So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and arguing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.
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So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and arguing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world, holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain. Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all. In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.
Parallel Translations
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So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
Do all things without complaining and arguing,
that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.
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Wherfore my dearly beloved as ye have always obeyed not when I was present only but now moche more in myne absence even so worke out youre awne saluacion with feare and tremblynge.
For it is god which worketh in you both the will and also that dede even of good will
Do all thynge with out murmurynge and disputynge
that ye maye be fautelesse and pure and the sonnes of God with out rebuke in the middes of a croked and a perverse nacion amonge which se that ye shyne as lightes in the worlde
holdinge fast the worde of lyfe vnto my reioysynge in the daye of Christ that I have not runne in vayne
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Wherefore my beloued, as ye haue alwayes obeyed me, not as in my presence only, but now much more in mine absence, so make an end of your owne saluation with feare and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you, both the will and the deede, euen of his good pleasure.
Do all things without murmuring and reasonings,
That ye may be blamelesse, and pure, and the sonnes of God without rebuke in the middes of a naughtie and crooked nation, among whom yee shine as lights in the world,
Holding forth the worde of life, that I may reioyce in the day of Christ, that I haue not runne in vaine, neither haue laboured in vaine.
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Cross-references (166)
- Hebrews 13:21 (v13) make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom…
- 2 Corinthians 3:5 (v13) not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,
- 2 Timothy 1:9 (v13) who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to…
- Romans 9:16 (v13) So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.
- 2 Peter 1:5-10 (v12) Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge;…
Show all 100 cross-references
- Luke 13:23-24 (v12) One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” He said to them, “Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will…
- 1 Corinthians 15:10 (v13) But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but…
- 1 Corinthians 15:58 (v12) Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in…
- Ephesians 1:11 (v13) We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel…
- James 1:16-18 (v13) Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with…
- Hebrews 4:11 (v12) Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
- John 3:27 (v13) John answered, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:11 (v13) To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work…
- 1 Corinthians 12:6 (v13) There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.
- Matthew 5:14-16 (v15) You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket,…
- 1 Peter 2:11 (v12) Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- 1 Peter 4:9 (v14) Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
- 1 Kings 8:58 (v13) that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which…
- Ephesians 1:5 (v13) having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,
- Ephesians 2:8 (v13) for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
- Philippians 3:13-14 (v12) Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching…
- 1 Corinthians 10:10 (v14) Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
- Titus 3:4-5 (v13) But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but…
- Psalms 119:36 (v13) Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.
- John 6:27-29 (v12) Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the…
- Matthew 11:29 (v12) Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.
- Luke 12:32 (v13) Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
- Isaiah 66:2 (v12) For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is…
- Galatians 6:7-9 (v12) Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh…
- Ephesians 2:4-5 (v13) But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive…
- Philippians 1:27 (v12) Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state,…
- Ephesians 1:9 (v13) making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him
- Jeremiah 32:38 (v13) Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.
- John 6:65 (v13) He said, “For this cause I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”
- Romans 9:11 (v13) For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works,…
- Ephesians 4:31-32 (v14) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted,…
- James 5:9 (v14) Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.
- Proverbs 21:1 (v13) The king’s heart is in Yahweh’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.
- Jeremiah 31:33 (v13) “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward…
- Philippians 2:3 (v14) doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
- Hebrews 5:9 (v12) Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,
- 1 Peter 2:12 (v15) having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they…
- Romans 13:11-14 (v12) Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first…
- 2 Peter 3:18 (v12) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- 1 Chronicles 29:14-18 (v13) But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and we have given…
- 2 Chronicles 30:12 (v13) Also the hand of God came on Judah to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the princes by Yahweh’s word.
- Ezra 1:1 (v13) Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit…
- Ezra 7:27 (v13) Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s house which is in…
- Matthew 5:45 (v15) that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just…
- Romans 12:18 (v14) If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
- Hebrews 12:28-29 (v12) Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for…
- Exodus 16:7-8 (v14) In the morning, you shall see Yahweh’s glory; because he hears your murmurings against Yahweh. Who are we, that you murmur against us?”…
- Ezra 1:5 (v13) Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites, all whose spirit God had stirred to go up rose…
- Proverbs 13:4 (v12) The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.
- Isaiah 60:1 (v15) “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 (v14) See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good for one another and for all.
- Hebrews 4:1 (v12) Let’s fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
- Isaiah 26:12 (v13) Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.
- John 6:45 (v13) It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (v13) But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation…
- Galatians 5:26 (v14) Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
- 2 Timothy 2:10 (v12) Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal…
- Hebrews 12:1 (v12) Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily…
- James 1:20 (v14) for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
- James 3:14–4:1 (v14) But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that…
- 1 John 3:1-3 (v15) See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us,…
- Proverbs 15:17-18 (v14) Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred. A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to…
- Galatians 5:15 (v14) But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.
- Deuteronomy 32:5 (v15) They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation.
- Psalms 119:120 (v12) My flesh trembles for fear of you. I am afraid of your judgments.
- Psalms 141:4 (v13) Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
- Romans 2:7 (v12) to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;
- Romans 14:1 (v14) Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.
- Philippians 4:1 (v12) Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
- Hebrews 6:10-11 (v12) For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the…
- 1 Peter 1:3 (v13) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope…
- Psalms 2:11 (v12) Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
- Psalms 106:25 (v14) but murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to Yahweh’s voice.
- Philippians 1:29 (v12) Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (v15) May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our…
- Jude 1:16 (v14) These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain…
- Acts 11:21 (v13) The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
- Romans 16:17 (v14) Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you…
- 1 Corinthians 9:26 (v16) I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,
- 1 Thessalonians 1:3 (v12) remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and…
- 1 Timothy 6:3-5 (v14) If anyone teaches a different doctrine, and doesn’t consent to sound words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which…
- Hebrews 12:14 (v14) Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
- 1 Peter 3:11 (v14) Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.
- Nehemiah 2:4 (v13) Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
- Acts 6:1 (v14) Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because…
- Acts 15:2 (v14) Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them,…
- 1 Corinthians 2:3 (v12) I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
- 2 Corinthians 7:15 (v12) His affection is more abundantly toward you, while he remembers all of your obedience, how with fear and trembling you received him.
- Galatians 2:2 (v16) I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were…
- 1 Peter 1:14-17 (v15) as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, but just as he who called you is…
- 2 Peter 3:14 (v15) Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without defect and blameless in his sight.
- Psalms 110:3 (v13) Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your…
- 1 Corinthians 1:8 (v15) who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 1:10-12 (v14) Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions…
- 1 Corinthians 3:3-5 (v14) for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (166 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (28 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12 Therefore, etc. He concludes the whole of the…
12 Therefore, etc. He concludes the whole of the preceding exhortation with a general statement — that they should humble themselves under the Lord’s hand, for that will very readily secure, that, laying aside all arrogance, they will be gentle and indulgent to each other. This is the only befitting way in which the mind of man may learn gentleness, when one who, while viewing himself apart, pleased himself in his hiding-places, comes to examine himself as compared with God.
As ye have always obeyed. He commends their previous obedience, that he may encourage them the more to persevere. As, however, it is the part of hypocrites to approve themselves before others, but so soon as they have withdrawn from public view, to indulge themselves more freely, as if every occasion of reverence and fear were removed, he admonishes them not to shew themselves obedient in his presence merely, but also, and even much more, in his absence. For if he were present, he could stimulate and urge them on by continued admonitions. Now, therefore, when their monitor is at a distance from them, there is need that they should stir up themselves.
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With fear and trembling. In this way he would have the Philippians testify and approve their obedience — by being submissive and humble. Now the source of humility is this — acknowledging how miserable we are, and devoid of all good. To this he calls them in this statement. For whence comes pride, but from the assurance which blind confidence produces, when we please ourselves, and are more puffed up with confidence in our own virtue, than prepared to rest upon the grace of God. In contrast with this vice is that fear to which he exhorts. Now, although exhortation comes before doctrine, in the connection of the passage, it is in reality after it, in point of arrangement, inasmuch as it is derived from it. I shall begin, accordingly, with doctrine.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12–16 He is said to make an end of his…
He is said to make an end of his salvation, which runneth in the race of righteousness.
The conclusion: We must go on to salvation with humility and submission, by the way of our vocation.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,…
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Ver. 12. Work out your salvation] κατεργαζεσθε. The reason that men still tremble, and are still troubled with this doubt, and that fear, is, because their salvation is not wrought out, something is left undone and their conscience tells them so.
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With fear and trembling] Opposed to carnal security. Those venturous bold spirits that dare live in any evil, so it stare not in their faces, and have not a heart fearful of the least evil, aspire not to immortality.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed: having…
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed: having confirmed the example of Christ’s admirable condescension and affection from the glorious issue of it, he doth here reassume his exhortation, with a friendly compellation, commending their former sincere endeavours to obey the gospel (so Phi 1:5, and Phi 2:15) in following Christ, Mat 11:28, and moving them to persevere in obedience and love to God and man.
Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence; that it might be evident, whether the eye of their pastor were upon them or not, a prevailing love to Christ, and their own souls’ welfare, was prevalent with them; but especially, being he was now detained from them, and might be jealous of some defects in them, Jam 3:2; 1Jo 1:8, did engage them more than any thing to embrace his exhortation, which he enlargeth in other words.
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Work out your own salvation: he moves them as saints, Phi 1:1, in whom God would perfect his work begun, Phi 2:6, having given them to believe and suffer, Phi 2:29, that they would seriously and earnestly busy themselves in those things, which on their parts are necessary to salvation, as Joh 6:27; Heb 6:9, and without which it cannot be had, as Phi 1:10; Mat 24:13; Col 3:10,12, &c.; 1Ti 1:18,19; 6:19; 2Ti 2:5; 4:7,8; 2Pe 3:17; yea, press on in the way to their own salvation, as he moved, 1Ti 4:16, not that they should not be solicitous about others, for that mutual care is implied, as elsewhere required, Heb 3:13; 10:24; but that every one should strenuously go on towards the mark with a special regard to himself, and the temptations he may meet with, knowing he must bear his own burden, Gal 6:1,5, and therefore should take heed lest he fall. The papists’ arguings hence that our actions are sufficient and meritorious causes of salvation, are altogether inconsequent. For the apostle doth not say our actions work out salvation, but:
Work out your own salvation, which is much different. It were absurd to say, because the Jews were enjoined to eat the passover with loins girt, that loins girt were eating of the passover. Indeed, what the papists urge is contrary to this doctrine of Paul, who doth elsewhere place blessedness in remission of sins, and shows eternal life is the gift of God, Rom 4:6,7; 6:23; and we are saved by grace, not of works, Rom 3:20,24,25; 4:16; Eph 2:8; Tit 3:5 and contrary to the main scope of the apostle, which is to beat down pride and conceit of deserving, and persuade to humility. He drives at this, that we should not be idle or lazy in the business of salvation, but work together with God, (yet as instruments, in whom there is no strength which is not derived from him), that we may evidence we do not receive his grace in vain, 2Co 6:1,2. But this co-operation doth not respect the acquiring or meriting of salvation, which is proper to Christ alone, and incommunicable to any others, Act 4:12, who cannot be said to be their own saviours: this co-operation, or working out, respects only the application, not the performing of the payment, which Christ hath abundantly perfected: but the embracing of the perfect payment, is not that which can be the cause and foundation of right for which it is deservedly conferred; but only the way and means by which we come to partake of salvation.
With fear and trembling; i.e. with a holy care to do all acceptably: he doth by these two words mean not any servile fear and slavish despondency, arising from doubting, Phi 4:4, but only a serious, filial fear, implying a deep humility and submissiveness of mind, with a reverential awe of the Divine Majesty, and a solicitude to avoid that evil which is offensive to him and separates from him. We find these words used to the like import, Psa 2:11; Dan 5:19; Dan 6:26; Rom 11:20 with 1Co 2:3; 2Co 7:5; Eph 6:5; connoting that, after the example of Christ, we should be humble, and though we distrust ourselves, yet we are to trust solely to God, (as an infant may be afraid, and yet cling fast to and depend upon, begging help of, the parent, going over a dangerous precipice), for the accomplishment of our salvation.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 Observe here, 1. The commendation given by St. Paul…
Observe here, 1. The commendation given by St. Paul of his beloved Philippians, for their cheerful obedience to the precepts of the gospel: they always obeyed, that is, ever since their first conversion to christianity, not only while the apostle was upon the spot with them, but since the providence of God necessitated his absence from them; not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.
But how came it to pass that their obedience was greater, when they wanted the apostle for their instructor?
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Ans. In the absence of one teacher they had another, and him a better that the inspired apostle, even the inspiring Spirit of God, who in the apostle’s absence was more immediately present with them by his inward motions, to excite and enable them both to will and to do what is well pleasing to him.
O! how good is God at the supplying the wants, and making up the losses of his people! If persecution drives his church’s ministers into dungeons, and they cannot hear a voice behind them, they shall have the presence of his Holy Spirit, and hear a voice within them, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.
Observe, 2. A special duty which St. Paul exhorts the Philippians to be found in the practice of, namely, to work out their salvation with fear and trembling; implying, that it should be every christian’s great work to be daily working out his own salvation, that is, diligently making use of all means and faithfulness, practising all duties in order thereunto.
Note here, 1. The excellency of the object proposed; and that is, salvation: there is salvation held forth and tendered by God to lost sinners, in the gospel.
Note, 2. The difficulty of salvation, supposed and implied in the word work; which signifies an exerting our utmost endeavours, in order to the attaining of it. The work of salvation is no lazy man’s business, but a work of labour and difficulty, though the difficulties may be overcome by an industrious diligence.
Note, 3. The necessity of perseverance, in order to our attaining of salvation: Work out your salvation, that is, perfect and consummate the work which you have happily begun.
Note, 4. The manner how we should work out our own salvation: namely, with fear and trembling; intimating, that an holy fear of God, and an humble fear of ourselves, will be of singular use and advantage to us in the working out of our salvation.
Observe, 3. The argument or motive to excite unto this labour and diligence in and about the work of salvation; and this is very encouraging, because God works with us, and in us, Php 2:13. For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do.
That God works with us, is great encouragement to work; but we must remember God works arbitrarily, and not necessarily; he worketh but of his own good pleasure, as a free agent, who can cease when he pleases. Therefore work with fear and trembling.
Learn from the whole, 1. That we can do nothing without God.
2. That he will do nothing without his assistance, he will do nothing without the concurrence of our endeavours: he worketh in us both to will and to do, and we must work with him, in order to the working out of our salvation.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 I. He exhorts them to diligence and seriousness in…
I. He exhorts them to diligence and seriousness in the Christian course: Work out your own salvation. It is the salvation of our souls (Pe1 1:9), and our eternal salvation (Heb 5:9), and contains deliverance from all the evils sin had brought upon us and exposed us to, and the possession of all good and whatsoever is necessary to our complete and final happiness. Observe, It concerns us above all things to secure the welfare of our souls: whatever becomes of other things, let us take care of our best interests. It is our own salvation, the salvation of our own souls. It is not for us to judge other people; we have enough to do to look to ourselves; and, though we must promote the common salvation (Jde 1:3) as much as we can, yet we must upon no account neglect our own. We are required to work out our salvation, katergazesthe. The word signifies working thoroughly at a thing, and taking true pains. Observe, We must be diligent in the use of all the means which conduce to our salvation. We must not only work at our salvation, by doing something now and then about it; but we must work out our salvation, by doing all that is to be done, and persevering therein to the end. Salvation is the great thing we should mind, and set our hearts upon; and we cannot attain salvation without the utmost care and diligence. He adds, With fear and trembling, that is, with great care and circumspection: "Trembling for fear lest you miscarry and come short. Be careful to do every thing in religion in the best manner, and fear lest under all your advantages you should so much as seem to come short," Heb 4:1. Fear is a great guard and preservative from evil.
II. He urges this from the consideration of their readiness always to obey the gospel: "As you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, Phi 2:12. You have been always willing to comply with every discovery of the will of God; and that in my absence as well as presence. You make it to appear that regard to Christ, and care of your souls, sway more with you than any mode of showing respect whatsoever." They were not merely awed by the apostle's presence, but did it even much more in his absence. "And because it is God who worketh in you, do you work out your salvation. Work, for he worketh." It should encourage us to do our utmost, because our labour shall not be in vain. God is ready to concur with his grace, and assist our faithful endeavours. Observe, Though we must use our utmost endeavours in working out our salvation, yet still we must go forth, and go on, in a dependence upon the grace of God. His grace works in us in a way suitable to our natures, and in concurrence with our endeavours; and the operations of God's grace in us are so far from excusing, that they are intended to quicken and engage our endeavours. "And work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for he worketh in you." All our working depends upon his working in us. "Do not trifle with God by neglects and delays, lest you provoke him to withdraw his help, and all your endeavours prove in vain. Work with fear, for he works of his good pleasure." - To will and to do: he gives the whole ability. It is the grace of God which inclines the will to that which is good: and then enables us to perform it, and to act according to our principles. Thou hast wrought all our works in us, Isa 26:12. Of his good pleasure. As there is no strength in us, so there is no merit in us. As we cannot act without God's grace, so we cannot claim it, nor pretend to deserve it. God's good will to us is the cause of his good work in us; and he is under no engagements to his creatures, but those of his gracious promise.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore, my beloved,.... This is an inference from the…
Wherefore, my beloved,.... This is an inference from the instance and example of Christ; that since he, who was God over all, blessed for ever, made himself so low in human nature, in which he is now so highly exalted, having done the work and business he came about with such condescension, humility, and meekness; therefore it becomes those who profess to be his followers, to do all their affairs as men and Christians, with, and among one another, in all lowliness of mind. The apostle calls the saints here, "my beloved", he having a strong affection for them, which he frequently expresses in this epistle; and he chooses to make use of such an endearing appellation, that it might be observed, that what he was about to say to them sprung from pure love to them, and a hearty desire for their welfare, and from no other end, and with no other view; and to encourage them to go on in a course of humble duty, he commends them for their former obedience,
as ye have always obeyed; not "me", as the Arabic and Ethiopic versions supply; but either God, acting according to his revealed will, they had knowledge of; or Christ, by receiving him as prophet, priest, and King, by submitting to his righteousness, and the sceptre of his grace; or the Gospel, by embracing the truths of it, professing them, and abiding in them, and by subjecting to the ordinances of it, and doing all things whatsoever Christ has commanded: and this they did "always"; they were always abounding in the works of the Lord, doing his will; they abode by Christ, and continued steadfastly in his doctrines, and kept the ordinances as they were delivered to them, and walked in all the commandments of the Lord blameless,
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Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence; which clause may either be referred to the foregoing, which expresses their obedience; and so signifies that that was carefully and cheerfully performed, not only while the apostle was with them, but now when he was absent from them, and much more when absent than present:, which shows, that they were not eye servants, and menpleasers, but what they did they did sincerely and heartily, as to the Lord: or to the following exhortation, that they would attend to it; not only as they had done when he was among them, of which he was witness, but that they would much more do so now he was absent from them, namely,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; which is to be understood not in such a sense as though men could obtain and procure for themselves spiritual and eternal salvation by their own works and doings; for such a sense is contrary to the Scriptures, which deny any part of salvation, as election, justification, and calling, and the whole of it to be of works, but ascribe it to the free grace of God; and is also repugnant to the perfections of God, as his wisdom, grace, and righteousness; for where are the wisdom and love of God, in forming a scheme of salvation, and sending his Son to effect it, and after all it is left to men to work it out for themselves? and where is the justice of God in admitting of an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one, which must be the case, if salvation is obtained by men's works? for these are imperfect, even the best of them; and is another reason against this sense of the passage; and were they perfect, they could not be meritorious of salvation, for the requisites of merits are wanting in them. Moreover, was salvation to be obtained by the works of men, these consequences would follow; the death of Christ would be in vain, boasting would be encouraged in men, they would have whereof to glory, and their obligations to obedience taken from the love of God, and redemption by Christ, would be weakened and destroyed: add to all this, that the Scriptures assure us, that salvation is alone by Christ; and that it is already finished by him, and not to be wrought out now by him, or any other; and that such is the weakness and impotence of men, even of believers, to whom this exhortation is directed, that it is impossible for them ever to affect it; therefore, whatever sense these words have, we may be sure that this can never possibly be the sense of them. The words may be rendered, "work about your salvation"; employ yourselves in things which accompany salvation, and to be performed by all those that expect it, though not to be expected for the performance of them; such as hearing of the word, submission to Gospel ordinances, and a discharge of every branch of moral, spiritual, and evangelical obedience for which the apostle before commends them, and now exhorts them to continue in; to go on in a course of cheerful obedience to the close of their days, believing in Christ, obeying his Gospel, attending constantly to his word and ordinances, and discharging every duty in faith and fear, until at last they should receive the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls: agreeably the Syriac version renders the words, , "do the work", or "business of your lives"; the work you are to do in your generation, which God has prescribed and directed you to, which the grace of God teaches, and the love of Christ constrains to. Do all that "with fear and trembling"; not with a slavish fear of hell and damnation, or lest they should fall away, or finally miscarry of heaven and happiness; since this would be a distrust of the power and faithfulness of God, and so criminal in them; nor is it reasonable to suppose, that the apostle would exhort to such a fear, when he himself was so confidently assured, that the good work begun in them would be performed; and besides, the exhortation would be very oddly formed, if this was the sense, "work out your salvation with fear" of damnation: but this fear and trembling spoken of, is such as is consistent with the highest acts of faith, trust, confidence, and joy, and is opposed to pride and vain glory; see Psa 2:11; and intends modesty and humility, which is what the apostle is pressing for throughout the whole context; and here urges to a cheerful and constant obedience to Christ, with all humility of soul, without dependence on it, or vain glorying in it, but ascribing it wholly to the grace of God, for the following reason.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Wherefore - Having proposed Christ's example, he exhorts them…
Wherefore - Having proposed Christ's example, he exhorts them to secure the salvation which Christ has purchased. As ye have always - Hitherto. Obeyed - Both God, and me his minister. Now in my absence - When ye have not me to instruct, assist, and direct you. Work out your own salvation - Herein let every man aim at his own things. With fear and trembling - With the utmost care and diligence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Verse 12. As ye have always obeyed] Continue to…
Verse 12. As ye have always obeyed] Continue to act on the same principles and from the same motives; having the same disposition which was in Christ; labouring so as to promote his glory.
Work out your own salvation] Go on, walking by the same rule, and minding the same thing, till your salvation be completed: till, filled with love to God and man, ye walk unblamably in all his testimonies, having your fruit unto holiness, and your end everlasting life.
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With fear and trembling] Considering the difficulty of the work, and the danger of miscarriage. If you do not watch, pray and continually depend on God, your enemies will surprise you, and your light and life will become extinct; and then consider what an awful account you must give to Him whose Spirit ye have grieved, and of whose glory ye have come short.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v14 Php 2:14-16. Do all things — Especially all good…
Php 2:14-16. Do all things — Especially all good offices to each other, not only without contention, (Php 2:3,) but even without murmurings — At your duty, or at one another; and disputings — With each other, or altercations, which are real, though smaller, hinderances of love. It seems the apostle had in his eye not so much obedience in general, as those particular instances thereof, recommended Php 2:3-5. That ye may be blameless — In yourselves; and harmless — Toward others: the sons of God — The God of love, acting up to your high character; without rebuke — Αμωμητα, maintaining an unexceptionable character; in the midst of a crooked — Guileful, serpentine; and perverse — Froward or obstinate generation — Such as the bulk of mankind always have been; crooked by a corrupt nature, and yet more perverse by custom and practice: among whom ye — Who know the truth and walk according to it; shine as lights in the world — Or, as luminaries, as the word φωστηρες signifies, being the name given to the sun and moon by the LXX., Gen 1:16. Doddridge renders the clause, “Ye shine as elevated lights in the dark world about you;” thinking, with Mons. Saurin, that the expression is used in allusion “to the buildings which we call light-houses, the most illustrious of which was raised in the island of Pharos, where Ptolemy Philadelphus built that celebrated tower, on which a bright flame was always kept burning in the night, that mariners might perfectly see their way, and be in no danger of suffering shipwreck upon the rocks which they were to pass in their entrance into the haven of Alexandria.” Holding forth — To all men, both in word and behaviour; the word of life — The doctrine of eternal life made known to you in the gospel, by which you have been directed to steer safely for the blessed haven of glory and immortality, and whereby they may receive the same benefit. That I may rejoice. — As if he had said, This I desire even on my own account, for it will greatly increase my rejoicing in the day of Christ — The day of final judgment; that I have not run — Or travelled from place to place in the exercise of my apostolic office, declaring the gospel of the grace of God; in vain, neither have laboured in vain — In the work of the ministry, but that the great end of it has been answered, at least in part, to the glory of God, by your salvation and usefulness in the world.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed -…
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed - The Philippians had from the beginning manifested a remarkable readiness to show respect to the apostle, and to listen to his teaching. This readiness he more than once refers to and commends. He still appeals to them, and urges them to follow his counsels, that they might secure their salvation.
Now much more in my absence - Though they had been obedient when he was with them, yet circumstances had occurred in his absence which made their obedience more remarkable, and more worthy of special commendation.
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Work out your own salvation - This important command was first addressed to Christians, but there is no reason why the same command should not be regarded as addressed to all - for it is equally applicable to all. The duty of doing this is enjoined here; the reason for making the effort, or the encouragement for the effort, is stated in the next verse. In regard to the command here, it is natural to inquire why it is a duty; and what is necessary to be done in order to comply with it? On the first of these inquiries, it may be observed that it is a duty to make a personal effort to secure salvation, or to work out our salvation:
(1) Because God commands it. There is no command more frequently repeated in the Scriptures, than the command to make to ourselves a new heart; to strive to enter in at the strait gate; to break off from sin, and to repent.
(2) It is a duty because it is our own personal interest that is at stake. No one else has, or can have, as much interest in our salvation as we have. It is every person’s duty to be as happy as possible here, and to be prepared for eternal happiness in the future world. No person has a right either to throw away his life or his soul. He has no more right to do the one than the other; and if it is a person’s duty to endeavor to save his life when in danger of drowning, it is no less his duty to endeavor to save his soul when in danger of hell.
(3) Our earthly friends cannot save us. No effort of theirs can deliver us from eternal death without our own exertion. Great as may be their solicitude for us, and much as they may do, there is a point where their efforts must stop - and that point is always short of our salvation, unless we are roused to seek salvation. They may pray, and weep, and plead, but they cannot save us. There is a work to be done on our own hearts which they cannot do.
(4) It is a duty, because the salvation of the soul will not take care of itself without an effort on our part. There is no more reason to suppose this than that health and life will take care of themselves without our own exertion. And yet many live as if they supposed that somehow all would yet be well; that the matter of salvation need not give them any concern, for that things will so arrange themselves that they will be saved. Why should they suppose this anymore in regard to religion than in regard to anything else?
(5) It is a duty, because there is no reason to expect the divine interposition without our own effort. No such interposition is promised to any man, and why should he expect it? In the case of all who have been saved, they have made an effort - and why should we expect that God will favor us more than he did them? “God helps them who help themselves;” and what reason has any man to suppose that he will interfere in his case and save him, if he will put forth no effort to “work out his own salvation?” In regard to the other inquiry - What does the command imply; or what is necessary to be done in order to comply with it? We may observe, that it does not mean:
(a)That we are to attempt to deserve salvation on the ground of merit. That is out of the question; for what can man do that shall be an equivalent for eternal happiness in heaven? Nor,
(b)Does it mean that we are to endeavor to make atonement for past sins. That would be equally impossible, and it is, besides, unnecessary. That work has been done by the great Redeemer. But it means:
(i)That we are to make an honest effort to be saved in the way which God has appointed;
(ii)That we are to break off from our sins by true repentance;
(iii)That we are to believe in the Saviour, and honestly to put our trust in him;
(iv)That we are to give up all that we have to God;
(v)That we are to break away from all evil companions and evil plans of life; and,
(vi)That we are to resist all the allurements of the world, and all the temptations which may assail us that would lead us back from God, and are to persevere unto the end. The great difficulty in working out salvation is in forming a purpose to begin at once. When that purpose is formed, salvation is easy.
With fear and trembling - That is, with that kind of anxiety which one has who feels that he has an important interest at stake, and that he is in danger of losing it. The reason or the ground for “fear” in this case is in general this: there is danger of losing the soul.
(1) So many persons make shipwreck of all hope and perish, that there is danger that we may also.
(2) There are so many temptations and allurements in the world, and so many things that lead us to defer attention to religion, that there is danger that we may be lost.
(3) There is danger that if the present opportunity passes, another may not occur. Death may soon overtake us. No one has a moment to lose. No one can designate one single moment of his life, and say, “I may safely lose that moment. I may safely spend it in the neglect of my soul.”
(4) It should be done with the most earnest concern, front the immensity of the interest at stake. If the soul is lost, all is lost. And who is there that can estimate the value of that soul which is thus in danger of being lost forever?
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 16 With fear and trembling. That is, be equally upon…
With fear and trembling. That is, be equally upon your guard against presumption and despair. St. Paul is anxious to inspire a just confidence in Jesus Christ, but he is not less solicitous to root out all self-confidence arising from our supposed merits or excellence.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v12 God helps believers in their endeavors to imitate Christ
God helps believers in their endeavors to imitate Christ
(Php_2:12-18.)
