A study of Philippians: The Joyful Life

#5 Working Out One’s Own Salvation

Philippians 2:12-18

Few things are harder to put up with,” wrote Mark Twain, “than the annoyance of a good example.” Perhaps the thing most annoying about a good example is its inability to accomplish the same achievements in our own lives. Admiration for a great person can inspire us, but it cannot enable us. Unless the person can enter into our own lives and share his skills, we cannot attain to his heights of accomplishment. It takes more than an example on the outside; it takes power on the inside.

Paul has just presented Jesus Christ as our great Example in the exercise of the submissive mind. We read it, and we agree with it, but how do we go about practicing it? How could any mortal man ever hope to achieve what Jesus Christ achieved? It seems almost presumptuous to even try! Here we are, trying to develop humility, and we are exercising pride by daring to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ!

The problem is really not that difficult. Paul is not asking us to “reach for the stars,” though the higher the goal the more we ought to achieve. Rather, he is setting before us the divine pattern for the submissive mind and the divine power to accomplish what God has commanded. “It is God which worketh in you” (Phil. 2:13). It is not by imitation, but by incarnation—“Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). The Christian life is not a series of ups and downs. It is rather a process of “ins and outs.” God works in, and we work out. We cultivate the submissive mind by responding to the divine provisions God makes available to us.

From the earliest days of the church, the relationship between the power of God and the responsibility of believers in living the Christian life has been debated. Is the Christian life essentially a matter of passive trust or of active obedience? Is it all God’s doing, all the believer’s doing, or a combination of both? This is not an unusual question when dealing with spiritual truth; in fact, the same question arises about salvation itself. Is it all God’s doing, or is there a requirement on man’s part in response to the command to believe the gospel?
 

Scripture makes it clear that it involves both God’s sovereignty and human response. Paul reminded the Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). In John 6:44 Jesus declared, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him”; yet Acts 16:31 commands, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Salvation is not by human works, yet it is always through personal faith. Other doctrines also involve seeming paradoxes. For example, Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man, and while Scripture was written by human authors, every word of it was inspired by God. The gospel is offered to the whole world, yet applied only to the elect. God eternally secures believers’ salvation, yet they are commanded to persevere.

Christians who try to reconcile every doctrine in a humanly rational way are inevitably drawn to extremes. To achieve their goal of full understanding without mystery or apparent paradox, they emphasize one truth or aspect of God’s Word at the expense of others, which, to the finite mind, seem to contradict it. In regard
to sanctification, the view that emphasizes God’s role while virtually eliminating the believer’s involvement is often referred to as quietism. The opposite extreme is called pietism.

The quietist views believers as passive in sanctification. A common maxim is, “Let go and let God.” Another is, “I can’t; God can.” Quietism tends to be mystical and subjective, focusing on personal feelings and experiences. A person who is utterly submitted to and dependent on God, they say, will be divinely  protected from sin and led into faithful living. Trying to strive against sin or to discipline oneself to produce good works is considered to be not only futile but unspiritual and counterproductive.

A prominent exponent of this view of sanctification was the devout Quaker Hannah Whithall Smith, whose book The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life has been read by millions. In it she writes,

What can be said about man’s part in this great work but that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust? But when we come to God’s side of the question, what is there that may not be said as to the manifold ways, in which He accomplishes the work entrusted to Him? It is here that the growing comes in. The lump of clay could never grow into a beautiful vessel if it stayed in the clay pit for thousands of years; but when it is put into the hands of a skilful potter it grows rapidly, under his fashioning, into the vessel he intends it to be. And in the same way the soul, abandoned to the working of the Heavenly Potter, is made into a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use. (Westwood, N.J.: Revell, 1952, 32. Italics in original.)

In response to the question about how a Christian can fall into sin, quietists maintain that such a person obviously misunderstands the matter of complete surrender and takes himself out of the hands of the Heavenly Potter. But one wonders how, if God were completely in control, a believer could ever take
himself out of the divine Potter’s hands. How could one not blame God for his defection from complete surrender?

Pietists, on the other hand, are typically aggressive in their pursuit of correct doctrine and moral purity. Historically, this movement originated in seventeenth-century Germany as a reaction to the dead orthodoxy of many Protestant churches. To their credit, most pietists place strong emphasis on Bible study, holy living, self-discipline, and practical Christianity. They emphasize such passages as “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1) and “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:17). Yet they often stress self-effort to the virtual exclusion of dependence on divine power. As would be expected, pietism frequently leads to legalism, moralism, self-righteousness, a judgmental spirit, pride, and hypocrisy.

In Philippians 2:12–13, Paul presents the appropriate resolution between the believer’s part and God’s part in sanctification. Yet he makes no effort to rationally harmonize the two. He is content with the incomprehensibility and simply states both truths, saying, in effect, that, on the one hand, sanctification is
of believers (v. 12) and on the other hand, it is of God (v. 13).

The same dual emphasis is found throughout the New Testament and a consideration of the pertinent texts is helpful. Peter, in his second letter, reminds believers that God’s

divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

Based on that divine provision, Peter then charges believers: Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in
your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. (vv. 5–10)

Paul wrote to the Corinthians that “by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain”; and then went on to say, “but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). In that inspired statement, the apostle makes it clear that God’s divine
grace and power undergird the faithful and obedient effort of believers. His declaration that “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20) is
complemented by the corresponding declaration that “we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Col. 1:28–29). James
first admonished, “Submit therefore to God,” and then, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Believers’ sanctification requires their diligent effort. Yet it is empowered by God, who, according to His sovereign power, works out His will for and in His children.

That divine-human synergy working in and through believers has always existed and is exemplified in the Old Testament. When Pharaoh’s army threatened the people of Israel, Moses was so confident in the Lord that he cried out, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent” (Ex. 14:13–14). But the Israelites also had a part to play: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land’” (vv. 15–16). It was not the Lord’s will that His people merely keep silent and be passive but that they participate actively in accomplishing His purpose. His purpose for them was to be accomplished through them.

