Philippians 2:12–13
Live blameless lives in a godless world
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, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Although he has digressed a bit to treat the subject of Christ’s humiliation and exaltation in detail, the apostle is still offering Christians encouragement to “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel” (1:27). In these verses he shows believers how living their lives as Christians will both set them apart in an unbelieving society and bring benefit to that society. The apostle’s encouragement here is quite similar to that which Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount, when he reminds his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world and encourages them to let their light shine.
Paul’s words show genuine Christian tact. He calls the Philippians his dear friends, thus placing into his encouragement the appeal of personal love. He praises them for their past obedience. In the New Testament, especially in Paul’s writings, the term obedience is sometimes used as a synonym for faith. Here it no doubt includes both faith and living the kind of lives that result from faith, that conduct “worthy of the gospel.” Since they had become Christians, and especially when the apostle had been personally present with them, the Philippians had shown real obedience to the gospel. They had eagerly accepted the apostle’s instruction and put it into practice in their lives. Now, in a very positive way, Paul urges them to continue to live in that same way and to do so even more in his absence.
Sometimes Christians tend to relax a little spiritually when a respected spiritual leader is absent. Ask the average parish pastor what happens to church attendance when the members of his congregation know he is going to be away on vacation. Paul does not want the Philippians to let down or relax spiritually when he is away from them. Rather, he wants them to be even more spiritually alert, even more deeply concerned about their souls’ welfare in his absence than they were when he was present. They are to continually expend the spiritual effort to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
These words of the apostle at first might seem to have a strange ring to them. They might even lead us to wonder if Christians have to work to earn their own salvation after all. But that cannot be true. If it were, Paul would be contradicting everything Scripture consistently teaches about the free salvation of sinners by God’s grace. Scripture clearly teaches that salvation is a gift. Sinners receive it by faith in Jesus, and that faith is also a gift. Mankind’s salvation is perfect and complete in Christ.
But if the apostle is not saying that salvation is something human beings can earn, what is he saying here? Paul uses the word “salvation” here in a broad sense. He refers not only to believers’ coming to faith and receiving the gift of eternal life but also to their continuing in faith until they enter into eternal life. Generally, believers must continue to live in this sinful world while they await the completed salvation of eternity. It is to such waiting believers, who are still coping with all the challenges and temptations of life in the world, that Paul directs the encouragement, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
Before they are brought to faith, human beings are totally incapable of any positive spiritual work. “As for you,” Paul tells the Ephesian believers, “you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). But then he goes on, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ” (verses 4,5). When God saves sinners by bringing them to faith in Jesus through the gospel, he makes them spiritually alive in Christ. Believers are now capable of spiritual work and the spiritual effort Paul calls for in our text. This is not a work that earns or tries to earn salvation. It is a working by which believers, who know that they have been saved by the blood of Christ, make the best use of the spiritual gifts and powers with which the Holy Spirit has supplied them to grow in faith, bring forth the fruits of faith, and remain steadfast in faith unto eternal life.
With his encouragement to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, the apostle wants to remind the Philippians, and all believers, that believers’ lives in the world are a constant struggle. A host of spiritual enemies, led by the devil and his scheming allies, daily seek to rob believers of their faith and of the eternal treasures the Lord has in store for them. To ward off these enemies and to continue safely along the way to eternal life on which their Lord has placed them, believers must always be watchful and alert. They must fear and tremble at the thought of their own weakness and at the possibility that they, by spiritual laziness or carelessness, may foolishly throw their spiritual treasures away. They must strenuously battle against their spiritual enemies to remain in faith.
The single most important element in this work and struggle is the believers’ diligent use of the means of grace, the gospel in Word and sacrament. These means, by which the Holy Spirit first made the believers spiritually alive, are also the means by which he continues to work in believers’ hearts to strengthen and nourish their faith and their spiritual lives. Believers who remain diligent and conscientious in using the means of grace will find in them all the spiritual strength necessary for the spiritual work of which the apostle speaks so urgently in our text.
