Philippians 2:12

Inferences from the foregoing passages: the Greatness of the methods of Salvation: the consequent Call to a Life reverent, self-forgetful, fruitful, joyful

12. Wherefore The Apostle has now pressed on them the duty and blessing of self-forgetting sympathy and love, above all by this supreme Example. He here returns to the exhortation, in a measure, but now only subordinately; his mind is chiefly now possessed with the greatness of salvation, and it is through this, as it were, that he views the duty and joy of Christian humility and harmony.

my beloved So again Philippians 4:1. Cp. 1Co 10:14; 1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Corinthians 12:19; where this tender word similarly introduces earnest practical appeals. See too Hebrews 6:9; Jas 1:16; 1 Peter 2:11; 1 Peter 4:12; 2 Peter 3:1; 2 Peter 3:8; 2 Peter 3:14; 2 Peter 3:17; 1 John 3:2; 1 John 3:21; 1 John 4:1; 1 John 4:7; 1 John 4:11; Judges 3:17; Judges 3:20.

ye have always obeyed So too R.V. Lit., ye did always obey; the aorist. And so better here. The Apostle views as one past experience his personal intercourse with them of old at Philippi. See the next words, where such a retrospect is implied.

not as in my presence only&c. The Greek shews that these words are to be joined with what follows;"work out your own salvation, now in my absence, not only in my presence."

"As in my presence":" as" suggests the thought, or point of view, of the agent; "influenced bythe fact of my presence."

work out your own salvation "Your own" is strongly emphatic. The Apostle is in fact bidding them "learn to walk alone," instead of leaning too much on hispresence and personal influence. "Do not make me your proxy in spiritual duties which must be your own." Hence the "much more" of the previous clause; his absence was to be the occasion for a far fuller realization of their own personal obligations and resourcesin the spiritual life.

"Salvation":see above on Philippians 1:19. The main reference here is to final glory (see remarks just below). But as life eternal is continuous and one, here and hereafter, a side-reference may well be recognized to present preservation from falling and sinning. "In this way of diligence we receive daily more and more of -salvation" itself, by liberty from sin, victory over it, peace and communion with God, and the earnests of heavenly felicity" (Scott).

"Work out":the verb is that used also e.g. Romans 4:5 ("the law workethwrath"); 2 Corinthians 4:17, a close and instructive parallel. As there the saint's "light affliction" "works out for him a weight of glory," so here his watchful, loving, reverent consistency, for his Lord's sake, "works out," issues in the result of, his "salvation." There is not the slightest contradiction here to the profound truth of Justification by Faith only, that is to say, only for the merit's sake of the Redeemer, appropriated by submissive trust; that justification whose sure issue is "glorification" (Romans 8:30). It is an instance of independent lines of truth converging on one goal. From one point of view, that of justifying merit, man is glorified because of Christ's work alone, applied to his case through faith alone. From another point, that of qualifying capacity, and of preparation for the Lord's individual welcome (Matthew 25:21; Romans 2:7), man is glorified as the issue of a process of work and training, in which in a true sense he is himself operant, though grace lies below the whole operation.

with fear and trembling not of tormenting misgiving (cp. 1 John 4:18), but of profound reverence and wakeful conscience. So 1 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 7:15; Ephesians 6:5. Chrysostom quotes Psalms 2:11, "Serve the Lord in fear, and exult unto Him in trembling." The Douay (Romanist) Bible here has a note: "This is against the false faith and presumptuous confidence of modern sectaries"; a reference to the doctrine of a personal assurance of present Divine favour and coming glory. But this is both to mistake the meaning of St Paul's phrase "fear and trembling," and to forget such passages as e.g. Romans 5:1-2; Romans 5:9; Romans 8:28-39. It is the formulated tenet of the Church of Rome that "no man can know, with a certainty under which nothing false can lurk, that he has attained the grace of God" (Canones Concil. Trident., Sess. vi. cap. ix.). See further just below.