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Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.
2 Timothy 1:14 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB That good thing which was committed to you, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
  • KJV That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
  • BSB Guard the treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
  • NKJV That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
  • NASB Protect, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Timothy must guard the good deposit entrusted to him through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Preserving sound truth is a Spirit-empowered task, not merely human effort.

Overview

The 'good thing' committed to Timothy is the gospel and sound doctrine he is to protect from corruption. Crucially, this guarding is done not by human resolve alone but 'through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.' Faithful transmission of the truth depends on God's own power working within his servants.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • John 14:17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.
  • Rom 8:13For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
  • 1 Tim 6:20Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge;
  • Rom 8:9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
  • 1 Cor 3:16Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
  • 2 Tim 1:12For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
  • 1 Pet 1:22Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:
  • 1 Th 5:19Don’t quench the Spirit.
  • Eph 5:18Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
  • Eph 2:22in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
  • 1 Tim 1:11according to the Good News of the glory of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
  • 2 Cor 5:19–20namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
  • 1 Cor 9:17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.
  • 2 Tim 2:2The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
  • Col 4:11and Jesus who is called Justus. These are my only fellow workers for God’s Kingdom who are of the circumcision, men who have been a comfort to me.
  • Rom 3:2Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the revelations of God.
  • Gal 2:7but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcision
  • 1 Cor 6:19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
  • Rom 8:11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
  • 2 Cor 5:16Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.
  • Luke 16:11If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 2 Timothy videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 2 Timothy 1:14YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 2 TimothyMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Christ Jesus 'abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel' — the risen Lord whose word and kingdom endure to the end.

How 2 Timothy 1:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.