Philippians 2:12 - Meaning and Application

He urges them to be diligent and serious in the Christian life: “Work out your own salvation.” This means the salvation of our souls (1 Peter 1:9) and our eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9). It includes rescue from all the evil sin has brought on us and exposed us to, and the gift of all the good we need for full and lasting happiness.

We should care above all for the good of our souls. Whatever happens to other things, we must look after our best interest. Paul says, “your own salvation,” because each person must pay attention to his own soul. He is not telling us to judge other people. We have enough to do to examine ourselves. We should promote the common salvation (Jude 1:3) as much as we can, but we must never neglect our own.

We are told to “work out” our salvation. The word means to work at something thoroughly and with real effort. So we must use all the means that lead to salvation. We should not only work at it now and then, but carry it through. We must do all that must be done, and keep on doing it until the end. Salvation is the great matter we should set our hearts on, and we cannot reach it without careful, steady effort.

Paul adds, “with fear and trembling,” meaning with great care and caution. It means trembling for fear of failing and coming short. We should be careful to do everything in religion in the best way, and fear lest, with all our advantages, we still fail to reach the goal (Hebrews 4:1). Fear is a strong guard against evil.

He also gives this reason: “As you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence” (Philippians 2:12). They had always been ready to follow every known command of God, whether Paul was with them or not. This showed that their concern for Christ and for their own souls mattered more to them than any desire to please a man.

They were not merely held in line by Paul’s presence. They obeyed even more in his absence. And because God is the one who works in you, you should work out your salvation. Work, because he works. This should encourage us to do our best, since our labor will not be wasted. God is ready to join with his grace and help our faithful efforts.

Yet we must still go forward in dependence on God’s grace. His grace works in us in a way suited to our nature, and it works together with our efforts. Far from making our efforts unnecessary, God’s work in us is meant to stir us up and make us more active. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.” All our working depends on his working in us.

We must not play around with God by neglecting duties and delaying obedience, or we may provoke him to withdraw his help and make all our efforts fail. We should work with fear, because he works according to his own good pleasure. He gives the whole ability, both “to will and to do.” It is God’s grace that inclines the will toward what is good, and then enables us to do it and act on our convictions. “You have accomplished all that we have done for us” (Isaiah 26:12).

Since it is of his good pleasure, there is no strength in us, and there is no merit in us either. Since we cannot act without God’s grace, we cannot claim it as something we deserve. God’s good will toward us is the cause of his good work in us. He owes nothing to his creatures except what he has freely promised in grace.