2 Timothy 1 - what is entrusted

[agedman]

8Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 9who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 10and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, 11for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, 12which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. 13Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 14By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.​

Paul opens the letter to Timothy with some interesting (to me) statements.

Paul would have Timothy (and by extension all believers) to share in suffering for the gospel.

How can we who enjoy the "freedoms" related to worship and faith realistically and actually share in the suffering of other believers through the ages even to the earliest ones?

Paul states that the salvation and sanctification are by God, due to His own purpose and grace, and that such were done prior to the beginning of time, or before "in the beginning."

Because Paul said that the reason behind his suffering was the appointment as a preacher, apostle, and teacher, how do believers escape such suffering if we are diligent as a preacher/teacher - a witness?

Paul also declares, "By the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, (we are to) guard the good deposit entrusted to you (us)."

One must be careful to not even consider that the deposit entrusted referred to by Paul is either the delivery of salvation or the keeping of salvation given to believers by God. Why would he discuss that to a faithful co-laborer who had expressed concern about Paul's suffering?

Paul is discussing ministry. That which was the divinely appointed purpose (the reason) for the "Holy (sanctified) Calling" which He purposed before "in the beginning." The Calling and Purpose for granting redemption was not only the eternal life, but service, ministry entrusted. The calling and purpose before the first statement of creation.

Is it possible that the suffering exampled by Paul is actually part of the reward system the Lord shared in Luke 12?

I Paul reminding Timothy that God entrusted sufferings as a good deposit in Believers?

 

[Iconoclast]

The deposit is the doctrines of grace.

 

[agedman]

The deposit is the doctrines of grace.

that may be included. But the "purpose" goes beyond salvation and Paul is sharing with Timothy that the work of fulfilling the purpose brings suffering.

 

[Iconoclast]

that may be included. But the "purpose" goes beyond salvation and Paul is sharing with Timothy that the work of fulfilling the purpose brings suffering.

Yes,but the comfort of the word of God teaching Gods control over all things was given and to be a comfort to see them through any trial.

 

[Reformed]

If you go back to verse 6 you will see what Paul is referencing in verse 14.

2 Timothy 1:6 For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

2 Timothy 1:6 is Timothy's ordination to ministry. The treasure that has been entrusted to him (v. 14) is the gift of God which is in [him] you through the laying on of hands. Sufferings go with the territory but are not specifically part of what was entrusted to him in v. 14.

 

[Deacon]

The deposit is the doctrines of grace.

Calvinistic code words Iconoclast - I'm not disagreeing with you but stop speaking Calvinese and say what it means.

Here's my take on the passage:

Those that are followers of Christ entrust their lives (current and future - “until that day”) into God’s hand.

Vs 8 - DO NOT BE ASHAMED… [but join with me in suffering for the gospel]

We trust he will care for us through our sufferings for the gospel of Christ​

Vs 8-9 – through God’s power he has saved us and called us (with a purpose)

Vs 10 - that being (the promise of) immortality ... through the gospel

Vs 11 – [Paul was appointed by God to be, 1) preacher of the gospel 2) an apostle of the gospel, 3) a teacher of the gospel].

Vs12 - 2 Timothy 1:12 (CSB)

and that is why I suffer these things. But I AM NOT ASHAMED, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.​

ANSWER: Paul entrusts his soul to God, knowing that God is trustworthy to guard it until that day.

Paul encourages those to whom he writes to trust God in the same manner.​

Rob

 

[Iconoclast]

Calvinistic code words Iconoclast - I'm not disagreeing with you but stop speaking Calvinese and say what it means.

Here's my take on the passage:

Those that are followers of Christ entrust their lives (current and future - “until that day”) into God’s hand.

Vs 8 - DO NOT BE ASHAMED… [but join with me in suffering for the gospel]

We trust he will care for us through our sufferings for the gospel of Christ​

Vs 8-9 – through God’s power he has saved us and called us (with a purpose)

Vs 10 - that being (the promise of) immortality ... through the gospel

Vs 11 – [Paul was appointed by God to be, 1) preacher of the gospel 2) an apostle of the gospel, 3) a teacher of the gospel].