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12Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of (or for) his good pleasure. 14Do all things without murmurings and disputings [doubtings]. 15That ye may be [become]6 blameless and harmless [pure] (the) sons [children] of God, without rebuke,7 in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation [generation], among whom ye shine [appear] as lights [luminaries]8 in the world, 16holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. 17Yea, and if [But, if also] I be offered upon [in] the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy [rejoice], and I rejoice with you all. 18For the same cause (also) do ye [also] joy [rejoice], and rejoice with me.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Php_2:12. Wherefore, ὥστε, refers to what precedes, as in Php_4:1. See Winer’s Gram. p. 301. Ὑπηκούσατε is correlative with γενόμενος ὑπήκοος, and τὴν ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίαν corresponds to Php_2:9-11. The exhortation borrows its coloring indeed from Php_2:8-11, but, like the example of Christ adduced as an illustration, it reaches back to the entire course of thought (Php_2:1-11), and hence does not attach itself merely to Php_2:11 (Schenkel), to the last thing discussed (Php_2:6-11, Meyer) or to Php_1:27 ff. (De Wette).—My beloved (ἀγαπητοί μου) shows the Apostle’s joy and deep interest in them (Php_2:2).—As ye have always obeyed (καθὼς πάντοτε ὑπηκούσατε) singles out the act on the part of the Philippians, upon which he now builds his hope that his exhortation will not be in vain. Mihi ad salutem vos hortanti, ipsique deo (Bengel). The context requires this explanation.—Not as in my presence only. Μή belongs to the following imperative (κατεργάζεσθε); for if the negative belonged to ὑπηκούσατε, with which Luther wrongly connects it, οὐ would have been used. Ὡς, according to its use in a participial clause, points out a possible idea of the Philippians, that such compliance with Paul’s admonition must be necessary only in his presence. See Winer’s Gram. p. 617. Hence it is not a term of comparison (Hölemann).—But now much more in my absence (ἀλλὰ νῦν πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐν τῇ ἀπουσία̣ μου) urges the stronger necessity for self-exertion, because they are left to themselves, without the assistance of the Apostle who is now far distant. Quia ego vobis non adesse possum, ipsi vos curateeo magis (Bengel).—Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου refers (as in Eph_6:5) to that tender conscientiousness, that fear in the presence of the omnipresent God, which feels that no effort or solicitude can be too great. It does not refer to a servant’s relation (Bengel: servi esse debetis, examplo Christi, Php_2:8), nor to spiritual pride (Rilliet), nor to resignation to God’s will (Matthies). Τὴν ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίαν marks the salvation as that of the Philippians themselves (ἑαυτῶν not being here used for ἀλλήλων, Flatt, et al.), who in this case ought to regard the things of themselves (τὰ ἑαυτῶν σκοπεῖν) as the glorious end of the κατεργάζεσθεῶ. On ἐαυτῶν see Winer’s Gram., p. 150 sq. Κατεργάζεσθαι: means to bring to pass (perficere usque ad metam, Bengel), for which energetic perseverance is requisite. The mode of this is indicated by ὑπηκούσατε, as also by the example of Christ (Php_2:8).
Php_2:13. For it is God who worketh in you (θεὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἐνεργῶν ἐν ὑμῖν). The Apostle strengthens his exhortation here by reminding them that if they disregard it they will not merely suffer personal loss, (τὴν ἐαυτῶν σωτηρίαν), but strive against another, the Highest, whose work and working they would disturb and bring to naught. It confirms the entire exhortation, though it designates only the τὴν ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίαν specially as their aim and labor. Thus it is neither a ground of encouragement (Chrysostom, Meyer, et al.), nor an incentive to humility (Calvin, Schenkel, et al.); for it is not designed to confirm exclusively either κατεργάζεσθε or μετὰ φὸβου καὶ τρόμου. Not with standing God’s activity, which is shown by ἐστιν ὁ ἐνεργῶν to be constant, and by ἐν ὑμῖν to be exerted in the hearts of individuals, every one should be careful both as to what he does or omits to do. Of God it is not said that He effectually works (κατεργάζεται) to will and to do, since He does not indeed accomplish this result in all: but He is only said ἐνεργεῖν, because where it is effected, it is not without His assistance; which of course to be effective (κατεργάζεσθαι) requires obedience on their part (ὑπακούειν). Hölemann wrongly explains ἐν υμῖν as intra cœtum vestrum [and others ‘among you.’—H.]. What God works is especially —Both to will and to do, καὶ τὸ θέλειν καὶτὸ ἐνεργεῖν. The first is the self-determination, the second the personal exertion: both take place in the heart of the believer. The first originates, the second carries out in the life; both are conditions of the κατεργάζεσθαι.—Of or for his good pleasure ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐδοκίας is a nearer limitation of ἐνεργῶν. God’s working has its ground within Himself (His εὐδοκία), and is not occasioned or controlled by anything out of Himself, and in man. The article defines the disposition as well known. Comp. Rom_15:8 : ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας θεοῦ. See Winer’s Gram. p. 383. [The preposition ὑπέρ does not represent the εὐδοκία as the mere ratio of the action, or the mere norma according to which it is done, but as the interested cause of it; the commodum of the εὐδοκία was that which the action was designed to subserve (Ellicott).—H.]. On εὐδοκία see Php_1:15; Eph_1:5. The meaning of ὑπέρ cannot be κατά, secundum, nor can the εὐδοκία of the Philippians be meant (Erasmus, et al.)
Php_2:14. Do all things without murmurings and doubtings. Πάντα is limited only by the context: all which is to be done in reference to salvation, for which God gives the willing and the working. [The verb (ποιεῖτε) here comprehends in its full compass suffering as well as doing. The patience with which the Christian endures the trials to which God may call him illustrates his character not less decisively than the habit of active obedience.—H.] Ποιεῖτε marks only the act, the nature and mode of which are determined by the disposition of the doer (χωρὶς γογγυσμῶν καὶ διαλογισμῶν). The preposition denotes, like ἄνευ (1Pe_4:9) a separation, but the difference between them is, that the former represents the subject, the latter the object as distant. The Philippians ought to be distant, separated, from murmurings and doubtings; ἄνευ would indicate that these ought to be far from the Philippians (Eph_2:12); and see Tittmann Syn., 1, pp. 93–97. The distinction between the two substantives is, that the first (γογγυσμοί) belongs to the unwilling, weak, and still stubborn spirit, the second (διαλογισμοί) to the doubtful spirit, which does not see its way clearly. The former proceeds from the will, the latter from the intellect. Schenkel refers the first to the defiant, the second to the timid heart. Bengel supposes the ἄμευπτοι in Php_2:15 to refer back to γογγυσμοί, and ἀκέραιοι to διαλογισμῶν. We are not to understand by the latter term disputation, controversy (Wieseler, Erasmus, et al.), contrary to the usage of the New Testament. This word is not to be limited, as e.g. to God only (Meyer, et al.), to superiors (Estius, et al.), or fellow Christians (Calvin, Wieseler, et al.). [As γογγυσμός is the moral, so διαλογισμόν is the intellectual rebellion against God (Lightfoot).—H.]
Php_2:15. That ye may become blameless and pure. Ἵνα marks the end, γένησθε the way, which is a becoming, a process of development. Ἄμεμπτοι, unblamable, those (according to the Greek form) in whom there is nothing to blame (1Th_3:13), represents the moral integrity as manifesting itself outwardly; ἀκέραιοι (from κεράννυμι), unmixed (Rom_16:19; Mat_10:16), presents ‘the same according to its inner character’ (Meyer). The first is that from which we can judge of the second, for it is the condition of it; the inward answers to the outward.—Children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation [not nation as in the A. V.—H.] Τέκνα θεοῦ sums up both predicates, such are they as Christians: but in Christ (Eph_1:5; Gal_4:5) they should become ἄμωμα (without μώμος, Eph_1:4; Eph_5:27; Col_1:22, in quo non est, quod reprehendatur), or ἀμώμητα (from μωμάομαι, 2Pe_3:14, qui reprehendi non potest), and this in spite of and in their actual circumstances. Μέσου (here as a preposition, see Winer’s Gram., p. 471) γενεᾶς σκολιᾶς καὶ διεστραμμένης. Comp. Act_2:40; 1Pe_2:18; Mat_17:17; Luk_9:41. Γενεά is used de ætatis alicujus hominibus. The first adjective describes the outward, dishonest, perverted demeanor; the second the inward, distorted character. Manifestly there is an allusion here to a passage in the important chapter which serves as a basis of prophecy (Deu_32:5): ἡμάρτοσαν οὐκ αὐτῷ τέκνα μωμητά, γενεὰ σκολιὰ καὶ διεστραμμένη.—Among whom ye shine as luminaries in the world. [The active (φαίνειν) means to shine (see Joh_1:5; 2Pe_1:19; Rev_1:16); but the middle means to appear, as in Mat_18:27; 1Pe_4:18 and Jam_4:14. The A. V. does not always observe the distinction.—H.] Ἐν οἶς belongs ad sensum to γενεᾶς (Winer’s Gram., p. 141). The verb, φαίνεσθε, not φαίνετε, describes their becoming visible, being recognized as God’s children. Hence it is not lucetis (Bengel), still less is it the imperative (Pelagius, Erasmus, et al.). [Christians were not to be, but now actually were, as luminaries in a dark, heathen world (Ellicott).—H.] The apostle calls to their mind what they are, in order that they may show themselves to be such. But ὡς φωστῆρες introduces a new figure, to designate the immoral character of the world: Christians are the stars, illuminators, ἐν κόσμῳ, in the world, which in itself is as dark as night. Hence ἐν κόσμῳ is not to be joined with φαίνεσθε (De Wette), nor is φαίνονται to be supplied (Rilliet, et al.); neither is it equivalent to “in the heavens” (Rheinwald), nor is it dat. commodi, “for the world” (Storr). [This form (φωστῆρες) occurs elsewhere in the N. T. only in Rev_21:11, where it has the same sense.—H.]
Php_2:16. Holding forth the word of life, presents the mode of the φαίνεσθε. Δόγον ζωῆς receives illustration from the connection which exists between life and light (Joh_1:4 : ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς): life is light, Christ is the life (Joh_6:48; Joh_14:6) and the light (Joh_8:12; Joh_9:5; Joh_12:46), and indeed the source of them; His followers are also light, but it is a derived light (Mat_5:14); the essence of the gospel is light (Eph_5:8; Col_1:12), and the life is in the word, and as the thought breaks forth in the word, so also the light and the life. Accordingly ἐπέχοντες is used and not merely ἔχοντες. The Christian holds forth the word of life, living it, living out what is living within him. Hence τῷ λόγῳ προσέχοντες (Theodoret) is incorrect, for we have not the dative (Act_3:5); and so also is “holding fast” (Luther).—The aim and result is: That I may rejoice in [or, more literally, for a rejoicing to me against] the day of Christ (εἰς καύχημα ἐμοὶ εἰς ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ). Comp. Php_1:10; Php_1:26. The cause of his rejoicing then will be: That I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain (ὅτι οὐκ εἰς κενὸν ἔδραμον οὐδὲ εἰς κενὸν ἐκοπίασα). The first expression, which recalls the contests of the stadium or race, denotes his zeal and the wide reach of his activity (not confined to one place); the second (derived from κοπός, toil) indicates the labor and effort which his ministry involves. The modifying οὐκ εἰς κενόν follows: in vain, i.e. without fruit or result (2Co_6:1; Gal_2:2; 1Th_3:5), which thus occasions the repetition, and does not merely arise from his feeling of joy in the consciousness that such is the result (Meyer).
Php_2:17. But if also I be offered. Ἀλλά introduces an antithesis which εἰ shows to be conditional. What this antithesis is, καὶ before σπένδομαι shows. [“My labors have been severe, unintermitted. But not content with this I am willing (if that is reserved for me) to suffer a martyr’s death.”—H.] The meaning of σπένδομαι is: I am poured out as a drink-offering, presented as a libation, as in 2Ti_4:6. Comp. Num_28:7; Num_15:4 sq. [The present tense represents the act as in progress. “If I am being poured out,” etc.—H.] The libation-wine, set apart from its common use, serving as an expression of joy (Psa_104:15; Ecc_10:19), as an image of quickening grace (Pro 9:2; Isa_55:1), as a sweet savor (2Co_3:15; Rom_15:16), serves to represent the Apostle (separated from them by his δεσμοί), as giving up his personal and official ego, his life and his desires, pouring out in a martyr’s death his blood as a sweet savor. The Apostle’s death by the sword is here alluded to, the present marking it as impending (Php_1:20). Καὶ connects this death by martyrdom with ἔδραμον and ἐκοπίασα, his sufferings with his labors; the latter have not been fruitless, and the former also shall not be so.—Hence the following is added: Upon (in) the sacrifice and service of your faith. Ἐπί points to the circumstances of the σπένδεσθαι; this takes place in τῇ θυσίᾳ καὶ λειτουργίᾳ. Both are united under one article, and are hence conceived of as a unity. The second is the priestly service (Luk_1:23; Heb_8:6), hence the first is the act of offering, not victima (Wiesinger). The offering itself is designated by the genitive: τῆς πιστέως ὐμῶν, with respect to which the Apostle exercises his priestly functions, presenting it to God, while he himself is the accompanying drink-offering, since his blood is poured forth. As the former results in his glory, so now this results in his joy. [The Hebrews, in offering their sacrifices, poured out often a libation or drink-offering at the same time. See Exo_29:40; Num_28:7. The costume of the thought in this passage is evidently derived from that practice. The faith of the Philippians, according to the Apostle’s allusion, is viewed as a sacrifice which they have brought to the altar for the purpose of presenting it to God. The Apostle himself with reference to his agency in their salvation, officiates as the priest who offers this sacrifice for them. The act of presenting it is styled here a λειτουργία, i.e., as the word imports, a sacerdotal service, or ministry (see Luk_1:23; Heb_8:6). Paul declares now, in the ardor of his affection for the Philippians, that if it be necessary in order that he may discharge his priestly office more perfectly, or that the sacrifice of their faith may be more acceptable unto God, that his blood should be shed as a libation for them, he is willing to die in their behalf. He has in view the possibility of his martyrdom, and the effect which he hopes may result from that event, in strengthening their faith and preparing them for heaven.—H.] Rilliet’s rendering of σπένδομαι, I am sprinkled, is incorrect, for it is the present tense; ἐπί has not the sense of “to” (Wiesinger), or super (Van Hengel), since θυσία is not victima. There is no antithesis here to Php_1:25 (De Wette), of which no reader would readily think, for what intervenes (Php_1:26 to Php_2:1 sq.) makes that connection at too remote places, or to Php_1:25, as if he had hoped to live to see the perfection of his readers, but now supposes the opposite (Meyer, Wiesinger, et al.), or as if he had thought at first that he should live to see the coming of the Lord (Van Hengel) which is not here in question. It should not be joined with the following χαίρω (Bengel).—I rejoice, and rejoice with you all, χαίρω καὶ συγχαίρω πᾶσιν ὑμῖν. Theophylact οὐχ ὡς ὁ ἀποθανούμενος λυποῦμαι,ἀλλὰ καὶ χαίρω ὅτι σπονδὴ γίνομαι Paul rejoices in the prospect of a martyr’s death; but not for himself merely; he rejoices with the Church also, which will thus experience and acknowledge the blessing of martyrdom. Meyer, contrary to the usus loquendi of the New Testament (Luk_1:58; Luk_15:6; Luk_15:9; 1Co_12:26; 1Co_13:6, where it means in each case to rejoice with others) takes συγχαίρω as congratulor together with the Vulg., Bengel, et al. [This is also Lightfoot’s interpretation.—H.]
Php_2:18. For the same cause (τὸ δ’ αὐτό, governed by the verb) presents the cause of the joy to which in conclusion he earnestly exhorts them from his example. [Instead of being grieved that they should be such gainers at his expense, he would have them share his joy in being permitted to yield up his life with such gain to himself and such benefit to them.—H.]—Do ye also rejoice, and rejoice with me, καὶ ὑμεις χαίρετε καὶ συγχαίρετέ μοι. These are imperatives, not indicatives (Erasmus). The following explanations are wrong: gratulamini mihi, libato (Bengel); subauditur κατά with τὸ δ’αν̓τὸ (Beza); τὸ δ’αυτό=ὠσαύτως (Rheinwald, Rilliet, Wiesinger, who cites Mat_27:44). Bengel: martyrii præstantia.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. A great blessing rests upon fellowship with Christians, whether they be mature or not (Php_2:12), for it tends to the development of Christian character and life; but not merely upon fellowship with those who are present to the senses: the spiritual man ought to make his influence reach to the absent also. The more he does this the better.
2. In connection with faith which comes from the preaching of the divine word (Rom_10:17 : ἡ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς, ἡ δὲ ἀκοὴ διὰ ῥήματος θεοῦ), obedience is demanded (ὑπακοή, Php_2:12 : ὑπηκούσατε). This gives keenness to the tender conscience, which dreads to disregard or to seem to cast contempt upon God and His gifts (μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου). Quamvis enim gratis in uno Christo per fidem apprehenso servemur, tamen per viam justitiæ ad salutem contendere nos oportet, cum filii dei ejus spiritu ducantur (Beza), hence they must follow, because in His strength they are able to do it. We belong to God through Christ, and we should, by obedience to Him and to His word, prove this relationship.
3. Our salvation is as much God’s work as our own. The beginning of a new life in the soul is entirely an act of God, which the Holy Spirit effects in our spirit, but not in our consciousness; yet in such a manner that we become conscious of it as an act of God. We do not create ourselves men; God creates us (Harless, Ethics, p. 229). He works in us constantly the willing and the doing. But we can resist Him, withdraw ourselves from Him. He does not work irresistibly, determinatively. But because He works thus in us, we may not remain idle, we must be fearful lest we lose this work of grace, fearful on account of our weakness, and the dangers in and around us, and must cherish and follow this willing and working effected by God.
4. [Neander:—Paul always represents the salvation of man as something which can be accomplished only through the grace of God as the work of God in man. But he adds (Php_2:13) a more exact designation of the temper of heart with which Christians should work out their salvation, viz., “with fear and trembling.” This would not be appropriate if he were speaking of what lay merely in the hand of man, in which case all would depend upon his own strength. It is because Paul is conscious of the weakness and insufficiency of all human strength, because he presupposes that man can do nothing without God, and must constantly watch over himself, lest through his own fault he lose the aid of divine grace, without which all human efforts are in vain; it is for this reason that he designates this temper of mind as one of fear and trembling, as the feeling of personal accountability and helplessness, of insecurity and instability in ourselves, by which we may be ever admonished to continual watchfulness, and to ever-renewed waiting upon God as the fountain of all our strength. Hence, as the ground of such an admonition, he appeals to this consciousness that we can of ourselves do nothing, that it is God who alone bestows upon us the power to will and to perform what is needful to our salvation; that all, indeed, depends upon his sovereign will. This feeling of dependence, the ground-tone of the Christian life, is ever to be maintained. It is this which must combat the presumption of a vain human self-reliance, which, finding itself deceived in the result, so easily gives place to dejection and despair. (See Php_2:12-13.—H.].
5. The goal is reached by a gradual process (Php_2:15 : γένησθε). Renovatio non est talis mutatio, quæ uno momenta statim omnibus suis partibus perficiatur ac absolvatur, sed habet sua initia, suos progressus, quibus in magna infirmitate perficitur. (Gerhard, loc. xii. 9, § 126). Fiunt in conversione inchoaliones similes conceptioni, non tamen solum concipi, sed et nasci opus est; nihil tamen horum fit sine gratuita del misericordia (Augustine).
6. Φόβος καὶ τρόμος may not be omitted, for in the renovatio just as full a view is given of the magna potentia Dei as of the magna infirmitas hominis. But γογγυσμὸς καὶ διαλογισμός must be absent, for the first springs from self-confidence, contentment with one’s self, the second from mistrust towards God and His gifts as the source of power; the first excites a sullen will towards God, the second turns the confused spirit away from God, and ends in despair.
7. Every Christian has a mission in the world, to let his light shine round about him, and to be anxious that the darkness of the world, though it is around him, shall on this very account not be and remain in him.
8. The word of God must, as a word of life, manifest itself actively in the personal traits of the Christian, that there may be an eloquent sermon without word of mouth, in the still, noiseless walk and character.
9. As death is no loss to the Christian, still less is the martyr’s death, which is rather a ground and cause of thankful joy for the Church and for the martyr himself.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The work of thy salvation is (1) God’s work wrought upon thee and in thee; (2) the work of the Church, within which it takes place; (3) thine own work, since thou consentest to it.—God does not give thee the flower and the fruit of salvation, but the seed, the sunshine and the rain. He does not give houses, nor yet beams and squared stones, but trees, and rocks, and limestone, and says: Now build thyself a house. Regard not God’s work within thee as an anchor to hold thy bank firmly to the shore, but as a sail which shall carry it to its port.—Fear thy depression and faint-heartedness, but take courage at thy humility before God. Consider God’s gifts, thy employment of them, the final reckoning before Him. Ever become more and more what thou really art, a light in the world.—Even in sorrow and the deepest pain, overlook not the reasons for joy.
Starke:—Behold the character of righteous children, scholars, and hearers, who in their parents and teachers really see God, and therefore are obedient, as well in their absence as in their presence, since they have the everywhere-present God before their eyes and in their hearts. Our Christianity does not lead one to hide himself in deserts and convents, and thus to remain blameless, but in the midst of the perverted, degenerate world to guard himself from sin. Such knighthood will God have from us.—When the joy of the children of this world ceases, then the joy of the faithful first really begins; and the ability to rejoice in extreme sufferings, even in death itself, is a proof of the truth and excellence of the Christian religion.
Rieger:—We ought never to forget the danger of being lost, to which we are exposed so long as we live in a body of sin and death, and amid the temptations of the world; and therefore we ought not to regard ourselves as beyond fear and trembling.—God does not compel and overpower us by His working, like a block. Man can do nothing without God, and God will do nothing without man and his awakened will.—As surely as God does nothing against His honor, so surely will He do nothing against our salvation.—Doubting is opposed to faith, murmuring, to love. Even now at the departure of favored children of God, the grace which has been made known in them sweetens perceptibly all sorrow over their loss, and prevents any wish to bring them back again.
Gerlach:—The believing Christian is awakened and moved by God’s power. It is mighty in him. But he ought also to give himself up to it without reservation, neither opposing God’s will by murmuring, a disposition directly contrary to it, nor concealing his disobedience behind doubts, subtleties, and questions.
Schleiermacher:—We ought to fear and tremble for ourselves as soon as we perceive the thought of future blessedness becoming dim in our souls, or the longing for it becoming languid in our hearts.—Every one who has such fear of that which may bring upon us adversity, every one who through this fear denies the Redeemer before men, should consider that it was the will of our dying Redeemer that His followers should take His cross upon them as their own. But we can take it upon us only in the faithful and unwearied service of truth and goodness, and of all that we recognize as the will of God.
Menken:—The willing is of God and the ability to do is of God; but the using, the action, the life in conformity with such divinely awakened willing and divinely bestowed ability, is ours, is dependent upon us, upon our faithfulness.—He who could think that God indeed works in him the willing but not the performing, or that to-day he gives the willing, but the performing not until after days and years, or even not until the future life, would in that error utter a falsehood concerning God, and would deny Him.—No disposition of heart in which love and faith are wanting accords with the spirit of truth and holiness.—So also no work is good and pleasing to God by which love and faith are injured.—There is something lovely and benevolent about a man who performs every good deed as freely, as joyfully, as kindly, as if it had not been a duty at all, as if no law had enjoined it, no fear compelled it, as if, instead of proving difficult, it had cost no self-denial and no effort, as if it had sprung forth with delight and joy from his very nature, from the rich treasure of his goodness and his love. How ungracious and unlovely on the other hand is every word, and work, and endurance, in which we detect compulsion, secret reluctance, and vexation, an inward, restrained murmuring, that says to us plainly enough: all this would not be done, were it not compelled.—The worth and the good conduct of the child of God should not be the pitiable product of favorable circumstances, not that miserable, godless virtue which is ever dependent on outward circumstances, and changes as often as they change.—The Holy Scriptures contain not an empty, unpractical theory, not a rule for those who dwell in heaven, but instruction for us who live in the midst of the world, who are on the field of battle, and whose life, on account of our own inward character and relation to the world, can be nothing else but a struggle, and who can attain to freedom and peace only through manifold victories.—It was in general characteristic of the Apostle to be moved, awakened, strengthened and exalted by nothing so quickly, so deeply, so powerfully, in the depths of his heart, as by a glance forward to the day of Christ (Php_2:16).
Heubner:—With real Christians there should be no need of any Mentor, of any higher power whose presence alone could compel them to obedience; they should do the right, no matter whether any one sees or not. With many, doing right is but an eye-service, and with such the law itself is at bottom only one more bugbear.—Christianity does not enjoin anxious scrupulousness and gloomy self-mortification, but it forbids bold assurance and defiant self-confidence. This thought—it is possible for thee to lose thy salvation—can never be fearful enough to us. We should tremble at the idea—it is possible for thee to be cast off from God.—Man must strive as though he could do all, as though all depended on himself. Joy and love in obedience characterize the Christian as a child of God, as a son in distinction from a slave.—Christians should stand in contrast with their age, should constitute the élite, and serve as models for others around them.—The fickle sparkle at times; the truly pious burn evenly on.—The service of sin consumes also—but it destroys the best part of the man.
Passavant:—Fear and trembling, before the face of the thrice Holy One; before an unholy world, which ensnares us on every side with the allurements of sin, so that we become partakers of its sins; before ourselves, before this heart which, consciously or unconsciously, joins so readily with Satan and the world in lust and malice, which conceals within itself so many a lust, so many a lie, and so many a power of evil—a manifold tinder of destruction.
Meyer:—Only blessed! is the inscription over every pious Christian’s door, as it is over the pastor’s study, over font, altar, pulpit, grave. Strive that thou mayest be blessed.—(1) Your salvation your care; (2) your salvation God’s work. The defiant heart has heard the admonition to penitence, “work out!”—the timid heart the assurance, “it is God!”
Footnotes:
[6]Php_2:15. Γενέσθαισ in א B, et al. has better support than ἦτε in A, et al.
[7]Ibid. Ἅμωμα, found in א A B C et al., is better supported than ἀμώμητα, but as the more common form in the N. T. might more readily displace the latter, than the reverse.
[8][Ibid. The Greek for luminaries (φωστῆρες), says Lightfoot, is used almost exclusively of the heavenly bodies. It occurs again in the N. T. only in Rev_21:11, where also it should be so rendered.—H.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore--Seeing that we have in Christ such a specimen…
Wherefore--Seeing that we have in Christ such a specimen of glory resulting from "obedience" (Phi 2:8) and humiliation, see that ye also be "obedient," and so "your salvation" shall follow your obedience.
as ye have . . . obeyed--"even as ye have been obedient," namely, to God, as Jesus was "obedient" unto God (see on Phi 2:8).
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not as, &c.--"not as if" it were a matter to be done "in my presence only, but now (as things are) much more (with more earnestness) in my absence (because my help is withdrawn from you)" [ALFORD].
work out--carry out to its full perfection. "Salvation" is "worked in" (Phi 2:13; Eph 1:11) believers by the Spirit, who enables them through faith to be justified once for all; but it needs, as a progressive work, to be "worked out" by obedience, through the help of the same Spirit, unto perfection (Pe2 1:5-8). The sound Christian neither, like the formalist, rests in the means, without looking to the end, and to the Holy Spirit who alone can make the means effectual; nor, like the fanatic, hopes to attain the end without the means.
your own--The emphasis is on this. Now that I am not present to further the work of your salvation, "work out your own salvation" yourselves the more carefully. Do not think this work cannot go on because I am absent; "for (Phi 2:13) it is God that worketh in you," &c. In this case adopt a rule different from the former (Phi 2:4), but resting on the same principle of "lowliness of mind" (Phi 2:3), namely, "look each on his own things," instead of "disputings" with others (Phi 2:14).
salvation--which is in "Jesus" (Phi 2:10), as His name (meaning God-Saviour) implies.
with fear and trembling--the very feeling enjoined on "servants," as to what ought to accompany their "obedience" (Eph 6:5). So here: See that, as "servants" to God, after the example of Christ, ye be so "with the fear and trembling" which becomes servants; not slavish fear, but trembling anxiety not to fall short of the goal (Co1 9:26-27; Heb 4:1, "Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any should come short of it"), resulting from a sense of our human insufficiency, and from the consciousness that all depends on the power of God, "who worketh both to will and to do" (Rom 11:20). "Paul, though joyous, writes seriously" [J. J. WOLF].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–16 5. Exhortation applying Christ’s example, Php_2:12-16.
5. Exhortation applying Christ’s example, Php_2:12-16.
12. Wherefore, my beloved—Reminding them of their habitual obedience to him, the apostle exhorts them, now that he is not present to help them, to great care in working out each one his own salvation until it is complete in heaven. The emphatic words are, with fear and trembling, the opposite of the secure, self-sufficient spirit rebuked in previous verses, and the murmurings and disputings below. Salvation begun is not salvation finished. The work must be carried on to the end, by our own diligent, careful labour, with unfaltering purpose and unremitting zeal. An exaltation to Christ’s right hand is given only to those possessing his unselfish spirit.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12–18. Inferences from the foregoing passages: the Greatness of…
12–18. Inferences from the foregoing passages: the Greatness of the methods of Salvation: the consequent Call to a Life reverent, self-forgetful, fruitful, joyful
12. Wherefore] The Apostle has now pressed on them the duty and blessing of self-forgetting sympathy and love, above all by this supreme Example. He here returns to the exhortation, in a measure, but now only subordinately; his mind is chiefly now possessed with the greatness of salvation, and it is through this, as it were, that he views the duty and joy of Christian humility and harmony.
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my beloved] So again Php_4:1. Cp. 1Co_10:14; 1Co_15:58; 2Co_7:1; 2Co_12:19; where this tender word similarly introduces earnest practical appeals. See too Heb_6:9; Jas_1:16; 1Pe_2:11; 1Pe_4:12; 2Pe_3:1; 2Pe_3:8; 2Pe_3:14; 2Pe_3:17; 1Jn_3:2; 1Jn_3:21; 1Jn_4:1; 1Jn_4:7; 1Jn_4:11; Judges 3, 17, 20.
ye have always obeyed] So too R.V. Lit., ye did always obey; the aorist. And so better here. The Apostle views as one past experience his personal intercourse with them of old at Philippi. See the next words, where such a retrospect is implied.
not as in my presence only &c.] The Greek shews that these words are to be joined with what follows; “work out your own salvation, now in my absence, not only in my presence.”
