For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: 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.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Paul says [elsewhere], “I have kept the faith,” but the same apostle also says, “For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is able to keep that which I have deposited with him against that day.” “That which I have deposited with him” means: What I have commended to him, for some [Latin] copies do not have the word depositum but commendatum, which is clearer. Now what do we commend to God’s keeping save those things which we pray he will preserve? Is not our very faith among these? For what did the Lord commend for the apostle Peter, by his prayer for him, when he said to him, “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith shall not fail”? This means that God would preserve his faith and that it would not fail by giving way to temptation.
I am certain that he (God) is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day. That is, to the day of judgment. St. Paul here means that which he had committed, or as it were deposited in the hands of God; to wit, the treasure of an eternal reward, due in some measure to St. Paul for his apostolical labours. This treasure, promised to those that live well, the apostle hopes he has placed and deposited in the hands of God, who will reward him, and repay him at the last day. This is the common interpretation. (Witham)
What is “that which has been entrusted to me”? The faith, the preaching of the gospel. God, who committed this to us, will preserve it unimpaired. I suffer everything, that I may not be despoiled of this treasure. I am not ashamed of these things, so long as the faith is preserved uninjured. Or by “that which is entrusted to me” he may be referring to the faithful people who God has committed to him.
I am not ashamed, he says. For are chains, are sufferings, a matter for shame? Be not then ashamed! You see how he illustrates his teaching by his works. These things, he says, I suffer: I am cast into prison, I am banished; For I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him against That Day. What is that which is committed? The faith, the preaching of the Gospel. He, who committed this to him, he says, will preserve it unimpaired. I suffer everything, that I may not be despoiled of this treasure, and I am not ashamed at these things, so long as it is preserved uninjured. Or he calls the Faithful the charge which God committed to him, or which he committed to God. For he says, Now I commit you to the Lord. Acts 20:32 That is, these things will not be unprofitable to me. And in Timothy is seen the fruit of the charge thus committed. You see that he is insensible to sufferings, from the hope that he entertains of his disciples.
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