That principle can also be seen in Solomon’s dedication of the temple. As the
king stood before the assembly of Israel, he prayed,

Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of
His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be
wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day. (1 Kings 8:56–61)

Solomon realized that God Himself provides the guidance and strength for His people to faithfully obey His commands and to serve and worship Him. Consequently, no believer has an excuse for disobedience or failure to serve the Lord. To trust is to obey.

As James explained many centuries later, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:17). It is not, of course, that the Lord does not accomplish many things for His people apart from anything they do. But they are commanded to obey His will. To not do what one knows should be done is sin:
“To one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).

The point of all this recitation of Scripture is not to provide a clear grasp of the “spiritual pathology” of sanctification and end all mystery, but to make it clear that the apparent paradox is exactly what Scripture repeatedly teaches. So as he addresses the topic of sanctification, Paul focuses first on the believer’s role
in sanctification. Some misguided interpreters completely misread this exhortation, as if it said, “work for your salvation,” “work at your salvation,” or “work up your salvation.” But both in the immediate context of this letter and the broader context of the New Testament, none of those interpretations is correct. Paul is not speaking of attaining salvation by human effort or goodness, but of living out the inner transformation that God has graciously granted.

In Romans Paul made it clear that

apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 3:21–24)

To the Ephesians he wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).

Faith alone has always been the way of salvation. It was “by faith [that] Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks” (Heb. 11:4), and it was “by faith [that] Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God” (v. 5). Noah was a righteous man (Gen. 6:9) by faith (Heb. 11:7). Abraham was saved by God’s grace working through his personal faith: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3–5; cf. Heb. 11:8–10). The law given through Moses did not alter the way of salvation. It was only by faith that Moses himself, as well as all other Old Testament saints, were saved (Heb. 11:23–38). All of those believing men and women “gained approval through their faith” (v.
39), by which God granted them His righteousness on account of the death His Son would die.

As Paul emphasizes in verse 13 of Philippians 2, salvation is from God. But in verse 12 he focuses on the responsibility of believers to live lives that are consistent with the divine gift of salvation. Because “we live by the Spirit,” that is, have the divine life of Christ within us, we should “also walk by the Spirit”
(Gal. 5:25).

Everything in life requires energy. It takes energy to walk and to work. It takes energy to think and to meditate. It takes energy to obey and to worship God. The point of the present verse is that it takes spiritual energy to grow as a Christian, to live a life that is holy, fruitful, and pleasing to the Lord. The main
verb in this verse, katergazomai (work out), specifically calls for the constant energy and effort necessary to finish a task. In 2:12, Paul’s words suggest five truths that believers must understand to sustain such energy: their example; their being loved; their obedience; their personal responsibilities and resources; and the consequences of their sin.

This passage is still dealing with unity—unity in the church and unity among believers. But the passage is unique because it brings up the great subject of salvation. Keep in mind that salvation means deliverance and that salvation is of God. It is God who has saved and delivered you: “For by grace are ye saved” (Ephes. 2:8-9). But once you are saved, go to work—work out your own salvation and deliverance. Salvation is not stagnant and complacent. A saved person is not to be sitting around doing nothing and letting the chips fall where they may. A saved person is to get up and go to work. He is to do all he can to work out his own deliverance. This is the subject of the present passage. If the church is to be unified—if believers are to walk in a spirit of unity, then they must look at their salvation—at the whole scope of their life and the glorious salvation God has given them—and they must do all they can to work out their own deliverance.

     1.  The first work: to work out one’s own salvation (deliverance) with fear and trembling (v.12).

     2.  The second work: to work at obedience—to work out the stirrings of God within the heart (v.13).

     3.  The third work: to work at not murmuring (v.14).

     4.  The fourth work: to work at being pure (v.15).

     5.  The fifth work: to work at witnessing (v.16).

     6.  The sixth work: to follow the example of sacrificial labor (v.17-18).

(2:12) Salvation—Deliverance: believers are to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Remember Paul is in prison being held on false charges. There is a good chance he will be executed. He is not sure he will ever see and share with the Philippians again. Therefore, what he is now writing is carefully chosen. So far as he knows, these words could be his last words to the Philippian church. This is the reason we need to pay close attention to the instructions.

What does it mean to work out your own salvation? The word “work out” (katergazesthe) means to work on to the finish, to completion, to perfection. It always means to complete the effort and the work begun; to accomplish it perfectly; to bring it to completion. The point is: do not go half-way in salvation. Do not take bits and pieces when there is a whole parcel. Do not be satisfied with a little when you can have much. Go on, grow until salvation is completed in you. It is your own salvation. No friend, no minister can work it out for you. You alone must do it.

The point is clearly stated: once God has saved a person, that person is to get busy obeying God. He is to take hold of the new life and salvation God has given him, and he is to work on it until it is completed and finished, that is, until God takes him home and perfects it.

Note that the Philippians are an excellent example. Paul says that they had always obeyed God, not only when he was with them, but also when he was away. Now, as he was facing death, he wanted them more than ever to work out their salvation—to continue obeying God until their salvation was completed and perfected.

Note also the words “fear and trembling.” Life is not a bed of roses. It is full of trial, pain, hurt, tragedy, disease, accident, loss, temptation, sin, evil, corruption, and death. Every human being experiences such things until he comes face to face with death. Life is sometimes beautiful and wonderful, but reality is what has just been listed: life is a journey of trials until the point of death. And no amount of denial or camouflage can hide or escape the fact. The only thing that can bring abundance of life is the absolute confidence that we shall live eternally in a perfect world. What is the point of mentioning all this? The point is forceful: we are expected to work out our own salvation and to do it with fear and trembling.

Þ  We are to fear and tremble because of the trials and temptations of life. Anyone of them can throw us or cause us to buckle under. The world and its temptations and trials are strong and the flesh is weak. We can slip into sin and failure before we know it unless we are constantly working out our deliverance—fearing and trembling lest we fail.

Þ  We are to fear and tremble lest we disappoint the Lord. He has saved us, and He has gone to the ultimate limit in order to do it. He has demonstrated a perfect love for us by taking all our sins upon Himself and bearing our punishment for us. Therefore, when we sin and fail, it cuts His heart to no end. For His sake—to keep from hurting Him—we must work out our salvation, fearing and trembling lest we do cut His heart.