“As in my presence”:—“as” suggests the thought, or point of view, of the agent; “influenced by the fact of my presence.”
work out your own salvation] “Your own” is strongly emphatic. The Apostle is in fact bidding them “learn to walk alone,” instead of leaning too much on his presence and personal influence. “Do not make me your proxy in spiritual duties which must be your own.” Hence the “much more” of the previous clause; his absence was to be the occasion for a far fuller realization of their own personal obligations and resources in the spiritual life.
“Salvation”:—see above on Php_1:19. The main reference here is to final glory (see remarks just below). But as life eternal is continuous and one, here and hereafter, a side-reference may well be recognized to present preservation from falling and sinning. “In this way of diligence we receive daily more and more of ‘salvation’ itself, by liberty from sin, victory over it, peace and communion with God, and the earnests of heavenly felicity” (Scott).
“Work out”:—the verb is that used also e.g. Rom_4:5 (“the law worketh wrath”); 2Co_4:17, a close and instructive parallel. As there the saint’s “light affliction” “works out for him a weight of glory,” so here his watchful, loving, reverent consistency, for his Lord’s sake, “works out,” issues in the result of, his “salvation.” There is not the slightest contradiction here to the profound truth of Justification by Faith only, that is to say, only for the merit’s sake of the Redeemer, appropriated by submissive trust; that justification whose sure issue is “glorification” (Rom_8:30). It is an instance of independent lines of truth converging on one goal. From one point of view, that of justifying merit, man is glorified because of Christ’s work alone, applied to his case through faith alone. From another point, that of qualifying capacity, and of preparation for the Lord’s individual welcome (Mat_25:21; Rom_2:7), man is glorified as the issue of a process of work and training, in which in a true sense he is himself operant, though grace lies below the whole operation.
with fear and trembling] not of tormenting misgiving (cp. 1Jn_4:18), but of profound reverence and wakeful conscience. So 1Co_2:3; 2Co_7:15; Eph_6:5. Chrysostom quotes Psa_2:11, “Serve the Lord in fear, and exult unto Him in trembling.”—The Douay (Romanist) Bible here has a note:—“This is against the false faith and presumptuous confidence of modern sectaries”; a reference to the doctrine of a personal assurance of present Divine favour and coming glory. But this is both to mistake the meaning of St Paul’s phrase “fear and trembling,” and to forget such passages as e.g. Rom_5:1-2; Rom_5:9; Rom_8:28-39.—It is the formulated tenet of the Church of Rome that “no man can know, with a certainty under which nothing false can lurk, that he has attained the grace of God” (Canones Concil. Trident., Sess. vi. cap. ix.). See further just below.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 (12) As ye have always obeyed.—It is notable that…
(12) As ye have always obeyed.—It is notable that this Epistle is the only one which contains no direct rebuke. The Philippian Church has the glory of having “always obeyed,” not (like the Galatian Church) “as in his presence only, but now much more in his absence.” This “obedience” was to the will of God as set forth by him. In referring to it, there is an allusion to the “obedience” of Christ (in Php_2:8); hence their obedience includes also that willingness to suffer which He Himself has shown. (See Php_1:29-30.) To this, perhaps, there is a further allusion in the “fear and trembling” spoken of below. (See 2Co_7:15; Eph_6:5.)
Work out your own salvation.—To “work out” is (as in Eph_6:13) to carry out to completion what is begun. This is the function of man, as fellow-worker with God, first in his own soul, and then among his brethren. God is the “beginner and perfecter” of every “good work” (see Php_1:6); man’s co-operation is secondary and intermediate.
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[5. Exhortation and Commendation (Php_2:12-30).
(1) EXHORTATION TO WORK OUT THEIR SALVATION through the in working of God, and so to be lights in the world, and the glory of the Apostle, even in the hour of martyrdom (Php_2:12-18).
(2) ST. PAUL’S INTENTION TO SEND TIMOTHY, AND HOPE TO COME HIMSELF SHORTLY (Php_2:19-24).
(3) PRESENT MISSION OF EPAPHRODITUS, now recovered from his late sickness, and strong commendation of his zeal (Php_2:25-30).]
(12-18) By the word “wherefore” St. Paul connects this exhortation with the great passage above. For the main idea is here of the presence of God in them, working out glory through a condition of humiliation, on condition of their fellow-working with Him; so that they shall appear as the “sons of God” and as “lights in the world.” In all this there is clearly the imperfect but true likeness of the indwelling of Godhead in our Lord’s humanity, exalting it through the two-fold humiliation to the unspeakable glory.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not…
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. St. Paul passes to exhortation grounded on the Lord"s perfect example. "Ye obeyed" (uphkousate) answers to the genomenov uphkoov of Ver. 8, and than corresponds with the Savior"s exaltation described in vers. 9-11. He encourages them by acknowledging their past obedience; he urges them to work, not for the sake of approving themselves to their earthly teacher, but to think of their unseen Lord, and to realize his presence all the more in St. Paul"s absence. Work out your own salvation. Complete it; God has begun the work; carry it out unto the end. Comp. the same word in Eph_6:13, "having done all." Christ"s work of atonement is finished: work from the cross: carry out the great work of sanctification by the help of the Holy Spirit. Your own: it is each man"s own work; no human friend, no pastor, not even an apostle, can work it for him. With fear and trembling. (comp. 2Co_7:15 and Eph_6:5) "Servi esse debetis exemplo Christi" (Bengel). Have an eager, trembling anxiety to obey God in all things, considering the tremendous sacrifice of Christ, the unspeakable depth and tenderness of his love, the immense importance of a present salvation from sin, the momentous preciousness of a future salvation from death.
Vers. 12, 13. What should be the result of Christ"s example?
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I OBEDIENCE.
1. Christ became obedient even unto death. The Philippians have hitherto been obedient; they were obedient when the apostle called them to faith and repentance; let them be obedient now.
2. That obedience is due to God who sooth the heart. We must not depend too much on human teachers, whether present or absent; we must look to the unseen Savior who is ever present, and work out, each one for himself, our own salvation.
II EARNEST EFFORT TO SAVE OUR SOULS.
1. Because our salvation was the end of Christs humiliation. He came into the world to save sinners. The greatness of his self-sacrifice shows the momentous importance of the object for which he humbled himself. The cross of Christ throws a bright light on the tremendous alternative life or death, salvation or damnation.
2. Because of salvation is lost, all is lost. The word swthria means simply safety safety from anything that may harm us, from danger, sickness, death. In Holy Scripture it means the safety of the soul,
a. from sin, which is the sickness of the soul;
b. from death the death of the soul, which is eternal death.
It is a precious word, for it points to unspeakable blessedness; an awful word, for it suggests a fearful alternative. It reminds us of that condemnation, that horror of eternal despair, which must be the portion of the lost. That great danger threatens us; we need to be saved from it, and therefore from sin.
3. Because our salvation must be wrought out by ourselves: no other man can do it for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior; he is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. "By grace ye are saved,... he and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Our salvation is the work of God. But there are two sides to the same great truth. It is his work, and yet it is ours. Both views of the one truth are presented to us in Holy Scripture. Both are true; they meet somewhere above our heads. Now we know in part; our standpoint is not high enough to command a connected view of all God"s dealings with men. But we can see far enough to guide us on our way to heaven; we know enough for the needs of the Christian life. We know that Christ is our only Savior; he came into the world to save sinners; he died for all. But Holy Scripture bids us to carry out the work of salvation in our own souls, to complete it, working from the cross, in the faith of Christ. There is need of persevering energy. Others may guide, comfort, exhort; but each man must work out his own salvation for himself in the depths of his spirit, it cannot be done by deputy. We must work, for God bids us; we must work, for we have an irresistible consciousness of power to choose the good and to avoid the evil. But we must trust wholly in Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. It is he that saves us, not we ourselves.
III A TREMBLING ANXIETY TO PLEASE GOD.
1. If we are in earliest, there must sometimes be fear and trembling in our religious life. The work is so very momentous; it is no matter for indifference or lukewarmness. We must pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, for we were "redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ." The greatness of the ransom shows the greatness of the danger. We must pray for grace to serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; for true religion involves a deep, awful reverence for the majesty of God. Reverence is an essential clement in true holiness. "Hallowed be thy Name" is the first petition in the prayer which the Lord himself hath taught us; and with reverence must be mingled holy fear the fear of undue familiarity intruding itself into our solemn worship; the fear of displeasing God who will judge us, who gave his blessed Son to die for us, by unfaithfulness in our daily lives.
2. The ground both for fear and for encouragement. God worketh in us. It is a ground for fear; for if it is God that worketh in us, then to take part with the flesh is to strive against the Most High, to resist the Holy Ghost a most awful danger. And it is a ground for encouragement; for if it is God that hath begun the good work within us, we may be confident that he will carry it on. His strength, if only we persevere, will be made perfect in our weakness. Man can do nothing without God, and God will do nothing without man. He bids us work out our own salvation, because he worketh in us both to will and to do. Holy desires and just works alike proceed from him. Yet, though he willeth that all men should be saved, all are not saved; for they will not conic unto him that they might have life. The problem is insoluble in theory; it is solved in the religious life. If we live in the faith of the Son of God, the very sense of entire dependence upon him will urge us to work out to the end the salvation which he hath wrought for us by his precious blood-shedding, which he is working within us by the gift of his Holy Spirit.
LESSONS.
1. You work hard in your outward calling; work hard in your religious life.
2. The alternatives at issue are of stupendous moment; work with fear and trembling.
3. But remember, Christ died for you, God worketh in you. Work the cross; trust in God, not in your own efforts, however earnest.
Vers. 12, 13. Christian salvation a working out what God works in.
The apostle, after commending the Philippians for their obedience to God in his absence, counsels them to continue in that course, working out their salvation for themselves. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
I CONSIDER the MATTER TO RE WORKED OUT. "Your own salvation.
1. Salvation is an essentially individual thing between each man and his God. It is the supreme concernment of every man. Green shows it was the glory of Puritanism that "religion in its deepest and innermost sense had to do, not with Churches, but with the individual soul. It is as a single soul that each Christian claims his part in the mystery of redemption.
2. Though salvation is Gods work, it is yet consistent with Scripture fact that it should be mans work likewise. The salvation to be worked out is supposed to be already possessed in its principle or germ; for the apostle addresses this counsel, not to unconverted sinners, but to "saints in Christ Jesus." The breadth of the word "salvation" is to be carefully estimated. Sometimes it is used in Scripture, as we have already seen, as equivalent to justification or pardon; sometimes as equivalent to sanctification; sometimes as equivalent to the final deliverance at death or judgment. Thus it may be regarded as either past, present, or future. It is in the second sense that the apostle uses the expression, for he has special regard here to the development of the Christian life in believers.
II THE PROCESS OF WORKING OUT THIS SALVATION. "Work out your own salvation.
1. This implies that Christian life is not a mystic and indolent quietism which moves neither hand nor foot, but a state of cow, scions activity and struggle. There are theories of sanctification in our day which teach the doctrine of the soul"s passivity, as if it lay in the arms of Jesus without effort or almost conscious thought. Such an idea would need a recasting of the whole phraseology of Scripture to justify it. Christian life is always represented in Scripture as a life of watching, of struggle, of combat. "So run that ye may obtain"; (1Co_9:24) "So fight I, not as one that beateth the air"; (1Co_9:26) "Striving according to his working which worketh in me mightily"; (Col_1:29) "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus"; (Php_2:14) "Give all diligence to make your calling and election. (2Pe_1:10)
2. It implies that God has already worked in he what we are to work out. If we work out anything else, it will be of nature or the devil. If, therefore, we have faith, hope, or love, let us work it out. If we have been begotten again with the incorruptible seed of the Word, work out its imperishable principles in all the lovely consistencies of a holy life.
3. It implies a constant and faithful use of all the means appointed by God for this end. (Mat_6:33 Act_13:43 Rom_12:12)
III THE REASON OR ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ENERGY IN THIS WORK. "For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
1. Consider how the encouragement operates. The believer strives because he is assured of Divine co-operation in the work. There is a spirit of dependence in human life which tends to produce weakness and sterility; but dependence on God is the true spring of all effort, strength, and heroism. Divine grace has no tendency to supersede human effort, but rather to stimulate it to greater results. The fact that an army is led by a matchless general does not make soldiers less, but more, resolute in carrying out his commands. Wellington regarded the presence of Napoleon Bonaparte at the head of his army as equal to a hundred thousand additional bayonets. Let the Christian, then, work out his salvation; for he has God working in him every result involved in it.
2. Consider the sphere of Gods working. "It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." The Divine operation touches the first impulse of the will as well as the final achievement that flows from it. Augustine says, "Therefore we will, but God works in us also to will; therefore we work, but God works in us also to work." How natural, then, that believers should attribute everything good in them to Divine grace!
3. Consider the end and direction of this working. "Of his good pleasure." God delights in this work, even in the perfection of his saints. It is his good pleasure that they should be holy, pure, loving.
4. Consider the mystery of the double working here implied. The apostle does not attempt to explain the blending of the two activities in one glorious work, so as to indicate where the one ends and the other begins. In other words, he does not attempt to reconcile the doctrine of man"s freedom with the doctrine of God"s sovereignty. This is a deep mystery, which faith can accept, but the philosophies of earth have tried in vain to unravel.
IV THE SPIRIT IN WHICH BELIEVERS ARE TO WORK OUT THEIR SALVATION, "With fear and trembling." With an inward distrust of our own power and an anxious solicitude for the constant action of Divine power. There is a feat" and a trembling that have a true place in the Christian life. he in consideration of our sins and our weaknesses, yet that lead us to cling all the closer to the Ark of our strength. Fear has its place even by the side of faith, pointing its finger to possible dangers. "Thou standest by faith: therefore be thou not high-minded, but fear." But the fear is not that which is hostile to full assurance, but to carnality and recklessness; while the trembling is not that of the slave, but of the child of God, tremblingly alive to all his responsibilities and to the fear of vexing God"s Holy Spirit.
V CONSIDERATIONS WHY WE SHOULD BE CAREFUL TO DO THIS WORK.
1. God commands it. (Act_17:30)
2. He shows us how to do it. (Mic_6:8)
3. He works with us and in us to do it.
4. It is the most pleasant work. (Pro_2:17)
5. It is most honorable. (Pro_12:26)
6. It is most profitable. (1Ti_4:8)
7. It is work not to be begun only, but finished. (Joh_17:4)
8. All other works are sin till this is begun. (Isa_66:3)
9. Unless it be done, we are undone for ever. (Luk_13:3) T.C.
Vers. 12, 13. The awful responsibility of personal inspirations.
The purpose of the present passage, as we have seen, is to secure in the Philippian converts that consideration for the welfare of others which is the grand secret of Christian unity. The example of Christ has been brought forward for the same object. Salvation, as wrought out by Jesus, has been the pre-eminent example of public spirit. But now we seem to have come across a break in Paul"s idea, as if he would center the converts in self once again, while laboring to deliver them from self. And the passage has been torn from the context and split up into antagonistic exhortations, so that it seems a theological battle-ground rather than a call to Christian power and peace. Let us see if we do not altogether escape the difficulty by holding hard to the connection of the apostle"s thought,
I PAUL SPEAKS HERE UNQUESTIONABLY OF PERSONAL INSPIRATION AS POSSESSED BY THESE PHILIPPIAN CHRISTIANS. Of course, we are here using inspiration in the sense that the Philippians were each tenanted by the Holy Spirit. They were inspired men, inspired for action, if not for authorship. The Holy Spirit had got their wills in his control and also the issue of their wills in action. Here is the broad fact, therefore, of their personal inspiration. Now, the Holy Spirit"s influence upon the will is a most interesting as well as intricate subject. It is not, however, either an unreasonable or a tyrannical influence. It is not unreasonable, for it is upon the line of reason and of moral suasion that the Holy Spirit always moves. It is not tyrannical, for it is by his inspiration we are delivered from the prejudice and partiality which sin induces and which mar our liberty. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty". (2Co_2:17) We are never so free as when we are surrendering ourselves implicitly and completely to God"s inspirations. But the power to carry out the impulses of the inspired will is also the gift of God; so that the Christian is an inspired instrument for the accomplishment of the will of God. He is moved from within by the almighty Spirit.
II PERSONAL INSPIRATION MAY WELL BE ENTERTAINED WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING. (Ver. 12) If it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God when we have risked and courted his displeasure, it is surely no less fearful a thing to lie in his hands as an instrument of his good pleasure. We should regard our personalities with awe and reverence as sacred things. The temple on Mount Moriah was not half so sacred as we are ourselves if the Holy Spirit really dwells within us. It is this tremendous thought which Paul feels assured will vanquish fornication and all the lewdness which invested Corinth. (1Co_6:9-20) We are Divine temples; we walk the world as inspired men; we may well contemplate the organisms we are with fear and trembling. Just as we handle with a fear and nervous tremor some exquisite piece of mechanism which some mighty genius has devised for some admirable purpose, afraid lest rash handling might disarrange it; so are we to handle our inspired personalities, and make body, soul, and spirit with a sober, awe-inspired joy tributary to God"s praise.
III PERSONAL INSPIRATION ISSUES IN EARNEST WORK. (Ver. 12) God does not inspire men that they may turn out lotos-eaters. The inaction which Brahma induces, for example, can never be induced by the Christian system. Inspiration is for work. The movement in earnest life is the proof positive that the spiritual force has entered into the professedly Christian soul. But what will the work be? This is the question. Does working out our own salvation mean living in a perpetual fever of spiritual anxiety? Does it mean a never-ending attack of spiritual despondency? By no means. It will be found in the spiritual life, as in life physical, that the hypochondriacs are in danger, and that it is those who have no time to think upon their own ailments, they are so busy ministering to the welfare of others, who are really making most progress towards the spiritual perfection which is salvation in its fullness. And here it will be seen how consistent these verses are with all that has gone before. Paul wishes the Philippians in Ver. 12, just as in Ver. 4, to be living the self-forgetful life. It is only when we look away from self to Christ as the ground of our salvation, and when we look away from self to others as the sphere of our special work, that we are living the earnest Christian life. Our salvation is assured when we are enabled to make Christ"s work our chief anxiety and Christ"s glory our constant aim. Inspired lives lead to self-forgetful and self-sacrificing work. The secret of all safety and nobleness lies here. R.M.E.
Vers. 12-18. Exhortations.
I PERSONAL WORK FOR THE PHILIPPIANS.
1. How he exhorts them he with pleasure. "So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence." The exaltation of Christ, which is the subject of the three foregoing verses, is specially fitted to be an encouragement to the duty of humility. It is not this, however, that he now specifies, in descending from the sublime Example. He rather lays hold on that "obedience" which was the soul of the humiliation, and on the name" Savior" which marked the exaltation. And upon these he makes his exhortation to turn. For the first time he addresses them as his "beloved." It indicates his drawing closer to them. He has a complimentary word. to say to them. They had in the past obeyed, not him for it is no mere personal request that he has to make but the gospel of which a statement follows, and which is referred to as the Word of life. They had always obeyed, i.e. both when he was present and when he was absent. Into this form, then, he throws his exhortation. They were to make their future, as they had made their past. They were not to make their obedience to the gospel dependent on his presence with them. An obedience as in his presence would have meant negligence in his absence. Nay, they were to make his absence a stimulus to greater exertion. When they had not his help they were to feel the greater need of rousing themselves to action.
2. The work of salvation.
(1) What it is. "Work out your own salvation." It is thought of as a work that is our own, i.e. pertaining to ourselves and going on in our nature. It is what is known de, character, what is impressed on our nature, according as we are obedient to the will of God. It is thought of as that which has a beginning, progress, and end. We are to work it out from the beginning all through to the end. It is thought of as that which has its starting-point in the nature in a state of sin. The end is only to be reached in conflict with evil, and in the salvation of the nature from evil. Salvation of the thoughts. It belongs to us as thinking beings to think out the great thoughts which God has given for our instruction in the Bible. We have to, think them out, so as to get the full advantage of their quickening influence in our being. This is part of the great work which God has appointed us to work out. It is saving work, inasmuch as we need to be saved from the darkness of our minds. We need to be saved from an unworthy conception of God. There is nothing which more bespeaks our elevation than that we think aright of God. It is a work of no little difficulty to rise above such gross notions of God as are derived from our senses, our passions, our selfish partialities, and to think of him as the Father of our spirits, who has high and kind thoughts regarding us, who is interested in our well-being, who is ever present with us to inspire us, to strengthen us, to waken up our life, who rebukes us and is grieved when we do wrong, who commends us and is glad when we do well; to think of him especially as the God of salvation, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has made infinite sacrifice for us, who makes to us offer of boundless grace, who is seeking by every means to compass our salvation. we need to be saved from an unworthy conception of human life, from thinking that it consists in the abundance of things which we possess, that it is to be spent in idleness or pleasure, that it has not: issues beyond death. It is no easy task to come to the full realization of the thought that our life derives its significance from our being tried, from it being intended to be a service rendered to God, the working out of a Divine plan, the unselfish seeking of the good of others; derives its significance especially from Christ having associated himself with it, having brought back its old value, and having given it an increased value in his death having actually given us the example of a perfect human life. the idea of the apostle in 2Co_10:5 is that every thought is to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. That involves our having a Christian volume and force of thought which we can bring to bear on all subjects. There is a philosophical temper of mind, which consists in accurately observing facts, in discerning what are relevant, in giving them their due weight, in investigating the causes, connections, explanations, of things. So there is a Christian temper of mind, which consists in our being saturated with Christian ideas, in looking beneath the surface, in testing the Christian character of actions and courses of action, of thoughts and lines of thought, in readily discovering their bearing upon Christ and his salvation. And that is what is as open to the laborer as to the philosopher. As we have all a power of applying our minds in matters connected with our earthly calling, so there is no reason why we should not have the power of applying our minds in matters connected with our heavenly calling. And we should clearly recognize that as part of the great work of our salvation which we are here commanded to work out. Salvation of the affections. It belongs to us as social beings to be rightly affected toward other beings. That enters very deeply into the question of our happiness. And part of the great work of our salvation is to work out the right state of our affections. It is a saving work, inasmuch as we need to be saved from a depraved state of our affections. We need to be saved from a depraved state of our affections towards God. We have a natural aversion to goodness, and, because God is the perfection of all goodness, it is true that we are alienated and enemies in our mind, that the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. We need to have our affections changed, so that we love God because of his goodness, and simply because of his goodness, and love him with all fervor and steadiness because he is supremely good; and love Christ because he is the glorious Manifestation of the Divine goodness, the Accomplisher of our redemption. We need to be saved from a depraved state of our affections toward beings like ourselves. There is much that is beautiful in the affection of parents for their children; but it needs to be saved even from mere naturalness or characterlessness. We must love our children, not with a blind affection, but with an affection that is under the guidance and restraint of moral and religious principle; we must love them as intelligent, spiritual beings, who have been given us to train for God and immortality; we must love them especially for the sake of Christ, who has obtained right to them by his blood, and who wishes to see them transformed into his image. Our affections need to be saved from mere narrowness. They are not to be confined to our home circle or circle of our acquaintances, but are to have something of the catholicity of the Savior"s love. Our affections need to be saved from shallowness. Our interest in all must extend beyond their temporal well-being to their Christian perfection. Our affections need to e saved from every element of malice. We must not hate or break forth into passion, but be patient and forgiving, after the example of the Master. Thus will a Christian character be given to our affections. And that is part of the work of salvation which we are distinctly to place before us as commanded here. Salvation of the energies. It belongs to us as active beings to have our energies rightly employed. This enters largely into our happiness, and is part of the work of salvation that we are appointed to work out. It is a saving work, inasmuch as our energies need to be saved from self. One form which self takes is that of sloth. That is a sin which besets very many. We are not to work listlessly, bringing little to pass, spreading the work of one horn" over many. We are to let our energies out, and to let our energies out as a whole, not restraining especially our best energies. We are not to be discouraged by difficulties, but rather to regard them as an opportunity for our putting forth our energies more vigorously. We are not to spend our energies simply for a livelihood, or in the pursuit of pleasure, or in the pursuit of a fortune, or in the pursuit of fame. Our energies are to be saved by being lifted above self to God, especially by being connected with Christ, laid as a willing tribute at his feet, concentrated on his glory, steadily rendered to him, imbued with his unselfish, philanthropic spirit. That is the third line in which we are to carry out the saving work commanded here.
(2) Spirit in which it is to be carried out. "With fear and trembling." The latter word refers more to the anxious solicitude that is connected with what is feared. This was the spirit in which Paul served among the Corinthians: "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling." It is the spirit which he requires of servants toward their masters: "Servants,. be obedient unto them that, according to the flesh, are your masters, with fear and trembling." We may well have fear and trembling as to the work of our salvation being really commenced. For there is such a difference between a saved and an unsaved state, between being in Christ and being out of Christ. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Have we unmistakably given ourselves up to Christ, so that we are among the number of the saved, i.e. enjoy the fruits of Christ"s work in the pardon of our sins, acceptance of our persons, and the beginning of a better life? "Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it." A mistake here is, of all mistakes, the most stupendous, and the very possibility of it should make us fear and tremble. To be au entire stranger to fear and trembling regarding the reality of personal salvation is to be in an alarming condition. we may well have fear and trembling, too, regarding the satisfactory going forward of the work of salvation, which is more referred to here. It is a work for which we are made responsible, which is made to depend on our fidelity, and we may well. fear and tremble when we think of our indifference, of our unsteadiness of purpose. It is work which goes so far into our inmost being that we may well distrust our own power to do enough in connection with it. Can we but fear and tremble when we think that our doing has to pass under the all-seeing eye of God, and to be judged unerringly, not only as to its quantity, but as to its quality? we do not need to crouch as under the rod, when we think of failure; for we are in the hands of a merciful Father: but all the more because he is merciful should we have a trembling anxiety lest we do not come up to what he expects of us. It is a work for the accomplishment of which long time is needed, and we may well fear and tremble when we think of the little time that we can calculate on as at our disposal. In what state of progress towards perfection shall our thoughts and affections and energies be when we are called away from the scene of our trial into the presence of our God?
3. Encouragement. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
(1) The Divine Energizer. We are encouraged to work out the work of our salvation in a spirit of anxious solicitude by the thought that it is God which worketh literally, energizeth putteth forth power in us. At the center of our being is the will. It is it which wills and energizes in our thoughts, affections, and practical activities. we are here taught that within our will, a center within a center, there is another power that wills and energizes. It is God which energizes in us both to will and to energize. This power he has over ns by virtue of being our Creator. This is the power which he retains over his creation, that He can touch efficiently the will in its choosing and in its outgoing in the nature. It is a saving power that we are here to think of, i.e. a power which only goes forth in connection with the work of him who has been exalted as Savior. From the crucified and exalted Savior, through the Spirit, God puts forth power to counteract the weakness of our will, to give it power in choosing the good and refusing the evil. Until he puts forth his power on the will nothing good can come out of it. There is only depravity in it, and we can no more get rid of it ourselves than the Ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his spots. The first enabling power in good must come from God. While he enables ns he holds us responsible, and he gives us this to encourage us, in tremblingly discharging our obligations as to our salvation that, as it is his almighty grace that first comes down upon our will, so we have the same grace on which unlimitedly to rely for support in its struggle out of sin toward salvation. Great is the weakness of our will, but greater is the newer that energizes in us both to will and to energize. We are thus in the position of carrying forward, while tremblingly, yet hopefully, the work of our salvation.
(2) for what he energizes. The idea is that it is his good pleasure that gets the advantage. We reap great advantage in our experience of salvation. But God is here said to energize in us savingly for his own advantage. It is not for the advantage of his sovereignty, so much as of that goodness which is at the heart of his sovereignty. It is his sovereignty that gives him the right to energize in our wills; but it is goodness that determines the exercise of his sovereignty, as always, so especially in our salvation from sin, in meeting us in all our impotence, and in giving us the power to maintain the struggle; and so it is the goodness of his pleasure that is advantaged in our salvation.
II DUTY OF THE PHILIPPIANS IN THE WORLD.
1. The one thing to be avoided. "Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless." The apostle has been enjoining on them their duty with reference to their personal salvation, He now contemplates them as placed in the midst of the world. It can be seen that he has in his mind ancient Israel. It is true that they were characteristically murmurers and doubters against God. But it does not appear that the Philippians were inclined to murmur and doubt under the Divine dealings. We are rather made to feel that they had not a little of the martyr spirit. The danger feared was the breaking of their unity through self-exaltation. We are, therefore, to think of murmurings and disputings among themselves. It pointed to a state of matters in their Church which would be very prejudicial to their spiritual life. This was the one thing to be avoided, in order that they should be blameless in the judgment of others, and sincere, as we should read, conscious to their own minds of good intention. It was being not very far from the mark. Other Churches may have excelled the Phililpians in reference to this particular; but of how few could it be said that there was one thing to be avoided by them in order that they should be blameless and right-minded! How many points would need to be enumerated in order that such language might be employed of some of our Churches now?
2. Proper conception of their duty.
(1) To be free from spots. "Children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation." There is a reminiscence here of language employed in the song of Moses: "They have corrupted themselves, their spot, is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation." They had not answered to the Divine conception, which was that of children without slot in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. It is much more obvious than it was then that we are the children of God. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." Such is the fully expressed Christian standpoint. It is the Divine arrangement that, as children of God, we are separated into Christian societies; not, however, removed to a separate sphere where we are not acted upon from without, and have simply to conserve and consolidate our Christian life. But we are placed in the midst of the world, and the world is here thought of in its generations. The generation is characterized by moral abnormity. Both "crooked" and "perverse" contain the idea of being bent from the true form, as a tree is bent or as the human body is sometimes bent. In the latter the bending is so decided as to amount to distortion. All the generations have abnormity; but every generation has its own peculiar abnormity or spot. And the Church, from age to age, has especially to guard against the spot of the wicked generation in the midst of which it lives. The spot of the present crooked and perverse generation may be said to be a secularism, which would make of the Lord"s day a common day, of the Bible a common book, of Christ a common man, of religion simply the performance of common duties. That is the mask which the generation is more and more taking, in all forms of literature and in public movements. That is the influence which, through a thousand channels, is being brought to bear upon the Christian part of the population. And there are always those who are inclined to adjust themselves to what they see around them. But that is not the spot of God"s children. Let us keep clear of it in the name of our adoption into God"s family. "Do you requite me so?" it is said in the words following these, quoted in the song of Moses: "Am not I your Father that bought thee?" Let us have separateness from our generation, in its general spirit, and in the particular forms that may prevail around us.
