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Entrusted (3866) (paratheke from paratithemi from para = beside + tithemi = place) literally denotes “a putting with,” and so refers to a deposit (anything entrusted to the care of another for safekeeping), a trust, or something consigned or committed to another's charge for faithful keeping. This practice was common in days when there were no banks. The picture Paul is painting is drawn from this practice of one person trusting another with some precious deposit, to be kept for a time and then restored intact.
Paratheke is used only three times in Scripture and each time in combination with the Greek word phulasso (translated guard or keep): 1Ti 6:20 2Ti 1:12, 2Ti 1:14
In his first epistle Paul used the same combination of phulasso and paratheke in his exhortation to Timothy to
O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to (paratheke) you, avoiding (ektrepo = present tense = continually turning away from, shunning, avoiding meeting or associating with because false doctrine is like a deadly, highly contagious plague) worldly (bebelos = originally referred to everything outside the sacred grounds of a Greek temple = describes what is outside the realm of truth, and hence unholy and profane = same word in 2Ti 2:16-note) and empty chatter and the opposing arguments (antithesis, a technical term used in rhetoric for a counter proposition in a debate. Timothy was to avoid the pseudo-intellectual arguments of those who merely wanted to attack Scripture for their talk “will spread like gangrene” 2Ti 2:17-note) of what is falsely called “knowledge”—which some have professed and thus gone astray from ( missed the mark concerning) the faith. Grace be with you." (1Ti 6:20, 21)
The third use of paratheke is found in this same chapter...
Guard (aorist imperative), through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. (See note 2 Timothy 1:14)
Paratheke refers to something entrusted to another for faithful keeping or deposited for protection.
William Barclay explains that paratheke...
means a deposit which has been entrusted to a banker or someone else for safe-keeping. It is essentially something which must be handed back or handed on absolutely unchanged. That is to say the stress is on orthodoxy...It is the word for money deposited with a banker or with a friend. When such money was in time demanded back, it was a sacred duty to hand it back entire. Sometimes children were called a paratheke, a sacred trust. If the gods gave a man a child, it was his duty to present that child trained and equipped to the gods.
Barclay goes on to quote
St. Vincent of Lerins: “What is meant by the deposit? (paratheke). That which is committed to thee, not that which is invented by thee; that which thou hast received, not that which thou hast devised; a thing not of wit, but of learning; not of private assumption, but of public tradition; a thing brought to thee, not brought forth of thee; wherein thou must not be an author, but a keeper; not a leader, but a follower. Keep the deposit. Preserve the talent of the faith safe and undiminished; let that which is committed to thee remain with thee, and that deliver. Thou hast received gold, render gold.”
Finally Barclay adds that
A man does well to remember that his duty is not only to himself, but also to his children and his children’s children. If in our day the Church were to become enfeebled; if the Christian ethic were to be more and more submerged in the world; if the Christian faith were to be twisted and distorted; it would not only be we who were the losers, those of generations still to come would be robbed of something infinitely precious. We are not only the possessors but also the trustees of the faith. That which we have received, we must also hand on." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos) (Bolding added)
Paratheke was a secular legal term describing something placed on trust in another's keeping.
TDNT adds that paratheke referred to...
a trust agreement" and a "legal device whereby an object can be entrusted to another’s keeping for a specific period. This object was to be kept free, unused and undamaged until restoration. The trustworthiness of the trustee was thus most important. (Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Eerdmans)
Vincent notes that
sums deposited with a Bishop for the use of the church were called trust-funds (paratheke) of the church.
J. N. D. Kelly comments concerning paratheke that this truth...
is not something which the church’s minister works out for himself or is entitled to add to; it is a divine revelation which has been committed to his care, and which it is his bounden duty to pass on unimpaired to others."
William Barclay has an illustration of paratheke that helps understand how this specific word must have had such a profound impact on Timothy...
A man might deposit something with a friend to be kept for his children or his loved ones; he might deposit his valuables in a temple for safe keeping, for the temples were the banks of the ancient world. In each case the thing deposited was a parathēkē. In the ancient world there was no more sacred duty than the safe-guarding of such a deposit and the returning of it when in due time it was claimed. There was a famous Greek story which told just how sacred such a trust was (Herodotus 6:89; Juvenal: Satires, 13:199–208). The Spartans were famous for their strict honour and honesty. A certain man of Miletus came to a certain Glaucus of Sparta. He said that he had heard such great reports of the honesty of the Spartans that he had turned half his possessions into money and wished to deposit that money with Glaucus, until he or his heirs should claim it again. Certain symbols were given and received which would identify the rightful claimant when he should make his claim. The years passed on; the man of Miletus died; his sons came to Sparta to see Glaucus, produced the identifying tallies and asked for the return of the deposited money. But Glaucus claimed that he had no memory of ever receiving it. The sons from Miletus went sorrowfully away; but Glaucus went to the famous oracle at Delphi to see whether he should admit the trust or, as Greek law entitled him to do, should swear that he knew nothing about it. The oracle answered:
“Best for the present it were, O Glaucus, to do as thou wishest,
Swearing an oath to prevail, and so to make prize of the money.