Vs12 - 2 Timothy 1:12 (CSB)

and that is why I suffer these things. But I AM NOT ASHAMED, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.​

ANSWER: Paul entrusts his soul to God, knowing that God is trustworthy to guard it until that day.

Paul encourages those to whom he writes to trust God in the same manner.​

Rob

Hello Rob,
I agree with your answer, but do not think there is a need to make it an either or proposition.
Agedman looks at the suffering and persecution for the gospel.
Reformed spotted verse 6, the laying on of hands, The Spirit indwelling him.
You focus on him having been drawn to God and committed to God and His purpose.
I am looking at the means to have it all take place which I see as the deposit of the scriptures informing believers in every area of life, so they can stand against the false teaching, carnal philosophical ideas that attacked them.
I will try and demonstrate what I am saying 250 miles from now.

 

[Dave G]

"That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." ( 2 Timothy 1:14 )
The answer, as I see it:

" Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands." ( 2 Timothy 1:6 )
It can also be found here:

" Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." ( 1 Timothy 4:14 ).
And here:

" O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane [and] vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
21 which some professing have erred concerning the faith. ( 1 Timothy 6:20 )



So, what was it that was committed to his trust by Paul, and the laying on of hands by the presbytery?
1 Timothy 2:1-13 describes the offices of bishop and deacon.

Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:6,
" If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained."

and...

" These things command and teach.
12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." ( 1 Timothy 4:11-13 )


It appears to me that the people who wrote this note at the end of 2 Timothy in the KJV:

" The second [epistle] unto Timotheus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians, was written from Rome, when Paul was brought before Nero the second time."

...probably thought that he was ordained the first bishop of the Ephesians, by the laying on of hands by Paul and the presbytery.

As do I.

 

[Iconoclast]

Calvinistic code words Iconoclast - I'm not disagreeing with you but stop speaking Calvinese and say what it means.

Here's my take on the passage:

Those that are followers of Christ entrust their lives (current and future - “until that day”) into God’s hand.

Vs 8 - DO NOT BE ASHAMED… [but join with me in suffering for the gospel]

We trust he will care for us through our sufferings for the gospel of Christ​

Vs 8-9 – through God’s power he has saved us and called us (with a purpose)

Vs 10 - that being (the promise of) immortality ... through the gospel

Vs 11 – [Paul was appointed by God to be, 1) preacher of the gospel 2) an apostle of the gospel, 3) a teacher of the gospel].

Vs12 - 2 Timothy 1:12 (CSB)

and that is why I suffer these things. But I AM NOT ASHAMED, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.​

ANSWER: Paul entrusts his soul to God, knowing that God is trustworthy to guard it until that day.

Paul encourages those to whom he writes to trust God in the same manner.​

Rob

Here is some support for what I offered briefly the other day;
From precept austin;
GUARD: phulaxon (2SAAM): [1Ti 6:20 Pr 4:23]

Protect that good thing entrusted to you (NET)

carefully guard (NLT)

guard and keep with the greatest care (Amp)

The word order of this verse reads more literally

That good thing, the trust, the deposit which was committed to you, guard

Guard (5442) (phulasso [word study]) is same verb Paul used used earlier to describes Jesus' guarding what Paul had entrusted to Him (2Ti 1:12-note).

Here Paul uses phulasso in the aorist tense 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 Robertson points out that because

God has also made an investment in Timothy, Timothy must not let that fail." And neither must we. Therefore, every time we listen to a tape, each time we hear a sermon, each time we read a devotional we need to be on guard (albeit not offensive or defensive, arrogant or paranoid) to maintain the integrity of the Word of Truth, our Standard of Holiness (cf Acts 17:12-note).

