayer and tears.
• Prayer and desire.
• Prayer and hunger.
• Prayer and vision.
• Prayer and grief.
• Prayer and great cause.
• Prayers of repentance.
• Prayers of worship.
• Prayers for glory.
• Praying for power.
• Praying for understanding.
• Praying for wisdom.
• Praying for guidance.
• Prayer and sacrifice.
• Prayer at night.
• Prayer through the night.
• Prayer and watching.
• Praying with thanksgiving.
• Praying in supplication.
• Prayer in the morning.
• Prayer and sacrifice.
• Praying in unity.

• Continually given to prayer.
• Prayer without ceasing.
• Prayer and demonic opposition.
• Instant in prayer.
• Prayer and fasting.
• Effectual and fervent prayer.
-There are many other situations and concerns that we find in association with
prayer and praying in the Word. Paul was quite open when he began to tell us that
our prayers would be accompanied at times with some very unreasonable things.
• Tears.
• Afflictions.
• Difficulties.
• Spiritual opposition.
• Human obstacles.
• Hindrances within.
• Distractions without.
• Pain.
• Anguish of heart.
• A mind that would be troubled.
-If we are to be effective in prayer, it probably will be ushered in by an emotion
that we may not want to embrace.
III. CONCLUSION—THE PLACE OF VICTORY IN PRAYER

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Amplified: Guard and keep[with the greatestcare]the precious and
excellently adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to you], by the [help of
the] Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
BBE:That goodthing which was given to you keepsafe, through the Holy
Spirit which is in us.
GWT: With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, protect the GoodNews
that has been entrusted to you.
ICB: Protectthe truth that you were given. Protectit with the help of the Holy
Spirit who lives in us. (ICB: Nelson)
KJV: That goodthing which was committed unto thee keepby the Holy Ghost
MLB: Guard, by the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit within us, that
precious deposit that was entrusted to you. (Berkley)
Moffat: Keep the greatsecurities ofyour faith intact, by aid of the holy Spirit
that dwells within us.
NJB:With the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, look after that
precious thing given in trust. (NJB)
NLT: With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard
what has been entrusted to you. (NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: Take the greatestcare ofthe goodthings which were entrusted to you
by the Holy Spirit who lives within us. (Phillips: Touchstone)
Weymouth: That precious treasure which is in your charge, guard through
the Holy Spirit who has His home in our hearts.

Wuest: That goodthing which was committed in trust to you, guard through
the Holy Spirit who indwells us. (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: the good thing committed guard thou through the Holy
Spirit that is dwelling in us;
GUARD: phulaxon (2SAAM): [1Ti 6:20 Pr 4:23]
Protectthat goodthing entrusted to you (NET)
carefully guard (NLT)
guard and keepwith the greatestcare (Amp)
The word order of this verse reads more literally
That goodthing, the trust, the deposit which was committed to you, guard
Guard (5442)(phulasso [word study]) is same verb Paul used used earlierto
describes Jesus'guarding what Paul had entrusted to Him (2Ti 1:12-note).
Here Paul uses phulasso in the aoristtense and imperative mood which calls
for urgent attention, following through with firm resolution and conviction.
The idea is "Do this now and don't delay Timothy".
Timothy is to guard, watch, and defend the truth once for all delivered to the
saints in view of the defection from the truth beginning even in the first
century.
A T Robertsonpoints out that because
God has also made an investment in Timothy, Timothy must not let that fail."
And neither must we. Therefore, everytime we listen to a tape, eachtime we
hear a sermon, eachtime we read a devotionalwe need to be on guard (albeit
not offensive or defensive, arrogantor paranoid) to maintain the integrity of
the Word of Truth, our Standard of Holiness (cf Acts 17:12-note).
THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO DWELLS IN US: dia pneumatos
hagiou tou enoikountos (PAPNSG)en hemin: (Jn 14:17;Ro 8:11; 1Cor3:16;
6:19; Eph 2:22)

With the help of the Holy Spirit who lives within us (NLT)
Who has His home in our hearts (WNT)
through the powerof the Holy Spirit (TEV)
guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit Who lives in us (NIV)
by the help of the Holy Spirit Who makes His home in us (Amp)
The Holy Spirit Who dwells in us - Paul reiterates this glorious truth
throughout his epistles...
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed (There is no
doubt about this statement = those who belong to Christ have the Holy Spirit)
the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of
Christ, he does not belong to Him. (See notes Romans 8:9) (Comment: This
verse makes it clearthat every believer has the Spirit - we do not need to pray
to receive the Spirit. If we do not have the Spirit we are not yet born again
and indeed, then we do need to "pray to receive the Spirit"!)
Do you (plural - indicates he is referring to the localchurch at Corinth viewed
as a temple of God - see following verse)not know that you are a temple (Not
the Greek wordhieron = the entire temple complex, but naos = the Holy of
holies!) of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1Cor3:16)
(Comment: Note this verse although referring to the church still canbe
applied to eachindividual especiallyin view of the context of this passage
which is the Judgment Seatof Christ [bema] - Paul's point is that we need to
be very careful what we do with our bodies for we shall one day soonappear
before our Lord.)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in
you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1Co 6:19-
note) (Comment: In America which is inebriated by the sensualityof sex this
verse needs to be emblazoned on bill boards and the hearts of believing men,
lest we be tempted to bite at this "omnipresent" lascivious lure, cp Jas 1:14
15-note Jas 1:16-note. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Ryrie makes
the excellentpoint that our body as a holy temple is "A sharp contrastto the