(2) To give light to the world. "Among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life." Christ is the Sun, or Light of the world; we are intended to be stars, or lesser lights. Ours is a borrowed light from Christ, or rather, as it is here regarded, from his gospel, which is named the Word of life, i.e. the light which gives an eternal quickening to the soul. According as we have received the gospel, in its blessed statements, into our being, are we made light.. he have darkness expelled from us. And our function is to hold forth the Word of life to cast the light that we have appropriated forth upon the dark world. That is the true way to meet the aggression of the crooked and perverse generation. Something more is needed than the most satisfactory Christian apologetics. The Church must show, positively and decidedly, the living power of Christianity. It must make a better help to the spiritual life of the Lord"s day, if that day is not to be surrendered to the enemy. It must have a more living hold of the Bible, if that book would maintain its authority. It must have a warmer attachment to Christ, if he is properly to be held forth for the faith of men. It must have greater fervor in prayer and in all religious duties, if it would commend these as sanctifying and sweetening common duties. The Church must, from the right use of the gospel, create a public sentiment of a Christian nature, a body of strong living light, if it would make an impression upon the darkness around, and not have its owu light obscured. Let us see that individually we act as light-bearers to the world, holding forth the Word of life.
III INTERTWINING OF PAUL WITH THE PHILIPPIANS.
1. Alternative of his being spared. "That I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain." What a beautiful intertwining of the apostle with his converts! He hoped yet to run for them, with his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; he hoped yet to labor for them. Beyond that he sees the day of Christ, the day when his running and laboring, with all its attendant results, in them, would pass under the eye of the great Head of the Church. He hopes, then, to have his destiny so intertwined with theirs that they would be the occasion of his glorying, as in successful work for Christ. Whereas he intimates that it would be loss to him of a crown of rejoicing, if his running and laboring for them turned out to be ineffectual. What minister would not thus wish to be intertwined in loving service with his people?
2. Alternative of his dying.
(1) Hs joying and rejoicing with them. "Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your filth, I joy, and rejoice with you all." He does not here present his dying as the probable issue. For that would be inconsistent with the confident anticipation of release, to which expression was formerly given. Bather does he wish to entertain as probable or certain the supposition of the satisfactory nature of their filth. If he can think of them as priests ministering at the altar and offering thereon a believing life, then, though his life-blood should be poured out as a libation around the offering, he will joy in their offering, and rejoice with them all.
(2) Call to joy and rejoice with him. "And in the same manner do ye also joy, and rejoice with me." Martyrdom was a joyful thought to him. his dying when the cause of Christ was in the ascendant, his being poured out as libation when he could think of them and others offering up their faith to God, would only send a thrill of joy through his heart. The dark hour would be lighted up by the thought of their believing testimony, and of the crown which they would be the occasion of his wearing. Far be it front them, then, to be overwhelmed by the event. Let them joy in his having courage to die for the Master, and let them rejoice with him in the reward, connected with them, that the Master was to put into his hand.
Vers. 12, 13. Salvation as a work in the soul.
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." It is worthy of note that this, of all the Epistles of Paul, is the only one that contains no direct rebuke. The apostle hero speaks of them as "having always obeyed," not only in his presence, but in his absence. The passage leads us to contemplate salvation as a work in the soul. The word "salvation" implies a previous lost condition. The soul is lost; but in what sense? Not in the sense of missing, as the piece of silver was lost, the sheep was lost, the prodigal son lost; God knows where every soul is. Not in the sense of destruction, as the tree or house is lost when burnt to ashes; but in the sense in which a worthless child is lost to his parents, a worthless soldier to an army, a worthless citizen to his country. All souls are lost to God in this sense they fulfill not their mission, which is
(1) truthfully to reveal,
(2) loyally to obey, and
(3) religiously to serve him.
I offer three remarks on this subject.
I SALVATION IS A SUPREME WORK IS MAN. The apostle urges it here as supreme: "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence," etc. As if he had said, "Mind, attend to this, wherever I am, in whatever condition, whether I am living or dying, do not neglect your salvation." This is the supreme work. If the soul is not restored to the knowledge and image of the true God, what matters it what else a man may possess? "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
II SALVATION IS A DIVINE WORK IS MAN. "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
1. He works in you. He works everywhere outside of you. He is the force of all forces, the Spirit in all the wheels of nature; but in the soul he has a higher sphere. As outside in unreasoning nature he works in harmony with the laws which he has established, so in the soul he works according to its laws of thought and volition.
2. He works in you for your salvation. Not for your destruction; destruction would require no work on his part, a mere volition would extinguish you for ever, but he works to save you works as the physician works to save his patient, as the lifeboat works to save the sinking bark.
3. He works in you for your salvation "according to his good pleasure. " It is not his will that you should perish; the desire of his great fatherly heart is that you should be saved. Hence he works in you, works silently, constantly, and in connection with all the influences of nature, events of history, and the laws of your own being.
III SALVATION IS A HUMAN WORK IN MAN.
1. It is a work which the man must do for himself. "Work out your own salvation." No one can do the work for you; no one can believe, repent, and love for you; the work is absolutely personal.
2. Man"s encouragement to this work is the co-operation of God. "God worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." His agency, instead of superseding the necessity of yours, should stimulate yours. If he did not work with you, your efforts would be futile; if against you, your efforts would be baffled and confounded. But your salvation is his "good pleasure." He works with you as he works with the industrious agriculturist; he supplies all the necessary conditions for success in the production of golden crops. He works with you as he works with the genuine truth-seeker, touches the springs of thought and stimulates by ever-opening prospects.
CONCLUSION. Never let us forget that our supreme work is spiritual salvation, that all other works should be made subservient to this. D.T.
Vers. 12, 13. "Our own salvation.
The command that we should "work out our own salvation" is not in opposition to the truth that all salvation is the gift and the work of God. It has no reference to this, but is an exhortation to rely upon ourselves and upon God in us rather than upon any human guide or teacher.
I THIS SALVATION IS AN INDIVIDUAL THING. It is "our own." To trust to human guides is to doubt the guidance of God. It was expedient for the disciples that the Lord Jesus should go away. While they were in his visible presence they trusted to that rather than to his Spirit within them. The presence of the teacher hinders the spiritual life if it tends to lead the disciples to trust to it rather than to God. A lesson useful both for our own spiritual training and for the work which we would do for the souls of others.
II IT IS TO BE WORKED OUT WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING. This fear is not a servile fear, but it is the consciousness of the presence of God and of our relationship to him. Note that among these Philippians bidden to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, there must have been that jailor to whom St. Paul had said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." That first act of faith placed him in a state of salvation, and in this sense "saved" him, and now, being saved, he has to work out a full salvation.
III THIS SALVATION IS OF GOD. From him comes firstly the desire by which we long for it and the power by which we can attain to it. All is of his grace. He gives grace for grace, not grace for good works. Consider the strength which this truth bestows. The One to whom we trust is not a guide outside us, but a God within us. He is not only One who can teach us when we are willing to be taught, but One who can give us the will to be taught. He is not One whom we have to persuade to help us against his will, but the whole that we need is already of "his good pleasure. VW.H.
Vers. 12, 13. Working out our own salvation.
I WE MUST WORK OUT OUR OWN SALVATION.
1. Our salvation is from evils within our reach, if it consisted chiefly of deliverance from future punishment, we could not touch it. But it is, in the main, deliverance from present ills the sins, temptations, and troubles that beset us. A man"s foes are them of his own household, even of his own heart.
2. Our salvation is not yet accomplished. It may be nearer than when we first believed. But while one sin still haunts us, one temptation still attacks us, or one trouble still threatens us, our salvation is not fully accomplished. We can only be called "saved" in the first act of faith, because salvation then begins and the promise of its completion is given us. But the perfecting of salvation is a lifelong, gradual process.
3. The securing of this salvation is in our own hands. St. Paul gives no justification for that one-sided perversion of the doctrine of grace, according to which "doing is a deadly thing." Except we work and fight, Christ"s work and victory cannot profit us.
4. The salvation must be worked out to be perfected. We have to carry on what God begins, to develop the seed he sows, to work from the new heart within to the outer life.
5. This process must be carried on "with a nervous and trembling anxiety to do right" (Lightfoot).
II WE CAN WORK OUT OUR OWN SALVATION BECAUSE GOD WORKS IN US.
1. God is in us. The language of the apostle is no empty metaphor. It describes a spiritual fact. The Christian is a temple because God inhabits him.
2. God works in us. We may contrast this truth with the Stoic doctrine of the indwelling Divinity. "Reverence the Divinity that is within thee," says Marcus Aurelius. But the Stoic, though reverencing, does not look for much active aid from the indwelling God. The Christian receives God in him for a great purpose. God works, creating the disposition to do well will," giving energy for the execution of it; "to do," and directing the course of our action, "for his good pleasure.
3. This working of God in us should prevent us from looking too much for extraneous human aid. The early Church was in danger of leaning too much on the apostles. When the guidance and inspiration of an apostle was removed, the Christians felt the loss of a great support. Especially must this have been the case with Churches founded and fostered by so great a man as St. Paul. There was danger in this. The apostle warns the Philippians against it, and tells them that they should do as well in his absence as in his presence, because God dwells in them. We often make too much of human teachers and leaders, instead of seeing that our real strength lies in immediate personal communion with God. He who trusts God most can be most self-reliant.
4. The working of God within us should be the great encouragement of our own energies. This great truth has been abused so as to encourage indolence, or at least to discourage effort. It is here brought before us with the very opposite purpose. For God works to enable us to work. His work in us is frustrated if we do not co-operate. But when we work we find the power in God, and so are encouraged to labor, knowing that, when most weak in ourselves, we are most strong in God. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 16 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling--Here…
Php_2:12-13
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I.
Hope for all.
II. Help for all.
III. Work for all.
IV. A kind word for all. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Salvation
I. Is your own concern.
1. Others may be solicitous about you.
2. You must bear the responsibility.
II. Demands effort.
1. It is not of works.
2. Yet it must be worked out.
III. Must be anxiously prosecuted.
1. With peaceful confidence in God.
2. Yet with fear and trembling. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The way of salvation
I. The invaluable blessing set before us.
1. The blessing itself--Salvation. What is that? Deliverance from sin. Had there been no sin there would have needed no salvation. But having sinned man has lost likeness to God, love for God, life with God, and he wants these restored. But he cannot get them back of himself. Christ, however, has secured them for him; deliverance
(1) from the curse of sin. Christ has taken this upon Himself (Rom_8:1).
(2) From the dominion of sin. That is made the slave which all along has been the master.
(3) From all the consequences of sin.
(a) Separation from God. Being saved from sin man has access to God.
(b) Eternal punishment.
2. Your interest in this salvation. You hear people say, That is my own house, my own business, and lay great emphasis on the own. And your own salvation has a peculiar emphasis connected with it. Christs salvation is a common salvation, and you do well to publish it; but what if heathens should possess it, and you through the want of it be lost.
II. The means of its attainment. Work out, etc.
1. Negatively: this does not mean--
(1) To make an atonement for sin. Salvation in that respect is finished.
(2) That you are saved through your work. There is no more merit in it than there is in receiving alms from a benefactor.
2. Positively; it is--
(1) To labour to believe, and receive salvation--by reading, hearing, meditation, etc.
(2) To labour to secure the enjoyment of salvation. Many have it, but not the joy of it. This is secured by prayer and Christian work.
(3) Labour to exhibit and practise salvation. You cannot hold the world and sin in one hand, and salvation in the other.
III. The encouragement to use the means prescribed. Do not say, trembling soul, thou hast no strength, I would work, but am so feeble. Thy helper is God.
1. He works to will. He does not reform the natural faculty of the will; but sweetly and powerfully constrains that will by His Holy Spirit.
2. He works to do. Sometimes you have the will but not the strength. But as God works in us principles of action--faith, love, and regard for His glory--so when these principles are quickened and brought into practice, what cannot a man do? (J. Sherman.)
Your own salvation
Hearers often allege that preachers deal with subjects in which they have no interest, or with unpractical themes or with mysterious dogmas. No such charge can be preferred against this.
I. The matter under consideration. Salvation; which contains within it deliverance--
1. Prom the guilt of our past sins. This is a matter of grave consideration.
(1) God thinks so, or He would not have sent His Son and His Spirit.
(2) The Church thinks so, or earnest men and women would not make such sacrifices to bring men to this salvation.
(3) The angels think so, or there would not be joy in their presence at sinners repenting.
(4) The devils and lost spirits think so, or the one would not endeavour to thwart salvation, nor the others (as Dives) long so ardently for the salvation of their living brethren.
Nothing so much concerns any one as this.
(1) What is it to have a healthy body if you have a perishing soul?
(2) What is wealth if that which is more precious than the whole world be lost?
(3) What are honour and reputation if we have to hear, Depart from Me.
II. Whose matter is it? Your own.
1. The sin you commit is your own and its condemnation. You may share in other mens sins and they in yours; but a burden lies on you which no one can touch. You must obtain it, for this a personal pardon, or you are undone forever. You must yourself repent, believe, etc.
2. You must personally die, and in that dying we shall have either personal comfort or personal dismay. When death is past, salvation is still our own. There is a personal heaven for a personal believer. But if you have it not, it will be your own damnation. No one will be condemned for you. A substitute there is now, but not then.
3. You may be tempted to forget your own salvation by thoughts of other people. Reverse the process.
(1) Members of the Church.
(2) Official Christians.
(3) Unpractical doctrinists.
(4) Speculatists.
(5) Critics.
(6) Those who have espoused great public designs. Protestant controversialists, reformers, etc.
III. Answers to objections.
1. Is it not all fixed? Dont you believe in predestination? What have we then to do with our own salvation? Is it not fixed whether you shall be nourished with food today or shall go hungry? Why then will you go home and eat your dinner? You do not reason so wickedly and foolishly about any other subject but this.
2. Do you not believe in full assurance? Yes, but presumption is not assurance, and the most fully assured are those who are most careful about their own salvation.
3. This is very selfish. Yes, but it is a selfishness that is needful before you can be unselfish. How can you be of any service to others if you are not saved yourself.
IV. Render some assistance. Ask yourself, Am I saved?
1. Does God work in you? Have you a work of the Holy Spirit in your soul? If so, you are saved.
2. Does your salvation rest wholly on Christ? If you are hanging on anything but the Cross you are deceived.
3. Have you turned your back on sin?
4. If not, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon)
The working out of salvation
Salvation is founded on the mediation of Christ, but it is perfected by personal cooperation This is your own salvation, because--
I. It must be wrought out in yourself. It must have all the distinctiveness which pertains to individuality of character.
1. Its sphere is in the man. Christianity is not an outward application, but an inward work; not rites, etc., but life.
2. It is marked by attributes so distinct as to isolate it and make it our own. Every man has his own infirmities, and hence the work of grace differs in individuals.
II. It must be wrought out by yourself. The necessity of Divine influence is assumed--It is God that worketh in you. We cannot be too deeply conscious of our entire dependence; but we cannot be too much alive to our personal obligations. The latter will be the basis of the judgment. The ministry of the Word, etc., are highly important; but they must not be substitutes for personal Christianity.
III. It must be wrought out for yourself. Every Christian is now shaping the character of his salvation in the world to come where everyone will receive, etc. (J. E. M. A.)
The working out of salvation
I. The salvation which is to be wrought out. Salvation has two senses--deliverance, and a being raised to that state of holiness and happiness which God designs. In the text it includes both. Salvation was no: finished on the cross. It was not even secured; since something depends upon our own act. Salvation is a process. The first step is deliverance from blindness and insensibility; the second, from condemnation. Our salvation, then, proceeds into a state of entire conformity to the mind of Christ. Yet it supposes growth, even then. It is also preservation, every moment, from temptation, sloth, neglect, impatience, until at death the pure spirit is committed into the hands of the Father, and enters upon the perfect happiness of heaven.
II. The manner in which it is to be wrought out.
1. Work denotes a vigorous application of the mind to--
(1) Serious thoughts.
(2) Prayerful exercises of faith.
(3) The government of the heart.
(4) The resistance of temptation.
(5) The means of grace.
(6) Practical religion.
2. Salvation is to be worked out. By repentance and faith till justification and sanctification are secured. Our daily contests and attainments must be prosecuted till the conqueror be crowned.
3. With fear and trembling. Beware of the treachery of the heart. The number who have fallen; the immense stake at issue; the frown of God.
III. The encouragement.
1. This settles the disputed point of Divine help and human agency; not philosophically but practically. God does not so work in man as to render him a mechanical instrument; nor does man so work as that the work is attributed to his own powers.
1. A great part of the controversy respecting free will arises from not distinguishing between a power to will and the act of willing. That such a distinction is just, appears most clearly from Gods working in us to do. Now, it were absurd to say, God does, that is, prays, watches, and believes, for us; but He gives the power. It were equally absurd to say, God wills for us; but He gives the power to will; for He restores free agency. Again: If God necessitated our doing, He would not work in us to do, but by us to do; so, if He necessitated our will, he would work, not in us to will, but by us to will. The sense is, that He works in us that we may ourselves will and do.
2. God works in us to will. Several operations are necessary here. He enlightens the mind; impresses upon us the things that belong to our peace; and sets before us the motives which persuade the will. This, however, is not power to do. To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. God strengthens us by the rich effusions of His blessed Spirit. He does not convey all power at once. Some degree of it is given, independently of ourselves. Afterwards, the power is increased according to our diligence, and faith, and improvement. What, then, is there that you cannot attain? God worketh in you.
3. Do you doubt of
(1) Your attaining to saving faith? God worketh in you; and His grace is sufficient.
(2) Your attaining power over sin? God worketh in you; and is anything too hard for Him?
(3) Your gaining complete salvation? God worketh in you; and His almighty Spirit can sanctify the most corrupt and depraved nature.
(4) Your victory over trouble and conflict? Fear not: God worketh in you; and His strength shall be so made perfect in your weakness, that you shall be even more than conquerors.
Conclusion:
1. If you neglect your proper work, think not to blame God. He has both given and offered power.
2. If you have it not, you have not asked, or have not employed it.
3. In proportion as you are strengthened, you act. Live, then, near to God.
4. The glory of salvation is the Lords. You do nothing but in His power. (R. Watson.)
The working out of salvation
Wherefore links this passage to the whole picture from Php_2:6 to Php_2:11. Since the mind of Christ is revealed in His incarnation and death and is set before you as an example, work out, etc. Every Christian duty finds its motive and model in Christ. This counsel--
I. Implies--
1. That something has been already done. The very phrase work out implies this. Salvation has been begun, and is in one sense, a complete thing. We have not to work for salvation, but to accept it.
2. That something more has to be done. The new life has been created, but it must grow or it will die. What is more beautiful than the fervour and rapture of the first love, when young hearts turn to the Saviour as flowers to the light and find in Him their rest and their joy? But this first love may be forsaken. Character having greatly improved may deteriorate, and spiritual health may suffer a relapse. So we are reminded that we must not be merely passive in religion, receiving impressions, drinking in comfort, stimulated from without, but also to be active, cultivating our own powers.
II. This salvation is our own. Something essentially individual between each man and his God. In a sense it is the same in all, and yet it is different. God does not mean your nature to be a copy of any other. One man is impulsive, another is calm; one is bright, another gloomy; one is brave, another like a sensitive plant shrinking from even the breath of opposition. The experience of the gaoler was different from that of Lydia. So it is your own salvation and no one can work it out for you. The battlefield is your own soul, you have to pass through the great crisis of life alone, and you have to die alone.
III. How are we to work it out?
1. By the acquisition of spiritual truth. It is possible to have our Fathers phrases on our lips when we have not the power which lay behind them in our hearts. We are thankful for the wisdom and piety of the past, but a traditional faith will not save us; and while it is unwise to break away from the past, it is unequally unwise to reject the new truth that may be revealed to us. There will then be progress in character. The spiritual truth thus acquired will be the food of the soul.
2. By resolute effort. A man can never become wise or good without trouble. Jesus bids us strive, and Paul to fight the good fight, etc. It is not an easy thing to live the Christian life. The religion of sentimentalism, emotion, ritual, may be easy, but the religion of principle means cross bearing and earnest conflict with sin.
3. Even in the absence of means which are important. The presence of the apostle was a help. There is something in the presence of a friend which cannot be written with ink. The Philippians had done well in the apostles presence; they were to do much more in his absence. Why? To comfort him. As children when their father is from home are taking more care than usual that the windows and doors are properly fastened, so the Christians of Philippi were to be doubly vigilant when Paul was away. External aids are precious, but we must learn to be independent of them when necessary.
IV. The spirit in which we are to do the work--with fear and trembling. This Epistle is full of joy; but it is the joy of a reverent and earnest soul. There is abundant reason for caution, self-distrust, modesty, and humility, since so many have fallen, so many Peters denied their Lord, so many Demases forsaken Him. Be not high minded, but fear. (James Owen.)
The working out of salvation
I. A Christian man has his whole salvation already accomplished for him in Christ, and yet he has to work it out. Notice--
1. The persons to whom these words are addressed. Through applying them to non-Christians they have been perverted to mean: You cooperate with Christ in the great work of salvation, and you will get grace and pardon. But none save Christians have anything to do with them. They are addressed to those who are already resting on the finished salvation of Jesus Christ. If you have not done so, and are applying them to yourselves, remember that when the Jews came to Christ in a similar spirit, asking Him, What shall we do? etc. He said, This is the work of God that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. The first lesson is not work but faith, and unless there be faith no work.
2. But if salvation be this, How can we work it out? Salvation has four aspects. It means--
(1) The whole process by which we are delivered from sin, and set safe on the right hand of God.
(2) Deliverance from the guilt, punishment, and condemnation of sin, in which it is a thing past.
(3) The gradual process of deliverance from its power in our own hearts, in which it is a thing present.
(4) The final and perfect deliverance, in which it is a thing future. These all come equally from Christ, and depend upon His work and power, and are all given in the first act of faith. But the attitude in which the Christian stands to the accomplished salvation, and that in which He stands to the progressive salvation are different. He has to take the finished blessing. Yet the salvation which means our being delivered from the evil in our hearts is ours on the condition of continuous faithful reception and daily effort.
3. The two things, then, are not inconsistent. Work as well as believe, and in the daily subjugation of your spirits to His Divine power; in the daily crucifixion of your flesh; in the daily straining after loftier heights of godliness and purer atmospheres of devotion and love, make more thoroughly your own what you possess, work into the substance of your souls what you have.
II. God works all in us, and yet we have to work. Command implies power; command and power imply duty.
1. Is there any cautious guarding of the words that they may not seem to clash with the other side of truth? No. Paul does not say, Yet God worketh in you, or although, or remember as a caution. He blends the two together in an altogether different connection, and sees no contradiction or puzzle, but a ground of encouragement--for God worketh in you. That expresses more than bringing outward means to bear. It speaks of an inward, real, and efficacious operation. God puts in you the first faint motions of a better will. It is not that God gives men the power and leaves them to use it; that the desire and purpose come from Him, and are left with us as faithful or unfaithful stewards. The whole process, from the first sowing of the seed until its last fruiting in action, is Gods altogether.
2. And none the less strongly does He teach by His earnest injunction that human control over the human will and that reality of human agency, which are often thought to be annihilated by the view of God as originating all good. The apostle thought this doctrine did not absorb all our individuality in one great cause, which made men mere tools and puppets. His conclusion is God does all, therefore you work.
3. Each of these truths rests on its own appropriate evidence. My own consciousness tells me that I am free, that I have power, that I am therefore responsible. I know what I mean by the will of God, because I am myself conscious of a will. The power of God is an object of intelligent thought to me because I am conscious of power. On the other hand, that belief in God, which is one of the deep and universal beliefs of men, contains in it the belief in Him as the source of all power, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. These two convictions are both given us in the primitive beliefs which belong to us all. These two mighty pillars, on which all morality and all religion repose, have their foundations deep down in our nature, and tower up beyond our sight. They seem to stand opposite each other, but it is only as the piers of some tall arch are opposed. Beneath they repose on one foundation, above they spring together in the completing keystone, and bear the whole steady structure. Wise and good men have toiled to harmonize them in vain. Perhaps the time may come when we shall be lifted high enough to see the binding arch, but here on earth we can only behold the shafts on either side. Any fancied reconciliation only consists in paring down one half of the full-orbed truth to nothing, or admitting it in words, while every principle of the reeoncilers system demands its denial. Each antagonist is strong in his assertions, and weak in his denials.
4. This apparent incompatibility is no reason for rejecting truths, each commended to our acceptance on their own proper grounds. The Bible admits and enforces both. God is all, but thou canst work. Take this belief that God worketh all in you as the ground of your confidence. Take this conviction that thou canst work for the spur and stimulus of your life.
III. The Christian has his salvation secured, and yet he is to fear and tremble. You may say, Perfect love casteth out fear. So it does: the fear that hath torment. But there is another fear and trembling which is but another shape of confidence and calm hope. Scripture does tell us that the believing mans salvation is certain since he believes. And your faith can be worth nothing unless it have trembling distrust of your own power, which is the companion of all thankful and faithful reception of Gods mercy. Let, then, all fear and trembling be yours as a man; let all confidence and calm trust be yours as a child of God. Turn your confidence and your fears alike into prayer. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The working out of salvation
This work is a work--
I. In your own heart. To obey inwardly; to cherish and cultivate the good feelings which are now in you; to discipline your thoughts, rule your temper, keep your heart in order; to form right habits of daily life; to struggle against your besetting sin; to maintain a Christian spirit.
II. In the closet. Every one knows how difficult it is to fulfil faithfully the duties of private prayer, self-examination, and meditation; and to maintain the habit regularly, and to do it spiritually. To get rid of wandering thoughts; not to slide into reverie. To use form without formality. To make his own room a sanctuary, which he never leaves without carrying from it a holier frame and a higher aim.
III. In your own sphere. In the family and in business.
IV. In the work outside. No Christian should be without some definite form of Christian work. It may be among the poor, with the sick, or in the Sunday school, etc. In so doing you are working out the salvation you have received. Conclusion: Have you been saved? Then save! Are you loved? Then love! Are you happy? Then make others happy! (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The working out of salvation
Note--
I. That great and important truth which ought never to be out of our remembrance. It is God that worketh in us, etc., i.e., It is of His good pleasure, etc. This removes all imagination of merit from man, and gives God the whole glory of His work. The expression means either--
1. To will, including the whole of inward; to do, the whole of outward religion.
2. To will, implying every good desire; to do, whatever results therefrom, i.e., God worketh all inward and outward holiness, or God breathes every good desire and brings it to good effect. The original seems to favour the latter; but either is destructive of pride.
II. If God worketh in you then work out your own salvation. Work out implies the doing of a thing thoroughly; your own, you must do it or it will be left undone forever.
1. Salvation
(1) begins with preventing grace, including the first wish to please God, the first dawn of light concerning His will.
(2) Is carried on by convincing grace or repentance, which brings a larger amount of self-knowledge, etc.
(3) Afterwards we experience the proper Christian salvation, whereby through grace we are saved by faith, consisting of two branches. (a) Justification, by which we are saved from the guilt of sin and restored to Gods favour, which is instantaneous.
(5) Sanctification, by which we are saved from the power and root of sin and restored to the Divine image, and which begins the moment we are justified, and gradually in creases till the heart is cleansed from all sin, and filled with pure love to God and man.
2. How are we to work out this salvation? This is explained by that other passage in which Paul exhorts servants to obey their masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, a proverbial expression! which cannot be under stood literally. For what master could bear, much less require, his servant to stand quaking before him? And the words following utterly exclude this meaning (Eph_6:5, etc.). They imply--
(1) That everything be done with the utmost earnestness of spirit, and with all care and diligence, perhaps in reference to the former word fear.
(2) With the utmost speed, punctuality, exactness, referring to trembling. Transfer this to the working out of our salvation. With the same temper and manner that Christians serve their earthly masters, so let Christians serve their heavenly master.
3. What are the steps in this working?
(1) Cease to do evil--fly from all sin, abstain from every appearance of evil.
(2) Learn to do well--use family and private prayer, search the Scriptures, do good unto all men; and herein be ye steadfast, unmoveable, etc., and so go on to perfection.
III. What connection is there between the former and latter part of this sentence? Is there not a fiat opposition? If God worketh in us, is not our working impracticable and unnecessary? No.
1. God worketh in you, there fore you can work: otherwise it would be impossible. We know that the word is absolutely true, Without Me ye can do nothing; but it is equally true that I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.
2. God worketh in you, therefore you must work. You must be workers together in Him, or He will cease working. Unto him that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not--that doth not improve the grace already given--shall be taken away what he assuredly hath. He will not save us unless we save ourselves from this untoward generation, unless we labour to make our calling and election sure. (J. Wesley, M. A.)
The working out of salvation
I. The end to be attained. Salvation.
1. Pardon.
2. Sanctification.
3. Eternal life: the whole benefits of redemption.
II. This end is only to be attuned by working. This teaches--
1. Negatively
(1) That it is not a matter of course that men are saved, because Christ has purchased redemption for them.
(2) That salvation is not a benefit which others can confer upon us. Each one must work out his own. No priest can save us.
(3) This is not an easy work. Κατεργάζεσθε is a strong word, and this working is to be with fear and trembling, i.e., with solicitude, lest after all we should fail. Our utmost exertion therefore is required. Strive to enter, etc. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence. Israel, to gain possession of Canaan, had to fight long and hard. No cross, no crown.