THE TREASURE (the good deposit) WHICH HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO YOU: ten kalen paratheken :

Treasure which has been entrusted - This phrase is actually two Greek words - kalos (good) + paratheke(deposit)

Good (2570)(kalos) means inherently excellent or intrinsically good and providing some special or superior benefit, an excellent description of the gospel.

Treasure (3866) (paratheke from paratithemi = place alongside, then to entrust) (Click discussion of 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 good thing entrusted (literal)

the good thing committed (YLT)

That precious treasure which is in your charge (WNT),

the good deposit that was entrusted (NIV)

“That good thing which was committed to you” (NKJV)

the good treasure entrusted (NRSV)

the precious entrusted deposit (Berkley)

Paratheke was a secular legal term describing something placed on trust in another's keeping.

C Maurer in the one volume abridged TDNT writes that the secular use of paratheke had the

technical meaning “to deposit,” “to entrust,” in the legal sense of leaving an object in another’s keeping, with strict penalties for embezzlement. A transferred sense develops out of the technical use. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans)

The treasure...entrusted - In context this phrase refers to the standard of sound words, the Christian doctrine and specifically the Gospel. Here the reference is to the deposit God makes with Timothy for which he will one day give an account of his stewardship. The deposit of 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 safeguard or multiply any money given one for safekeeping. Jewish teachers felt that they were passing on a sacred deposit to their disciples, who were expected to 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 used two 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 convey a 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 Gospel will be continually present) worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge"--which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted (paratheke - the deposit, the thing consigned to his faithful keeping) to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge " (1Ti 6:20)

W E Vine writes that the gospel..

is viewed as a treasure sedulously (constant, persistent attention and implies painstaking and persevering application) to be kept free from the admixture of error, and without loss through neglect of any detail, and that not only for the spiritual welfare of the teacher himself but for those to whom he ministers. The danger of compromise with those who ignore, or fail to teach, certain truths of the faith is ever to be avoided. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson orLogos)

The Jewish people had been "entrusted with the oracles of God" (see note Romans 3:2). Paul "had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised" (Gal 2:7, 1Ti 1:11), which he referred to as "a stewardship entrusted" (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 preserved pure and entire, and to be transmitted to those who shall come after us, and we must keep it, and not contribute any thing to the corrupting of its purity, the weakening of its power, or the diminishing of its perfection

 

[Iconoclast]

Here is some support for what I offered briefly the other day;
From precept austin;
GUARD: phulaxon (2SAAM): [1Ti 6:20 Pr 4:23]

Protect that good thing entrusted to you (NET)

carefully guard (NLT)

guard and keep with the greatest care (Amp)

The word order of this verse reads more literally

That good thing, the trust, the deposit which was committed to you, guard

Guard (5442) (phulasso [word study]) is same verb Paul used used earlier to describes Jesus' guarding what Paul had entrusted to Him (2Ti 1:12-note).

Here Paul uses phulasso in the aorist tense 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 Robertson points out that because

God has also made an investment in Timothy, Timothy must not let that fail." And neither must we. Therefore, every time we listen to a tape, each time we hear a sermon, each time we read a devotional we need to be on guard (albeit not offensive or defensive, arrogant or paranoid) to maintain the integrity of the Word of Truth, our Standard of Holiness (cf Acts 17:12-note).

THE TREASURE (the good deposit) WHICH HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO YOU: ten kalen paratheken :

Treasure which has been entrusted - This phrase is actually two Greek words - kalos (good) + paratheke(deposit)

Good (2570)(kalos) means inherently excellent or intrinsically good and providing some special or superior benefit, an excellent description of the gospel.

Treasure (3866) (paratheke from paratithemi = place alongside, then to entrust) (Click discussion of 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 good thing entrusted (literal)

the good thing committed (YLT)

That precious treasure which is in your charge (WNT),

the good deposit that was entrusted (NIV)

“That good thing which was committed to you” (NKJV)

the good treasure entrusted (NRSV)

the precious entrusted deposit (Berkley)

Paratheke was a secular legal term describing something placed on trust in another's keeping.

