Photo of Fort Knox in Kentucky, USA by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash. The gold reserves of the United States are held in the United States Bullion Depository adjacent to this army base.
Paul, the apostle, was eager to pass on to the next generation intact and untarnished the deposit of sacred truth which had been passed on to him. And Timothy, for all his hesitancy and lack of confidence, was key to this. Paul plays a very important role in the New Testament because, although he was not one of the original 12 apostles who spent three years serving with the Lord and personally witnessed his miracles and his death and resurrection, Paul was given a special revelation from God. It started on the road to Damascus and it continued in the deserts of Arabia when he was caught up into the third heaven and 'heard things which cannot be told' (2 Corinthians 12:3-4) but God also imparted a body of doctrine which needed to be passed on to other Christians after his death. And so we have the letters of Paul to the Romans, the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians and more.
But Paul makes it clear that Timothy had a vital role to play in the preservation of the doctrine and the dissemination of it to others.
[13] I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, [14] to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, [1 Timothy 6:13-14 ESV]
Paul emphasises the importance of this charge or commission. He is making his statement to Timothy in the presence of God (the Creator and Giver of Life) and the Lord Jesus who provided a model for being a faithful witness (referring to Jesus' trial before Pontus Pilate). Paul adds two essential features of how this deposit was to be guarded and they refer to conduct or behaviour of those who would seek to transmit this message. People who are not Christians are more interested in our conduct than our doctrine. They care more about how we live our lives than what we believe. If there are things in our lives which contradict the purity and beauty of the Gospel, people will not listen to our preaching. Paul uses two expressions to convey this to Timothy and, in turn, to us. Firstly, Paul says that we must make sure that the Gospel is 'without spot' 'unblemished' (Greek word aspilos which is also used of Jesus as a lamb without blemish in 1 Peter 1:19) in the same way as the Hebrews were to choose a perfect lamb to be sacrificed for the Passover when they were delivered from Egypt. The second word is translated as 'blameless' or 'inculpable' (Greek word anepileptos which is only found in Paul's first letter to Timothy - 1 Timothy 3:2; 5:7 and 6:14). Just as Pilate could not find any fault with Jesus, our conduct should be like that.
Paul ends this letter with another reminder to 'keep this message.'
[20] O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” [21] for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.
Grace be with you. [1 Timothy 6:20-21 ESV]
And when he writes another letter to Timothy, he reinforces this message yet again in the first chapter.
[14] By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. [2 Timothy 1:14 ESV]
Paul also elaborates on what this will mean. He provides detail of the transmission plan for what has been called the deposit of sacred truth.
[2] and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. [2 Timothy 2:2 ESV]
It is all about preserving the testimony and the Word of God from one generation to the next. However, just in case we begin to think that all of this lies in human hands, Paul provides another insight in the first chapter of his second letter:
[12] which 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. [2 Timothy 1:12 ESV]
This is a good reminder to us that it is in God's hands. Although God has entrusted this responsibility to Christians, Paul knows that ' he is able to guard this deposit - until that day. In the last chapter of the first letter, Paul spoke about the appearing or parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks again about that day and this might be very soon. I am more convinced that Jesus is coming soon. The deposit will no longer need to be guarded because faith will give way to sight and the revelation of Jesus Christ will be complete. Until that day, we have a duty to preserve the testimony of Jesus Christ which involves making sure that we don't dilute the contents of the message nor destroy its impact by careless and improper conduct as custodians of the divine message. The Bible is that deposit but people are not reading their Bibles so we must act as ambassadors of Christ until he returns.
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