temple of Aphrodite in Corinth where the priestesses were prostitutes." - The
Ryrie Study Bible)
in Whom (Christ Jesus)the whole building, being fitted togetheris growing
into a holy temple in the Lord in Whom you also are being built togetherinto
a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ep 2:21, 22-notes Ep 2:21; 22)
Dwells (1774)(enoikeofrom en = in + oikéo = dwell) literally means to dwell in
and so to take up residence, make one's home in or among and the present
tense signifies a continual indwelling. The Spirit of God makes his home in us,
not in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48).
Paul reminded the Corinthians "Do you not know that you are a temple of
God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1Cor 3:16, 6:19, 2Cor6:16)
Even those who are well taught cannot keepspiritual truth they have learned,
any more than they could at first learn it, without the assistanceofthe Holy
Spirit, which parallels Jesus'warning that "apartfrom Me you can do
nothing." (Jn 15:5).
We must not think we can protectthis spiritual truth by our ownstrength, but
must abide in Christ, let His Word richly dwell in us, be filled with His Spirit,
humbly maintaining a sense ofdetermined dependence upon our Helper, the
Holy Spirit. So in this verse we see man's responsibility (guard) and God's
sovereignty(through the Holy Spirit) working togetherto bring about the
intended result. The ministry of the Holy Spirit will enable Timothy and all
believers to be a goodcustodianof the Gospel.
Jameisonwrites that...
"The indwelling Spirit enables us to keepfrom the robbers of the soul the
deposit of His word committed to us by God."
By way of contrastBoise adds that
then as now men who were wise in their own conceit, who trusted more to
their own strength than to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, were preaching
doctrines far removed from the teachings ofChrist and His apostles.
Steven Cole writes that...

The Holy Spirit is the divine interpreter of sound doctrine. Jesus promisedthe
apostles (John14:26) that “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My
name, He will teachyou all things….” John later wrote to a church that was
wrackedwith confusion because offalse teachers (1John2:27)
As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you
have no need for anyone to teachyou; but as His anointing teaches you about
all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide
in Him.
John was not dispensing with the need for human teachers, in that he himself
was at that moment teaching them! Rather, he was writing againstthe Gnostic
false teachers, who claimedthat you had to go through them to understand
the secrettruths about God. John was affirming the ability of believers,
indwelled by the Spirit, to interpret the Word of God. As we depend on the
Holy Spirit and diligently study the Scriptures, He will enable us to guard the
treasure of the gospelthat is always under attack.
The Holy Spirit is the divine enabler for a godly life. As we saw, we guard the
deposit of the gospelby living in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. If
we walk in daily dependence on the Holy Spirit, we will not carry out the
deeds of the flesh (Gal. 5:16-21), but will instead produce the fruit of the Spirit
(Gal 5:22, 23-seenotes Gal5:22; 23;): “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness,faithfulness, gentleness,self-control….” Walking in dependence on
the Holy Spirit enables our lives to back up the gospel, so that we will guard
that gooddeposit that God has entrusted to us.
In one of his books, WatchmanNee points out that a person will walk
differently when he has a treasure in his pocket. If you’re walking down the
streetand only have a quarter in your pocket, you aren’t very concerned
about losing it. But if you’re given $10,000 andtold to guard it in your pocket
as you go from one place to another, you’ll walk a bit differently than if you
only have a quarter. You’ll be careful not to go to certain places, where you
could get mugged. There are certain things that you just won’t do, for fear of
losing that treasure.

If you have depositedyour life with Jesus Christ, then He has deposited the
precious treasure of the gospelwith you. He asks you to guard it by holding to
sound doctrine and by godly living. To be apathetic about growing in sound
doctrine or to be carelessabouthow you live as a believer is not to guard the
treasure. Walk carefully! Invest your life wisely, which means, invest wisely
how you spend eachday. To invest your life successfully, depositit with Christ
and guard His deposit with you. (Ibid)
THE TREASURE (the gooddeposit) WHICH HAS BEEN ENTRUSTEDTO
YOU: ten kalenparatheken:
Treasure which has been entrusted - This phrase is actually two Greek words
- kalos (good)+ paratheke (deposit)
Good(2570)(kalos)means inherently excellentor intrinsically goodand
providing some specialor superior benefit, an excellent descriptionof the
gospel.
Treasure (3866)(paratheke from paratithemi = place alongside, then to
entrust) (Click discussionof paratheke)refers to something entrusted to
another for faithful keeping or deposited for protection.
Other translations preserve the two separate words (kalos + paratheke)more
clearly than the NASB...
the goodthing entrusted (literal)
the goodthing committed (YLT)
That precious treasure which is in your charge (WNT),
the gooddepositthat was entrusted (NIV)
“Thatgoodthing which was committed to you” (NKJV)
the goodtreasure entrusted (NRSV)
the precious entrusted deposit (Berkley)
Paratheke was a secularlegalterm describing something placed on trust in
another's keeping.