C Maurer in the one volume abridged TDNT writes that the secular use of paratheke had the

technical meaning “to deposit,” “to entrust,” in the legal sense of leaving an object in another’s keeping, with strict penalties for embezzlement. A transferred sense develops out of the technical use. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans)

The treasure...entrusted - In context this phrase refers to the standard of sound words, the Christian doctrine and specifically the Gospel. Here the reference is to the deposit God makes with Timothy for which he will one day give an account of his stewardship. The deposit of 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 safeguard or multiply any money given one for safekeeping. Jewish teachers felt that they were passing on a sacred deposit to their disciples, who were expected to 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 used two 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 convey a 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 Gospel will be continually present) worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge"--which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted (paratheke - the deposit, the thing consigned to his faithful keeping) to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge " (1Ti 6:20)

W E Vine writes that the gospel..

is viewed as a treasure sedulously (constant, persistent attention and implies painstaking and persevering application) to be kept free from the admixture of error, and without loss through neglect of any detail, and that not only for the spiritual welfare of the teacher himself but for those to whom he ministers. The danger of compromise with those who ignore, or fail to teach, certain truths of the faith is ever to be avoided. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson orLogos)

The Jewish people had been "entrusted with the oracles of God" (see note Romans 3:2). Paul "had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised" (Gal 2:7, 1Ti 1:11), which he referred to as "a stewardship entrusted" (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 preserved pure and entire, and to be transmitted to those who shall come after us, and we must keep it, and not contribute any thing to the corrupting of its purity, the weakening of its power, or the diminishing of its perfection

I have always heard it presented this way.
The purpose of the laying on of hands and being indwelt by the Spirit was so he could defend the truth of the grace of God.
In Jude it is said we should contend for "The faith" once delivered to the saints.
That presupposes we would know what that faith is, even when people come against it.

 

[agedman]

The answers are all very helpful.

I do recognize that the gift (however it was given) is that entrusted.

From the believer's perspective, it would seem the priority and peculiarity of the gift should also be in consideration, that both the gift and those who benefit from the gift's use are

Does this passage consider that parable in which a certain amount was given to each servant? They were entrusted with the endowment until an accounting was taken.

Timothy was entrusted, but was that entrusted the faith, the ability to deliver sound doctrine, the ministerial robes and authority, or some other more special capacity gifted? Because it is a personal letter, it is perhaps left up to the reader to make an assumption.

 

[Van]

Once God puts us spiritually "in Christ" we are saved.
After God saved us He called us to a Holy Calling, to be Ambassadors of Christ with the ministry of reconciliation. We have been entrusted both with the gospel, and with engaging in our part of the ministry of Christ.

Some say God does not beg the lost, through the witness of His ambassadors, to be reconciled, because that would mean the lost can respond appropriately to the milk of the gospel. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Some say we are to beg the lost to be reconciled, even though all of them are unable to understand and respond appropriately to the gospel. And for those supposedly enabled by irresistible grace, it does not matter whether we present the gospel or false doctrine, they will be given "saving" faith.

These are the ones saying their view is what God entrusted to believers.

 

[agedman]

Once God puts us spiritually "in Christ" we are saved.
After God saved us He called us to a Holy Calling, to be Ambassadors of Christ with the ministry of reconciliation. We have been entrusted both with the gospel, and with engaging in our part of the ministry of Christ.

Some say God does not beg the lost, through the witness of His ambassadors, to be reconciled, because that would mean the lost can respond appropriately to the milk of the gospel. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Some say we are to beg the lost to be reconciled, even though all of them are unable to understand and respond appropriately to the gospel. And for those supposedly enabled by irresistible grace, it does not matter whether we present the gospel or false doctrine, they will be given "saving" faith.

These are the ones saying their view is what God entrusted to believers.

It is truly sad that you didn't stop prior to launching into a completely different subject.

I would have given you credit for agreement.

 

[Van]

It is truly sad that you didn't stop prior to launching into a completely different subject.