2. Positively.
(1) Our working must be directed to a right end, not to make atonement or merit salvation by our good works. These are the two errors of all false religions, and men who labour in this direction make no progress. The proper course is to obtain an interest in Christ, and to bring our hearts and lives into conformity with the will of God. If a man thinks it enough to believe in Christ and then live as he pleases, he turns the grace of God into licentiousness. We have to subdue the world, the flesh, and the devil.
(2) We must work in accordance with the gospel. Therefore our work must recognize--
(a) The work of Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King.
(b) The work of the Holy Ghost.
(c) The efficacy of the means of grace, none of which are to be neglected.
(3) It must be assiduous and laborious.
III. The encouragements.
1. That God can, does, and will aid us.
2. That this aid is not merely outward, giving us the means and opportunity, but inward and efficacious, giving us strength and will.
3. There is, therefore, a divine consensus, a cooperation promised, analogous to the working of God in nature, and in those cases in which He gave strength to the palsied or the lame.
4. This Divine cooperation is congruous to the nature of the soul.
5. As it is absolutely necessary it should be sought and relied on. (C. Hedge, D. D.)
The working out of salvation
I. Mans part in salvation--i.e., the Christian mans, for the unregenerate have no spiritual germ to work out. We must work energetically--energize, for it is God who energizes in you. We must act as though everything depended on our own personal efforts. This includes--
1. Untiring diligence, improving every moment; making the best use of every opportunity.
2. Thoroughness, wholeness. Half work will not do (1Th_5:23). Mind, heart, body.
3. Fortitude. We must work undaunted by difficulty (Act_20:23-24).
4. With fear and trembling (Eph_6:5). The fear that is begotten by the anxiety to please.
II. Gods part.
1. God worketh, which supplies--
(1) The motive. The good we do is not our own but Gods. The light is not in the window; that is simply the medium through which light passes. The coal burns and throws off light and heat because the sun worked its light and warmth into it thousands of years ago.
(2) The power. He who created the heavens, established the rocks, painted the landscape with beauty, works in us; let us, therefore, though Paul and the whole brotherhood of ministers be absent, fail not.
(3) The reason. God works in, therefore we should work out.
2. How does God work?
(1) In the tree by air, light, heat, rain, and dew, and the tree works out in wood, leaves, and fragrant blossoms.
(2) In man by means of His truth, Spirit, and grace, and we work them out in love, joy, etc. (Gal_5:22-23).
3. God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. He does this that He may accomplish His gracious purpose in the salvation of mankind--for God willeth all men to be saved. (D. R. Jenkins.)
Salvation worked out
I. What is supposed in the command.
1. That we, while in our natural state, are lost creatures, liable to perish forever. Our being bid to work out our salvation, supposing this to be our antecedent condition, may well keep us humble as long as we live.
2. That there is a way open by which we may be delivered from that condition, for we had never been enjoined thus had we been doomed to perish (verses 6-8; Joh_3:16).
3. That God is very desirous of their salvation to whom this command is sent (2Pe_3:9; Eze_33:11).
II. What is included in the salvation we are to work out. Considering ourselves--
1. As fallen creatures, our first work is to get our state changed, and not to rest satisfied till we are restored to the favour and image of God. Here our salvation in the application of it begins. And with what earnestness should it be laboured after by every one who loves his safety.
2. In a state of grace, but as yet imperfect in attainments. The work of our salvation includes the mortifying of the remains of our corruption in us, the resisting of temptations, the making additions to grace received, and our pressing on to glory. And how much has a Christian to do, as to all these? (2Pe_1:10; Php_3:12-14).
3. As mortal and dying out of the world, the work of salvation includes our preparing for a removal from it, and laying up treasure in another.
III. What is implied in being bid to work this out, and the manner in which it is to be done. That it is a work--
1. In which the soul is to be engaged. Bodily service profiteth nothing alone.
2. In which we are to engage with the greatest intentness.
3. In which the utmost watchfulness is necessary, considering the deceitfulness of the heart, the temptations of Satan, the instances of many who have miscarried.
4. In which the appointed means are to be employed.
5. In which we are to persevere, as he only who endures to the end will be saved.
IV. God works in us.
1. It is God who works in us to will and to do.
(1) Man is naturally averse to the business of his salvation. How plain is this command and how strongly urged, but how few can be prevailed upon to set about it!
(2) When this aversion is overcome it is God that does it.
(a) He touches and turns the will, and by His renewing grace brings His people to love and choose what they previously disliked, and thus He of unwilling makes them willing (Eze_36:26).
(b) He excites that grace which He implants, and thus both the disposition and the act is owing to influence from heaven (Son_1:4). As to His method, usually God--
(i) Opens their souls to their lost and miserable state (Joh_16:8).
(ii) He holds their thoughts close to what is thus discovered as matter of the highest moment, not to be made light of as heretofore.
(iii) By such discovery and view our impression is made upon the conscience, so that the sinner can no longer rest in his present state.
(iv) The awakened sinner is led to importunately inquire what he must do to be saved (Act_2:30; Act_16:36).
5. The inquirer is reasonably instructed in the gospel method of salvation (Joh_3:16).
6. Salvation being represented as attainable the sinner under Divine influence is led to desire, hope, choose, believe.
2. God works of His good pleasure.
(1) Tis of His sovereign grace that He works in any; without any constraint or need on His part; without, nay contrary to any merit in ours.
(2) In whomsoever God works they are to own it a gracious vouchsafement, one to be highly prized and improved.
V. The force of the reason, from such a representation of the divine influence, to quicken and engage us to set about our part with the utmost diligence.
1. What reason have we from Gods working in us to excite ourselves to work out our salvation. It makes it--
(1) Reasonable. His hand is stretched out to pluck you as brands from the burning, let it not be overlooked; His presence is vouchsafed to help the soul to heaven, let it not be slighted.
(2) Possible. However difficult the work, the Divine worker is working within.
(3) Hopeful. What room is there for despondency when God undertakes the design, begins the work, and works on if you do not break off?
(4) Delightful. When God draws the believer runs.
2. We are to work because of the manner of Gods working, viz., His good pleasure.
(1) It is certain that without Gods working we can do nothing.
(2) Perhaps we long neglected the work, and therefore how justly might the Divine favour have been withdrawn.
(3) How much yet remains to be done, and the time allotted is uncertain and short.
Application:
1. Behold the folly of sin.
2. See the mercy of God.
3. How unreasonable despair.
4. How inexcusable the finally lost. (D. Wilcox.)
Salvation worked out
I. What abe we to understand here by salvation?
1. Freedom from our misery.
(1) Guilt of sin (Gal_3:22; Mat_1:20).
(2) Strength of corruption (Rom_7:24; Act_3:26).
(3) Power of Satan (1Pe_5:8).
(4) Wrath of God (Psa_78:31).
(5) Eternal punishment (Mat_25:46; 2Th_1:9).
2. Advancement to happiness:
(1) In this life, consisting in Gods love to us (Psa_30:5) and our love to Him.
(2) In the life to come--consisting in the perfection of our souls (Heb_12:23) and in the enjoyment of God (Joh_17:5; Joh_17:24).
II. What by working out?
1. Our making use of all the means appointed by God for this end (Mat_6:33).
2. Continuing the use of them until we have attained the end (Act_13:43; Rom_12:12).
III. What by fear and trembling?
1. Not with pride (1Jn_1:8).
2. Nor presumption (Psa_19:13).
3. Nor carnal security (1Pe_5:8).
4. But with a holy fear.
(1) Lest we should go the wrong way, or make use of the wrong means (Rom_10:2).
(2) Lest we should fail in the use of the right means (Heb_4:1). (Bishop Beveridge.)
Salvation worked out
I. The one great thing which a man hath to do is to work out his own salvation. To clear up the nature of this work, consider--
1. It is not to be done by the way, but with all our might (Ecc_9:10; 2Pe_1:10).
2. All our other works are to be referred to this (1Co_10:31).
3. We cannot do it by our own strength (Jer_10:23; 2Co_3:5). Why, then, doth God command us to do it?
(1) Gods commands show not our ability but duty.
(2) God, by His commands, puts us upon doing what we can, depending on Him for the rest.
(3) God by His commands enables us to do it (Gen_1:3; Joh_5:6; Joh_11:43; Act_3:6).
(4) None can enable us to do it but; God (verse 13; 2Co_3:5).
(5) We have no ground to expect strength from God to do it, but through Christ (Joh_15:5).
(6) We must not do in our own way but Gods (Isa_8:20).
(7) This is the one thing needful (Luk_10:42).
(8) It is the most honourable work we can be employed in (Pro_12:26).
(9) It is not to be begun only but finished (Joh_17:4).
II. How doth it appear that this is the work we ought to do?
1. This is the end of our continuance on the earth.
2. God calls on us to do it (Eze_33:11), and commands (Act_17:30).
3. He hath shown us how to do it (Mic_6:8).
4. He hath offered us the means (Jer_7:25).
5. He hath promised to enable us in the use of those means to do it (Mat_18:20).
6. All His providences tend to it (Job_36:8-10).
7. And so do His ordinances.
III. How must we do this work?
1. Begin it
(1) with knowledge (1Ch_28:9; Isa_1:7).
2. Repentance; consisting in
(1) a sense of sin (Joh_16:8).
(a) Original (Psa_51:5);
(b) actual (Psa_51:3-4); in our thoughts (Gen_6:5); affections (2Ti_3:3-4); words (Mat_12:36); actions.
(c) Habitual (Jer_13:23).
(2) A sorrow for sin.
(a) Cordial (Joe_2:13).
(b) Universal (Eze_9:4).
(c) Exceeding all other sorrow (Zec_12:10-11).
(3) A hating of sin (Psa_139:21-22.
(4) A firm resolution against sin (Psa_17:3; Psa_119:106).
(5) A constant endeavour to perform those resolutions with faith (Act_16:31).
(a) Assenting to the Scripture in general (Act_24:14; 2Ti_3:16), viz., that the assertions are all truths (Heb_6:18); that the history is certain; the commands Divine (Rom_7:12-14); the promises performed; the threatenings executed.
(b) Assenting to the gospel in particular, viz., that Christ is the Son of God; truly man; the promised Messiah; the only Saviour; our meritorious substitute; our prevailing intercessor.
(c) Applying these truths to ourselves (Jam_2:19); that He is our Lord and God (Joh_20:28); our Saviour and Redeemer; our Advocate (Heb_7:25; 1Jn_2:1).
2. We must carry on this work--
(1) By increasing in knowledge (2Pe_3:18).
(2) By renewing our repentance (Psa_25:7; 1Co_15:9).
(3) Renewing acts of faith.
(4) Watchfulness over our hearts (Pro_4:23).
(5) Frequent exercise of our graces.
3. We must finish this work (Joh_17:4).
(1) By mortifying all our sins (2Ti_4:7; Rev_3:12; Rev_3:21).
(2) Continuing in the performance of all duties (1Co_15:58; Rev_3:11).
(3) Persevering in all places (2Ti_4:7).
IV. Set upon this work. Consider--
1. This is the work you came about.
2. You have comfort of no other works (Rom_6:21).
3. All other works are sin till this be set about (Pro_15:8; Pro_21:4; Pro_12:27; Isa_66:3).
4. Till this be done, ye are incapable of any mercy (Mat_2:2).
5. Subject to all misery--
(1) The curse of the law (Gal_3:10; Deu_28:15-16).
(2) The wrath of God (Psa_6:11).
6. Even in this life this is the best work--
(1) Most pleasant (Pro_3:17).
(a) Here we exercise our best parts (Mat_9:29).
(b) Set them on their proper objects.
(c) Employ them to their proper end.
(2) Most honourable (Pro_12:26).
(a) As the persons we converse with.
(b) As to the employment itself.
(3) Most profitable. Hereby we attain
(a) the most real riches (Pro_23:5; Luk_8:18).
(b) Most satisfying (Isa_55:1-2).
(c) Most lasting (1Ti_6:17).
7. All the power we have of doing anything was given us to do this.
8. Unless this work is done we are undone forever (Luk_13:3).
9. If this be done, we shall be happy.
(1) In our freedom from evil (Rev_14:13).
(2) In our enjoyment of all good.
V. Objections.
1. I have no time.
(1) What hast thou any time for but for this?
(2) Thou hast time for other things (Ecc_3:1-2).
2. We know not how to do this work. I have told you.
3. It is hard work.
(1) It is feasible.
(2) It is not hard in itself, but our sins make it so (Mat_11:30).
(3) Do what you can, and God will enable you to do the rest.
(4) Be but willing, and the work is easy (1Jn_5:3).
(5) Whatsoever pains you take will not be in vain (1Co_15:58).
(6) Heaven will make amends for all.
4. I have done it already.
(1) You may be mistaken (Mat_7:23; Mat_25:11).
(2) Howsoever, you cannot do it too well.
(3) None have done so much but there is more to do.
(a) Hast thou no sin to be repented of (Ecc_7:20);
(b) no lust to subdue (Rom_7:24);
(c) no grace to get quickened (Php_3:11-12).
(4) No ones work is finished till they die; were it otherwise, God would give you your reward (Joh_17:4).
5. Time enough hereafter. No, the best time is now (Joh_9:4). (Bishop Beveridge.)
Working out what is worked in
I. The matter to be worked out.
1. Your own salvation. Charity must begin at home. You ought to spread the truth, but you must first understand it. Ploughing another mans field, dont neglect your own; indicating to another the mote in his eye, do not permit a beam to blind your own.
2. What is to be worked out must first be worked in. An unconverted man can work nothing out, for there is nothing in. You have faith; work it out then; act like a believer; trust God in daily life. Be you Christlike, inasmuch as the Spirit of Christ dwells in you.
3. Salvation is to be worked out. Holiness is salvation. We are not to work out our salvation from the guilt of sin; Christ has done that, but from the power of sin. God has in effect worked that in; He has broken the yoke of sin; it lives and struggles, but it is dethroned, and our life is to keep it down. A man may be saved from the guilt of sin, and yet not saved from the power of pride or bad temper. Your salvation is not complete till you are saved from these. You must fight them till you conquer.
II. The model to be worked to.
1. Every artist requires some idea in his mind to which he is to work. The apostles model is exhibited in the context.
(1) Unanimity (verse 2);
(2) humiliation (verse 3);
(3) mutual love;
(4) in a word, the mind of Christ (verse 5).
III. The spirit in which this is to be worked out.
1. An energetic spirit. From the Greek word work we get our word energy. The bringing out of the new nature requires this, inasmuch as it is a mark of superlative difficulty. God works in, therefore we must work out. The assistance of Divine grace is not given to put aside our own efforts, but to assist them.
2. With fear to offend so good a God of which we read, Blessed is the man who feareth always.
3. With trembling. Before the Lord we do not tremble with affright, but with holy awe, lest we should sin and grieve the Spirit.
IV. The sweet encouragement the text affords. Here is--
1. Help
(1) in an exercise beyond your power.
(2) All sufficient for every emergency.
(3) Which enables you to receive Divine help.
(4) Which shall be more than equal to the power of Satan and all your corruptions.
2. God works in us to will--gives us the desire for holiness, the resolution to put down sin, the stern resolve not to fall into sin again, and He who gave the desire will surely finish it.
3. God does not leave you then; He gives you the power to do, to achieve the victory; therefore fear not.
4. That which He works in you is pleasing in His sight. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Man working and God working
I. We must work out our own salvation.
1. We must be personally active. Salvation cannot be wrought otherwise.
2. This activity must amount to vigorous, sustained working. No excellence anywhere without it.
3. This activity is to be centred on our own salvation.
II. God worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
1. As the first clause seems to throw the work wholly on man, this seems to throw it entirely on God
2. He regulates inclination and action--the motive and the deed.
3. This He does benevolently.
III. The consistency of these propositions. Salvation is of God as respects supreme agency, while our part in it is merely instrumental and subordinate. The atonement is the whole ground of our acceptance. God the Holy Spirit works in us, enabling us to believe the gospel, and purifying our heart by faith. He, however, does not work separately from us, nor control and compel. We, too, are occupied. He works by us as well as in us.
IV. The obligation resulting from a collective view of the case to prosecute the undertaking with fear and trembling. The propriety of doing so appears--
1. From the importance of the work. In small matters men are at ease. There is not enough to engage fully the mind. But no work in its character and issues can compare with this.
2. From the character of the Agent working in us. In conclusion: this subject is
(1) encouraging to the timid,
(2) stimulating to the torpid. (D. King, LL. D.)
Divine influence and mans duty
I. The doctrine of divine influence in the application of redemption. The exercise of this influence is--
1. Sovereign and free. Gods self-existence and independence render it impossible that He should be subject to foreign control, or to any considerations but those that are suggested by His own mind. But His proceedings are not arbitrary or capricious. His reasons are always the wisest, best, and most benevolent.
2. Secret, imperceptible, and only to be discovered by its effect. With what rapidity does He wheel the earth round its axis, and carry it in its annual revolution; and these movements could never have been discovered but by careful observation. When at the approach of spring the fields are arrayed in their beautiful vesture, you cannot see God raising the sap through root and fibre, along stem and branch, and unfolding each bud and blossom. So in salvation. No shout of angelic hosts announces that God has commenced operations; and though we know there is joy in their presence, we can only see the ground of their joy in individual repentance. While the world is stunning us with its noise, and the Christian labourer may be complaining, Who hath believed our report? God may be quietly inspiring multitudes to ask, What must I do? etc.
3. Mighty. Gods system of operations is no languid series of efforts. The same expression is used with reference to the Divine power which raised Christ from the dead, and which binds all things in the universe to work according to the purpose of His own will. This same power is exerted in our recovery.
(1) The obstacles to be surmounted demonstrate this: the mountain of pride and self-righteousness to be laid low; the prejudices to be swept away; the enmity and resistance to be overcome.
(2) So do the changes to be effected; the careless are to be made careful; slaves of sin are to be transformed into children of God. Who, then, can hesitate to apply for this succour, and who can despond who has it?
4. In conformity with the principles of our nature. God always adapts His procedure to the nature of the objects on which He works. You may produce considerable alteration by culture, soil, and climate, but you can never change the distinctive properties of one animal or plant for those of another. So in salvation our faculties remain as they were; but we have new aims, inclinations, purposes, and pursuits.
(1) God does not alter our absolute dependence upon Him as the creatures of His hand. He may increase our obligations; but from the first step in the narrow way to the last it is, Not I, but the grace of God.
(2) God does not interfere with the freedom He has bestowed, and the consequent responsibility under which we are placed. We find that men exercise great influence over our minds not only by mighty considerations and powerful arguments, but by enlisting our sympathies, and enkindling within us their own ardour. Our minds thereby are strengthened, mot enfeebled by the impulse thus given to us. And so God operates with like results.
(3) God does not supersede the use of the powers and faculties He has conferred. He does not take our places or work in our stead. There is no promise that He will pray, repent, etc., for us. He worketh in us, affords His gracious protection and omnipotent aid, not to lull our powers into lethargy, but to stir them up to persevering efforts.
5. The tendency and aim of the Divine influence.
(1) To will refers to those determinations to which the mind cordially comes after a full consideration of its state in the sight of God and of the overtures of mercy made to it. It is implied that these are full and unwavering; for to will is more than to wish. Many good wishes never proceed further; the will contradicts them all.
(2) To do which enables us to reduce determinations to practice. They may be strong and firm, and yet delayed and laid aside and forgotten. It is not enough to be convinced of sin; we must make application for pardon, and trust in Christs merits. We must not satisfy our minds that Christs precepts are good; we must run in the path of His commandments.
II. The duty imposed by this doctrine. Work out your, etc. We have here a summons.
1. To begin in the work. Men say, Why trouble ourselves; until God stretch forth His hand and break the chain of our sins, it would be useless for us to make the attempt. This is to pervert the grace of God to our sure destruction, and to turn into an argument for indolent indifference the most powerful incentive to exertion. The Bible brings Christs message to men. It beseeches universal acceptance. With the external message the dispensations of providence have concurred to warn off the folly and peril of delay, and to urge instant acceptance.
2. To carry on the work. It is not enough to begin the course; we must persevere. And there is much to be worked out: love of sin, evil habits have to be extirpated, the love of God to be intensified, closer conformity to our great Pattern to be attained. The consideration that God worketh in you leaves you without excuse for negligence and without ground for despondency.
3. The work is to be carried out with fear and trembling; with the reverence and godly fear which love inspires--With that man will I dwell who is of a humble and contrite spirit, etc. (R. Redpath, M. A.)
Divine grace and human endeavours
I. Human agency in things which concern salvation.
II. Divine agency.
1. Its reality.
(1) Christian character begins by Divine agency; for it begins in regeneration, which is unquestionably the work of God.
(2) It is maintained by the same, for God works in His people to will and to do.
2. Its necessity.
(1) From the corruption of human nature. Were man naturally inclined to what is good, a counteracting influence would be superfluous.
(2) From the temptations to evil, which necessitate Divine protection.
3. Its source--the Divine will. God works because of His good pleasure. He chooses to work.
(1) Not arbitrarily in the sense of capriciously. We are assured from a consideration of the wisdom, rectitude, love, and unchangeableness of God that for all His doings there are adequate reasons.
(2) Not arbitrary in the sense of having no law. His own perfection supplies laws, which, like their sources, are perfect, and in conformity with them He uniformly acts.
4. Its effect. God works in His people.
(1) To will, under which term we understand desires, intentions, resolutions, and affections. This Divine energy does not impair our will. We are conscious of acting at all times as we will, and never more so than when we seek the things of God. I have chosen the way of truth, incline my heart, etc.
(2) To do. The effect should never be disjoined from the cause, nor the cause from the effect. It is not God works in us, therefore we need not work; but therefore we work.
III. The connection between the two. Both are matter of fact, and must be believed as facts whatever may be our opinion of their relation.
(1) A theory which should harmonize them would supply no additional reason for believing the facts.
(2) The absence of such theory affords no warrant for disbelieving them.
2. A knowledge of the point is unattainable, since it is none other than the manner in which the Infinite mind acts on created minds. We have three sources of knowledge.
(1) Consciousness; the knowledge of what passes in our own minds affords no assistance.
(2) Observation; the cognizance of what comes before the senses avails us nothing.
(3) No testimony but what is Divine could make us acquainted with the subject, and none has been given.
3. But while we know nothing of the internal working of the Infinite mind, we know something of the methods. Gods gracious influence on the soul very much consists in His causing clear and realizing apprehensions of things as they are to abide in the mind. For this purpose He removes hindrances which prevent Divine truth from being known and considered, and consequently from yielding its appropriate fruit.
(1) Inattention. The person whose heart the Lord opens attends to the things that are spoken.
(2) Pride. God shows man things as they are, himself abominable, God excellent.
(3) Love of the world. Things which are seen, being temporal, appear, as they actually are, next to nothing in comparison with the things which are not seen and eternal. Thus trust in God, love to God, hope of heaven, etc., are called into habitual exercise, the will directed to God and goodness, and the conduct proportionably changed for the better. Conclusion: The subject affords materials for--
1. Examination. We may learn from it whether our creed and our practice in relation to the topics discussed are scriptural or erroneous.
(1) Are you rendered careless respecting your affections and conduct by the consideration that God worketh in you?
(2) Are you disposed on the other hand to think lightly of the Divine influence?
2. Encouragement to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, but are conscious of their moral weakness. The very desire is a proof that God has done much for you, and a pledge that He will do more. (G. Burder, M. A.)
The law of spiritual interaction
I. The nature of salvation. It is something to be worked out, a moral process in man himself. On the one hand it is the overcoming and casting out of evil, and on the other the assimilation and development of good. It is restoration from disease to health. The man who is undergoing salvation is both cured and nourished. This is the result of the joint work of God and man--man being able to do his part because God works, and Gods working requiring mans work.
II. Pauls putting of the matter is in perfect agreement with the scientific law that growth and development are dependent on the due interaction between the thing that has to grow and a fitting environment. To this biological law all living things are subject. Take, e.g., a corn of wheat: until it is acted on by a fitting environment it can neither grow nor produce fruit. The grains of wheat found in Egyptian mummies might have been thought dead. Yet no sooner were they sown in appropriate soil than they began to grow, simply because they were duly acted on by a fitting environment. Some of them, while the same in appearance with the rest, were dead; they rotted and disappeared because they were incapable of reacting in response to their environment. The first movement proceeds from the surroundings; then follows the response of the germ. Or take our body. Unless we are blessed with sunshine, breathe pure air, eat nourishing food, etc., we can neither develope, nor retain our health. The same principle holds good in disease. A cure depends on proper action from without by medicine or diet. If there is nothing in them to affect our condition, we go from bad to worse, and if our condition is so bad that the medicine works no responsive action, our case is equally hopeless.
III. What is the real significance of this interaction? Is the organism pushed like a ball set in motion? No. Our environment acts on us by becoming food to us, and light, air, heat, as well as bread and water, are food. And food feeds us by becoming one with us, and energizing in us. They work in you to will and to do. But the power in the food cannot become ours without our effort. We must at least be able to digest. If we cannot do that the most nutritious food will not save us from death. Here again we may say, Work physically, for it is food that worketh, etc. The same with medicine. Our phrase is, Has it begun to work? But the entire man is subject to this great law, man not only as a physical but as a spiritual being.
IV. God is the ultimate environment of our spiritual nature, as light and air and food to our body. Therefore, unless He act upon us it is impossible that we should act, nor can His action have any result unless we respond and cooperate. And He does not merely influence us from without, give us commands or present motives; He enters and His energy becomes ours, in virtue whereof we cart will or do. But we must lay hold of Him and assimilate His energy. God can no more become our spiritual light, life, and strength without receptive action than undigested bread can be the staff of life.
V. That which is true of the spiritual life in general is emphatically true of it as enfeebled and darkened by sin. Unless God come to our help the weakness and darkness cannot be overcome; but equally hopeless is our case unless we receive His help. If we are so far gone in moral corruption that no function of our spiritual being can come into action, anything that God does will no mere avail us than light and water a plant that has withered. God must interfere, and we must open our nature to His influences. He moves first, but there must be a corresponding movement on our side. What is this but what Paul says in the text.
VI. We are so constituted by God that we cannot be spiritually healthy without Him. This always was, is, and will be the case. Mans moral weakness and corruption are rooted in the refusal to let God work in him, in the resolve to be self-sufficient. Man without God is like an organism without nourishment. What a starving man is such is the spiritual man without God. Now suppose you went to relieve such a starving man, and he were to say, I cannot accept your food till I am stronger, you would exclaim, How can you expect to be strong without food? Can you feed on yourself? No less absurd is our behaviour in regard to salvation. God is waiting to do His part. You, also, in secret, want to do yours, but you cannot without Him. VII. Those who have begun to work out their salvation find that their only salvation is in God. It is not merely that He must help you now and then. Continuous trust and fellowship are the only safety. (Principal Simon.)
The Christian work--First part
I. The duty--Work. The estate of a Christian is a working not idle estate. Christianity is not verbal profession nor speculative (Joh_13:17).
1. Works of preparation are those that prepare men to believe, as hearing, reading, meditating.
2. From these a Christian ought to proceed to--
(1) Works of piety, faith, hope, prayer, and--
(2) works of charity.
3. The use of all this is to give us a right conceit of religion. Many are good talkers, and yet never come one step towards salvation.
II. The right manner of performing the duty.
1. Obediently. As ye have obeyed. Whatever we do it must be in obedience to God. Then
(1) We must know what Gods will is (Rom_12:2; Eph_5:10).
(2) This must be to all Gods laws. Partial obedience is no obedience (Psa_119:10).
2. Sincerely. Whether I am present or not. God sees you. The Pharisees obeyed to be seen of men (Mat_6:2; Mat_6:6). Joash was a good king as long as Jehoida lived; but a good Christian is ever good, in all places, occasions, companies.
3. Laboriously. Work out. No perfunctory thing can please God.
4. Constantly--not like morning dew, or Lots wife who turned back (Luk_1:75; Joh_17:4; 2Ti_4:7-8). To this end--
(1) We must come with a resolution not to be scared from the performance of duties, and therefore to be furnished with patience (Heb_10:36; Gal_6:9).
(2) We must consider the promises (Rev_3:21; Mat_10:22).
5. It must tend to salvation. We must go on in a constant course of goodness that we may come to the end of our faith. For salvation is begun here, and the state of grace here is called salvation, even as well as the state hereafter. All conclusions are to be reduced to their principles, and so all is to be reduced to salvation as the mare principle. Do we sanctify all things by prayer (Col_3:24).
III. The motives to this duty.
1. The example of Christ. Wherefore. Christ did all in obedience to God, etc.
2. The apostles love. Christians should take good courses, that they may comfort those that are good.
3. The possibility of it. You have gone so far; keep on.
4. The end. Salvation. Considering we are not yet perfect, we are encouraged to go on to perfection (Tit_2:11; Heb_11:26).
IV. The spirit in which it is to be done.
1. Fear is an affection planted by God in our natures, whereby we, foreseeing dangers which may hinder our being or well being, are afraid of them. This is a spiritual fear.
(1) A fear of reverence, which is a fear mixed with love, wherein we stand in awe of Gods greatness but love Him for His goodness.
(2) A fear of watchfulness.
(3) Of jealousy, lest we should offend God.
2. God loves not the careless Christian.
3. All things must be done in this fear, or we shall come short of our salvation.
Second part
I. The Christian hath a will and a power to do good.
II. This power we have not from ourselves but from God. Some things are done for us which were neither wrought by us nor in us, e.g., Christs death. Some things are wrought in us not by us, as our first work of conversion. Other things are wrought in us, and by us, such as all good works after conversion. The will is wrought in us by God as we be His temples, and the deed is wrought by us as instruments of Gods inward working.
III. This work of God in us is a powerful work. He gives to us to will that which He wills.
IV. This work is inward, not without. He uses exhortations, etc., but He puts power to these to prevail.
V. The perfection of this work (Heb_12:2; Php_1:6). (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
Practical religion
I. The practical element in religion.
II. The emotional element--With fear and trembling.
1. This is not slavish, but reverential fear.
2. We should have fear and trembling.
(1) Because of our accountability. Soon we may hear it said, Give an account of thy stewardship.
(2) Because of the danger of losing souls.
