2 Timothy 1:12

Suffer. Because of his own experience of suffering for the sake of the gospel Paul could sympathetically exhort Timothy to suffer without wavering.

These things. That is, the height of humiliation. Paul had been indicted for criminal acts against the Roman Empire.

Ashamed. Even though Paul faced the disgrace of execution as a criminal, and the sneers of an empire, his confidence in the message he preached buoyed up his spirit and strengthened his courage. This same kind of nobility steeled the hearts of the Hebrew worthies when they faced the fury of Babylon’s king (see Dan. 3:16-18); Christ also gave the universe an example of unashamed confidence in the overruling providence of the Father when He faced the disgrace of the cross.

Know. Paul is convinced of Christ’s personal concern for his welfare, and his gratitude for this is revealed in his unashamed witness.

Believed. The form of the Greek verb emphasizes that Paul had begun his trust in years past, and continued trusting. He had maintained his faith even amid the different experience of being treated as a common criminal. God expects no one to trust Him blindly. He has given to each man sufficient evidence upon which to base his confidence. The joy of life is in recognizing these evidences of the hand of God.

Persuaded. Or, “convinced.”

To keep. The entire clause reads literally, “to guard my deposit unto that day” (cf. 1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:14). Commentators are divided as to whether Paul here refers to something he has entrusted to Christ or to something Christ has entrusted to him. The first view considers Paul’s personal salvation, his character, his future, to be the deposit that Christ will faithfully keep until the day of resurrection, when life is restored to the sleeping saints. Even though death hides men from earthly view, Christ has marked the graves of all who will one day receive the gift of eternal life.

Those who set forth the second view find difficulty in thinking that Paul would use the same words found in 1 Tim. 6:20 and 2 Tim. 1:14, but in a different sense. In these passages the meaning clearly denotes the deposit entrusted to Timothy as a Christian minister. These commentators contend that Paul here shares with Timothy the confidence that even though he himself would soon die, the gospel would not perish, but that Christ is able to guard the Christian witness until the task is done. Other men, like Timothy, will be entrusted with the same commission that was given to Paul. Even though Paul’s death would be a crashing shock to the young churches, they were to be persuaded, with Paul, that Christ still lives and is able to lead them on to even greater achievements than he had made for Christ.

That day. That is, the day when the task committed to Christians is completed. Paul perhaps refers to “that day” when “life and immortality” (see v. 10) will be granted to the faithful because they have kept pure that which was committed unto them.