C Maurer in the one volume abridged TDNT writes that the secularuse of
paratheke had the
technicalmeaning “to deposit,” “to entrust,” in the legalsense ofleaving an
objectin another’s keeping, with strict penalties for embezzlement. A
transferred sense develops out of the technicaluse. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G.,
& Bromiley, G. W. TheologicalDictionaryof the New Testament. Eerdmans)
The treasure...entrusted - In context this phrase refers to the standard of
sound words, the Christian doctrine and specificallythe Gospel. Here the
reference is to the deposit God makes with Timothy for which he will one day
give an accountof his stewardship. The depositof our lives with God is secure.
The question is, how secure is His deposit of truth with us?
Keener adds that paratheke
"was originally a monetary image, although other writers had also applied it
to teaching; one was responsible to safeguardor multiply any money given
one for safekeeping. Jewishteachers feltthat they were passing on a sacred
deposit to their disciples, who were expectedto pass it on to others in turn."
(cf note 2 Timothy 2:2) (Keener, Craig:The IVP Bible Background
Commentary: New Testament. 1994. IVP)
Paratheke was usedtwo other times, both by Paul, one in this same chapter
(see note 2 Timothy 1:12) and the other in the first epistle to Timothy, where
Paul uses paratheke in his closing charge...
O Timothy, guard (aorist imperative - command to carry this out effectively
and immediately. Can conveya sense of urgency.)what has been entrusted to
you, avoiding (present tense = continually doing so because the pressure to
compromise the standard of the pure Gospelwill be continually present)
worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely
called"knowledge"--whichsome have professedand thus gone astray from
the faith. Grace be with you.
O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted (paratheke - the deposit, the thing
consignedto his faithful keeping)to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter
and the opposing arguments of what is falselycalled "knowledge" (1Ti 6:20)

W E Vine writes that the gospel..
is viewed as a treasure sedulously (constant, persistentattention and implies
painstaking and persevering application) to be kept free from the admixture
of error, and without loss through neglectof any detail, and that not only for
the spiritual welfare of the teacherhimself but for those to whom he ministers.
The dangerof compromise with those who ignore, or fail to teach, certain
truths of the faith is ever to be avoided. (Vine, W. Collectedwritings of W. E.
Vine. Nashville:Thomas Nelsonor Logos)
The Jewishpeople had been "entrusted with the oracles ofGod" (see note
Romans 3:2). Paul "had been entrusted with the gospelto the uncircumcised"
(Gal 2:7, 1Ti 1:11), which he referred to as "a stewardshipentrusted" (1Cor
9:17). Now he was passing the "precious baton" to Timothy.
Matthew Henry adds that
The Christian doctrine is a trust committed to us....It is committed to us to be
preservedpure and entire, and to be transmitted to those who shall come after
us, and we must keepit, and not contribute any thing to the corrupting of its
purity, the weakening of its power, or the diminishing of its perfection
Barclaywrites that in this verse...
Paul urges Timothy to safeguardand keepinviolate the trust God has reposed
in him. Notonly do we put our trust in God; he also puts his trust in us. The
idea of God’s dependence on men is never far from New Testamentthought.
When God wants something done, he has to find a man to do it. If he wants a
child taught, a message brought, a sermon preached, a wandererfound, a
sorrowing one comforted, a sick one healed, he has to find some instrument to
do his work. (Ibid)
God has made an "investment" in you. Are you protecting and preserving (in
His power)His deposit of the gospelso that you might be able to reliably
transmit it to other faithful men and women? (see note 2 Timothy 2:2)
Gill elaborates onthe idea of the

"treasure...entrusted" adding that "it is a treasure...arich one, it contains the
riches of grace, eventhe unsearchable riches of Christ, is more valuable than
thousands of gold and silver". In regard to a gooddeposit Gill adds that "that
it is a trust, and requires faithfulness in ministers, who are the stewards ofit;
and that it is to be accountedfor. Wherefore greatcare should be had in
dispensing and keeping it:"
John MacArthur sums up this sectionwith some thoughts on application...
Christian colleges,seminaries, pastors, and other church leaders who deviate
from Scripture, defecting to “a different gospel” and wanting “to distort the
gospelof Christ” (Ga1:6-7), will face a dreadful day of reckoning before God.
When a church or any other Christian organizationbecomes liberal, not
surprisingly this "drift" usually begins with a weakening ofthe convictions of
the leadershipregarding the inerrancy and sufficiencyof the Word of God.
Do not be deceived belovedbrethren.
Hold fast to the Truth.

The holy spirit helper

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