Þ  We are to fear and tremble because we are to face the judgment seat of Christ. If we sin, we shall be judged and judged severely. Though we may try to reason away the fact, our thoughts about the judgment of God do not affect God’s judgment one iota. Every one of us who sins and fails to work out his own salvation shall be judged and suffer loss—great loss. Scripture teaches nothing else. For this reason, the reason of judgment, we must work out our salvation—work it out with fear and trembling.

“Work out your own salvation” (Phil. 2:12) does not suggest, “Work for your own salvation.” To begin with, Paul is writing to people who are already “saints” (Phil. 1:1), which means they have trusted Christ and have been set apart for Him. The verb “work out” carries the meaning of “work to full completion,” such as working out a problem in mathematics. In Paul’s day it was also used for “working a mine,” that is, getting out of the mine all the valuable ore possible; or “working a field” so as to get the greatest harvest possible. The purpose God wants us to achieve is Christlikeness, “to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). There are problems in life, but God will help us to “work them out.” Our lives have tremendous potential, like a mine or a field, and He wants to help us fulfill that potential.

Cindy did not seem very happy when she arrived home from college to spend the holiday with her family. Her parents noticed her unusual behavior but were wise enough to wait until she was ready to share her problem with them. It happened after dinner.

“Mother, Dad, I have something to tell you, and I’m afraid it’s going to hurt you.”

“Just tell us what’s on your heart,” her father said, “and we’ll understand. We want to pray with you about it—whatever it is.”

“Well, you know that all during high school I talked about becoming a nurse, mainly because Mom is a nurse and I guess you expected me to follow in her footsteps. But I can’t go on. The Lord just doesn’t want me to be a nurse!”

Her mother smiled and took Cindy’s hand. “Dear, your father and I want God’s will for your life. If you do anything else, we’ll all be unhappy!”

Cindy had done the courageous thing; she had faced God’s will and decided that she wanted to work out her own salvation—her own Christian life—and not what somebody else wanted her to do. One of the wonderful things about being a Christian is the knowledge that God has a plan for our lives (Eph. 2:10) and will help us to work it out for His glory. Our God is a God of infinite variety! No two flowers are the same, no two snowflakes are the same; why should two Christians be the same? All of us must be like Christ, but we must also be ourselves.

The phrase “work out your own salvation” probably has reference particularly to the special problems in the church at Philippi; but the statement also applies to the individual Christian. We are not to be “cheap imitations” of other people, especially “great Christians.” We are to follow only what we see of Christ in their lives. “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Every “great saint” has feet of clay and ultimately may disappoint you, but Jesus Christ can never fail you.

In Philippians 2:14-15, Paul contrasts the life of the believer with the lives of those who live in the world. Unsaved people complain and find fault, but Christians rejoice. Society around us is “twisted and distorted,” but the Christian stands straight because he measures his life by God’s Word, the perfect standard. The world is dark, but Christians shine as bright lights. The world has nothing to offer, but the Christian holds out the Word of life, the message of salvation through faith in Christ. In other words, as we allow God to achieve this purpose in our lives, we become better witnesses in a world that desperately needs Christ. Apply these characteristics to Jesus and you will see that He lived a perfect life in an imperfect world.

It is important to note that this purpose is achieved “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” (Phil. 2:15). Paul does not admonish us to retreat from the world and go into a spiritual isolation ward. It is only as we are confronted with the needs and problems of real life that we can begin to become more like Christ. The Pharisees were so isolated and insulated from reality that they developed an artificial kind of self-righteousness that was totally unlike the righteousness God wanted them to have. Consequently, the Pharisees forced a religion of fear and bondage on the people (read Matt. 23), and they crucified Christ because He dared to oppose that kind of religion. It is not by leaving the world but by ministering to it that we see God’s purpose fulfilled in our lives.

Understand Your Example -- So then, (2:12a)

The first element of believers’ working out their sanctification is understanding Christ’s example. So then translates the Greek particle hoôste, which was used to draw a conclusion from a preceding statement. Here it refers back to the example of Jesus Christ, whose perfect model of humility, submission, and obedience was described in verses 5–8. In His incarnation, Jesus did not cling to His equality with God the Father, but emptied Himself of His divine rights and prerogatives. Taking the form of a humble bond-servant, He
was obedient to His heavenly Father, even to the point of dying on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. It is also true that the self-emptying of the Son of God placed Him in the role of a servant to the will of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest realities of the Incarnation was the fact that what Jesus
did He did in the Spirit’s power (Luke 4:1, 14, 18; 5:17; Acts 10:38; cf. Matt. 12:18, 28–32). The essence of living the Christian life is being obedient like Him: “The one who says he abides in [Christ] ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6).

Understand That You Are Loved  -- my beloved, (2:12b)

Paul’s next words suggest a second element of believers’ working out their sanctification—understanding that they are greatly loved. My beloved was unmistakably a word of comfort and encouragement. The apostle knew that the Philippians would face many disappointments and failures as they sought to
follow the Lord’s example in living for Him. Paul’s love for them reflected Christ’s love for His church (cf. 1:8).

Paul was well aware of their weaknesses and shortcomings. He understood the dangers they faced from worldly false teachers, including both Jewish legalists and Gentile libertines. All of them were “enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Phil. 3:18–19). He knew of the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche, sisters in Christ whom he admonished “to live in harmony in the Lord” (4:2). It is likely that many believers in the church were inclined to be proud, hence the urgent call to follow Christ’s example of
humility (2:1–8). Just as the Lord did with him and does with all of His children, the apostle made allowance for their failures. They did not serve a hard, merciless deity, as did their pagan neighbors. They served a merciful, forgiving, gracious Lord who was always willing to restore them to fellowship with Himself.

Despite their imperfections, the Philippian believers were Paul’s and the Lord’s beloved brothers and sisters, for whom he longed “with the affection of Christ Jesus” (1:8). In 4:1 he twice speaks of them as his “beloved,” and as his “joy and crown,” whom he longed to see and entreated to “stand firm in the Lord.” He understood that, like himself, they had not yet “become perfect,” that they, too, were pressing on to “lay hold of that for which [they had been] laid hold of by Christ Jesus,” not regarding themselves “as having laid hold of it yet; … forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,” and were faithfully pressing “on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:12–14).

