Work Out Your Own Salvation
“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.”
So far in this passage I have talked about obedience, and how God works in us sovereignly producing obedience, yet how we are also responsible for being obedient. This will be the final devotion on these two very important verses. I will focus on the phrase, “work out your own salvation”. Firstly what does Paul mean by ‘work out’, and secondly what does he mean by ‘salvation’?
The word used for ‘work out’ in Greek is ‘katergázesthe’ which means produce or bring about. So, this leaves us with a problem, is Paul saying we can produce our own salvation? Is it Biblical to say that? Well, I suppose it depends on what is meant by the word ‘salvation’.
The word salvation has three different meanings;
Past salvation – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. This salvation refers to two great acts of God, our justification and our subsequent adoption; in our justification, God declares us righteous before him because Jesus fulfilled the law’s requirements on our behalf and imputed to us his righteousness. And when we are justified God adopts us as his children, so now we call him Abba! Father! And we are heirs with Christ meaning we inherit the riches Christ gained for us (Galatians 4:6-7). In our past salvation we are freed from the guilt of sin and are considered blameless before the righteous Judge.
Present Salvation – “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18). This refers to two promises; our sanctification and perseverance. Sanctification is the ongoing process in a believer’s life, where God causes us to become holier. And Christians can have confidence that God will continue this work of sanctification in our lives till the end. In our present salvation we are continually being freed from the power of sin in our hearts.
Future Salvation – “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14) Future salvation refers to our glorification, when we will be resurrected and given new glorious bodies. In our future salvation we will be ultimately set free from sin, we will no longer be in the presence of sin.
So which salvation is Paul talking about in Philippians 2:12? It can’t be past salvation, because we cannot produce, or bring about our past salvation,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
I believe Paul is talking about future salvation here, the believer’s glorification. So, by continually living in obedience to God we somehow produce our future salvation. I think Philippians 3:12-14 is helpful for understanding what this means, I just read it so I’ll not read it again; but the pressing on and the straining towards the goal, that’s what it means. This is athletic language, somebody who enters into a race doesn’t doddle about, running backwards and forwards, they run, straining with all of the effort they can muster, they keep their eyes on the finish line, they keep their eyes on the goal at the end. And I think that’s what it means to work out your own salvation, the Christian life isn’t a doddle which has no end, to be a Christian takes all the effort and strength we have in our being to get to the end, but by keeping our eyes on the goal, we will get there and receive our reward. So the Christian life is by no means passive, to live as a Christian involves continuous, persistent effort, it’s not as simple and passive as ‘just letting Jesus take the wheel of your life’, taking that phrase at its basic level. But the reward for all this effort and straining, the prize at the end is more glorious than we can imagine, and we should long for it, excited and motivated by it.
There is one final question and clarification I want to address and that is, how does this square with justification by faith alone? Is it okay to say work out your own salvation? Well, the next verse is so important. It is God who works in us, we are dependent on his strength to run this race, he is the one who inspires us and motivates us to keep going, and he will never stop, he will bring each of his children to the end, so that he rewards us with riches upon riches - it is entirely by his grace, we will get to the end. All glory belongs to God.
So, let us with zeal, live for God’s sake, dependent on him for strength and will, so that we will reach the end - Ultimate Salvation, glory upon glory, forever and ever. Amen.
