Comments on Philippians 2:12-18

  We’ll be continuing on in Philippians chapter 2. The chapter started with Paul encouraging the believers to have the mind of Christ. Then he reminded them, practically, what that looked like: taking the low position, thinking of others and their needs over your own, and serving them. Christ stepped down from heaven to seek and to save the lost. Paul then reminds his readers that Christ will be glorified because of His humility. He will be exalted “to the glory of God the Father,” as we read last time. So, picking up in verse twelve this week:

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

    We’re going to spend some time here on this first verse because I don’t want anyone to walk away with a misunderstanding of its meaning. We are not here called to work for our salvation. We know from elsewhere in Scripture that “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is  the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). Since we know that Scripture does not contradict itself, we must ask what this means. If we look at the Greek word here translated as “work out” which is κατεργάζεσθε we can get a hint. This word could be used in mathematics to “work out” a problem, or in mining to reference getting as much ore as possible from the mine, or in farming for working the field as well. However, all of these have in common that the harvest, the ore, and the math answer are already there and the person is showing that reality. So the salvation referenced here is more likely dealing with the entirety of the Christian life. 

Additionally the word translated “your own” is ἑαυτῶν and is the plural of the second person pronoun here. So Paul isn’t telling individual believers to “work out” their individual salvation, but rather the group of believers to figure out how to live together in imitating Christ. He commended them for obeying while he was there, but here is encouraging them to continue to obey the Word of God even without apostolic authority directly present. This is very applicable to us today, and Ironside was pointing out the dangers of growing too reliant on any one man in authority in a local body. Groups have been known to fall apart if, as will happen because we all sin, that leader is found to have indulged in the flesh. However, if each individual in the assembly is capable, then the group can continue. The saints, by studying the Word of God, can be fit to judge happenings within the assembly.

One final note on this verse, both McGee and Ironside mentioned this anecdote and I thought it worth sharing. There was a family listening to a legalistic preacher speaking on this verse insisting that none could be saved by grace alone but that works needed to be added for salvation to be sure. The little girl leaned over and asked her mother, “How can you work it out if you haven’t got it in?” The salvation must be there first for us to work it out.

    As the next verse continues, remembering that our verse breaks are for our ease of reading and were not in the original letter. In fact this is still the same sentence in the Greek. “For it is God who is at work in you,” Paul reminds us. We have here the same word found in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe,” and in Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,” and that word is ἐνεργεῖν from which we get the English word energy. We have power and energy to work because of God. God is working in us as well. Both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” He is more and more conforming us to be like His Son. Quoting Ironside here, “He can be depended upon to help them work out their own salvation from whatever perplexing circumstances have arisen. He does not cast them upon their own resources but on His Word, on Himself, who works in them to will to do His good pleasure.” I have taken great encouragement from this song over the past few months:
May you see God’s light on the path ahead

when the road you walk is dark.

May you always hear even in your hour of sorrow,

the gentle singing of the lark.

When times are hard

may hardness never turn your heart to stone.

May you always remember when the shadows fall–

You do not walk alone.

And thanks to God that we do not.

    So, given all of that, and everything it means to have the mind of Christ Paul then admonishes them “Do all things without grumbling or disputing,” which I must admit is sometimes harder than others to follow that command. It doesn’t say just some things, or the easy things, but rather “all things.” This verse is straightforward and so I won’t spend time harping on it, but it is also one of those things that is much easier to say than to do. I pray that we can keep this in mind as we deal with life and one another.

    Paul then gives the reason for the lack of grumbling: “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God.” Again, since we are to have the mind of Christ, and act as He acted while here on Earth, there is no room for arguing and disputing. Those things leave blemishes, and, as we’ve been reading in 2 Peter, are marks of those who confess but are not truly children of God. To note here as well, we are “among,” or “in the midst of the crooked and perverse generation.” There is not a call here to seclusion or cloistering but rather the opposite. We are to go out and be lights. As we sometimes sing from the children's songbook: “Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light.” Or, to quote a song I enjoyed in high school: “Lord let me shine, shine like the moon, a reflection of you! All that I do! Lord let me be, light for Your truth! Light of the world, I wanna be used to shine for You.”

    And how do we shine in this way? We “hold fast the word of Life.” We have the Word of God that gives us all we need for a life of godliness. Paul encourages the Philippians believers to keep holding on to that word and looks forward to the day of Christ, knowing that his life will not have been in vain. This nicely ties in to his admonishments before of not grumbling and arguing because Christians that are occupied with Christ do not have time for occupation with self and can more easily display the mind of Christ. We ought to busy ourselves with holding forth and holding fast to the Word of Life, that is spreading the good news of Christ to all. Paul was confident that they would do so and would then show that the work he’d done among them was worth his time as well. 

    So we come to the last two verses of our passage this morning. Paul here compares himself to a drink offering and so I thought it might be beneficial to read a passage from Exodus about them. 29:38-42 reads: “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and there shall be one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb. The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord. It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.” Paul, writing to an audience familiar with this sacrifice, compares himself to the drink portion of the offering. The part that would flash away quickly on the hot coals of the burnt offering. The picture here is two-fold. One, all of our service for the Lord should be characterized this way. This is the low position, recognizing the supremacy of Christ’s sacrifice. Two, Paul here is even taking the humble part with regards to the Philippians believers. He’s willing for his work among them to be considered secondary and ephemeral compared to the service of their faith. And he can rejoice and share his joy with the Philippians despite his circumstances. 

    He ends this portion with an urging, not a command, for them to rejoice as well and share the joy back. I’ve heard it said, “A joy shared is a joy doubled, and a trouble shared is a trouble halved.” Paul wants to be able to rejoice with the Philippians and have them rejoice with each other and with him as well. If we walk humbly, taking the low position, we can rejoice in the successes of others. We won’t be so focused on ourselves and so the strife that comes from people wanting to be first won’t be present. Rejoicing together is a great way to fellowship.

We remember that Philippians in the epistle of joy and we’ve talked about how to do that and looking to Christ as our supreme example. We know that we need to take the humble position and then we can have the mind of Christ. When we have the mind of Christ we can have joy despite whatever outward circumstances we find ourselves in. Be joyful.