Philippians 2:12

2:12-18 We must be diligent in the use of all the means which lead to our salvation, persevering therein to the end. With great care, lest, with all our advantages, we should come short. Work out your salvation, for it is God who worketh in you. This encourages us to do our utmost, because our labour shall not be in vain: we must still depend on the grace of God. The working of God's grace in us, is to quicken and engage our endeavours. God's good-will to us, is the cause of his good work in us. Do your duty without murmurings. Do it, and do not find fault with it. Mind your work, and do not quarrel with it. By peaceableness; give no just occasion of offence. The children of God should differ from the sons of men. The more perverse others are, the more careful we should be to keep ourselves blameless and harmless. The doctrine and example of consistent believers will enlighten others, and direct their way to Christ and holiness, even as the light-house warns mariners to avoid rocks, and directs their course into the harbour. Let us try thus to shine. The gospel is the word of life, it makes known to us eternal life through Jesus Christ. Running, denotes earnestness and vigour, continual pressing forward; labouring, denotes constancy, and close application. It is the will of God that believers should be much in rejoicing; and those who are so happy as to have good ministers, have great reason to rejoice with them.

{4} Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, {m} work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (4) The conclusion: we must go on to salvation with humility and submission by the way of our vocation. (m) He is said to make an end of his salvation who runs in the race of righteousness.

Php 2:12 . Ὥστε , therefore ) He sets Christ before us as an example, and infers, that we should maintain the salvation which Christ has procured for us.— ὑπηκούσατε , ye have obeyed ) me, exhorting you to salvation , and have obeyed God Himself; comp. obedient , Php 2:8 .— μετὰ φοβοῦ καὶ τρόμου , with fear and trembling ) You ought to be ‘servants,’ according to the example of Christ; Php 2:8 : moreover fear and trembling become a servant; Ephesians 6:5 , i.e. humility; comp. Romans 11:20 . Joh. Jac. Wolfius has observed, in his MS. exegesis of the Ep. to the Phil., Paul, though filled with joy, still writes seriously.— ἐαυτῶν , your own ) In this department, indeed, look each of you at his own things; comp. Php 2:4 , your own , he says; because I cannot be present with you, be you therefore the more careful of yourselves.— σωτηρίαν , salvation ) that which is in Jesus .— κατεργάζεσθε , work out ) even to the end.

Not as in my presence only Connect with work out, not with obeyed. Do not work out your salvation as though impelled to action by my presence merely. Much more Than if I were present; for in my absence even greater zeal and care are necessary. Work out your own salvation (τὴν ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίαν κατεργάζασθε). Carry out "to the goal" (Bengel). Complete. See on Romans 7:8. Your own salvation. There is a saving work which God only can do for you; but there is also a work which you must do for yourselves. The work of your salvation is not completed in God's work in you. God's work must be carried out by yourselves. "Whatever rest is provided by Christianity for the children of God, it is certainly never contemplated that it should supersede personal effort. And any rest which ministers to indifference is immoral and unreal - it makes parasites and not men. Just because God worketh in him, as the evidence and triumph of it, the true child of God works out his own salvation - works it out having really received it - not as a light thing, a superfluous labor, but with fear and trembling as a reasonable and indispensable service" (Drummond, "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," p. 335). Human agency is included in God's completed work. In the saving work of grace God imparts a new moral power to work. Compare Romans 6:8-13; 2 Corinthians 6:1. Believe as if you had no power. Work as if you had no God. Fear and trembling Compare 2 Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5.

Not slavish terror, but wholesome, serious caution. "This fear is self-distrust; it is tenderness of conscience; it is vigilance against temptation; it is the fear which inspiration opposes to high-mindedness in the admonition 'be not highminded but fear.' It is taking heed lest we fall; it is a constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of the heart, and of the insidiousness and power of inward corruption. It is the caution and circumspection which timidly shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God and the Savior. And these the child of God will feel and exercise the more he rises above the enfeebling, disheartening, distressing influence of the fear which hath torment. Well might Solomon say of such fear, 'happy is the man that feareth alway'" (Wardlaw "On Proverbs," xxviii., 14). Compare 1 Peter 1:17.

12. Wherefore—Seeing that we have in Christ such a specimen of glory resulting from "obedience" (Php 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 [2386]Php 2:8). 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" (Php 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 (2Pe 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 (Php 2:13) it is God that worketh in you," &c.

