AP

Philippians 2:12-13   Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.     

Of all the churches for whom he constantly prayed, it was probably the Philippians who gave the Apostle Paul the greatest encouragement.  But he was still very concerned about their ongoing sanctification.  The sin of competition and jealousy was creeping in, with all the grumbling, complaining and self-serving that go with it.  So here in the midst of his exhortation he pleads with them to ‘work out [their] salvation with fear and trembling’.

We note that he is not telling them to work for their salvation, as this would be quite contrary to his understanding of salvation by grace alone (cf Ephesians 2:8-10).  But he is saying to them: “Take very seriously the process by which God makes you holy [sanctifies you]; it is life-and-death stuff, hanging on by the skin of your teeth!”  That’s what he means by ‘with fear and trembling’.

But what if this onerous demand of discipleship seems to them to be too tough a call?  What if they want to give up and just slip back into mediocre discipleship, treating their jealousy, grumbling, complaining and self-serving like ‘minor’ sins that don’t really matter because ‘everyone does them’?

So he reminds them why it is worth keeping on making the effort to be holy: because sanctification is God’s work – “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”.  Not only will the sovereign Lord enable us to do it, it is none other than he who will instil in us the desire and motivation to do it in the first place!  Paul is not afraid to declare the reality of Man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty together in the same sentence!

Why do we quibble over ‘God’s sovereignty’ and ‘Man’s responsibility’ as if they are opposing ideas?  Throughout the Scriptures they are treated as a ‘both-and’ tension rather than an ‘either-or’ decision, as in Joseph’s statement: “You [my brothers] intended to harm me [by selling me into slavery], but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

In other bwords, it is worth our striving hard in obedience because God himself enables us to obey!  I think if meeting this demand depended on my efforts alone, I would want to give up before I even started; and if I didn’t think I was required to do anything at all, just ‘let go and let God’, I would find compromise and accepting too low a standard all too attractive and comfortable, forgetting Jesus’ command in his Sermon on the Mount: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), end endirsed later by his apostle: “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).  No, in the light of Philippians 2:12-13, I will strive for holiness ‘with fear and trembling’, and I’ll give it an honest effort because “it is God who works in [me] to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose”.  So, may all glory be to him!

– Bruce Christian