Philippians 2:12-13
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in as in my presence but 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."
In these verses Paul is calling us to work towards being more like Christ. The essence of sanctification is becoming more like the humble servant who came to be mocked and crucified.
Implied in the the context of these verses is that we are to work out our salvation in the community of the local church. By no means is Paul saying that Christianity is mainly something that happens solo. The word work in the Greek has the meanings of completeness and conclusion; we are called, striving side by side, to bring our salvation and our brothers to conclusion. This is not a light matter; we are to bring our salvation to completeness with fear and trembling.
By worldly wisdom it sounds foolish that we are called to work out our salvation when it is in fact God who wills it and does it himself. This however is the very nature of the Gospel. Worldly thought and understanding are brought to nothing. Yes, it is beyond my understanding how God sanctifies me yet calls me to work towards this sancitification. No, I will never understand how God made me alive in Christ when I was yet dead in my sins. Our Savior says "Whatever you ask me in my name this I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son". Jesus, I pray for more grace, grace that not only awakens the dead but also produces your likeness in your people.
posted by Peter at 3:34 PM
1 Comments:
Great thought Pete on the working out your own salvation in the midst of the local church. Amen to that!
A few more thoughts - "Therefore" is a linker and the question is, what does it link? A common theme on both sides of the linker is obedience, just like Pete talked about. Jesus displayed and is the example of perfect obedience. He obeyed the Father to the point of death. Paul turns and says, therefore, just as you have always obeyed, obey now with fear and trembling. In context I take the "work out your own salvation" to basically mean "obey." But Paul says "just as you have always obeyed;" so what is Paul exhorting them to do? Be obedient Christians all day everyday whether the pastor is around or not and persevere and continue obeying for the rest of your life. Just as Jesus obeyed, so also you should continue to obey just as you have been obeying. This to me is the essence of "work out your own salvation." In my comment to ARun's blog, I said many times that obedience comes from loving God. It is from faith that you obey and that is by God's grace. Here Paul adds a dimension: obey with fear and trembling. Fear and trembling occurs as you look away from yourself to the glorious Savior and the powerful Father as they are sovereign over all creation and you see that it is by God's grace that you stand. From a deeper knowledge and understanding of God's power and wrath do you obey out of reverent fear. You respect God's power and do not walk around flippantly. You also obey or work out your salvation with a deep tenderness for the cross and you tremble as you realize that you deserved Hell, but now you have been adopted to be a son of God! You tremble at His grace.
Paul is challenging already strong believers to press on and have obedience out of a deeper knowledge of God. As you grow, your obedience gets better not out of your own strength but from God who disciplines you and works on you and the Spirit enables you. You need God everywhere in your life and your obedience grows. Give God the glory for that!
I echo Pete's prayer: "Jesus, I pray for more grace, grace that not only awakens the dead but also produces your likeness in your people."
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