(3) Because of our fallibility, we may teach error, and thus be blind guides.
III. The supernatural element--It is God that worketh, etc. (A. J. Furman.)
The two-fold force in salvation
This sentence falls from Paul as easy and natural as his breath. It is a casual remark, true, but not combating any specific error; a simple exhortation to earnestness, with the assurance of Divine cooperation. But what Paul said in this casual way has been caught up by opposing schools, turned to a use he never dreamed of, crowded with a meaning he did not intend, made the rallying cry of theological champions, and a very body of divinity. Arminian and Calvinist have seized it, cut it in two, emphasized each his own word in it according to his philosophy, and thus equipped fought each other for two hundred years over a doctrine of faith and works. The text teaches--
I. That salvation is an achievement. What is here meant by salvation.
1. Negatively.
(1) Not anything done by Christ in the way of expiation.
(2) Not getting to heaven. A man does not enter heaven to find salvation, but because he has it.
(3) Not an immediate work wrought in some hour of deep feeling. What is then done is an important but small part of salvation.
2. Positively. It is a moral process in which time and effort are chief factors.
(1) If a man has any sinful habits, he must overcome them; or lacks and weaknesses, he must supply the deficiency.
(2) And then there is the great reality of character--a needed group of qualities that only comes about by elaboration.
II. This achievement is the result of sharp and definite strife.
1. Every man is bound by every consideration to undertake this work. He is here to do this very thing.
2. When he comes upon the stage he finds evil, and his work is to east it out and bring in good. No evil goes out of itself. No nation and no man ever grew into virtue or dropped evil as a tree drops dead leaves.
3. Look at the world and its history--tell me if a single gain has been made that did not turn on the overthrow of some positive evil with pain and effort.
4. Let every man ask himself, Am I saving myself? I am ignorant, etc. I find in myself hereditary evil. I have contracted evil habits. I am passing on from day to day without communion with God, doing nothing for humanity. Am I striving to escape from that broad road to destruction?
III. The two-fold process. Work it out, for God works it in.
1. No other influence can touch a man like Gods. When I give you my hand it is in part my strength that upholds you. When you cheer me I am leaning on your inspiration. But when God works in a man to will and to work, the union of wills is so close, that separate threads of influence cannot be detected. It often hurts a man to be helped by others; it never hurts him to be helped by God.
2. The importance of this two-fold process.
(1) Suppose God were left out and man saved himself, overcame his weakness and faults, and so trained his faculties as to become a wise and good man. What sort of a man would you have? assuredly a conceited one who will at last become a selfish one. A man cannot isolate himself in sharp individuality from God and live.
(2) Suppose that God saved a man without any effort of his own: that He shut up the path of evil, and by some Divine alchemy whitened the passive soul, the result would be worse than in the previous case.
3. Now suppose again the reunion of God and man in the work of salvation. When a man recognizes that God is at the bottom of all his work, he is led straight up to the exercise of every element of His character. Then he becomes reverent, and reverence is one half of character. Along with this comes humility--the soil of all the virtues. And as the man comes more and more to feel that God is in him he is swept into the current of Gods own thought and feelings, and so he loves as God loves; and all the patience, tenderness, truth, and majesty of God work in him, subduing him into their quality. (T. T. Manger.)
God works
I. Secretly--in you.
II. Mediately--by His Word.
III. Mightily--by His Spirit.
IV. Graciously--Of His good pleasure.
V. Effectually--to will and to do. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Salvation a work
The word γαζεσθαι, to apply oneself to, properly signifies to do, to work, to labour, and is taken in two ways in the Scripture; sometimes to express to polish, form, and fashion a rough and raw thing, as when a carpenter cuts and polishes wood, and a mason stones, which they desire to employ in their work; and in this sense we may say that God makes us when He creates us in His Son, stripping us of this vile and miserable form of sinners and slaves of Satan, in which we are born, and giving us another, holy and glorious, by which we become His children, precious and lively stones, and fit to enter into the building of His temple, from vile and dead stones, which we were by nature. The other, more common, signification of this word is, to accomplish, perfect, and finish a thing already commenced, to execute it and guide it to its end; as when the apostle says, in Rom_7:18, that to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not; and when he says besides, in Rom_4:1-25, it worketh wrath, because it completes in us the feeling of the wrath of God against sin, which without is weak and languid, the light of nature alone without the law only exciting and beginning it in us. (J. Daille)
Salvation worked in and out
A clock presents a beautiful emblem of Christianity. When in good order it is always going, and one wheel propels another and even so must true Christianity be in continual exercise, and every act of godliness make way for the next. As a clock, however, needs to be constantly inspected, and frequently set and cleaned, so God, in His faithfulness and long suffering, has continual work to do, amending, purifying, and regulating our Christianity. (T. H. Leary, D. C. L.)
The working out of salvation gradual
A mans salvation is to be wrought out as an artist works out a picture. It is a good thing for a man to make a charcoal sketch; but it will not do to stop at that. It is a good thing that refers to something better that is coming on. He may put in the dead colours, and so make an advance, but it is not an advance which fits the picture to be put up in a gallery for admiration. He may add particular features, and thus make a further advance; but suppose a man were painted perfectly up to his nose, and all the rest were left blank, what sort of a picture would he make? Suppose one of a mans eyes were accurately painted, and the other were all blurred, what would be the effect? Things are good according as they conform to an ideal in the line of progress or development. So whatever tends to educate a mans conscience, to unfold his reason, to enlarge his moral sensibilities, to fill him with the graces of the Spirit, is beneficial; a benefit in that direction may be called works--not condemned works, but works that are efficacious. (H. W. Beecher.)
The publicity of a worked-out salvation.
You are to work it out. It must be presented to the eye; it is not to be like the works of a watch that are elaborately finished and then concealed in a case. The words imply that there is something in the Christians heart has to be brought out, and that only work can develope it. A mechanic takes a bar of iron. He knows there is brightness in its nature, so he places it in his lathe, and by means of cutters, files, and other instruments the black or rusty bar is made so bright that it dazzles the eye with its shining surface. And there is that in the heart of every Christian which worked out would delight all that knew him. Let your light so shine, etc. (D. R. Jenkins.)
Mans work an evidence of his salvation
William Wickham being appointed by King Edward to build a stately church, wrote in the windows, This work made William Wickham. When charged by the king for assuming the honour of that work to himself as the author, whereas he was only the overseer, he answered that he meant not that he made the work, but that the work made him, having before been very poor, and then in great credit. Lord, when we read in thy Word that we must work out our own salvation, thy meaning is not that our salvation should be the effect of our work, but our work the evidence of our salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The difficulty of working out our salvation
Like the man in the old heathen fable, condemned to roll a ball up a steep hill, no sooner do we gain a step, than sin tries by its own weight to roll down again and drag us with it. Like our countrymen at the heights of the Alma, the repentant Christian has to force his way upwards to the skies in the face of enemies already entrenched in strong position in his heart, and like them he can only ensure success by the exercise of a vigorous will, assisted in the spiritual warfare by Him who is mighty to save. (G. Huntington, M. A.)
Work out your own salvation
Cast a sponge into water, and, the fluid filling its empty cells, it swells out before our eyes; increases more and more. There is no effort here, and could be none; for though once a living animal, the sponge is now dead and dry. But it is not as sponges fill with water, nor, to use a Scripture figure often employed, and sometimes misapplied, as Gideons fleece was filled with daws, that Gods people are replenished with His grace. More is needed than simply to bring ourselves in contact with ordinances; to read the Bible; to repair on Sabbath to the Church; to sit down in communion seasons at the Lords table. The babe, for example, is laid in a mothers arms, and in contact with her breast; but is laid there only to die, unless, with slumbering instincts awakened, it fastened and suck by its own efforts the nourishment provided for it, independent of itself; and there, drawing life from a mothers bosom, it lies in her loving arms, the symbol of him who hangs by faith in Christ, and, fed on the sincere milk of the word, is nourished up into the likeness and image of God. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
The motive for this work
Just as the same electricity that flashes like an avenging sword from the cloud, and that lightens from one side of heaven to the other, also trembles in the dew drop, and flies along the wire, carrying news from one continent to another: so the Divine Power that binds all holy beings in chains of loyalty and love to the throne of the eternal, and that breaks the bond of our captivity, and raises us to a state of spiritual enlargement and fellowship, also enables us to discharge the smallest duties and the common daily responsibilities of the Christian life. Christ is all, and in all, in every duty, in every service. (James Owen.)
Salvation to be worked out with fear and trembling
The face of the helmsman in coming down the rapids of the St. Lawrence in the great vessel is a sight to see. He takes in, as it were, all the conditions of the case, in one inevitable glance--the bank; the bend; the shallowing or deepening bed; the amount of way on the vessel; the hurry of the waters; the calm spread of the deep river lying like a peaceful haven yonder in the distance! There he stands--fearful, yet firm--distrustful, yet confident--until the danger is past. With a similar feeling--not slavishly afraid--but intent, earnest, bending all the powers in concentrated effort towards the ultimate object--so work out your salvation. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
We must fear and tremble because of the preciousness of salvation, and because of the cooperation of omnipotence
Did you ever have committed to your care something exceedingly rare and precious; something of singular beauty or untold value? Did you ever come into the possession of something long and ardently desired, which you had thought to be too good, too sweet, too lovable ever to be really yours, your very own? Was not there an awe, almost a terror in the sense of that possession? Did you not say to yourself, Who am I that I should have this? What if I should let it drop? What if I should lose it? Did not the very joy make you afraid and your happiness make you tremble? There is another cause of fear and trembling! You are working with Omnipotence, it is an awful thing working with God! What a responsibility! What a position for a man, a poor sinner, to be in! What if my shortcomings and sins should deprive me at last of that friendship, and turn His very kindness into a curse! The thought may well make me fear and tremble! And how tremendous is the issue at stake! To have been once saved; to have stood on that high and blessed position; to have tasted that peace, and then to lose it all! Oh! what bitter self-reproach forever! What a wrong done to my own dear kind Saviour! What an aggravation to my time of misery! (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
God working in us
Sunlight is universal; it shines everywhere; but when you bring it to bear upon your plants in greenhouses you specialize it. The black Hamburg grape you cannot raise out of doors, although there is sunlight there. You build glass houses; you so arrange them that the suns rays fall upon the vines; you secure the conditions required for their growth, and the consequence is Chat you have fruit. You specialize the sunlight by the skill of the gardener. There are certain latitudes in which given results cannot be obtained by sunlight without specializing it. The Divine influence is diffused upon the good and the bad alike, just as sunlight is; but when men understand it and accept it by the force of their own will, putting themselves in the line of Gods nature, it becomes special to them, and works in them both to will and to do of Gods good pleasure. The Divine influence is to the human will what the atmosphere is to the eye and to the ear, and what that which is taken into the mouth is to the tongue. If it were not for the atmosphere and its vibrations the eye would perish; it would have nothing to do; for although it is an organ for seeing, it cannot see in and of itself. The ear is an organ for hearing, but the ear cannot hear of itself. It must have outside pulsations beating upon it. The tongue cannot taste unless it has something of which to taste. When a seed is planted in good soil it is given over to the sun; and when the sun undertakes to care for a plant it always keeps its eye on the blossom and the fruit which it is to unfold. It is not enough that it develops stem, branches, and flowers. The tendency of the sun is to bring everything up to its ultimate consummation. So the tendency of the Divine Spirit is to draw men up steadily through the whole range of their faculties till they blossom. (H. W. Beecher.)
Divine energy an incentive to human
Suppose that you were involved in temporal difficulties, that a benevolent friend came forward to pay your debts, and place you in a better position than you had ever occupied, would you argue, Well, I need not care how wasteful I become, or how heavy the demands which he may meet; he has enough and to spare. As his heart overflows with benevolence, I will leave him to settle all matters without my aid, and when everything has been done, I may be prevailed on to take advantage of his goodness; but, in the meantime, I will be as reckless as I may? The question instantly occurs, How it is either possible or right, consistent with benevolence, to assist such a character? Suppose that your house were on fire, and a well-appointed train of firemen, with their engines, were at hand, to assist in quenching the flames, would you retreat from a scene where perhaps your most important worldly interests were at stake, and where lives dearer to you than your own were in danger, and betake yourself to dissipation or amusement, saying there were persons paid for the work, and whose office and duty it was to attend to it, and that you would devolve all the trouble on them? You could not be so unnatural; you would do everything to rouse the sleeping inmates, to secure your most important papers; and whatever energy, daring, and skill and diligence could accomplish, you would do. Or suppose, again, that you were placed in a garrison which was beleaguered by fierce and formidable foes, that the attacks upon the fortifications were pushed most vigorously on all sides, and it required all your skill and labour night and day to defend yourselves; but in the meantime a numerous and well-appointed army had been sent by your sovereign to your relief, well able to raise the siege and effect your liberation; when you heard the news, would you remit your ardour and watchfulness? When you heard the sound of the trumpets, and the roar of the artillery as they marched to the conflict, and when you knew that the moment of your rescue was at hand, is there a man who would fold his arms, and refuse to mount the ramparts, to sally out and make a diversion on his own side of the camp? who would not dare and do everything to make the defeat of the enemy as complete as possible? If the men refused, the very women would cry shame upon them, take up the arms which the dastards had thrown away, and help to achieve the victory. But, my friends, you have auxiliaries far mightier and stronger than the best disciplined and most enthusiastic troops that ever general brought into the field of battle. You have the army of the Lord of hosts, and at its head the Captain of your salvation; you have all the resources of Omnipotence collected and concentrated for your deliverance. If ever impulse or energy was communicated to the human mind, it must be by such considerations as these; and with all these mercies, boundless and glorious, around you and before, is it not high time to shake off your slumber, to commence your work, and to ask with eagerness, What shall we do to be saved? What shall we do that we may do the works of God? (R. Redpath, M. A.)
Gods grace and mans free agency
You might as well expect the steam which gives its mighty energy to the engine to perform all the delicate workmanship of some textile manufacture without the directing brain and controlling hand, as to hope for grace to work apart from the cooperation of the human will; and again, you might as soon expect these mechanical results without the motive power, as that man should save himself without Gods grace. The body is supplied with an organization admirably adapted to our wants, but it is the mind which directs every action, and it is the principle of life which renders action possible. Deprive it of intelligence, and what one action would be rightly performed? And yet we feel that there is a mutual concurrence of mind and body when we do perform anything. (G. Huntington, M. A.)
Grace is Gods work
Before any daisy or violet, before any blossom is seen in the field, the sun lies with its bosom to the ground, crying to the flower, and saying, Why tarriest thou so long? and day after day the sun comes, and pours its maternal warmth upon the earth, and coaxes the plant to grow and bloom. And when days and weeks have passed the root obeys the call and sends out its germ, from which comes the flower. Had it not been for the suns warmth and light, the flower could never have come to itself. So the Eternal Spirit of God rests on the human soul, warming it, quickening it, calling it, and saying, O, my sent where art thou? And at last it is this Divine sympathy and brooding influence that brings men to God, and leads them to say, Am I not sinful? and to yearn for something higher and purer and holier. It was Gods work. He long ago was working in you, to will and to do of His own good pleasure. (H. W. Beecher.)
God is a silent worker
The grandest operations both in nature and in grace are the most silent and imperceptible. The shallow brook babbles in its passage, and is heard by every one; but the coming on of the seasons is silent and unseen. The storm rages and alarms; but its fury is soon exhausted, and its effects are partial and soon remedied; but the dew, though gentle and unheard, is immense in quantity, and the very life of large portions of the earth. And these are pictures of the operations of grace, in the Church and in the soul. (R. Cecil.)
Gods agency effective when mans is impotent
See Israel at the Red Sea. By the wilderness, and the mountains, and the sea, the people are shut in; and behind them is Pharaoh in close pursuit, with his great and well-equipped army. If we look simply at mans valour or wisdom, resistance and escape are equally and utterly hopeless. The cry of Israel to Moses is, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? But Moses said to them, Fear ye not: stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you today. The Lord shaft fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. At this point, you observe, they are called to be simple spectators of the salvation of the Lord looking on with adoring wonder at the mighty work which only the Divine hand could accomplish--the opening of a pathway for them through the midst of the great waters. But afterwards, for the Stand still and see, comes a command to display energetic activity. The Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea. So with you and me, dear brethren. The expiation of guilt, the working out of our salvation meritoriously, could be achieved only by the God-man; and our part is to stand still, and behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. But now, when, by the Lords propitiatory sufferings and death, a way, broad and clear, has been opened for us through the midst of the waters of avenging judgment, His command, loud and explicit, to every one of us is that, by persistent, growing faith and holiness, we go forward. (R. Johnstone, LL. B.)
Man to work in his salvation
Though salvation remains wholly of grace, it may be described as worked out by ourselves. God does not reduce man into a machine; He rather puts a machine at mans disposal, and having imparted the strength to turn the wheel, requires of man that he labour, in order to the evolving the web from the loom. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Man permeable by God
Just as it is the distinction of a crystal, that it is transparent, able to let the light into and through its close flinty body, and be irradiated by it in the whole mass of its substance, without being at all more or less a crystal, so it is the grand distinction of humanity, that it is made permeable by the Divine nature, prepared in that manner to receive and entemple the Infinite Spirit, to be energized by Him, and filled with His glory in every faculty, feeling, and power. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Salvation possible, but not easy
Christ has made salvation possible for us, but He has not made it easy; He has brought it near to each of us, but we have still to be working it out. He has cast, as it were, the rope to shipwrecked souls, vainly buffeting with the breakers, and blinded with the spray. We could never have made our way without this help, bruised and battered, benumbed as we were. We could never have saved ourselves without His help, but now all may be well, through Him, only there still needs effort on our part as well as on His, if only to hold fast by the cord of life and watch against the perils that still lie in our way. That effort is needed as really as is His help. The door of life is still open, but it is still a strait gate, and we must strive to enter in. Eternal life may be laid hold of, but we must fight the good fight in order to lay hold on it. (W. C. Smith, D. D.)
Working out salvation
Much more in my absence prove to yourselves, prove to all who care to look at you, that you do not depend on me, that you do not hang upon man or angel; but that you hang on God, who brought the Gospel to you, although He brought it on my lips. It was He who brought it, and He has not gone; He worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Oh, ye Philippians, he says, you are at no loss, you are at no disadvantage; true I am not with you, though I fain would be; but God is with you, and He is now working in you. I sometimes think that this verse receives its fullest emphasis by taking it from Pauls mouth and putting it into Christs. We hear it as coming not from Paul the servant, but from Christ the great Master within the veil as He looks down on us. Oh, how it fits us! We are so apt to say--if He were here, then how our sanctification and our Christian work would get on. If He were here with us! And Christ says to us, to us His Philippians here in London, speaking down from the eternal glory, Wherefore, My beloved, as ye have always obeyed not as in My presence only, but now much more in My absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for I am working in you both to will and to do of My good pleasure. Christians, we are walking not by sight, but by a spiritual vision of Him who has gone before us, and is drawing us surely and certainly into His own presence. Not as in My presence only, but now much more in My absence, let there be intensity, let there be individualism; let every man feel that this is his own affair; and while you receive all ministries and all gifts of that kind helpfully and thankfully, rise superior to them all; reach out and forth to Me Myself, your Saviour, your Sanctifier, your All in all. Your own salvation; what does that mean? That is a rare word in the Bible; the Bible is not fond of calling anything our own. I must realize that I have in my heart the salvation I am to work out. Let me enhance this thought in your mind, the thought that salvation is made over to us as our own, in a Book which from beginning to end strips us of all real ownership. This is mine, says a man here, or a man not here, this is my pile, I scraped it together; I rose early, I sat up late, and as he says it he jerks his money bags or turns over his bank book to the balance. And as we have seen in Glasgow some years ago, in the case of the City of Glasgow Bank, the bank breaks and he is a beggar--he is a beggar! This that he was calling his, even while he clutched it, it left him; for riches take unto themselves wings, and prove to us that that possessive word was foolish; it is disproved by bitter fact. If your wealth was really yours, why did you let it go? My property, says a man. See that? See that fine row of buildings? that is mine. These title deeds mine, securely mine, and the next morning he is poking among the black ashes with his stick; his property has gone up in a chariot of fire, and come down in a shower of soot! Oh, how sarcastically the chapter of accidents disputes with us this expression: My own. How did that happen, if it was really yours? My child, says a mother, my own, my firstborn, the latest thing in babies, did you ever see his like? My own, and she draws him to her bosom. I can imagine some mother saying, Now, preacher, you can surely allow the expression here--My own baby; No, I dare not; I must be true to Gods Word, and true to the facts of life. There is a Power that dares to come in between the babe and the bosom; and that is close work, is it not? Your own salvation. That thing, if I may so say, for which you had neither right nor claim nor title, handed over to you, and as it is handed over, this word along with it--Now that is yours. The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord; The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life; He that believeth hath--open your arms, man!--everlasting life. Now, thou black, grim, doubting devil that dost forever whisper thy words in my ear, I will fight thee here. My own salvation--mine because it is a gift. Salvation is ours because it is a gift, and from One who will never withdraw it. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Now let us get on to the command, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That is what I wanted to get at. You have to be active. Gods sovereignty and power evoke human responsibility and activity. You have it, therefore work it out. To use a common illustration: there is a load of bricks here, a load of timber and some slates. That is not a house. No; but there is the making of one, and you can make the house out of it. Now the Lord lays all down at our door; He puts it into our hearts; He comes with the plan and the specification and the material, and says, Now work them out. The Greek has at its root the idea of energy. Oh! what a pulsing word--energize your own salvation. Now there are just a number of people needing the word energize. The doctrines are lying on your souls like great unwrought lumps of dough that you have not worked out--I speak to housewives--and no man can feed on dough; it will kill him! Many of you are dyspeptics, feeding on Gospel doctrine that you have not kneaded and fired--and I dont know what--but you understand what I mean! Work out your own salvation. Get up now, put your feet below you, fling off your coat, turn up your sleeves, and go at this business like the work of a lifetime, and never stop it, this work of saving yourself, if I may be as contradictory as the Bible is. When the Lord comes to me in all the light of His saving grace, He shows me what to do. He brings all with Him that is needed; but I am not to be lazy; I am not to lie back and do nothing. Now you know what to do. You have a bad temper--work out your salvation. You are getting to be a fair pest in the house because of this temper. You are not to go and cuddle up this temper and say, I am a child of God, though I have a little infirmity. Be saved from your infirmity, oh sweet child of God! Another says, I do believe that I am saved, but I am inconsistent. Well, save yourself from this inconsistency--work out your own salvation. What would you think of the man who went about with his hands in his pockets whistling and joking, because he had a load of bricks and stones and timber lying all around there; and wanting shelter on a wintry day, he creeps under the bricks and says, This is my house: here will I dwell. Are not some of us doing so? Why, if you could see your spiritual house as the Lord sees it, you would get in an awful fright. Oh man, work out your own salvation! Now, blessed be God, His great gift will work out. There is a grand furthiness--if you dont know that word, so much the worse for you--in the grace which comes from Jesus Christ, which will expand and extend and yield as long as you make demands upon it. There are many gifts we get that have none of this furthiness in them. You have them in your house. The first day that gift came to you--some ornament, it is on the mantelpiece--when it came first it told on you, it told of your friends kindness, and for a little time there was much in it. But as time went on it did not expand, its gold became dim, and there came some day, some dull, dark day, that you were doleful and needed help, and you stood and looked at that gift, and it utterly failed to do you good. It came to an end. The next question is, How? Here is the modus operandi--With fear and trembling. With fear and trembling--what does it mean? I does not mean that we are to go through life with our knees forever smiting each other because in such an hour as we think not we will drop into the pit again. Many take that meaning out of it, and that paralyzes work. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. The cup of salvation is so full, it is so brimming, it is so sweet, that it would be too sweet to be wholesome; it would go to the head and make us reel and stagger, and become unwatchful and hilarious, and defeat its own purpose. But, wherever Christ gives the cup of salvation, He puts in an infusion of these tonic bitters, fear and trembling, so that Grace may not cloy and clog. These are the bitter herbs with which we eat our Passover. The more freely you take of Christ, the more careful you become in life and conduct. It is like the ballast to the ship. You have seen those yachts of ours, designed by Watson and built by Fyfe--things of beauty, and almost instinct with life. There it is; the sea is sparkling in the sun; there is a splendid, crisp breeze blowing. Watch that squall of wind as it strikes the yacht with its great mass and breadth of canvas that would do for the mainsail of a man-of-war. See what happens! You would expect the very breadth of the sheet is going to spoil all. That squall will strike the sail and the vessel will careen and go the bottom. Not at all: that squall strikes her, and most gracefully she yields to it and heels over on to her very beam end; but look at the cut-water. See how she is tearing through! For deep down there is the keel, and a great weight upon it; in these modern days tons of lead are run along the keel; or, as in America, there is a great centre board sent away down into the water, which gives tremendous leverage; and no matter how the yacht heels over, it holds her steady and prevents disaster. So with religion: spread your sails to the gales of Gospel grace; take Christ in all the fulness of the Fathers gift as He is, and the Gospel doctrines will not sink you; you will not grow giddy and light headed, but this fear and trembling will give you rest, weight, grip, ballast, solidity, and you will urge your course forward across these seas of time and sin with splendid speed. It is just like what you have when a man has been saved who was drowning, and all his kicking and struggling were only hastening it. And when this kicking and struggling were over, some one has reached from above and drawn him out, and there he stands on the solid land, saved. Ah! but it was a narrow shave. Rejoicing, but it is not a hilarious rejoicing, is it? He is not cracking his thumbs and jigging, but he is rejoicing with trembling. He is altogether saved, and he was so nearly altogether lost. With fear and trembling. Take another illustration. An eminent French surgeon used to say to his students when they were engaged in difficult and delicate operations, in which coolness and firmness were needed, Gentlemen, dont be in a hurry, for theres no time to lose. Time to make that incision once and well in the vital place, not time to dash at it with over confidence. Before you have recovered yourself a precious life will have been spilled. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling--no swagger, no bounce, no bravado, no cocksureness, yet every confidence that He who hath begun this good work will carry it on to the perfect day. All confidence in Thee, my God, and none in myself; that is the way in which I do the best work towards God, or my brother man. Only one life, no second chance for evermore; and into this one life, into this one day, we are to crowd, to pack the utmost of holy living in every direction that we possibly can, with fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in you; but I just wish to recite it before I let you go. You work out, as one has said; for God works in. There is the mainspring, there is the unfailing Source, of all the believers energy for sanctification, and for personal effort in the Church of Christ to promote His cause. It is God who worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Then let me say at once, we can be holy, we shall be holy, for it is God who worketh in us. Poor drunkard, thou canst give up drink; lustful man, thou canst be clean; for it is God, it is God that worketh in you. Do not be a football of the world, of the flesh, and the devil, for it is God that worketh in you. Ah! it is true, it is all true; but what can I do? Now we come back to the Power: It is God; and what can He not do if you will only let Him? God is the Source. See how He puts it. It is God that worketh in you. How? Listen: both to will and to do. The first thing is to get the will right, and then the deed, dont you see, will follow. Is it not your complaint and mine, that the will is wrong, the will is twisted, the will has been led captive, by the devil? Well, there is an engine--that splendid creation of the engineering faculty of the nineteenth century! But did you ever see an engine which was allowed to drive itself? There is a splendid horse, but did you ever see a blood horse that was allowed to drive itself? Your engine needs a driver, and your horse needs a rider; and your converted man has a God in him, managing him in every direction. There is the engineer; he steps on the foot plate: with one hand he holds the reversing rod, that sends the engine backwards or forwards; with the other hand, he holds the throttle valve, the opening of which lets the steam into the cylinders. So with God: He holds the will and the doing. Thou art managed, splendidly managed. God will drive thee. God will see to thy supplies, and wilt keep up the Divine pressure. Thou shalt be filled unto all the fulness of God. (J. McNeill.)
Php_2:12-18
Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed
I.
The work.
1. Work out your own salvation.
2. In conformity with apostolic teaching.
3. Under all circumstances.
II. The means.
1. Divine power.
2. Personally and solicitously applied.
3. In the spirit of contentment and peace.
III. The end.
1. That ye may be blameless, sons of God.
2. Shedding light on a dark world.
3. Multiplying the joy of the Church both here and hereafter. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The obedience of the Christian life
I. The obedience of the Christian life is the working out of salvation.
1. In relation to God. The absolute power of Gods will, which is the law to every creature and the accepted law to the Christian, is regarded as expressing itself within the heart of man.
(1) Worketh in you is used elsewhere of that internal energy of God which is the spring of all other energy (1Co_12:6; Eph_1:11). But here it is the spiritual volition alone that is meant, that special influence of God upon the will and act of man in the things which pertain to the Divine good pleasure.
(2) His good pleasure imparts to worketh in us a character of love and perfect freedom that must never be lost sight of in our consideration of Gods working on the human heart. His influences are not mechanical and unbending, working out a pre-determined law of election, but pre-spontaneous and springing from the heart. God can study and adapt Himself to His creatures freedom. In the profound mystery of our cooperation with Divine grace it is our own will and act while it is Gods. The obedience of the Christian to the law within Him is perfect freedom.
2. In regard to the service it performs.
(1) The object of this service is personal salvation. We are to imitate the obedience of Christ in the utmost possible care of our own souls, as if our salvation were the very service of our covenant with God. But lest this should be carried to a morbid excess the apostle adds the other lessons on self in this chapter and elsewhere.
(2) Does the apostle mean by the peculiar stress He lays on your own that whatever Gods inward working may mean, the accomplishment in result must be the working out on mans part of an actual salvation? Or does He refer to the Redeemers intervention, and indirectly bid them remember that His obedience has not rendered theirs superfluous? Or As ye obeyed in My presence when I could give you My aid, etc., so remember that neither My presence nor My absence was vital to your interests? We may mingle all these meanings. Every Christian must make His own souls salvation His personal care, and not so to rely upon Divine grace, atoning redemption, or human ministry as to neglect his own persevering sedulity.