Paul’s charge for them to work out their salvation was not an indifferent directive. It was rather an affectionate call to follow Christ’s example in confidence of His love by practicing the things they had “learned and received and heard and seen” in Paul (4:9).

Understand Obedience  -- just as you have always obeyed, (2:12c)

The third element of believers’ working out their sanctification is understanding the need for obedience to the Lord. Paul encourages the Philippians to continue in faithful submission to God’s will. Obeyed translates a form of hupakouoô, a compound verb composed of the preposition hupo and the verb akouoô, from which the English word acoustics derives. The compound verb has the basic meaning of placing oneself under what has been heard, and therefore of submitting and obeying. A believer obviously must listen to God’s Word if he is to be obedient to it, so this is indirectly an appeal for believers to continue to study and obey Scripture (cf. Matt. 28:19–20).

Lydia obeyed the Word that she heard Paul preach. She was already a worshiper of God, and as she “was listening, … the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). So, too, did the Philippian jailer, who may have been among those to whom the apostle was now writing. After Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house, … he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household” (Acts 16:32–33). In much the same way, the Jews in Berea “received the word with great eagerness,” because they were “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

God’s command to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration is His command to everyone: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matt. 17:5). To preach the gospel is more than merely sharing one’s faith and offering an invitation; it is to call sinners to obey God, “to
bring about the obedience of faith … for His name’s sake” (Rom. 1:5). To be saved is to “obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:8; cf. Rom. 6:17; 1 Peter 1:2). Believers are to “be careful how [they] walk, not as unwise men but as wise” (Eph. 5:15). Paul wrote to Titus: “Concerning these things I want you to
speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men” (Titus 3:8). The writer of Hebrews charges fellow believers: “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience” (Heb. 4:11). Jesus’ Great Commission includes the command to teach converts from “all the nations … to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:19–20). Obedience is essential to sanctification, which cannot take place without it.

Understand Personal Responsibilities and Resources  -- not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, (2:12d)

The fourth aspect of believers’ working out their sanctification is understanding their personal responsibilities and resources. Because believers are sinful, they are inclined to be self-justifying, blaming circumstances or other people for their problems and failures. Paul commends the Philippians for their
faithful pattern of obedience to Christ while they were in his presence. But he goes on to say that they were just as obligated to obey during his absence.

The bond of affection between Paul and the church at Philippi was particularly deep and strong. Those believers had had the unbelievable privilege of being taught by Paul—perhaps the greatest teacher of God’s Word the world has ever seen, except for the Lord Jesus Christ. Much of what he preached, taught, and wrote became Scripture, including thirteen New Testament books. It could hardly have been otherwise that many of the Philippian believers developed an exceptionally strong dependence on that noble servant of God.

But at the time of this writing, Paul was hundreds of miles away, incarcerated in Rome. The only means of contact were letters, such as the present one, and occasional reports from mutual friends. But as disappointing and challenging as the situation was, Paul reminds them that their spiritual responsibility was not to him but to the Lord. They were to obey the Lord in spite of Paul’s absence.

The apostle repeats an admonition he made earlier: “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (1:27). His point is that there is
never a time when a true believer is not responsible to obey the Lord. Believers must never be primarily dependent on their pastor, teacher, Christian fellowship, or anyone else for their spiritual strength and growth. Their supreme example is the Lord Jesus Christ, and their true power comes from the Holy Spirit.
Believers, gratefully, are never without Christ’s example and never without the Spirit’s power.

Understand the Consequences of Sin  -- work out your salvation with fear and trembling; (2:12e)

The fifth motive for believers’ working out their sanctification is understanding the consequences of sin. Although God is loving, merciful, and forgiving, He nevertheless holds believers accountable for disobedience. Like John, Paul understood well that “if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8–9). Knowing that he serves a holy and just God, the faithful believer will always live with fear and trembling. Fear translates phobos, which describes fright or terror (cf. Matt. 14:26; Luke 21:26; 1 Cor. 2:3) as well as reverential awe (cf. Acts 2:43; 9:31; 2 Cor. 5:11; 7:1). Trembling is from tromos, which refers to shaking and is the word from which the English word
tremor derives. Both of those are proper reactions to the awareness of one’s own spiritual weakness and the power of temptation. The Lord seeks such an attitude in His children, as His words in Isaiah 66:2 indicate: “To this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

An important Old Testament truth is “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10; cf. Prov. 1:7; 9:10). This is not a fear of being doomed to eternal torment, nor a hopeless dread of judgment that leads to despair. It is rather a reverential fear, a holy concern to give God the honor He deserves and avoid
the chastening of His displeasure. Such fear protects against temptation and sin and gives motivation for obedient, righteous living.

Aware of his own personal weakness, Paul spoke of his “fear and … trembling” as he ministered to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 2:3), and later of those believers who received Titus with the same kind of “fear and trembling” (2 Cor. 7:15). This kind of “fear and trembling” is closely related both to obedience to the Lord and to love and affection for Him and for fellow believers. It is for that reason that Solomon could declare: “How blessed [happy] is the man who fears always” (Prov. 28:14).

Such fear involves self-distrust, a sensitive conscience, and being on guard against temptation. It necessitates opposing pride, and being constantly aware of the deceitfulness of one’s heart, as well as of the subtlety and strength of one’s inner corruption. It is a dread that seeks to avoid anything that would offend and dishonor God.

Believers should have a serious dread of sin and yearning for what is right before God (cf. Rom. 7:14ff.). Aware of their weakness and the power of temptation, they should fear falling into sin and thereby grieving the Lord. Godly fear protects them from wrongfully influencing fellow believers, compromising their ministry and testimony to the unbelieving world, enduring the Lord’s chastening, and from sacrificing joy.

To have such godly fear and trembling involves more than merely acknowledging one’s sinfulness and spiritual weakness. It is the solemn, reverential fear that springs from deep adoration and love. It acknowledges that every sin is an offense against holy God and produces a sincere desire not to
offend and grieve Him, but to obey, honor, please, and glorify Him in all things. Those who fear the Lord willingly accept the Lord’s chastening, knowing that God “disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness” (Heb. 12:10). This fear and trembling will cause believers to pray earnestly for God’s help in avoiding sin, as the Lord taught them: “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver [rescue] us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). That prayer again reflects the spiritual tension that exists between believers’ duty and God’s power.