The Lord’s grace and strength, provided to believers in the means of grace, are the power source into which Christians must continually tap if they are to succeed in their spiritual struggles. This is emphasized once more by the apostle when he says, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” God’s grace alone moves believers both to desire to serve God and to translate that desire into action. This is real encouragement for Christians. As they turn to the Lord with fear and trembling for the help and strength to carry on the struggle of their Christian lives and to retain their hold on their spiritual treasures, the Lord will not disappoint them. Through his Word and sacraments he will continue to work in their hearts and supply all that they need to will and work for him. It is necessary for every Christian to be constantly plugged into the spiritual power source that God provides for us in his Word and sacraments.
Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Willing and acting according to God’s good purpose requires the correct attitude of the heart. Grudging obedience is not really obedience at all. So Paul urges, “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” In the course of our lives as Christians, we are often called on to do things that do not come naturally to us, things that our selfish natures angrily rebel against. We are often asked to do things that we know will bring scorn and ridicule from our non-Christian friends and associates. We are to do all these things, Paul says, without murmuring or complaint. There is to be no second-guessing of God, no grumbling about what God expects of us, no rationalizing or calculating about how we might escape our responsibilities or get by with doing less.
No parent is pleased when a child does as he is told yet grumbles throughout the entire task. That child makes it obvious that the task is not being done willingly. His heart is not in it. Christians’ lives of obedience to the Lord should be not just a matter of actions, but a matter of the heart. God does not want service or dollars or anything else from us without our hearts. Have you checked your attitude lately?
Christians who live their lives for their Lord from their hearts will be “blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.” “Crooked and depraved” describes the world without Christ. Christians live in a world that has left the Lord’s straight paths and become morally and spiritually warped, but they are to be different. Their conduct ought to be blameless before the world, their motives pure before God. As they live such pure and blameless lives, Christians will “shine like stars in the universe.”
By God’s grace the bright light of the gospel has dispelled the spiritual darkness that was by nature in Christians’ hearts. Now God wants Christians, who have the light of life through Jesus, to be both light reflectors and light bearers in the sin-darkened world. As light reflectors, Christians should stand out from their worldly contemporaries as light
shines in darkness. Their words and actions should cause people to see that believers belong to Christ and should lead those who observe them to glorify God.
Likewise, believers are to be light bearers. They are to hold out the gospel light to those who are still in the darkness of spiritual ignorance and unbelief. What a pity it is that we Christians so often walk in the darkness of this world instead of bringing light to the darkness.
Finally, Paul gives his words of encouragement another very personal turn. In all they are, in all they do, in all he is encouraging them to be, Paul wants the Philippians to be a cause of boasting for him on judgment day. Paul enjoyed a warm and affectionate relationship with the members of the congregation at Philippi. He had founded the congregation and was still its spiritual counselor and friend. He loved the Philippians and found real joy in their response to the gospel. When he stands before the Lord on judgment day, he wants their lives to be evidence that his apostolic labors were not in vain. Paul had labored strenuously for the Philippians. What a wonderful testimony to the effectiveness of Paul’s efforts would their faith and Christian lives be at the final judgment.
Like Paul, pastors experience many discouragements in their ministry. Sometimes it appears that their gospel teaching is falling on deaf ears. Sometimes their efforts to guide their listeners to God-pleasing Christian lives meet with little apparent success. But eternity will reveal that the diligent efforts of faithful pastors and teachers were not in vain.
What a wonderful relationship exists between a pastor and those he serves when the pastor can make, and the congregation will respond to, an appeal as deeply personal as the apostle makes here.
Earlier, in 1:25, Paul had indicated to the Philippians that he expected to be released from his imprisonment. That did
not change the fact, however, that he lived each day aware that his life could be required of him at any time. In connection with his personal appeal to the Philippians, therefore, he speaks of his possible martyrdom as “being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith.”
In the Old Testament rituals, the drink offering was poured out next to the altar on which the burnt offering was sacrificed. Paul regarded believers’ lives of obedience to the gospel as living sacrifices to the Lord (Romans 12:1). His own martyrdom, should it occur, would be a willing sacrifice on his part, a sacrifice poured out next to the sacrifices of the Christian lives of the Philippians. Far from hindering his labors on the Philippians’ behalf, his martyrdom would crown those labors. Viewing it in that light, the apostle could find joy even in the prospect of such a death, and he wanted the Philippians to find it too. He wants believers of every age to share in his joy.