In Philippians 2:12, there is a command that states to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Our natural human tendency is to fall into a ditch on either side of the road regarding this command. The first ditch we can fall in is to simply assume that the verse does not exist. The second ditch is to assume that now we must work for our salvation. Both ditches lead us to error and error always leads to wrong living.
Thankfully, the Bible is clear when we understand it as a whole. First, the Bible never teaches that we can earn our salvation by the works or good things that we do. There is no scale to determine if our good outweighs our bad. Understanding what the Bible says about sin should help us to understand that our bad will always far outweigh our good. The Law in the Bible demands perfect obedience. The Epistle of James teaches that if you break one command, you have broken them all. This domino effect of sin leads us to understand that salvation can only be by God’s grace alone. Thus, it is humanly impossible to work for our salvation.
However, we should not fall into the ditch of simply overlooking this passage and pretending that it is not there. It is. And it calls us as Christians to do something. What is that something? The Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle Paul is commanding Christians to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. What does Paul mean by salvation in the context of this verse?
I believe that the Bible is very clear that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. All the work necessary to save us was accomplished by Jesus Christ. You and I bring nothing to the transaction of salvation except the sin that makes salvation necessary. The moment a person has faith in Christ, that aspect of salvation is called justification. As the Bible says, we are justified by faith. There is also a future aspect of salvation that we call glorification. The Apostle John tells us in his first epistle that when we see Christ, we will also be like Him. That will take a transformation. Being saved means that we are justified. In the future it means we will be glorified or made into the likeness of Jesus Christ in His perfection.
Paul is speaking of the second part our salvation in Philippians 2:12 that the Bible calls sanctification. Now here is where the verse begins to become clear in our mind. I cannot work for my justification. That is God’s work. So is my glorification. But God has called His people to obedience. He has called us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we have received. Here is the great news. If you read Philippians 2:13, you will see that it is the power and will and work of God in us that is producing this obedience and life transformation.
Here is what we have to say in order to strike a balance. The work of sanctification is a Spirit empowered and Spirit motivated activity that believers are engaged in for the entirety of their Christian lives. From the moment of salvation until either physical death or the return of Christ, we are working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. How do we do this? We simply submit ourselves to the Word of God and obey what God says relying upon His power to transform us more and more to the likeness of Jesus. So Christian, how is your submission to the Word of God? What would God say about that?
Joe Tolin, Kingman Presbyterian Church
