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.
Ver. 12. I know whom I have trusted] Here was not a faint hope, or a conjectural confidence, but a plerophory of faith. The reason whereof is rendered by a Father, Quia in charitate nimia adoptavit me, quia verax in promissione, et potens in exhibitione, Because God, who of his free grace hath adopted me, is both able and faithful to fulfil his promises. (Bernard.) That was a notable speech of Luther (apud Jo. Manlium), Ipse viderit ubi anima men mansura sit, qui pro ea sic sollicitus fuit, ut vitam pro ea posuerit. Let him that died for my soul, see to the salvation of it.
That which I have committed] A child that hath any precious thing given him cannot better secure it than by putting it into his father's hands to keep; so neither can we better provide for our souls' safety than by committing them to God. Tutiores autem vivimus, si totum Deo damus, non autem nos illi ex parte et nobis ex parte committimus: We shall be sure to be safest, if we commit ourselves wholly to God, and seek not to part stakes with him therein. (Aug. de Bono Persev. cap. 6.) The ship that is part in the water and part in the mud is soon beaten in pieces.