3. In regard to its spirit. Fear and trembling is divested of the stern and depressing character it wears in the Old Testament. In the New it is always used in connection with obedience, and always to signify vehement eagerness to do well (2Co_7:1). There is here no idea of trembling apprehension of the future, nor anything but the humble alacrity that vibrates with eager desire to obey.
II. Salvation must be wrought out in the midst of an evil world. In fear and trembling before God, and without murmurings, etc., and before men. They are to yield obedience to three great laws.
1. The law of dignity.
(1) They are children of God;
(2) in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation;
(3) therefore they are to maintain their dignity.
2. The law of the preservation of purity. The force of the exhortation arises from the fact that as lights they are seen, and that in the midst of the perverse nation they are to let their influences be felt.
(1) As the children of God in their aspect towards the world are commanded to use their liberty of action so as to avoid sin in act, here they are commanded to abstain from receiving the principle of it again in their nature. This is the liberty of the children of God to keep themselves unspotted from the world.
(2) But the word harmless seems rather to mean become than be pure. There is a process of purification that implies the admixture of something of the worlds evil still remaining. Surely this is verified by the experience of every one of us. The provision, however, is ample for the entire cleansing of the soul.
3. The law of a pure exhibition of character for the worlds teaching and example. God has placed His people in the world to be to it what the luminaries are in nature. And of this the reason is: because ye hold in yourselves the Word which is the light of life. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)
Divine help
The method of grace is the method of nature likewise. There is a profusion of plastic elements and forces, but man must plough the soil, sow, reap, and prepare his food for the table; combine them, build the house, capital, palace, cathedral; fashion the ship, map the seas and stars, use the compass, and guide the rudder; discover the laws of matter, invent the engine, and girdle the earth with rail and wire. (A. H. Moment, D. D.)
Working out our own salvation
I. The spirit in which this great work is to be pursued.
1. What will come of any work we undertake largely depends on the spirit in which we undertake it. We may enter upon it half-heartedly, or as something merely secondary. But our salvation is to be the principal thing to us; and working it out is to be thorough.
2. Wise cautiousness. Fear and trembling. This is not nervous dread, nor timorous quaking, but a keen and ceaseless outlook considering foes and temptations; a self-distrust that sharpens vigilance; a recognition of danger and preparedness to meet it.
3. Cheerfulness--without murmurings. The work we do cheerfully brings its own blessing. Do not, then, do it in a grudging, complaining spirit; and this, not only in doing but in bearing.
4. Hopefulness without disputings, not with men but with God. Distrust of God will sap our sources of strength. Work out with unquestioning trust in Gods wisdom, goodness, and power.
5. Becomingness, in view of their relationship. They are the sons of God, they must live as Gods sons--holy, loving, etc. Their lineage should show itself in their spirit.
II. The incentives to this course of conduct.
1. Consistency. The work is begun and ought in consistency to be finished. Men plead consistency as an argument for a bad course, as Herod in the case of John the Baptist; much more should Christians for a good one.
2. Gods help. In working out our salvation we are not left to our own unaided powers. Because we have effectual help let us be thorough, etc., in this.
3. Responsibility--lights in the world. Be then as the lighthouse and the star.
4. Personal relations. They are the apostles spiritual children. (J. J. Goadby.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v12 Chapter 8
Chapter 8
WORKING AND SHINING.
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Php_2:12-18 (R.V.)
AFTER his great appeal to the mind of Christ, the Apostle can pursue his practical object; and he can do so with a certain tranquillity, confident that the forces he has just set in motion will not fail to do their work. But yet that same appeal itself has tended to broaden and deepen the conception of what should be aimed at. He had deprecated the arrogant and the selfish mind, as these are opposed to lovingkindness and regard for others. But now, in presence of the great vision of the Incarnation and obedience of Christ, the deeper note of lowliness must be struck in fit accord with that of love; not only lowliness in the way of doing ready honour to others, but deep and adoring lowliness towards God, such as is due both from creatures and from sinners. For if Christs love fulfilled itself in such a perfect humility, how deeply does it become us to bear towards God in Christ a mind of penitence arid gratitude, of loving awe and wonder, such as shall at the same time for ever exclude from our bearing towards others both pride and self-seeking. In this way the one practical object suggested by the circumstances at Philippi-namely, loving unity-now allies itself naturally with ideas of complete and harmonious Christian life; and various views of that life begin to open. But each aspect of it still proves to be connected with the gracious and gentle mind of Christ, in the lowly form of that mind which is appropriate for a sinner who is also a believer.
So then they are to apply themselves to the "calling wherewith they are called," in a spirit of "fear and trembling." The phrase is a common one with the Apostle. {1Co_2:3; 2Co_7:15; Eph_5:6} He uses it where he would express a state of mind in which willing reverence is joined with a certain sensitive anxiety to escape dangerous mistakes and to perform duty well. And it is fitly called for here, for
1. If lowliness so became the Divine Saviour, who was full of grace, wisdom, and power, then what shall be the mind of those who in great guilt and need have found part in the salvation, and who are going forward to its fulness? What shall be the mind of those who, in this experience, are looking up to Christ-looking up to lowliness? Surely not the spirit of strife and vainglory (Php_2:3), but of fear and trembling-the mind that
2. dreads to be presumptuous and arrogant, because it finds the danger to be still near.
3. The salvation has to be wrought out. It must come to pass in your case in the line of your own endeavor. Having its power and fulness in Christ, and bestowed by Him on you, yet this deliverance from distance, estrangement, darkness, unholiness, is given to believers to be wrought out; it comes as a right to be realised, and as a power to be exercised, and as a goal to be attained. Think of this, -you have in hand your own salvation-great, Divine, and wonderful-to be wrought out. Can you go about it without fear and trembling? Consider what you are-consider what you believe-consider what you seek-and what a spirit of lowly and contrite eagerness will pervade your life! This holds so much the more, because the salvation itself stands so much in likeness to Christ-that is to say, in a loving lowliness. Let a man think how much is in him that tends, contrariwise, to self-assertion and self-seeking, and he will have reason enough to fear and tremble as he lays fresh hold on the promises, and sets his face to the working out of this his own salvation.
4. This very working out, from whom does it come? Are you the explanation and last source of it? What does it mean? Wherever it takes place, it means that, in a very special sense, Gods mighty presence and power are put forth in us to will and to do. Shall not this thought quell our petulance? Where is room now for anything but fear and trembling-a deep anxiety to be lowly, obedient, compliant?
Whether, therefore, we look to the history of the Saviour, or to the work to which our own life is devoted, or to the power that animates that work and on which it depends-in all alike we find ourselves committed to the lowly mind; and in all alike we find ourselves beset with a wealth of free beneficence, which lays obligation on us to be self-forgetting and loving. We are come into a wonderful world of compassionate love. That is the platform on which we stand-the light we see by-the music that fills our ears-the fragrance that rises on every side. If we are to live here, there is only one way for it-there is only one kind of life that can live in this region. And, being as we are, alas! so strangely coarse and hard-even if this gospel gladdens us, there may well thrill through our gladness a very honest and a very contrite "fear and trembling."
Now all this is by the Apostle persuasively urged upon his Philippian children (Php_2:12): "As ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence." For, indeed, it proves easy comparatively for our human indolence to yield to the spell of some great and forcible personality when he is present. It is even pleasant to allow ourselves to be borne on by the tide of his enthusiastic goodness. But when the Apostle was at Philippi, it might come easier to many of them to feel the force and scope of their calling in Christ. And yet now that he was gone, now was the time for them to prove for themselves, and evince to others, the durable worth of the great discovery they had made, and the thoroughness of the decision which had transformed their lives. Now, also, was the time to show Paul himself, that their "obedience" was of the deep and genuine quality which alone could give content to him.
Such in general seems to be the scope of these two verses. But one or two of the points deserve to be considered a little before we go on.
Mark how emphatically the Apostle affirms the great truth, that every good thing accompanying salvation which comes to pass in Christians is of the mighty power and grace of God. Therefore Christianity must stand so much in asking and in thanking. It is God that worketh in you. He does it, and no other than He; it is His prerogative. He worketh to will and to do. The inclination of the heart and the purpose of the will are of Him; and the striving to bring forth into act and deed what has been so conceived-that also is of Him. He quickens those who were dead in trespasses and sins; He gives the renewing of the Holy Ghost; He makes His children perfect, working in them that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. All this He does in the exercise of His proper power, in the "exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe"-"according to the working of His mighty power, which wrought in Christ when He was raised from the dead." Apparently we are to take it that in the children of God there is the new heart, or new nature, in respect of which they are new creatures; and also the indwelling of God by His Spirit; and also the actual working of the same Spirit in all fruits. of righteousness which they bring forth to the glory and praise of God. And these three are so. connected that regard should be had to all of them when we contemplate each.
He worketh to will and to do. From Him all godly desires and purposes proceed-from Him, every passage in our lives in which the "salvation that is in Christ Jesus" is by us received, put to proof, wrought out into the transactions of our lives. It must be so, if we will only think of it. For this "salvation" involves. an actual, and in principle a complete agreement with God, affirmed and embodied in each right thought, and word, and deed. Whence could this flow but from Himself?
In their statements and explanations about this Christians have differed. The difference has been mainly on the point, how to make it clear that men are not dealt with as inert nor as irresponsible; that they must not hold themselves excused from working on the ground that God works all. For all agree that men are called to the most serious earnestness of purpose and the most alert activity of action; but the theorising of this activity occasions debate. It is from the motive of trying to make more room for these indispensable elements on the human side, that modes of statement have been suggested which limit or explain away the Apostles statement here. The motive is commendable, but the method is not commonly successful. All efforts to divide the ground between God and man go astray. In the inward process of salvation, and especially in this "willing and doing," God does all, and also man does all. But God takes precedence. For it is He that quickeneth the dead, and calleth things that are not as though they were. Here we may say, as the Apostle does. in another case, "This is a great mystery." Let us recognise it as a mystery bound up with any hope we ourselves have of proving to be children of God. And under the sense of it, with fear and trembling let us work, for it is God that worketh in us to will and to do.
He worketh in us to will. When I trace back any of my actions to the fountain where it takes its rise as mine, I find that fountain in my will. The materials which I take up into my act, the impressions which gather together to create a situation for me, may all have their separate, history going back in the order of cause and effect to the beginning of the world; but that which makes it mine, is that I will, I choose, and thereupon I do it. Therefore also it is that I must answer for it, because it is mine. I willed it, and in. willing it I created something which pertains to me and to no other; something began which is. mine, and the responsibility for it cleaves only to me. But in the return to God through Christ, and in the working out of that salvation, there are acts of mine, most truly mine; and yet in these another Will, the Will of Him who saves, is most intimately concerned. He worketh in us to will. It is not an enslaving, but an emancipating energy. It brings about free action, yet such as fulfils a most gracious Divine purpose. So these "willings" embody a consent, a union of heart and mind and will, His and mine, the thought of which is enough to bow me to the ground with "fear and trembling." This is He who gathereth the dispersed of Israel into one.
On the other hand, the salvation is to be wrought out by us. To have faith in the Son of God in exercise and prevalence; to have heart and life formed to childlike love of God, and to the fulfilment of His will; to carry this out against the flesh and the world and the devil, -all this is a great career of endeavour and attainment. It is much to make the discoveries implied in it, finding out at each stage the meaning of it, and how it should take shape. It is much to have the heart brought to beat true to it, to love it, consent to it, be set upon it. It is much to embody it in faithful and successful practice in the rough school of life, with its actual collision and conflict. Now the nature and working of Gods grace at each stage are of this kind, that it operates in three ways at least. It operates as a call, an effectual call, setting a man on to arise and go. It operates also in a way of instruction, setting us to learn lessons, teaching us how to live, as it is said in Tit_2:11-12. And it operates as a power, as help in time of need. He that sits still at the call-he that will not be considerate to learn the lesson-he that will not cast himself on the strength perfected in weakness, that he may fulfil and do the Fathers will-he is a man who despises and denies the grace of God.
Now what has been said of the believers relation to the saving God prepares the way for referring to his office towards the world. Here the moral and practical theme which is in the Apostles mind all through proves again to be in place: the lowly and loving mind will best discharge that office towards the world, which the arrogant and distempered mind would hinder. "Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless."
A murmuring and disputatious temper-murmuring at what displeases us, and multiplying debate about it-is simply one form of the spirit which Paul deprecates all through this context. It is the sign of the disposition to value unduly ones own ease, ones own will, ones own opinion, ones own party, and to lie at the catch for opportunities to bring that feeling into evidence. Now observe the harm which the Apostle anticipates. It is your office to serve God by making a right impression on the world. How shall that come to pass? Chiefly, or at least primarily, the Apostle seems to say, by the absence of evil. At least, that is the most general and the safest notion of it with which to begin. Some, no doubt, make impressions by their eloquence, or by their wisdom, or by their enterprising and successful benevolence-though all these have dangers and drawbacks attending them, in so far as the very energy of action provides a shelter for unperceived self-will. Still, let them have their place and their praise. But here is the line that might suit all. A man whose life stands clear of the worlds deformities, under the influence of a light and a love from which the world is estranged, gradually makes an impression.
Now murmuring and disputing are precisely adapted to hinder this impression. And sometimes they hinder it in the case of people of high excellence-people who have much sound and strong principle, who have large benevolence, who are capable of making remarkable sacrifices to duty when they see it. Yet this vice, perhaps a surface vice, of murmuring and disputing, is so suggestive of a mans self being uppermost, it so unpleasantly forces itself in as the interpretation o the man, that his real goodness is little accounted of. At all events, the peculiar purity of the Christian character-its blamelessness and harmlessness, its innocence-does not in this case come to light. People say: "Ah, he is one of the mixed ones, like ourselves. Christian devoutness suits some people; they are sincere enough in it, very likely; but it leaves them, after all, pretty much as it found them."
I say no more about murmuring and disputing as these reveal themselves in our relations to others. But the same spirit, and attended in its operations with the same evil effects, may manifest itself in other ways besides that of unkindness to men. As frequently, perhaps, it may show itself in our behaviour towards God; and in that case it interferes at least as seriously with the shining of our light in the world.
Just as in the camp of Israel of old on many memorable occasions there arose a murmuring of the people against God, when His ways crossed their will, or seemed dark to their wisdom; just as, on such occasions, there broke out among the people the expression of doubt, dislike, and disputation, and they criticised those Divine dealings which should have been received with trust and lowliness, so is it also, many a time, in the little world within us. There are such and such duties to be discharged and such and such trials to be encountered-or else a general course of duty is to be pursued under certain discouragements and perplexities. And, you submit, you do these things. But you do. them with murmuring and disputing in your heart. Why should it be thus? "How is it fit," you say, "that such perplexities or such burdens should be appointed? Is it not reasonable, all things considered, that I should have more indulgence and greater facilities; or, at least, that I should be excused from this conflict and this burden-bearing for the present?" Meanwhile our conscience is satisfied because we have not rebelled in practice; and it takes no strict account of the fretfulness which marred our act, or the grumbling which well-nigh withheld us from compliance. You are called, perhaps, to speak to some erring friend, or you have to go on a message of mercy to some one in affliction. Indolently you postpone it; and your heart begins to stretch out its arms and to cling to the careless temper it has begun to indulge. At last conscience stirs, conscience is up, and you have to do something. But what you do is done grudgingly, with a heart that is murmuring and disputing. Again, you are called to deny yourself some worldly pleasure; in Christian consistency you have to hold back from some form of dissipation; or you have to take up a position of singularity and separation from other people. Reluctantly you comply; only "murmuring and disputing." Now this inward temper may never come to any mans knowledge, but shall we suppose it does not tell on the character and the influence of the life? Can you, in that temper, play your part with the childlike, the cheerful, the dignified bearing, with the resemblance to Christ in your action, which God calls for? You cannot. The duty as to the husk and shell of it may be done; but there can be little radiation of Christs likeness in the doing of it.
Notice the Apostles conception of the function which believers are to discharge in the world. They are set in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. These words were applied to the children of Israel of old on account of the stubborn insubordination with which they dealt with God; and they were applicable, for the same reason, to the Gentiles, among whom the gospel had come, but who had not bowed to it. Judged by the high and true standard, these Gentiles were crooked and perverse in their ways with one another, and still more so in their ways with God. Among them the Christians were to show what Christianity was, and what it could do. In the Christians was to appear, embodied, the testimony proposed to the crooked and perverse nation, a testimony against its perverseness, and yet revealing a remedy for it. In the persons of men, themselves originally crooked and perverse, this was to become plain and legible. Now, how? Why, by their being blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke.
It has been remarked already that the special way in which we are to manifest to the world the light of Christianity is here represented as the way of blamelessness. That man aright represents the mind of Christ to the world, who in the world keeps himself unspotted from the world, -in whom men recognise a character that traces up to a purer source elsewhere. As years pass, as cross-lights fall upon the life, even in its most common and private workings, if it still proves that the man is cleansed by the faith he holds, if the unruly working of interest and passion and will, give way in him to motives of a higher strain, men will be impressed. They will own that here is something rare and high, and that some uncommon cause is at the bottom of it. For the world knows well that even the better sort of men have their weaker side, often plainly enough revealed by the trials of time. Therefore steadfast purity makes, at last, a deep impression.
Innocence indeed is not the whole duty of a Christian; active virtue is required as well. The harmlessness called for is not a mere negative quality-it is supposed to be exhibited in an active life which strives to put on Christ Jesus. But the Apostle seems to lay stress especially on a certain quiet consistency, on a lowly and loving regard to the whole standard, which gives evenness and worthiness to the life. If you will do a Christians office to the "perverse nation," you have to seek that they may have nothing against you except concerning the law of your God; you have to seek that your reproach may be exclusively the reproach of Christ, so that if at any time the malice of men seeks to misconstrue your actions, and lays to your charge things which you know not, your well-doing may silence them; and having no evil thing to say of you, they may be-ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
Strong appeals are made in our day to members of the Christian Church to engage actively in all kinds of Christian work. They are summoned to go forth aggressively upon the worlds misery and sin. This has become a characteristic note of our time. Such appeals were needed. It is a shame that so many Christians have absolved themselves from the obligation to place at their Lords service the aptitudes and the energies with which He has endowed them. Yet in this wholesale administration diversities are apt to be overlooked. Christians may be undervalued who do not possess qualities fitting them for the special activities; or, attempting these without much aptitude, and finding little success, they may be unduly cast down. It is important to lay stress on this. There are some, perhaps we should say many, who must come to the conclusion, if they judge aright, that their gifts and opportunities indicate for them, as their sphere, a somewhat narrow round of duties, mostly of that ordinary type which the common experience of human life supplies. But if they bring into these a Christian heart; if they use the opportunities they have; if they are watchful to please their Lord in the life of the family, the workshop, the market; if the purifying influence of the faith by which they live comes to light in the steady excellence of their character and course, -then they need have no sense of exclusion from the work of Christ and of His Church. They, too, do missionary work. Blameless, harmless, unrebuked, they are seen as lights in the world. They contribute, in the manner that is most essential of all. to the Churchs office in the world. And their place of honour and reward shall be far above that of many a Christian busybody, who is too much occupied abroad to keep the light clear and bright at home.
Blameless, then, harmless, unaspersed, must the children of God, His redeemed children, be. So will the light of Christian character come clearly out, and Christians will be "luminaries, holding forth the word of life."
The word of life is the message of salvation as it sets forth to us Christ, and goodness and blessedness by Him. Substantially it is that teaching which we have in the Scriptures; although, when Paul wrote, the New Testament was not yet a treasure of the Churches, and the "word of life" only echoed to and fro from teacher to taught, and from one disciple to another. Still, the teaching rested on the Old Testament Scriptures understood in the light of the testimony of Jesus; and it was controlled and guided by men speaking and writing in the Spirit. What it was therefore was very well known, and the influence of it as the seed of life eternal was felt. It was for Christians to hold by it, and to hold it out, - the expression used in ver. 16 (Php_2:16), may have either meaning; and virtually both senses are here. In order to give light there must be life. And Christian life depends on having in us the word, quick and powerful, which is to dwell in us richly in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. This must be the secret of blameless Christian lives; and so those who have this character will give light, as holding forth the word of life. The mans visible character itself does this. For while the word and message of life is to be owned, professed, in fit times proclaimed, yet the embodiment of it in the man is the mare point here, the character being formed and the practice determined by the "word" believed. So also we are said to live by the faith of the Son of God. The life of faith on Him is the life of having and holding forth His word.
Here, as everywhere, our Lord goes first. The Apostle John, speaking in his Gospel of the Eternal Word, tells us that in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. It was not merely a doctrine of light; the life was the light. As He lived, in His whole being, in His acting and suffering, in His coming and staying and departing, in His Person and in His discharge of every office, He manifested the Father. Still we find it so; as we contemplate Him, as His words lead us to Himself, we behold the glory, the radiance of grace and truth.
Now His people are made like Him.. They too, through the word of life, become partakers of true life. This life does not dwell in them as it does in their Lord, for He is its original seat and source; hence they are not the light of the world in the same sense in which He is so. Still they are luminaries, they are stars in the world. By manifesting the genuine influence of the word of life which dwells in them, they do make manifest in the world what truth and purity and salvation are. This is their calling; and, in a measure, it is their attainment.
The view of the matter given here may be compared with that of 2Co_3:4. Christ, the Fathers Word, may also be regarded as the Fathers living Epistle. Then those who behold Him, and drink in the significance of this message, are also themselves, in their turn, Epistles of Christ, known and read of all men.
So to shine is the calling of all believers, not of some only; each, according to his opportunities, may and ought to fulfil it. God designs to be glorified, and to have His salvation justified, in this form. Christ has said in the plainest terms, "Ye are the light of the world." But to be so implies separateness from the world, in root and in fruits; and that is for many a hard saying. "Ye are a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light."
In the sixteenth and following verses comes in again Pauls own share in the progress and victory of the Christian life in his friends. "It would be exceeding well," he seems to say, "for you; how well, you may partly gather from learning how well it would be for me." He would have cause to "rejoice in the day of Christ" that he had "not run in vain, neither laboured in vain." What might be said on this has been anticipated in the remarks made on Php_1:20 fol. But here the Apostle is thinking of something more than the toil and labour expended in the work. More than these was to fall to his lot. His life of toil was to close in a death of martyrdom. And whether the Apostle was or was not enabled to foresee this certainly, doubtless he looked forward to it as altogether probable. So he says: "But if I be offered (or poured out as a drink-offering) in the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all; and do ye also likewise joy and rejoice with me."
To see the force of this expression we must remember that it was an ancient custom to seal and complete a sacrifice by the pouring out of a libation on the altar or at the foot of it. This might be intended as the crowning testimony of the abundant freewill with which the service had been rendered and the sacrifice had been offered. To some such rite the Apostle alludes when he speaks of himself-that is to say, of his own life - as poured forth at the sacrifice and service of their faith. And it is nothard to understand the idea which dictates this mode of speech.
We read in Rom. 12 an exhortation to the saints to yield themselves a living sacrifice, which sacrifice is their reasonable service. They were to do so in the way of not being conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of their minds. So here the course of conduct which the Apostle had been exhorting the Philippians to pursue was an act of worship or service, and in particular it was a sacrifice, the sacrifice of their faith, the sacrifice in which their faith was expressed. Each believer in offering this sacrifice acts as a priest, being a member of the holy priesthood which offers to God spiritual sacrifices. {1Pe_2:5} Such a man is not, indeed, a priest to make atonement, but he is a priest to present offerings through Christ his Head. The Philippians, then, in so far as they were, or were to be, yielding themselves in this manner to God, were priests who offered to God a spiritual sacrifice.
Here let us notice, as we pass, that no religion is worth the name that has not its sacrifice through which the worshipper expresses his devotion. And in Christian religion the sacrifice is the consecration of the man and of his life to Gods service in Christ. Let us all see to it what sacrifices we offer.
This doctrine, then, of the priesthood and the sacrifice was verified in the case of the Philippians; and, by the same rule, it held true also in the case of Paul himself. He, as little as they, was priest to make atonement. But certainly when we see Paul so cordially yielding himself to the service of God in the gospel, and discharging his work with such willing labour and pains, we see in him one of Christs priests offering himself to God a living sacrifice. Now is this all? or is something more to be said of Paul? More is to be said; and although the point now in view is not prominent in this passage, it is present as the underlying thought. For the whole sacrifice of holy life rendered by the Philippians, and by his other converts, was, in a sense, the offering of Paul also; not theirs only, but his too. God gave him a standing in the matter, which he, at least, was not to overlook. Gods grace, indeed, had wrought the work, and Paul was but an instrument; yet so an instrument that he had a living and abiding interest in the result. He was not an instrument mechanically interposed, but one whose faith and love had. wrought to bring the result to pass. To him it had been given to labour and pray, to watch and guide, to spend and to be spent. And when the Apostle saw the lives of many true followers of Christ unfold as the result of his ministry, he could think that God owned his place too in bringing all this tribute to the temple. "God grants me a standing in the service of this offering. The Philippians bring it, each for himself, and it is theirs; but I also bring it, and it is my offering too. God takes it at their hand, but also at my hand, as something which with all my heart I have laboured for and won, and brought to His footstool. I also have my place to present to Christ the sacrifice and service of faith of all these men who are living fruits of my ministry. I have been minister of Christ to these Gentiles, ministering the gospel of the grace of God, that the offering up of these Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ." {Rom_15:16-17}
There remains but one step to be made, to reach the seventeenth verse (Rom_15:17). Consider the Apostles heart glowing with the thought that God counted the holy fruits of those believing lives to be sacrifice and service of his, as well as theirs, and accepted it not only from their hands, but from Pauls too. Consider the gladness with which he felt that after all his toil and pains he had this great offering to bring, as his thank-offering to his Lord. And then imagine him hearing a voice which says: "Now then, seal your service, crown your offering; be yourself the final element of sacrifice; pour out your life. You have laboured and toiled, spent years and strength, very willingly, and most fruitfully; that is over now; one thing remains; die for the worthy name of Him who died for you." It is this he is contemplating: "If I be poured out at the sacrifice and service of your faith; if I am called to go on and complete the sacrifice and service; if one thing more alone is left for Paul the aged and the prisoner, and that one thing be to lay down the life whose labours are ending; if the life itself is to run out in one final testimony that my whole heart, that all I am and have are Christs,"-shall not I rejoice? will not you rejoice with me? That will be the final identification of my life with your sacrifice and service. It will be the expression of Gods accepting the completed gift. It will be the libation that crowns the service. I am not to be used, and then set aside as having no more interest in the results. On the contrary, your Christianity and mine, in the wonderful relation they have to one another, are to pass to God together as one offering. If, after running and labouring, all issues of my life be finally poured out in martyrdom, that, as it were, identifies me finally and inseparably with the sacrifice and service which have filled your lives, and also my life. It becomes one complete offering.
It may give cause for thought to ministers of the gospel that the Apostle should so vitally and vividly connect himself with the results of his work. It was no languid, no perfunctory ministry that led up to this high mood. His hearts blood had been in it; the strength and passion of his love to Christ had been poured out and spent on his work and his converts. Therefore he could feel that in some gracious and blessed way the fruits that came were still his-given to him to bring to the altar of the Lord. How well shall it be with the Churches when the ministry of their pastors burns with a flame like this! What an image of the pastoral care is here expressed!
But may not all Christian hearts be stirred to see the devotedness and the love which filled this mans soul? The constraining power of the love of Christ so wrought in him that he triumphed and rejoiced both in bringing and in becoming an offering, -breaking out, as it were, into sacrifice and service, and pouring out his life an offering to the Father and the Son. All hearts may be stirred; for all, perhaps, can imagine such a mood. But how many of us have it as a principle and a passion entering into our own lives?
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12, 13. Wherefore, my beloved. From the contemplation of…
12, 13. Wherefore, my beloved. From the contemplation of Christ's glory, the apostle turns to the lessons needed by the Philippian church. Work out your own salvation. While Christ is our Savior, and the author of our salvation, we must accept him and work together with him. Hence the Holy Spirit says, “Save yourselves” (Acts 2:40), and “work out your own salvation.” Unless we do our part Christ cannot save us. With fear and trembling. With constant anxiety not to fail.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv12, 14 Php_2:12. Ye have always obeyed.—Obedience describes the attitude of…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Php_2:12. Ye have always obeyed.—Obedience describes the attitude of the mind of these Philippians in presence of the commanding truths of the gospel: “Obedience” or “obedience of faith” is found several times in the epistle to the Romans; and in 2Co_7:15 stands in close connection with “fear and trembling,” as here. Fear and trembling.—Such an apprehensive desire to be right with God as is figured by bodily tremor.
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Php_2:13. For it is God which worketh in you.—This sentence removes all merit from the most punctilious diligence, whilst it as effectually takes away the paralysing fear of failure to which “workers together with God” need never give place.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Php_2:12-13
Salvation—God’s Work and Man’s Care.
I. Salvation is a personal blessing.—“Your own salvation” (Php_2:12). If Christ died for all, then He-died for me and I may be saved. It matters little, if others are being saved unless I am saved myself. It is impossible to be genuinely interested in the salvation of others unless we are saved ourselves. Salvation deals with the individual; it gathers its trophies one by one. “I have read of some seas,” writes Bunyan, “so pure and clear that a man may see the bottom, though they be forty feet deep. I know this river is a deep river, but it is not said that we can see no bottom.” The comparison implies that a man with good eyes may see the bottom. So, then, we shall look down through these crystal streams and see what be at the bottom of all. The bottom of all is that we might be saved. “These things I say,” saith Christ, “that ye might be saved.” What a good, sound bottom is here! This salvation admits man to a wealth of blessings impossible to estimate. Salvation should therefore be sought by every man earnestly, believingly, promptly.
II. Salvation needs constant personal care.—“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Php_2:12).
1. The Christian worker is surrounded with spiritual perils.—The apostle has referred to these perils in warning the Philippians against pride, selfishness, faction, and vain boasting (Php_2:3-4). To secure his salvation the believer must not only work, but work with circumspection, with vigilance, with fear and trembling. “God does not give the flower and the fruit of salvation, but the seed, the sunshine, and the rain. He does not give houses, nor yet beams and squared stones, but trees, rocks, and limestone, and says, ‘Now build thyself a house.’ Regard not God’s work within thee as an anchor to hold thy bark firmly to the shore, but as a sail which shall carry it to its port. Fear thy depression and faint-heartedness, but take courage at thy humility before God” (Lange).
