So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
Phil 2:12-13
Having done our work on unpacking this verse in the context of the wider passage we are able to understand what Paul is saying clearly. As I have stated in previous Gems the “So then” connection links back to “Have this mind in you which is also in Christ Jesus . . . ” We cannot do any of the higher power action in That Majestic Passage, but what we can do is work on having the mind of Christ. The way to do that is by humbling ourselves and obeying Christ. However, we are now also aware that the next statement which Robert Estienne assigned to verse 13 must also be attached to the thoughts in verse 12. They go together. Yes it is interesting that in some versions of the same translation the punctuation changes from a comma (,) to a semi-colon (;) but the sequence of thought is on going to say the least. Paul is certainly not intending for us to work out our salvation ourselves. In Bible Gem 1950 I gave you the quotes from Galatians 3:3 and Ephesians 2:8-9 which make it clear we are not to try to work out our salvation in our own strength. To ensure we don’t do that, Paul adds the comment in Verse 13. God will give you both the leading or prompting as well as the will to do it. It is God Himself, through the Spirit of God who perfects His work in us, which Paul has already told us in Phil 1:6. It is all very clear. Yet it amazes me how the commentators can miss the point and spend pages discussing irrelevant things.
Now I need to make clear what the Greek word [κατεργάζεσθε] means. The word for “work”, or “work out” in Verse 12. For that let’s turn to the versions and pay attention to what they tell us. Some of you have asked ‘why I do that?’ The simple reason is that I point you to the way you will solve these kind of meaning based problems for yourself. You don’t have the kind of resources I have in my library, so rather than give you a run down of all the shades of meaning found in [κατεργάζεσθε], it is more helpful to show you what you can do. Simply turn to the translations or Bible versions you have, to gain an idea of what is going on in the Greek text. The translations are your friends, not your enemies.
In Bible Gem 1952 I gave you the list of how the translations handled Verse 12. As a result we have:
- work out your salvation (ASV)
- give yourselves to working out your salvation (BBE)
- So work to discover what it really means to be saved (CEV)
- keep working out your deliverance (CJB)
- So you must continue to live in a way that gives meaning to your salvation (ERV)
- Keep on working to complete your salvation (GNB)
- cultivate your own salvation (MKJV)
- keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation (MSG)
- Work hard to show the results of your salvation (NLT)
- you must be even more careful to do the good things that result from being saved . . . shrinking back from all that might displease him. (TLB)
To all the above translations are added the words “with fear and trembling” or “fear and respect” or “reverent and sensitive” to God.
I think the above translations give you a good idea of what is involved in working out your salvation in fear and trembling. I just want to comment on the two I have highlighted in colour above. The red “complete your salvation” from the Good News Bible – I don’t like so much because we may gain the idea that there is something incomplete about what God has done. (Just saying) The green “cultivate” from the Modern King James – at first I wondered what they were doing as there is no hint of that nuance in the Greek. But then after thinking about it, I felt that was a good word to use, capturing the idea of growing your response to what God has done in much the same way you might nurture a plant. Feeding it, watering it, tending it, weeding around it. Mmm a nice analogy I think.
Now there is just one more thing for me to comment on. Don’t miss the context Paul adds at the beginning of Verse 12. “. . . even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence . . .” There is yet another context for working out your salvation. i.e. “When I am not with you”. Paul had given the Philippians input during the time that he was with them. But now he is no longer with them. Now they must take care of themselves on their own, without Paul, their mentor. Now that is also interesting! it adds more context to what Paul is telling them. There was all the more reason to work out what they needed to do to obey, when Paul was not there. They needed to take care of their own nurturing in Paul’s absence. Even more so, when Paul used the reflexive pronoun [ἑαυτῶν] in the phrase “your salvation”. Meaning each of you must look after your own salvation, but which also has the sense of collectively looking after each other. Yes exactly Paul, after all that is what the church ought to be about. In the absence of our mentor and teacher, we remember the lessons and input from our teacher and keep encouraging one another, even redoubling our efforts as Eugene Petersen put it.
Now I feel I have covered all the angles on the first two verses of this section and will move on to greener pastures in the next Gem.
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Hebrews 10:24-25
On our salvation journey together I need your encouragement (but not your empty praise) to grow. Go easy on the criticism; remember you can criticise the things I do without criticising me.
Ian Vail
A word of encouragement during a failure, is worth more than an hour of praise after success!
Rick Godwin
Ask God each day: Who can I bless and help on the road to salvation? Who can I encourage as we journey together toward having the mind of Christ formed in us?
Ian Vail