Work out translates a present middle imperative of katergazomai and indicates a command that has a continuing emphasis. The idea is, “Keep on working out to completion, to ultimate fulfillment.” Heautoôn, here rendered your, actually has the more emphatic meaning of “your own.” The command is for believers to make a continuing, sustained effort to work out to ultimate completion their salvation, which has been graciously granted to them by God through their faith in Jesus Christ.

The principle of working out salvation has two aspects. The first pertains to personal conduct, to faithful, obedient daily living. Such obedience obviously involves active commitment and personal effort, for which Scripture is replete with injunctions, both negative and positive. Sin in every form is to be renounced
and put off and replaced by righteous thinking. Believers are to cleanse themselves “from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1), setting their minds “on the things above, not on the things that are on earth,” because they have died to sin and their lives are now “hidden
with Christ in God” (Col. 3:2–3). Just as they once “presented [their] members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness,” they should “now present [their] members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification” (Rom. 6:19), walking “in a manner worthy of the calling with
which [they] have been called” (Eph. 4:1).

The apostle exhorted the Corinthians to strenuous effort in living the Christian life:

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I
myself will not be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:24–27)

His words later in the present letter also demand aggressive Christian living:

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained. (Phil. 3:12–16)

He exhorted Timothy: “Flee from these [evil] things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:11–
12; cf. 4:15–16; Heb. 12:1–3).

To the Colossians Paul wrote:

So, those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be
thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Col. 3:12–17; cf. vv. 5–11)

If living the Christian life were merely a matter of passive yielding and surrender, of “letting go and letting God,” then such admonitions not only would be superfluous but presumptuous. But those injunctions, and countless others like them throughout God’s Word, presuppose believers’ personal responsibility for
obedience. They must choose to live righteously, to work out their salvation in daily living, while at the same time realizing that all the power for that obedience comes from God’s Spirit.

The second aspect of working out one’s salvation is perseverance, of faithful obedience to the end. Salvation has three time dimensions: past, present, and future. The past dimension is that of justification, when believers placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and were redeemed. The present dimension is sanctification, the time between a believer’s justification and his death or the Rapture. The future aspect is glorification, when salvation is completed and believers receive their glorified bodies. Believers therefore have been saved, are being saved, and will be saved. They are to pursue sanctification in this life to the time of glorification. In that glorious moment believers will see the Lord “face to face” and come to know fully even as they are fully known (1 Cor. 13:12). They “will be like Him, because [they] will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). It was for that glorious moment that Paul so deeply longed. Looking forward to that time he exclaimed:

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:8–14)

Because the fulfillment of that hope was a divinely decreed certainty, Paul could say with complete confidence that “salvation is nearer to us than when we believed” (Rom. 13:11). Although it is not yet completed, the testimony of Scripture is that every believer’s salvation is utterly secure.

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus declared, “The one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matt. 24:13). Paul and Barnabas urged new believers in Pisidian Antioch “to continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43) and encouraged “them to continue in the faith” (14:22). In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul declared
that God will give eternal life “to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality” (Rom. 2:7; cf. 11:22). He promised the Colossians that Christ would present them before God the Father “blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed [they] continue in the faith firmly established and
steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that [they] have heard” (Col. 1:22–23). He admonished Timothy: “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1 Tim. 4:16). The writer
of Hebrews notes, “We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end” (Heb. 3:14; cf. 8:9; 10:38–39; cf. James 1:22–25). In each of His letters to the seven churches in Asia, the Lord described believers as overcomers (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21).

Perseverance in the faith is the duty of every true believer, and yet not the power of their security. It is, however, the unmistakable and inevitable evidence of divine power operating in the soul (Col. 1:29).

Believers will persevere because God’s power keeps their salvation secure. Jesus repeatedly emphasized that truth. To the multitudes at Capernaum, He declared emphatically that “all that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:37, 39). Later, in Jerusalem, He declared, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:28–29; cf. 17:2, 12, 24; 18:9). Earlier in Philippians, Paul wrote that he was “confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (1:6). Peter gave believers a similar assurance, saying that they “are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5).

From beginning to end, the entire divine work of salvation is under God’s control. In a well-loved passage Paul wrote,

We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Rom. 8:28–30)

To the Ephesians he wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:8–10).

So the call for believers to work out their salvation is found all through the New Testament. That is only fitting and proper, since it is a call for the necessary commitment on the believer’s part that is a prerequisite for the joys, blessings, and usefulness of sanctification.

(2:13) Salvation—Obedience: the second work of salvation is to obey. Believers are to work out their salvation by working at obedience—by obeying the stirrings of God within their hearts.

“It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

The word “worketh” (energon) means to energize. God arouses, stirs, and energizes the heart of the believer to do God’s will. This is a most wonderful truth. Just think about it: we all experience movements and stirrings within our heart toward God. These stirrings are of God. God is working within us—energizing us—giving us both the will and power to do what pleases Him.

As stated, this is a most wonderful truth. Our duty is to grab hold of the stirrings—not to let them pass. We are to grab hold of them and do exactly what the stirrings are arousing and energizing us to do.

This is a most wonderful truth. It means that God does not leave us alone to work out our salvation and deliverance. He works within us: moves, stirs, energizes, and arouses us to get up and get to it. And whatever the energy points toward is what we need to do. God uses the energy and stirring to direct and guide us. The point to see is that God is forever working within us—never leaving us alone—working and stirring us to complete our salvation.

The tragedy is this: ignoring, neglecting, and refusing to respond to the stirrings and workings of God. When we feel the stirrings, we desperately need to respond and do whatever God is stirring us to do. Just think how often the stirrings are rejected, ignored, or neglected. How often we continue to sit or go about our own affairs instead of heeding the working and stirring of God. How complacent and lethargic we are. Just think how much growth we lose and how often we must cut the heart of God to the core—all because we choose the things, possessions, and activities of this world instead of Him and His stirrings.

