The Gospel is… Witness
PHILIPPIANS 2:12-18
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but 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. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
Humility Hymn (Phil. 2:6-11)
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
κατεργάζομαι (katergazomai)
vb. do; bring about; produce
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles)
σωτηρία (soteria)
n. deliverance, preservation, salvation
The term salvation is used in Greek literature for good health, corporate well-being, and social harmony. In an annual feast to Zeus in Magnesia, the priest prays “for the salvation of the city, country, citizens, wives, children and other residents, for peace for wealth, for the growth of the grain and other fruits and cattle.” Plato thought that it was the duty of the ruler to save the state, “not just to preserve it from outer destruction but also to maintain it as a constitutionally ordered state.” And in the NT the term is used to mean good health (Mark 3:4; Acts 4:9; 14:9; 27:34). Paul may have intended this meaning of social well-being and corporate health in this context when he called for the Philippians to work out their salvation.
G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, 173.
In the OT this kind of language indicates awe in the presence of God (Exod 15:16; Isa 19:16) or fear of the Jewish people because of God’s presence with them (Deut 2:25; 11:25). Paul uses the same phrase to depict his own attitude when he first preached the gospel in Corinth “in weakness and with great fear and trembling” (1 Cor 2:3) and to describe the attitude of the Corinthian believers when they were obedient to Paul’s instructions through Titus, “receiving him with fear and trembling” (2 Cor 7:15). The same phrase is used in Ephesians to direct slaves to obey their masters with fear and trembling (Eph 6:5). The use of this phrase in these texts demonstrates that an attitude of fear and trembling is an attitude of humility and submission in God’s presence or in the presence of other people.
G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, 175.
God’s working in believers precedes and empowers their work, but it does not obviate the need for their work. Paul is not telling Christians to “let go and let God” or “get out of God’s way so God can do it.” Such slogans for the Christian life express a passivism not consonant with Paul’s call to the persistent obedience of working out salvation in the life of the church. Nor is Paul advocating a God of the gaps: “Go as far as you can, then leave the rest for God” or “God helps those who help themselves.” These attitudes endorse an activism that admits the need for only a little boost or a small subsidy from God. Paul, however, teaches the absolute necessity of the empowering presence of God not only to do any work but also to have a desire to do the work.
G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, 177.
Remember the Israelites in the wilderness and all their grumbling? It coincided with stubborn rejection of God’s provision for them. Rejoicing and working without grumble or complaint are inextricably related. Both stem from the attitude of the heart. The more we choose to rejoice in the Lord and be thankful for His provision, the less we’ll struggle with a bad attitude. One is a natural consequence of the other; this is how God has ordained things to work.
Steven E. Runge, High Definition Commentary: Philippians
Reconciliation is God’s design for His people,
both for the unity of the body and the witness to the world.