I would have given you credit for agreement.

Yet another you, you you post, devoid of content. False teachers use fallacies to peddle false doctrine, such as against the man arguments.

RESET

Once God puts us spiritually "in Christ" we are saved.
After God saved us He called us to a Holy Calling, to be Ambassadors of Christ with the ministry of reconciliation. We have been entrusted both with the gospel, and with engaging in our part of the ministry of Christ.

Some say God does not beg the lost, through the witness of His ambassadors, to be reconciled, because that would mean the lost can respond appropriately to the milk of the gospel. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Some say we are to beg the lost to be reconciled, even though all of them are unable to understand and respond appropriately to the gospel. And for those supposedly enabled by irresistible grace, it does not matter whether we present the gospel or false doctrine, they will be given "saving" faith.

These are the ones saying their view is what God entrusted to believers.

 

[Alan Gross]

May I call it, "The Truth", that was 'entrusted'.

The oracles of God.

The Manifold Wisedom and Whole Counsel of God.

The Ordinaces of Jesus' churches and The Great Commission,

as well as, "Another Comforter", The Shakina Glory of God, The Vicar of Christ.


.THE SUCCESSION OF TRUTH FROM AGE TO Age.

another Milburn Cockrell reference*

The Succession Of Truth by Elder Milburn Cockrell - Sovereign Grace Landmark Baptist Pastor - Now In Glory

In the patriarchal age the teaching of truth was mostly confined to home (Job 1:4-5).

This was continued into the Mosaic dispensation (Deuteronomy 4:9-10; 6:7-9; 11:19-20; Psalms 78:l-7).

This teaching of truth in the home continued even into the New Testament Testament dispensation (Era).
(II Timothy 1:5; 3:15; Titus 2:3).

As father and mother taught son and daughter the truth, God's truth had a succession from one to another.

The nation of Israel had priests who publicly taught the people (II Chronicles 17:7-9; 35:3; Nehemiah 8:9; Malachi 2:7).

There was a succession of truth in that nation.

There were also special theological schools for the prophets at Naioth (I Samuel 19:20), Bethel (II Kings 2:3) Jericho (II Kings 2:5,15), Gilgal (II Kings 4:38), and most likely Jerusalem (II Kings 22:14; II Chronicles 34:27).

Individual believers taught other people the truth (Psalms 51:12-13; Daniel 12:3).

In the New Testament we see Christ as the Master Teacher who practiced what He preached (Acts 1:1).

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, ..."

(Matthew 4:23). "Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught." (John 7:14 cf. Luke 24:27).

Before leaving this world Jesus Christ committed the public teaching ministry to His church: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20).

John Gill comments on the words, "I am with you alway, even unto the end at the world," thusly: "... meaning, not merely to the end of their lives, which would be the end of the world to them; nor to the end of the Jewish world, or state, which was not a great way off, though this is sometimes the sense of this phrase; but to the end of the present world, the universe: not that the apostles should live to the end of it but that where as Christ would have a church and a people to the end of the world, and the Gospel and the ordinances of it should be administered so long, and there should be Gospel ministers till that time;

Christ's sense is, that he would grant his presence to them, his inmediate disciples, and to all that should succeed them in future generations, to the end of time ..." (Exposition of New Testament, Volume I, page 377).

In the Book of Acts and the epistles we see the churches doing what Christ commanded them (Acts 5:42; 21:28; Galatians 6:6)."

***
*I can't go with Br. Cockrel's views of some 'rapture' talk that is in that article, but neither can he, since he is very much Alive with The Lord and Knows Jesus is Coming Again, and the oppurtuity for Repentance and Faith are Over when He Does, for all of Mankind.

That Teaching that Jesus is Coming Again, and the oppurtuity for Repentance and Faith are Over when He Does, for all of Mankind is held by and understood by those Jesus Called, 'scribes'.

Jesus Said they understood His Teaching of The Old and New Testament, whereas, many Independant Baptists need to get in The Book deeper on that.