The principle Paul lays down is this: God must work in us before He can work through us. This principle is seen at work throughout the Bible in the lives of men like Moses, David, the Apostles, and others. God had a special purpose for each man to fulfill, and each man was unique and not an imitation of somebody else. For example, it took God forty years to bring Moses to the place where He could use him to lead the people of Israel. As Moses tended sheep during those forty years, God was working in him so that one day He might work through him. God is more interested in the workman than in the work. If the workman is what he ought to be, the work will be what it ought to be.

Too many Christians obey God only because of pressure on the outside, and not power on the inside. Paul warned the Philippians that not his presence with them but their desire to obey God and please Him was the important thing (Phil. 1:27; 2:12). They could not build their lives on Paul because he might not be with them very long. It is sad to see the way some ministries in the church weaken or fall apart because of a change in leadership. We have a tendency to please men, and to obey God only when others are watching. But when you surrender to the power of God within you, then obedience becomes a delight and not a battle.

The power that works in us is the power of the Holy Spirit of God (John 14:16-17, 26; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 6:19-20). Our English word energy comes from the word translated “worketh” in Philippians 2:13. It is God’s divine energy at work in us and through us! The same Holy Spirit who empowered Christ when He was ministering on earth can empower us as well. But we must recognize the fact that the energy of the flesh (Rom. 7:5) and of the devil (Eph. 2:2; 2 Thes. 2:7) are also at work. Because of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, God’s divine energy is available to us (Eph. 1:18-23). The power is here, but how do we use it? What “tools” does God use, by His Spirit, to work in our lives? There are three “tools”: the Word of God, prayer, and suffering.

GOD’S ROLE IN SANCTIFICATION  (2:13)

As the previous chapter stated, there are two equal and opposite errors into which Christians may fall concerning the doctrine of sanctification. On the one hand, quietists stress God’s role in sanctification, to the virtual exclusion of any human effort. Pietists, in contrast, emphasize self-effort at the expense of reliance
on God’s power. In Philippians 2:12–13, the apostle Paul avoids both of those unbiblical extremes, and presents the true balanced view of sanctification.

Having presented the believer’s responsibility in sanctification in 2:12, Paul in verse 13 focused on God’s role in the believer’s sanctification. While the believer is working “out,” God is working “in.” In fact, apart from the reality of verse 13, the fulfillment of verse 12 would be impossible.

Jesus stressed that truth in the Upper Room Discourse, given to His disciples on the night before His death: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he
bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4–5).

In this verse, Paul indicates the divine work in sanctification by emphasizing five key features about God: His person, His power, His presence, His purpose, and His pleasure.

His Person  -- for it is God (2:13a)

The first truth about God’s part in believers’ sanctification is His personhood, which is made clear by the personal pronouns who and His and by the verbs to will and to work.

Most pagan deities are described as impersonal, remote, and indifferent. That is not surprising, because false gods are fabricated by men out of fear and superstition. Even those that have personal characteristics are not portrayed as desiring fellowship with their worshipers. Understandably, their worshipers have no desire to fellowship with them. Since these false gods are fronts for demons, what the demons do impersonating the deities is only evil and harmful. That guarantees that they are worshiped solely for the purpose of appeasement—negatively to assuage the deities’ anger and thus to avoid problems, and positively to gain health, prosperity, power, and other benefits.

But the true and living God of Scripture is real and personal. The Bible does not try to prove that God is a person because it assumes that reality. In both testaments He is spoken of in anthropomorphic (human-like) terms, such as having eyes and seeing, of having ears and hearing, of having feet and walking, of loving and hating, weeping and laughing, condemning and forgiving. He thinks, feels, acts, and speaks—all elements of personhood. As a person, He has a personal concern for mankind, and especially for His children. That personal concern is seen in His work in believers.

The God of Scripture has unimaginable love for fallen, sinful mankind, which has rebelled against Him, blasphemed Him, and vilified Him. He has such great love for them “that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the
world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16–17). It is not the Lord’s will “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

For those who belong to Him, the God of Scripture has even greater love and the closest of personal relationships. In the Old Testament (Isa. 63:16; 64:8), and especially in the New (cf. Matt. 5:16, 45, 48; 6:1, 9; 23:9), He is referred to as His people’s Father. Adam and Eve, Moses, and many other Old Testament
saints spoke with God directly. “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11). The prophet Malachi wrote that

those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. “They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” (Mal. 3:16–17)

The omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Creator and Sustainer of the universe loves His children with everlasting love and kindness. God protects them according to His everlasting covenant and promises, forgives and cleanses with everlasting grace through His Son, and calls, gifts, and empowers them by
His Spirit for spiritual service with everlasting impact. He sanctifies and will glorify those whom He has justified, bringing them into His heavenly kingdom to live with Him for all eternity.

No wonder Paul exulted: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom.
11:33–36)

His Power -- who is at work (2:13b)

The second essential truth emphasized here about God’s part in believers’ sanctification is His divine power. Above all else, it is God who is at work in the lives of His children. He calls them to obey, and then, through His sovereign power, empowers their obedience. He calls them to His service, and then empowers their service. He calls them to holiness, and then empowers them to pursue holiness.

Work is from the verb energeoô, the source of the English word energy. God energizes His children to obey and serve Him; His power enables their sanctification. As noted in the previous chapter, believers can do nothing holy or righteous in their own power or resources. Just as no one can be justified by the work of the flesh (Rom. 3:20), so no one can be “perfected [sanctified] by the flesh” (Gal. 3:3). Paul confessed that “nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not” (Rom. 7:18). He confessed that “by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). He encouraged the Corinthians to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,” because he could assure them “that [their] toil [was] not in vain in the Lord” (v. 58). Paul did not underestimate the importance of faithful obedience. But he knew that underlying all acceptable service is the gracious power of God. It is “not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves,” he wrote, “but our adequacy is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5). He reminded the Ephesians that he “was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to [him] according to the working of His power,” and rejoiced, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:7, 20–21).

Before Jesus gave the Great Commission, “Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” He reminded the disciples that “all authority [or power] has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18–20). And before He gave the final call to “be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth,” He promised the disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8).

