“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” [Philippians 2:12 KJV]
Work OUT… not work FOR. We do not receive salvation by works. Jesus paid for our salvation by His blood. We receive that salvation by grace, through faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
We also do not ‘keep’ our salvation by works. We keep it the same way we received it. God does not save us by His grace, and then switch the program back to works.
1 John 5:12-13: “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye HAVE eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
God, our heavenly Father, wants us to KNOW that we are His child, and be secure in His love. Satan plays on insecurity. If he can get us to question our standing with our Father, he can exploit that insecurity to lead us into all kinds of fleshly efforts to try to regain that security. An insecure person is susceptible to everything from adultery, to joining a gang, to taking drugs, to religious things like feeling compelled to give money to a church or TV ministry… all for some kind of feeling of security.
Confusing ‘working out’ for ‘working for’ can create that insecurity. ‘Working out’ needs to be understood as fulfilling something you already have. Like verse 10 of Ephesians 2: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Even Jesus, who was perfect, had to ‘work out’ His calling. Hebrews 2:10 says that the captain of our salvation (Jesus) was made perfect through sufferings.” He was working out His perfection to a fulfillment… a completion.
It says something similar in Hebrews 5:8-9: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Though Jesus was born perfect, He still learned, and grew, and was ‘perfected’ through sufferings.
Finally, in John 17:4, He could say to the Father, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
We too, have a work to perfect… to complete… to finish. While we are ‘working out’ our salvation, we can be absolutely, wonderfully secure in God, because of that work that Jesus finished.
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