Swear then—death is the lot even of those who never swear falsely.
Yet hath the Oath—god a son who is nameless, footless and handless;
Mighty in strength he approaches to vengeance, and whelms in destruction
All who belong to the race, or the house of the man who is perjured.
But oath-keeping men leave behind them a flourishing off-spring.”
Glaucus understood; the oracle was telling him that if he wished for momentary profit, he should deny the trust, but such a denial would inevitably bring eternal loss. He besought the oracle to pardon his question; but the answer was that to have tempted the god was as bad as to have done the deed. He sent for the sons of the man of Miletus and restored the money. Herodotus goes on: “Glaucus at this present time has not a single descendant; nor is there any family known as his; root and branch has he been removed from Sparta. It is a good thing therefore, when a pledge has been left with one, not even in thought to doubt about restoring it.” To the Greeks a paratheke was completely sacred." (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos) (Bolding added)
The root verb paratithemi is used in the Septuagint in Ps 31:5 where the David puts himself under (entrusts himself to) God’s protection writing...
Into Thy hand I commit (paratithemi) my spirit. Thou hast ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth. (Psalm 31:5) (See Spurgeon's Note)
Our Lord Jesus quotes first half of this verse from the cross
crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Thy hands I commit (paratithemi - entrust) My spirit." And having said this, He breathed His last. (Luke 23:46)
Does not this use of the related verb paratithemi give you a added sense of the meaning of the noun paratheke and why Paul was able to triumphantly withstand suffering for his Lord. It is also interesting that church history reveals that many martyrs have also quoted this verse from Psalm 31:5 at the moment of execution. Such confidence at the point of death reveals tremendous trust in the Lord.
F B Meyer (in Our Daily Homily) writes that...
There is a double deposit here, and the comparison comes out clear and marked in the Greek. When we give our most precious treasure into the custodianship of Jesus, He turns to honor us by entrusting His own treasure to our care. Oh that we might be as eager to keep that which He entrusts to us, as He is that which we entrust to Him; so that He might be able to say of us, "I know them in whom I have trusted, and am persuaded that they will never fail to do whatever needs to be done for My honor and glory."
Our deposit with Christ. - What is the true policy of life? How can I best spend these few years to the best advantage? What is there beyond, and beyond? Such questions come to all earnest souls, and greatly trouble them, till they entrust the keeping of their souls and the direction of their lives into the hands of the faithful Saviour. We feel sure that He has the words of eternal life, and that all power is given to Him in heaven and on earth. At first there is something of a venture - we trust Him; next, there is the knowledge which comes from experience - we know Him; lastly, there is strong confidence - we are persuaded that He is able.
Christ's deposit with us. - And what is this? 1Ti 6:20, 1Ti 4:16, suggests the answer. To every believer Jesus hands the custody of His honor, His Gospel, His Father's glory, His holy day, the ordinances which He bequeathed to the Church. As Ezra charged the priests to bear safely through the desert march the sacred vessels, so our Captain charges us, and throughout the whole Bible rings the injunction: "Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord."
Steven Cole tells this story...
I read once about a family that put their elderly grandmother on a plane for her first flight. She wasn’t too sure about this mode of transportation, but she grudgingly went along with it. When she returned, some of the family members couldn’t help playfully asking, “Grannie, did the plane hold you up okay?” She reluctantly admitted that it did, but then added, “But I never put my full weight down on it.”
Trusting Christ as your Savior means getting on board and putting your full weight down on Him. You let go of any notion that you can do anything to save yourself. You abandon any trust in your good works. You rely on Christ and His shed blood as the only acceptable payment for your sins. That is the starting point of banking with God.
Someone may wonder, “If I deposit all of my life with Christ, does that mean that I have to be a missionary in Africa?” The answer is, maybe, maybe not. It does mean that you must be willing to be a missionary in Africa if the Lord calls you to do that. Trusting Christ means that you trust that He is good and that He knows what is best for your life. If He wants you to be a missionary in Africa, you’d be miserable to be a successful stockbroker on Wall Street. You’ve got to trust Him for that. You hand Him a blank check for all of your life and He fills in the details. (Banking with God)
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Christ Is Able! - Only when we fully trust someone will we commit ourselves to that person. Such complete trust is depicted in the following story.
A crowd gazed in awe as a tightrope walker inched his way across Niagara Falls. The people cheered when he accomplished the feat.
Then he turned to a man and said, "Do you think I could carry someone across?" "Sure," the man replied.
"Let's go then!" "No thanks!" the man exclaimed. So the tightroper asked another man, "What about you? Will you trust me?" "Yes, I will," he said. That man climbed onto his shoulders, and with the water roaring below they reached the other side.
Hidden in this story is a spiritual challenge each of us must face. Our sinfulness is a yawning chasm between us and God, and we are unable to cross it. Only Jesus is able to bring us safely to the other side. But we must repent and trust Him with our lives. The apostle Paul confidently wrote, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (2Ti. 1:12).
Are you trying on your own to cross the chasm of sin that separates you from God? It's impossible. Put your trust in Christ, for He alone is able to bring you to God. —Joanie Yoder (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name. --Mote
Christ is the bridge over the chasm of sin.
TO HIM UNTIL THAT DAY: eis ekeinen ten hemeran:
That day (same phrase in 2Ti 1:18, 4:8) - This begs the question "What day?" For Paul it would be the day he would see Jesus, either by Jesus coming for Paul (see harpazo - the Rapture) or by Paul going to Jesus (falling asleep in Jesus). The early saints lived with an awareness of imminency of that day, and this was so well known to them that they did not even need to identify it. That Day was enough.
Most expositors favor that day in context has reference to the Second Coming of the Lord, when the church will be raptured and then experience the Judgment (bema) Seat of Christ (see 2Co 5:10-note, cf Ro 14:10-note) where
each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. (1Cor 3:13, 14, 15)
Comparison with the other two uses of that day in 2 Timothy would support this interpretation. Remember that the best commentary on Scripture is always Scripture (See topic - Compare Scripture with Scripture).
the Lord grant to him (Onesiphorus) to find mercy from the Lord on that day-- and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. (see note 2 Timothy 1:18)
Thomas Constable commenting on 2Timothy 1:18 writes that
Paul wished the Lord would show Onesiphorus “mercy” at the judgment seat of Christ [cf. “that day” in 2Ti 1:12]. Paul seems to have been envisioning a scene in which all his unfaithful brethren would stand before the Lord, Onesiphorus among them, namely Christ’s judgment seat. God would express displeasure with the failure of the others, but Onesiphorus would escape that shame (cf. 1John 2:28). (2 Timothy)
in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (see note 2 Timothy 4:8)
Barnes has an interesting, convicting thought on that day -
It seems to have been so much the object of thought and conversation among the early Christians, that the apostle supposed that he would be understood by merely referring to it as that day; that is, the day which they were always preaching about, and talking about, and thinking about.
Steven Cole explains until that day as Paul's reference to...
the day of judgment, when all accounts will be squared away before God. If this life is all that there is, then we live in a cruel and unfair world. Here is a godly, self-sacrificing apostle in a dungeon while a perverted lunatic revels in luxury and debauchery as he rules the Roman Empire. Paul was executed while Nero kept on partying. That was not fair! But, that day is coming. When he was preaching to the intellectuals in Athens, Paul proclaimed (Acts 17:31) that God “has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” If Jesus is risen, then that day is coming. No one will get away with anything. All wrongs will be brought to light and punished. All who have trusted in Christ will not face judgment, but will “stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy” (Jude 24). In light of eternity, it is a secure and wise investment to deposit your life with Jesus Christ. Have you made that deposit with your life? That’s where you begin. You commit everything that you are and have to Christ, convinced that He is able to guard your deposit until that day. (Banking with God)
The reality (and certainty) of that day that should motivate each of us to discipline ourselves for godliness, even laboring and striving toward that worthy goal (1Ti 4:7, 8, 9, 10-see notes 1Ti 4:7; 4:8; 4:9; 4:10). In light of that day we should seek to cleanse ourselves from
all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God? (2Cor 7:1-note, cf 1Jn 3:2, 3:3)
Tozer said...
Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will not be judged by how much I have done but by how much of me there is in it.
When Sir James Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, was on his deathbed, a friend asked him,
“Sir, what are your speculations?” Simpson replied: “Speculations! I have no speculations! ‘For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
How wonderful that the last words on his life were a recollection of the keeping power of our Mighty Savior. I pray it be likewise with us all dear reader.
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