It is important that believers minister to each other, because that is God’s will (Gal. 5:13). It is also God’s will that preachers and teachers minister to the church (Eph. 4:11–13). It is important that the holy angels minister to believers, because God sends out those “ministering spirits … to render service for the sake
of those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). But above all else, God Himself is believers’ supreme and indispensable resource and power. The wonder of all wonders is that it is God who is at work in them. Paul summed it up in Colossians 1:29 when he said, “I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”

It is for that reason that sanctification will continue throughout the believer’s life (1:6). Those whom God justifies He invariably sanctifies. He will accomplish His will by saving and preserving those who come to Him (John 6:40, 44). David understood that great truth when he wrote, “The Lord is my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1).
He knew that he would not lack anything he needed (v. 1), that God would protect him (v. 4) and guide him (v. 3). Above all, David had the divine assurance that he would live forever in God’s presence (v. 6).

In perhaps the most magnificent passage declaring God’s preservation of believers Paul wrote,

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us
from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:31–39)

The revival under King Hezekiah illustrates God at work in the lives of His people. That mighty spiritual work began with the restoration of the temple. Hezekiah charged the Levites, “Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place …. My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense” (2 Chron. 29:5, 11). The next day, “King Hezekiah arose early and assembled the princes of the city and went up to the house of the Lord” (v. 20). Later, he called all the city together, and everyone “rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people” (v. 36). Continuing his pursuit of spiritual revival, “Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and
Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel” (30:1). A decree was circulated throughout the country, calling the people to the long-neglected Passover feast. The edict included both a warning and a promise:

Do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before those who led them captive and will return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you
return to Him” (vv. 8–9).

The people responded favorably because “the hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord” (v. 12). God commanded His people to return to Him and then gave them the heart to do it, graciously energizing the fulfillment of His command.

His Presence --in you, (2:13c)

The third essential truth about God’s part in believers’ sanctification is His divine presence. The preposition in is often featured in Paul’s writings as he records the beloved truth that Jesus Christ dwells in believers (cf. Rom. 8:9–10; Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27). The Lord Himself spoke of His indwelling presence in John 17:22–23: “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

David understood and gloried in the reality of the Lord’s continual presence with him: “You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways” (Ps. 139:3). As noted above, the Lord was his Shepherd, who never forsook or neglected him or failed to protect him and abundantly provide for his needs (Ps. 23). In ways that are far beyond human comprehension, God indwells His people, both as individuals and collectively in the church. Jesus promised the disciples and all future believers: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:16–17; cf. Acts 1:8). Perhaps because of their immaturity and
worldliness, Paul reminded the Corinthians of that truth at least three times. “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16), he asked rhetorically. Later he added, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from
God, and that you are not your own?” (6:19). In his second epistle he wrote, “We are the temple of the living God; just as God said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (2 Cor. 6:16; cf. Ex. 29:45; Heb. 13:5).

God works unceasingly for the welfare of His people (Rom. 8:28). His holiness, wisdom, power, love, presence, and mercy are infinite. Having begun their new life in Christ through the power of His Spirit, believers are perfected by that same divine power. Because some believers in the Galatian churches were
seeking to live by their own wisdom and resources, Paul asked in dismay, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3).

His Purpose -- both to will and to work (2:13d)

The fourth essential truth emphasized here, which is at the heart of God’s work in believers’ sanctification, is His divine purpose. That purpose is revealed by what He energizes believers to do—to will and to work.

The phrase both to will and to work is best interpreted as referring not to God’s will and work but to that of believers. The will to do what is right before God must precede any effective work that is done toward that end. A genuine desire to do God’s will, as well as the power to obey it, originates with Him.

To will is from theloô, which refers to thoughtful, purposeful choice, not to mere whim or emotional desire. It is what the psalmist had in mind when he prayed, “Incline my heart to Your testimonies” (Ps. 119:36; cf. 110:3) and what Ezra spoke of when he reported that “the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:5; cf. 7:27). Later Ezra gave thanks that God also inclined the heart of King Artaxerxes of Persia to permit the Jews “to adorn the house of the Lord
which is in Jerusalem” (7:27). Proverbs declares that “the king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Prov. 21:1).

God uses two means to move believers’ wills. First is what might be called holy discontent, the humble recognition that one’s life always falls short of God’s standard of holiness. When Isaiah beheld “the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple,” he could only exclaim in
reverential fear, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:1, 5). Like all righteous people, he was dissatisfied with his spiritual state—a dissatisfaction immeasurably intensified by that awesome experience. Although Paul could say, “I am conscious of nothing against myself,” he was quick to add, “yet I am not by this acquitted” (1 Cor. 4:4). As carefully and honestly as he examined his life, he knew that his finite perception could not detect every sin or spiritual shortcoming. His holy discontent led him to lament in his letter to the church at Rome, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24).

The second means God uses to move believers’ wills is holy aspiration, the positive side of holy discontent. After He instills a genuine hatred of sin, He cultivates a genuine desire for righteousness. After He makes believers discontent with what they are, He gives them the aspiration to greater holiness. Above all, it is the desire to be like Christ, “to become conformed to the image of [God’s] Son” (Rom. 8:29). In Philippians Paul brings together his own holy discontent and holy aspiration when he confesses:

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (3:12–14)

Holy resolve leads to holy living. A godly will produces godly work.

It cannot be overemphasized that only God can produce in believers the will or the work that He commands of them. To work is from energeoô, which refers to being energized and active in a particular endeavor. James noted that “every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Understanding that truth, the writer of Hebrews wrote, “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ” (Heb. 13:20–21).

Just as believers are not saved by good works but wholly by God’s grace working through their faith (Eph. 2:8–9), so also they are sanctified by His grace working through their obedience. They are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that [they]
would walk in them” (v. 10). Just as believers are sovereignly predestined to salvation, so also are they predestined to sanctification. Again, Romans 8 is helpful:

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Rom. 8:29–30)

His Pleasure -- for His good pleasure. (2:13e)

The fifth and final essential reality about God’s part in believers’ sanctification is the overwhelming truth that God works in their sanctification for His own good pleasure. His will for believers is that they think and do what pleases Him. Although that is accomplished primarily by His own power, when His children seek His will and do His work, it brings Him great pleasure. Good pleasure translates eudokias, which expresses great enjoyment and satisfaction. Because God is infinitely self-sufficient, one cannot but wonder how anything or anyone, especially a sinful human being, could add to His satisfaction. Yet that clearly is what Paul is saying. Even when they were weak, vacillating, and fearful, Jesus assured the disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Giving
a place in His kingdom to His children brings God great pleasure.

