Philippians 2:12-18; Work Out Your Salvation

dSermon in a sentence: God’s work in us leads us to work.

We Work Because God Is Working In Us (vs. 12-13)

Salvation is not ONLY something we receive but it is also something we do. (Romans 3:20-28, 1 Timothy 4:16, Jude 22-23)

The command to “work out your salvation” suggests that salvation is “not only something they receive; it is something they do ” (Fee, 234). Salvation is experienced in community (cf. Caird, 125), and English translations may cause the reader to think that the “your” is singular and assume that Paul refers to each person’s working out his or her individual salvation. It would be incongruous, however, to tell the Philippians to concentrate on saving themselves after exhorting them to put all self-concern behind them (2:4). The heautōn (“your”) is plural, and salvation is understood corporately. Salvation involves one’s individual reconciliation with God but also one’s reconciliation with others. Williams, 137, recognizes that “even though the Philippians are expected to respond individually, the imperative has to do with what takes place in their community life, as they return to their common cause with regard to the gospel.” As Fee, 235, understands it, Paul refers to “the present ‘outworking’ of their eschatological salvation within the believing community in Philippi.” Klein, William W., et al. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2017.

When Paul says in Philippians 2:12 that believers must “work out [their] salvation,” he does not mean that they should “work for” ( JB , NJB ) salvation on the final day. He means instead that they should “conduct” themselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27) as they await the final affirmation of their right standing before God at the day of Christ. They should busy themselves with discerning “what is best” so that they “may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” (1:10). They are to do this “with fear and trembling,” because such seriousness is appropriate to the task of living out their commitment to the gospel in a way that demonstrates that they are genuine believers. In other words, Paul’s intention in 2:12 is not far from Peter’s in 2 Peter 1:10– 11: Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thielman, Frank S.. Philippians, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 1995

We Work Because God Is Working Through Us (vs. 14-18)

Our work is not in vain. In fact, God promises us that He accomplish his will!

Verse 15 is a reversal of Deuteronomy 32:5.

This work is hard and will often leave you spent. BUT we rejoice!