2. Personal care the more necessary when deprived of the oversight of a loved teacher.—“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence” (Php_2:12). The Philippians had shown a spirit of ready obedience both to the apostle and to God, and they are urged to increased diligence. The apostle’s “absence did not make the obligation less imperative, but it demanded more earnestness and vigilance from them in the discharge of the duty. His voice and person were a guide and stimulant and excited them to assiduous labour, so that his presence among them wrought like a charm. And now that he was not with them, and they were left to themselves, they were so much the more to double their diligence and work out salvation with fear and trembling—with distrust of themselves, earnest solicitude in every duty, humble reliance on divine aid, with the abiding consciousness that after all they come far short of meeting obligation” (Eadie).
III. Salvation is a divine work.—
1. God is pleased to work in us to create a right disposition.—“It is God that worketh in you to will … of His good pleasure” (Php_2:13). The desire for salvation and the disposition and will to seek it come from God. As the sun warms the earth and helps the flower to grow and bloom, so the Spirit of God warms the heart and calls forth the growth and blossom of Christian graces. God does not take out mental and moral apparati and put in a new set, like the works of a clock; but He encourages us to use the powers already within and breathes upon us the vitalising influence of His Spirit, so that we produce results in harmony with His will.
2. God is pleased to work in us to confer the moral ability to work.—“God worketh in you … to do of His good pleasure” (Php_2:13). Some men have ability to do great things, but have not the disposition; others may have the disposition, but not the ability. In the work of our salvation God gives both the disposition and the power. Because God works in us we may work; because He works in us we must work out our own salvation. The means of salvation are within our reach; it is our part to use them. How does the miner get out of the pit? There is a string at the bottom; he pulls it; a bell at the top rings; a rope, worked by a steam-engine, is let down, and in this way he ascends to the top. A man gets down into the pit of trouble; he cannot get up himself; he must ring the bell of prayer; God will hear it and send down the rope that is to lift him out. Man can do nothing without God, and God will do nothing without the willing co-operation of man.
Lessons.—
1. Salvation is possible for every man.
2. Salvation may be secured by man yielding to the divine influences working within him.
3. If man is not saved, it is his own fault.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Php_2:12-13. Divine and Human Co-operation in Man’s Salvation.
I. The salvation to be wrought out.—Salvation simply means deliverance. It may be either temporal or spiritual, or both. The process of salvation is to be continuous.
II. In the work of our salvation divine and human co-operation is necessary.—Illustrated in the products of nature, in works of art and skill.
1. God works in us by the light of His truth.
2. By appealing to us with the influence of powerful motives.
3. Works in us by the influences of His Spirit.
III. Seek to ascertain to what extent we are indebted for our personal salvation to God working in us.—Our salvation from first to last is from God; that we are saved by grace, yet not so as to destroy our own effort. He produces in us the will and power. We are to exercise the will and power by repenting, believing, and living a life of holiness.
IV. Why we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.—Because of the possibility of our unfaithfulness. May be too sure of salvation, and too doubtful.—J. C. Symons.
The Active Exertion of Man in working out his Salvation harmonises with the Free Grace of God as being the Sole Author of it.—There are two facts connected with the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt—their preservation in the wilderness, and their settlement in the land of Canaan—to which I would solicit your attention.
I. That all was done for them by God, and is to be ascribed solely, from first to last, to His almighty power and grace.—
1. The means by which the establishment of the Israelites in the promised land was effected were evidently beyond the reach of human agency.
2. Even in those particular cases in which the active exertions of the Israelites were employed as the means of their deliverance or success the whole is ascribed to God.
(1) He gave them courage to fight against their enemies;
(2) He gave them success by sending, terror into the hearts of their enemies.
II. That although God thus did everything for them, He did it in such a way as to bring every power of their minds and bodies into exercise, and to render their own activity absolutely necessary to their preservation and success.—Illustrated in the passage of the Red Sea, and in the first battle of the Israelites with the Amalekites (Exo_17:8).
Lessons.—
1. As the deliverance of the Israelites and their establishment in Canaan was wholly of God, so the salvation of every sinner is to be ascribed solely and entirely to His mercy and power.
2. As God required the Israelites to be active, watchful, diligent, ardent, and strenuous in their exertions to overcome difficulties and to defeat their enemies, so He requires His people to make their calling and election sure, to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.—Although God does all for us in the matter of our salvation, yet He places us in situations where we must exert ourselves or perish.—Anonymous.
The Co-operation of Human and Divine Agency in our Salvation
I. This co-operation of divine and human energies has place in all the most important facts and pursuits that make up the history of man.—
1. It is true of the commencement of our being.
2. Our growth and education are the result of the same joint agency.
3. This fundamental law reigns over all the works of man.
II. What does God accomplish and what does He demand of us in the joint working out of our salvation?—
1. God works in us by the light of His truth.
2. By the power of motives.
3. By the energy of His Spirit.
III. What is the intent and object of these divine operations?—
1. They are not designed to transform the character as, when after conversion, they are media of sanctification.
2. Human co-operation is the indispensable condition of progress.
3. Will and do. These describe the duty of the unconverted man.—S. Olin, D.D.
Man’s Work and God’s Work.
I. This salvation is begun when we believe in Christ, but it requires to be worked out.
II. The fact that God works in us renders our working possible.
III. The fact that God works in us should make us fear and tremble.—R. Abercrombie, M.A.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v12 12,13. “—Work out your own salvation with fear and…
ARGUMENT 6
GOD WORKS WITHIN, AND WE WITHOUT
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12,13. “—Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.” God is the omnipotent agent in salvation, while we are instrumental.
We are not agents, but tools. The reason why people get tired in the Lord’s work, is because they are not dead. A dead man never gets tired. Your old hoe never gets tired, and says, “Let me rest.” Hence, we are but tools in the hands of Omnipotence, who is “working in us, both to will and to do;” i.e., he gives us the will, and bestows the needed power to do everything he requires at our hands. The hands of my watch revolve night and day without fatigue, and never wear out, because the internal machinery does all the work, and moves the hands in their constant peregrinations. So God is in me running the machinery, while my members simply move as they are moved. Hence, we have nothing to do in the plan of salvation, but ring out an eternal yes to the Holy Ghost, and govern ourselves accordingly. Jesus came to save, and does save all who let him. It is only by resisting the Spirit that people make their bed in hell.
14. Full salvation forever sweeps away all murmur and doubt.
15. “In order that you may be blameless and unmixed.” The Greek for “harmless” is akeraioi, from alpha, not, and keranumi; to mix. Hence, it means an unmixed experience. The sinner has nothing but depravity in his heart unmixed with grace.
The wholly sanctified have nothing but grace unmixed with sin; while the unsanctified Christians have a mixed experience of good and evil; not in the sense of a chemical combination, but like the wheat in the stack, mixed up with cheat, chaff, and straw, and needing a steam thresher to separate and prepare it for the mill. You get your crop of wheat in regeneration, but can make little use of it till sanctification eliminates the cheat, cockle, chaff, and trash; then you can take it to the Lord’s mill, get it ground, and have a banquet.
16. “Unto my boasting in the day of Christ.” Paul constantly keeps before the people the coming of the Lord, with one hand holding up entire sanctification, and with the other the Lord’s return to the earth.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 16 Php 2:12-13.
Philippians
WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION
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Php 2:12-13.
‘What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder!’ Here are, joined together, in the compass of one practical exhortation, the truths which, put asunder, have been the war-cries and shibboleths of contending sects ever since. Faith in a finished salvation, and yet work ; God working all in me, and yet I able and bound to work likewise; God upholding and sustaining His child to the very end; ‘perfecting that which concerns him,’ making his salvation certain and sure, and yet the Christian working ‘with fear and trembling,’ lest he should be a castaway and come short of the grace of God;--who does not recognise in these phrases the mottoes that have been written on the opposing banners in many a fierce theological battle, waged with much harm to both sides, and ending in no clear victory for either? Yet here they are blended in the words of one who was no less profound a thinker than any that have come after, and who had the gift of a divine inspiration to boot.
Not less remarkable than the fusion here of apparent antagonisms, the harmonising of apparent opposites, is the intensely practical character of the purpose for which they are adduced at all. Paul has no idea of giving his disciples a lesson in abstract theology, or laying for them a foundation of a philosophy of free will and divine sovereignty; he is not merely communicating to these Philippians truths for their creed, but precepts for their deeds. The Bible knows nothing of an unpractical theology, but, on the other hand, the Bible knows still less of an untheological morality. It digs deep, bottoming the simplest right action upon right thinking, and going down to the mountain bases on which the very pillars of the universe rest, in order to lay there, firm and immovable, the courses of the temple of a holy life. Just as little as Scripture gives countenance to the error that makes religion theology rather than life, just so little does it give countenance to the far more contemptible and shallower error common in our day, which says , Religion is not theology, but life; and means , ‘Therefore, it does not matter what theology you have, you can work a good life out with any creed!’ The Bible never teaches unpractical speculations, and the Bible never gives precepts which do not rest on the profoundest truths. Would God, brethren, that we all had souls as wide as would take in the whole of the many-sided scriptural representation of the truths of the Gospel, and so avoid the narrowness of petty, partial views of God’s infinite counsel; and that we had as close, direct, and as free communication between head, and heart, and hand, as the Scripture has between precept and practice!
But in reference more especially to my text. Keeping in view these two points I have already suggested, namely,--that it is the reconciling of apparent opposites, and that it is intensely practical, I find in it these three thoughts;--First, a Christian has his whole salvation accomplished for him, and yet he is to work it out. Secondly, a Christian has everything done in him by God, and yet he is to work. Lastly, a Christian has his salvation certainly secured, and yet he is to fear and tremble.
I. In the first place, A Christian man has his whole salvation already accomplished for him in Christ, and yet he is to work it out.
There are two points absolutely necessary to be kept in view in order to a right understanding of the words before us, for the want of noticing which it has become the occasion of terrible mistakes. These are--the persons to whom it is addressed, and the force of the scriptural expression ‘salvation.’ As to the first, this exhortation has been misapplied by being addressed to those who have no claim to be Christians, and by having such teaching deduced from it as, You do your part, and God will do His; You work, and God will certainly help you; You co-operate in the great work of your salvation, and you will get grace and pardon through Jesus Christ. Now let us remember the very simple thing, but very important to the right understanding of these words, that none but Christian people have anything to do with them. To all others, to all who are not already resting on the finished salvation of Jesus Christ, this injunction is utterly inapplicable. It is addressed to the ‘beloved, who have always obeyed’; to the ‘saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi.’ The whole Epistle is addressed, and this injunction with the rest, to Christian men. That is the first thing to be remembered. If there be any of you, who have thought that these words of Paul’s to those who had believed on Christ contained a rule of action for you, though you have not rested your souls on Him, and exhorted you to try to win salvation by your own doings, let me remind you of what Christ said when the Jews came to Him in a similar spirit and asked Him, ‘What shall we do that we may work the works of God?’ His answer to them was, and His answer to you, my brother, is, ‘ This is the work of God, that ye should believe in Him whom He hath sent.’ That is the first lesson: Not work , but faith ; unless there be faith, no work. Unless you are a Christian, the passage has nothing to do with you.
But now, if this injunction be addressed to those who are looking for their salvation only to the perfect work of Christ, how can they be exhorted to work it out themselves? Is not the oft-recurring burden of Paul’s teaching ‘not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by His mercy He saved us’? How does this text harmonise with these constantly repeated assertions that Christ has done all for us, and that we have nothing to do, and can do nothing? To answer this question, we have to remember that that scriptural expression, ‘salvation,’ is used with considerable width and complexity of signification. It sometimes means the whole of the process, from the beginning to the end, by which we are delivered from sin in all its aspects, and are set safe and stable at the right hand of God. It sometimes means one or other of three different parts of that process--either deliverance from the guilt, punishment, condemnation of sin; or secondly, the gradual process of deliverance from its power in our own hearts; or thirdly, the completion of that process by the final and perfect deliverance from sin and sorrow, from death and the body, from earth and all its weariness and troubles, which is achieved when we are landed on the other side of the river. Salvation, in one aspect, is a thing past to the Christian; in another, it is a thing present ; in a third, it is a thing future . But all these three are one; all are elements of the one deliverance--the one mighty and perfect act which includes them all.
These three all come equally from Christ Himself. These three all depend equally on His work and His power. These three are all given to a Christian man in the first act of faith. But the attitude in which he stands in reference to that accomplished salvation which means deliverance from sin as a penalty and a curse, and that in which he stands to the continuing and progressive salvation which means deliverance from the power of evil in his own heart, are somewhat different. In regard to the one, he has only to take the finished blessing. He has to exercise faith and faith alone. He has nothing to do, nothing to add, in order to fit himself for it, but simply to receive the gift of God, and to believe on Him whom He hath sent. But then, though that reception involves what shall come after it, and though every one who has and holds the first thing, the pardon of his transgression, has and holds thereby and therein his growing sanctifying and his final glory, yet the salvation which means our being delivered from the evil that is in our hearts, and having our souls made like unto Christ, is one which--free gift though it be--is not ours on the sole condition of an initial act of faith, but is ours on the condition of continuous faithful reception and daily effort, not in our own strength, but in God’s strength, to become like Him, and to make our own that which God has given us, and which Christ is continually bestowing upon us.
The two things, then, are not inconsistent--an accomplished salvation, a full, free, perfect redemption, with which a man has nothing to do at all, but to take it;--and, on the other hand, the injunction to them who have received this divine gift: ‘Work out your own salvation.’ Work, as well as believe, and in the daily practice of faithful obedience, in the daily subjugation of your own spirits to His divine power, in the daily crucifixion of your flesh with its affections and lusts, in the daily straining after loftier heights of godliness and purer atmospheres of devotion and love--make more thoroughly your own that which you possess. Work into the substance of your souls that which you have . Apprehend that for which you are apprehended of Christ. ‘Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure’; and remember that not a past act of faith, but a present and continuous life of loving, faithful work in Christ, which is His and yet yours, is the ‘holding fast the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end.’
II. In the second place, God works all in us, and yet we have to work.
There can be no mistake about the good faith and firm emphasis--as of a man who knows his own mind, and knows that his word is true--with which the Apostle holds up here the two sides of what I venture to call the one truth; ‘Work out your own salvation--for God works in you.’ Command implies power. Command and power involve duty. The freedom of the Christian’s action, the responsibility of the believer for his Christian growth in grace, the committal to the Christian man’s own hands of the means of sanctifying, lie in that injunction, ‘Work out your own salvation.’ Is there any faltering, any paring down or cautious guarding of the words, in order that they may not seem to clash with the other side of the truth? No: Paul does not say, ‘Work it out; yet it is God that worketh in you’; not ‘Work it out although it is God that worketh in you’; not ‘Work it out, but then it must always be remembered and taken as a caution that it is God that worketh in you!’ He blends the two things together in an altogether different connection, and sees--strangely to some people, no contradiction, nor limitation, nor puzzle, but a ground of encouragement to cheerful obedience. Do you work, ‘ for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.’ And does the Apostle limit the divine operation? Notice how his words seem picked out on purpose to express most emphatically its all-pervading energy. Look how his words seem picked out on purpose to express with the utmost possible emphasis that all which a good man is, and does, is its fruit. It is God that worketh in you. That expresses more than bringing outward means to bear upon heart and will. It speaks of an inward, real, and efficacious operation of the Indwelling Spirit of all energy on the spirit in which He dwells. ‘Worketh in you to will ‘; this expresses more than the presentation of motives from without, it points to a direct action on the will, by which impulses are originated within. God puts in you the first faint motions of a better will. ‘Worketh in you, doing as well as willing’; this points to all practical obedience, to all external acts as flowing from His grace in us, no less than all inward good thoughts and holy desires.
It is not that God gives men the power, and then leaves them to make the use of it. It is not that the desire and purpose come forth from Him, and that then we are left to ourselves to be faithful or unfaithful stewards in carrying it out. The whole process, from the first sowing of the seed until its last blossoming and fruiting, in the shape of an accomplished act, of which God shall bless the springing--it is all God’s together! There is a thorough-going, absolute attribution of every power, every action, all the thoughts words, and deeds of a Christian soul, to God. No words could be selected which would more thoroughly cut away the ground from every half-and-half system which attempts to deal them out in two portions, part God’s and part mine. With all emphasis Paul attributes all to God.
And none the less strongly does he teach, by the implication contained in his earnest injunction, that human responsibility, that human control over the human will, and that reality of human agency which are often thought to be annihilated by these broad views of God as originating all good in the soul and life. The Apostle thought that this doctrine did not absorb all our individuality in one great divine Cause which made men mere tools and puppets. He did not believe that the inference from it was, ‘Therefore do you sit still, and feel yourselves the cyphers that you are.’ His practical conclusion is the very opposite. It is--God does all, therefore do you work. His belief in the power of God’s grace was the foundation of the most intense conviction of the reality and indispensableness of his own power, and was the motive which stimulated him to vigorous action. Work, for God works in you.
Each of these truths rests firmly on its own appropriate evidence. My own consciousness tells me that I am free, that I have power, that I am therefore responsible and exposed to punishment for neglect of duty. I know what I mean when I speak of the will of God, because I myself am conscious of a will. The power of God is an object of intelligent thought to me, because I myself am conscious of power. And on the other hand, that belief in a God which is one of the deep and universal beliefs of men contains in it, when it comes to be thought about, the belief in Him as the source of all power, as the great cause of all. If I believe in a God at all, I must believe that He whom I so call, worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. These two convictions are both given to us in the primitive beliefs which belong to us all. The one rests on consciousness, and underlies all our moral judgments. The other rests on an original belief, which belongs to man as such. These two mighty pillars on which all morality and all religion repose have their foundations down deep in our nature, and tower up beyond our sight. They seem to stand opposite to each other, but it is only as the strong piers of some tall arch are opposed. Beneath they repose on one foundation, above they join together in the completing keystone and bear the whole steady structure.
Wise and good men have toiled to harmonise them, in vain. The task transcends the limits of human faculties, as exercised here, at all events. Perhaps the time may come when we shall be lifted high enough to see the binding arch, but here on earth we can only behold the shafts on either side. The history of controversy on the matter surely proves abundantly what a hopeless task they undertake who attempt to reconcile these truths. The attempt has usually consisted in speaking the one loudly and the other in a whisper, and then the opposite side has thundered what had been whispered, and has whispered very softly what had been shouted very loudly. One party lays hold of the one pole of the ark, and the other lays hold of that on the other side. The fancied reconciliation consists in paring down one half of the full-orbed truth to nothing, or in admitting it in words while every principle of the reconciler’s system demands its denial. Each antagonist is strong in his assertions, and weak in his denials, victorious when he establishes his half of the whole, easily defeated when he tries to overthrow his opponent’s.
This apparent incompatibility is no reason for rejecting truths each commended to our acceptance on its own proper grounds. It may be a reason for not attempting to dogmatise about them. It may be a warning to us that we are on ground where our limited understandings have no firm footing, but it is no ground for suspecting the evidence which certifies the truths. The Bible admits and enforces them both. It never tones down the emphasis of its statement of the one for fear of clashing against the other, but points to us the true path for thought, in a firm grasp of both, in the abandonment of all attempts to reconcile them, and for practical conduct, in the peaceful trust in God who hath wrought all our works in us, and in strenuous working out of our own salvation. Let us, as we look back on that battlefield where much wiser men than we have fought in vain, doing little but raising up ‘a little dust that is lightly laid again,’ and building trophies that are soon struck down, learn the lesson it teaches, and be contented to say, The short cord of my plummet does not quite go down to the bottom of the bottomless, and I do not profess either to understand God or to understand man, both of which I should want to do before I understood the mystery of their conjoint action. Enough for me to believe that,
‘If any force we have, it is to ill, And all the power is God’s, to do and eke to will.’
Enough for me to know that I have solemn duties laid upon me, a life’s task to be done, my deliverance from mine own evil to work out, and that I shall only accomplish that work when I can say with the Apostle, ‘I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’
God is all, but thou canst work! My brother, take this belief, that God worketh all in you, for the ground of your confidence, and feel that unless He do all, you can do nothing. Take this conviction, that thou canst work, for the spur and stimulus of thy life, and think, These desires in my soul come from a far deeper source than the little cistern of my own individual life. They are God’s gift. Let me cherish them with the awful carefulness which their origin requires, lest I should seem to have received the grace of God in vain. These two streams of truth are like the rain-shower that falls upon the watershed of a country. The one half flows down the one side of the everlasting hills, and the other down the other. Falling into rivers that water different continents, they at length find the sea, separated by the distance of half the globe. But the sea into which they fall is one, in every creek and channel. And so, the truth into which these two apparent opposites converge, is ‘the depth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God,’ whose ways are past finding out--the Author of all goodness, who, if we have any holy thought, has given it us; if we have any true desire, has implanted it; has given us the strength to do the right and to live in His fear; and who yet, doing all the willing and the doing, says to us, ‘Because I do everything, therefore let not thy will be paralysed, or thy hand palsied; but because I do everything, therefore will thou according to My will, and do thou according to My commandments!’
III. Lastly: The Christian has his salvation secured, and yet he is to fear and tremble.
‘Fear and trembling.’ ‘But,’ you may say, ‘perfect love casts out fear.’ So it does. The fear which has torment it casts out. But there is another fear in which there is no torment, brethren; a fear and trembling which is but another shape of confidence and calm hope! Scripture does tell us that the believing man’s salvation is certain. Scripture tells us it is certain since he believes. And your faith can be worth nothing unless it have, bedded deep in it, that trembling distrust of your own power which is the pre-requisite and the companion of all thankful and faithful reception of God’s infinite mercy. Your horizon ought to be full of fear, if your gaze be limited to yourself; but oh! above our earthly horizon with its fogs, God’s infinite blue stretches untroubled by the mist and cloud which are earth-born. I, as working, have need to tremble and to fear, but I, as wrought upon, have a right to confidence and hope, a hope that is full of immortality, and an assurance which is the pledge of its own fulfilment. The worker is nothing, the Worker in him is all. Fear and trembling, when the thoughts turn to mine own sins and weaknesses, hope and confidence when they turn to the happier vision of God! ‘Not I’--there is the tremulous self-distrust; ‘the grace of God in me’--there is the calm assurance of victory. Forasmuch, then, as God worketh all things, be you diligent, faithful, prayerful, confident. Forasmuch as Christ has perfected the work for you, do you ‘go on unto perfection.’ Let all fear and trembling be yours, as a man; let all confidence and calm trust be yours as a child of God. Turn your confidence and your fears alike into prayer. ‘Perfect, O Lord, that which concerneth me; forsake not the work of Thine own hands!’--and the prayer will evoke the merciful answer, ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee God is faithful, who hath called you unto the Gospel of His Son; and will keep you unto His everlasting kingdom of glory.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv12, 15, 16 (See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
salvation
(See Scofield "Rom 1:16").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v12 The Application of the Admonition to True Works of…
The Application of the Admonition to True Works of Sanctification. Php 2:12-18
v. 12. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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v. 13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
v. 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings,
v. 15. that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world,
v. 16. holding forth the Word of Life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
v. 17. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
v. 18. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.
The apostle here draws a conclusion and makes a practical application: Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always been obedient, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, with fear and trembling work out your own salvation. In accordance with all these considerations that urge Christians to walk and have their conversation, lead their life, in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they should continue in their obedience as heretofore. Paul gives them the testimony of having been obedient both when he was present with them and when he was absent. And with the full knowledge of this, with a willingness to pursue the course marked out before them also in the future, he urges them to feel the responsibility of their salvation before God. The salvation, complete and ready for all, they should strive after, make it their business to obtain that. It is true, of course, that salvation is not earned by obedience, it is complete and perfect in Christ. But it may so easily be lost through disobedience, and therefore striving after it with fear and trembling, with the consciousness of inherent weakness and of the dreadful power of temptation, is essential in sanctification. There is here no contradiction of chap. 1:6, where Paul states that he was sure that God would continue the good work to the end. A Christian must be sure that God will give him firmness and confidence and faithfulness, keep him from falling from grace, and he must still be in fear, lest he lose his salvation by his own foolishness. If a Christian looks upon his own flesh, he may well tremble, because it is weak and a willing ally of all enemies; but if a Christian looks to God, he is sure that he will remain in the faith, that he will overcome all the dangers which threaten his faith, that he will finally be victorious over world, flesh, and Satan. This admonition in itself is a means and instrument in the hands of God to keep the Christian in the way of sanctification.
And yet, all depends upon the power of God: For God it is who is working in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. God works, performs, all good things in His Christians; He urges them on to true obedience. A believer shows his faith by good works. This makes two things necessary, namely, the will to do, the good intention to live as it becometh the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is wrought through the Holy Ghost, and then the carrying out of this intention, the changing of will into performance, so that the doing will be properly and effectually performed. And all this on account of God’s good pleasure, to carry out His own, gracious will. God really wants to find pleasure in the good works of the believers. And He does find it because of the fact that they are of divine kind and nature, and their works flow out of the divine power in them. In order to be pleased with the works of Christians, He Himself works the good things in them. God gives and donates the will to do good; the regenerated will of man, in the power of God, wills and performs the good thing. The regenerated will of man is controlled, governed, and directed by the will of God. So the believers dare not lose God’s assistance in sanctification.
The apostle mentions one point in which their sanctification may find expression: Do everything without murmurings and hesitations. The Christians of Philippi, like the believers of all ages, should do the will of God in all things, do all that God expects of them, even when the flesh is not pleased with it, even when questionings and criticisms want to arise in their hearts. There should be no bickerings and questionings whether this or that is really necessary, whether it is necessary to be so strict in observing the Word of God, whether it really is the Christian’s duty to take part in all the enterprises of the Church. The ideal condition of mind is that which simply, sincerely does what is needed.
The result of such behavior is: That you may be irreprehensible and innocent, guiltless children of God in the midst of an iniquitous and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding up the Word of Life to a glorification for me upon the day of Christ, that I may not have run in vain or labored in vain. The goal of sanctification cannot be reached at one step, it must be reached by a gradual process. Christians must strive more and more to show and prove themselves irreprehensible, without reproof. In the midst of a world steeped in every form of sin and shame they must guard against all contamination, not only to be without reproach on the part of others, but actually innocent of wrong-doing, able to meet all criticism as unjust aspersion. Christians should avoid all offense and be guiltless in this world. There should be a plain and unmistakable distinction between the Christians and the children of this world. They should stand out from the unbelievers, as the light stands out from the surrounding darkness. The entire life of the believers will offer a splendid contrast to all works of darkness and will be a constant reproof to wrong-doers. But not only are the Christians to shine as lights in their good works, in obedience to the will of their heavenly Father and in all subsequent works of faith, but they are also to be the torch-bearers of the Word of Life. The Christians should present to the world, extend before the eyes of the children of this world, the Word of Salvation for their acceptance, that it may serve to enlighten them also unto eternal life. This they do through the works of the divine life in them. Their entire behavior before the world will be a sermon in words and deeds. Their entire life will show what the Word of God is able to accomplish. The mere existence of believers in this world is a missionary factor. And all this, in turn, redounds to the honor of the apostle on the great day of Jesus Christ, the Day of Judgment. He wanted to be able to point to the Christians of Philippi with pride, as a result of his missionary efforts in Christ Jesus. It would show that his efforts had been crowned with success, for the Philippians would present visible, tangible evidence. Note: The Christians of our day may well keep this word in mind in their relation to their pastors, that they may be a credit to the teaching which they have received, both here in time and on the great day of Jesus Christ.
To impress this last fact upon his readers, the apostle adds: But if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all; in the same way also you rejoice, and rejoice with me. In and by his imprisonment Paul was being poured out like a drink-offering. But at the same time he was offering a sacrifice, a twofold sacrifice. The first sacrifice is that of the Christians’ faith. He had succeeded in working faith in their hearts and in strengthening this faith to the present state of growth in sanctification. That was a pleasing sacrifice in the sight of God. The consequence was that the Philippians were now living a sacrifice in service, a true ministry. The apostle assumes that he himself will be offered upon his sacrifice. He may suffer the death of a martyr because of his preaching the Gospel. He knows that he will soon be liberated from the present imprisonment, but that merely places his martyr’s death at a somewhat greater distance. The final disposition of his body is even now pretty sure: martyrdom looms up before him. But even should this take place very soon, it cannot hinder the fruits of his labor. He has cause for rejoicing at the faith and Christian life of the Philippians, he is happy in the thought of what has been accomplished. And in the same way his readers should rejoice in their faith, and rejoice with him, as it behooves good Christians, in the love of Christ.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 14 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Paul encourages the Philippian believers and shows them how to live the Christian life before others and reminds them of his example.
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my beloved
"my dear fellow believers"
in my presence
"when I am there with you"
in my absence
"when I am not there with you"
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling
The abstract noun "salvation" can be expressed with a phrase about God saving people. AT: "with fear and trembling, continue to work hard to do what is proper for those whom God saves" or "with awe and reverence for God, work hard to do the good things that show that he has saved you" (See: Abstract Nouns)
with fear and trembling
Paul uses the words "fear" and "trembling" together to show the attitude of reverence that people should have for God. AT: "trembling with fear" or "with deep reverence" (See: Doublet)
both to will and to work for his good pleasure
"so that you will want to do what pleases him and will be able to do what pleases him"
translationWords
beloved
obey
save
fear
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12–16 2:12-18 Paul encourages believers to remain firm in their…
2:12-18 Paul encourages believers to remain firm in their faith and to live faithful, obedient, and pure lives modeled after Christ.
2:12 obeying God (see John 3:36; Rom 1:5): Believers must reckon with God’s judgment like everyone else (cp. 1 Cor 3:10-13), so they must live before him obediently, with deep reverence and fear.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.