Because believers’ sanctification brings Him satisfaction, God grants them the resources to pursue it. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ … [and has] made known to us the mystery of His will,
according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him” (Eph. 1:3, 9). To the Thessalonians he added that God will “fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power” (2 Thess. 1:11).

Even when they rebel against Him, God still desires to bless His people if they turn and obey. Isaiah addressed these encouraging words to wayward Israel: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6–7). Through Hosea, the Lord said to His beloved people, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? … My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled. I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath” (Hos. 11:8–9).

Believers’ supreme purpose is to obey, worship, and glorify God, and their fulfilling that purpose brings pleasure to Him. That magnificent truth is one of the many unique realities of Christianity. The sovereign God of the universe takes personal pleasure in what He Himself inspires and empowers His redeemed
children to be and to do.

Every Christian should understand that sanctification takes his most strenuous effort, but is nonetheless totally dependant on God’s power. Like many other truths of Scripture, those seemingly irreconcilable realities are hard to understand. Having done all they can, believers are to give God all the credit. Just as the Lord instructed, after they have done “all the things which are commanded,” they are to confess, “We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done” (Luke 17:10).

(2:14) Murmuring—Division: believers are to work out their salvation by working at not murmuring and disputing or arguing. The word “murmuring” (goggusmon) means to mutter, murmur, grumble, and complain. Note: it means the quiet, soft, behind-the-back, undertone of murmuring and grumbling. It is the kind of criticism, dissatisfaction, fault-finding and gossip that goes on within small groups or cliques.

The word “disputings” (dialogismon) means arguments, outward and vocal questionings, and expressions of doubt. Simply stated, it is just as Scripture says: disputes or arguments that have broken out into the open.

Modern Western society is by far the most prosperous culture in the history of mankind. Except for the very poor, people have all they need and much of what they want; yet many are seldom satisfied. Consequently, ours is also arguably the most discontented society ever. As the economy has become increasingly richer, people appear more discontent and complain more with each passing generation. Adding to the discontent are the fantasy worlds of movies, television, and advertising. The media, to create dissatisfaction, continually assault with the intent the senses with alluring and often unrealistic images that have been described as “plastic perfection.” Fueling that enchantment is the staunch conviction that personal happiness, though elusive and unattained, is the supreme objective of life.

I once heard a sociologist observe that the typical modern young person lives in a state of sullen discontent, continually dissatisfied with things as they are. Part of the problem, he suggested, is small families, in which fewer children are able to demand more of their parents’ attention and do not have to share anything with brothers and sisters. Combined with affluence and materialism, that situation tends to produce selfish, self-indulgent children who are never content with what they have. Instead of bending to the needs of the family, as is necessary in larger families, the family bends to them. Absent parents, gone to work, shop, and play, try quick fixes for their children’s demands, usually giving them what they want to stop the conflict. Children in that situation have little desire to grow up, realizing that adult society will not cater to their every whim. They want to postpone the responsibilities of a job, marriage and family, and other such commitments as long as possible, because those things demand a considerable degree of conformity to others. When such children become adults and don’t get what they want when they want it, discontentment increases, as do frustration, anger, anxiety, and complaining.

Discontentment also breeds impatience, another defining characteristic of our times. Among the seemingly endless causes of impatience, and often hostility, are long lines, interruptions, talkative people, rude people, high prices, traffic jams, inconsiderate drivers, and crying babies. The last two have actually become causes of serious crime. Inconsiderate drivers often produce road rage, which, with increasing frequency, results in gunfire and even murder. Crying babies have led to child abuse, which occasionally results in the murder of a helpless baby.

Mounting discontent through the years produces the trauma of a so-called “mid-life crisis.” That phenomenon is the reality that there is less of life ahead than behind, and the dreams of bliss are dying.

The biblical commands to believers not to complain (cf. James 5:9; 1 Peter 4:9) are evidence that the church is not immune from discontent. The church today has more than its share of malcontents and complainers. People often leave a church because their children don’t like it, or because they are dissatisfied with some minor aspect of leadership, organization, or policy. Churches that promote self-esteem and self-fulfillment fuel the fires of discontent and complaining. Churches devoted to entertainment and meeting felt needs also create expectations for superficial satisfaction that they continually have to try to meet.

Adam was the first complainer. Immediately after he disobeyed God, he blamed Eve for his sin, complaining to the Lord that “the woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate” (Gen. 3:12). Instead of blaming himself, he blamed God. Some years later, his firstborn, Cain, complained bitterly to God that his punishment for murdering his brother Abel was too severe (4:13–14). Moses complained to the Lord because He did not deliver Israel from Pharaoh quickly enough (Ex. 5:22–23). After God miraculously delivered them by drowning the pursuing Egyptians in the Red Sea, Moses and the people sang a glorious song of praise to the Lord (Ex. 15:1–18). But after going only three days into the wilderness, they complained again because the water at Marah was not fit to drink. The Lord graciously responded by making that water sweet and then leading them to an oasis at Elim, “where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters” (vv. 23–27; cf. 17:1–7). Shortly after that, however, the people were grumbling again, this time about a supposed lack of food (16:2–8).

After Caleb, Joshua, and the other men returned from spying out the land of Canaan, Caleb “quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it’” (Num. 13:30). Except for Caleb and Joshua, however, the other spies were afraid and faithless, telling their fellow Israelites,

“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (vv. 31–33)

Because of those men’s faithless complaining, “All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!’” (14:2). They then grumbled against God, saying, “‘Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’ So they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt’” (vv. 3–4). Their complaining turned into outright rebellion as they determined to stone Caleb and Joshua, and perhaps Moses and Aaron as well (v. 10). They rejected God’s plan, God’s chosen leaders, and God Himself. In response,

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? … Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it …. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall i