“12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)
For the past 2000 years, one of the most debated topics in church history has been perhaps the clearest topic in all of Scripture… Salvation. We have argued to the point of parting of fellowships to even killing each other over how sinful man is reconciled unto the Holy God. There are two sides to this debate. In one corner, you have the man yelling with his Bible in hand, “Faith alone in Christ Alone!”, while the man in the other corner yells with his pitchfork in hand, “Faith with works!” And of course in the middle, you have Paul, the referee of this showdown saying , “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you”. This is quite the conundrum of a text; however, I believe that as we dig more deeply and see more clearly, we will gladly settle our minds on the glorious truths of redemption through the glorious redeemer, Christ Jesus!
The first swing we must take in mining through this passage is to pick apart the first half of Paul’s words. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” He begins this part of his address to the Philippians church with a kind, yet slight, acknowledgement of their obedience. However, I believe it would not have benefited the church to hear only praise from the apostle, as that never ultimately edifies humans. Paul is aware of this habit of man’s quickness to esteem himself. So, he not only tells them “to work out your own salvation” but “with FEAR and TREMBLING,”. This is a big shock to the system for the obedient church.
Why is Paul all of a sudden instructing us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, if we have always been obedient? Well, I think Paul is reminding the church of Philippi and us as the current Church of Jesus Christ that our obedience is NOT what saves us. The very lack of our obedience is why we are needing to be saved in the first place! Our obedience cannot possibly bring us salvation when it was our disobedience that brought us condemnation! Therefore, when we as His people reach the mountaintops of our lives, may we remember that it was not our efforts that got us to the top of the mountain but it was He who made the mountains that moved them to us! It was not our work that brought us salvation, but it was the hands of Him who made us that moved the Spirit our way, “as the wind blows where it may”! Christ Jesus being truly man and truly God did the work for us by living the life complete with obedience that we couldn’t live and died the death saturated in holy wrath in which we should die.
With the saving ground being established, the text then forces us to question why Paul would even instruct the church to work out their own salvation in the first place? Could this imply that “work out” does not necessarily mean “work towards”? Could Paul be instructing the church of Philippi not to work out the result of salvation, but rather the evidence and assurance of salvation? I believe this is the case, my friends. Even so, the initial reminder remains the same. Obedience does not save, nor is it to be looked to as what maintains our salvation. Christ is still the sole Savior and He is the sole Keeper. Paul ties this long and drawn out theological string into a beautiful knot with the second half in verse 13. “for it is God who works IN you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Notice the use of language here? In verse 12, Paul instructs to “work OUT your own salvation.” Yet, in verse 13 he reminds us that “it is God who works IN you.” So, I believe the conclusion to make about the work of salvation is this: God worked it in so that you can work it out. In the previous chapter, Paul tells us that “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”(Phil. 1:6 ) Paul is telling us here that Christ not only began the good work of salvation, but also initiates the continuing work of sanctification and soul-cleansing. A highly important truth, the continuous saving process means that even the work you show outwardly that goes to testify of your salvation is His still. Working “out” of you what He does in you is not only GOD’s pleasure, but results in the glory going completely to God and God alone… as it should!
The end of verse 13 leaves us with such a glorifying detail about God’s inner working in our lives that it is worth reemphasizing: “…who works in you, both to WILL and to WORK for HIS good pleasure.” What more could we ask of Him, beloved? He saves us, cleanses us, and forges us as one would steel for us to will and to work for HIS good pleasure even in the smallest of services to Him. Out of all the actions man can do in his life, there are two things that Romans 8 deems as absolutely impossible for sinful man to do: “To will and to work for His good pleasure.” “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not SUBMIT to God’s law; indeed, it CANNOT. Those who are in the flesh CANNOT PLEASE God.” THAT is our God, folks. He is the Almighty Sovereign King, the Beginning and the End, He who makes the impossible sinful man into a possible child of God with whom He is well pleased. He is, indeed, the Willer and the Worker.