In this case adopt a rule different from the former (Php 2:4), but resting on the same principle of "lowliness of mind" (Php 2:3), namely, "look each on his own things," instead of "disputings" with others (Php 2:14). salvation—which is in "Jesus" (Php 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 (1Co 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" (Ro 11:20). "Paul, though joyous, writes seriously" [J. J. Wolf].

Verse 12. - 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" ( ὑπηκούσατε ) answers to the γενόμενος ὑπήκοος of Ver. 8, and τὴν ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίαν 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 Ephesians 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. 2 Corinthians 7:15 and Ephesians 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. Philippians 2:12

(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. (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 Philippians 2:8); hence their obedience includes also that willingness to suffer which He Himself has shown. (See Philippians 1:29-30.) To this, perhaps, there is a further allusion in the “fear and trembling” spoken of below. (See 2Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5.) Work out your own salvation.—To “work out” is (as in Ephesians 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 Philippians 1:6); man’s co-operation is secondary and intermediate.

Php 2:12-16 . THE CHRISTIAN LIFE TO BE LED IN A SPIRIT OF AWE AND WATCHFULNESS, AS IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD’S WORKING. On Php 2:12-13 see two important discussions, Schaeder, Greifswalder Studien , pp. 231–260, and Kühl, SK [2]., 1898, pp. 557–580. Php 2:12 . ὥστε . With what does it link the following verses? Paul has returned to practical exhortation. So we should naturally expect him to take up the thread which he dropped at Php 2:6 on turning to the example of Jesus Christ. At that point he had been urging them to be of one mind. But with what aim? Especially in order that they might present an unbroken front in their conflict for the faith. But that brings us back to Php 1:27 ff. And that the connexion of our passage with the earlier paragraph is not arbitrary we may gather from the occurrence of the same idea in both, viz. , that of his own presence and absence. Cf. Php 1:27 b with Php 2:12 b . At the same time there is also a link between Php 2:12-13 and the passage immediately preceding. He introduces his admonition with obedience ( ὑπηκούσατε ). But Christ’s lowliness consisted precisely in His ὑπακοή ( Php 2:8 , ὑπήκοος ). Christ has been exalted as the result ( διό , Php 2:9 ) of humble obedience. Corresponding to His exaltation will be their σωτηρία .— ὑπηκούσατε . We believe that this means obedience to God. See on ὥστε supr. — κατεργάζ . Cf. Galatians 4:18 .— μετὰ φ . κ . τρ . Cf. Ephesians 6:5 , οἱ δοῦλοι , ὑπακούετε τοῖς κατὰ σάρκα κυρίοις μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου

. In both passages the phrase expresses the solemn responsibility to God which is always felt by those conscious of the Divine Presence, whether they are occupied with common tasks or the concerns of their spiritual life. Nihil enim est quod magis ad modestiam et timorem erudire nos debeat quam dum audimus nos sola Dei gratia stare (Calvin). Gunkel ( Wirkungen 2, etc., p. 70) well contrasts the fear with which the Jew looked upon the Divine Presence with the calm joy which the Christian feels in such an experience.— τὴν ἑαυτ . σωτ . Such a use of ἑαυτῶν for ὑμῶν αὐτῶν is much more common in N.T. than in classical Greek. But cf. Demos., Olynth. , i., § 2, εἴπερ σωτηρίας αὑτῶν φροντίζετε . The emphasis is on ἐαυτῶν . Each of them is responsible for his own salvation before God. They must not lean on the Apostle. His absence must make no difference. “For the race is run by one and one and never by two and two” (R. Kipling).— σωτ . This is the end and aim of their faith. See 1 Peter 1:9 , τὸ τέλος τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν σωτηρίαν ψυχῶν .— κατεργ . The best comment on the distinctive force of κατεργ . is 2 Corinthians 7:10 , ἡ γὰρ κατὰ Θεὸν λύπη μετάνοιαν εἰς σωτηρίαν … ἐργάζεται · ἡ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου λύπη θάνατον κατεργάζεται , where ἐργ . refers to a process in its mediate workings, while κατεργ . looks solely at the final result. So here almost = “make sure of your salvation,” “carry it into effect”. Cf. 2 Peter 1:10 .