The meaning of Deposit in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
de-poz'-it (paratheke, I Timothy 6:20; II Timothy 1:12, II Timothy 1:14 the Revised Version, margin, paraphrased in both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) into "that which is committed" (see COMMEND)): The noun was used in the classical Greek, just as its English equivalents, for "that which is placed with another for safe keeping," a charge committed to another's hands, consisting often of money or property; compare Exodus 22:7; Leviticus 6:2. This practice was common in days when there were no banks. (1) In I Timothy 6:20; also II Timothy 1:14, the reference is to a deposit which God makes with man, and for which man is to give a reckoning. The context shows that this deposit is the Christian faith, "the pattern of sound words" (II Timothy 1:13), that which is contrasted with the "oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called" (I Timothy 6:20). "Keep the talent of the Christian faith safe and undiminished" (Vincentius Lirenensis). (2) In II Timothy 1:12, the deposit is one which man makes with God. The key to the meaning of this expression is found probably in Psalms 31:5 : "Into thy hand I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me," i.e. "All that I am, with all my interests, have been entrusted to Thy safe keeping, and, therefore, I have no anxieties with respect to the future. The day of reckoning, 'that day,' will show how faithful are the hands that hold this trust."
H. E. Jacobs
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