In his letter to the Philippians, Paul concludes his treatment of the Kenosis of Christ which is suggested by Theologians to be the self-emptying of Christ, by offering this very stern warning; Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12). Now beloved, this is in no way evidence that disputes the truth of the Solas of Salvation; Sola Christus (by Christ alone), Sola fide (through faith alone) and Sola Gratia (by Grace alone). While Paul did associate work with our salvation, he did not say WORK FOR our salvation but instead WORK OUT our salvation. All of the necessary work done FOR our salvation have already been done by Christ on Calvary. For that we simply must believe and recieve. Once we recieve this precious gift of salvation though, we must work it out in order that when we present our lives back to Christ, they reflect more the Christ who saved us than what our lives looked like when we were first saved. Someone put it this way. Consider a person who has inherited an undeveloped piece of land. Since it was given to him, he in no way WORKED FOR IT. But it was undeveloped, unsightly and filled with quite a bit of things that threatened its growth and life. That person therefore had to WORK OUT that land if it was to be developed to the point where it reached the value ALREADY INHERENT IN IT! This beloved, is what Paul meant when he said, work out our salvation. And we ought to do this he said with fear and trembling. Why? Because according to Paul, all of us will one day have to stand before Christ on that great and notable day called THE DAY OF CHRIST, hoping and praying to the contrary to be sure, but nonetheless acutely aware that we cold be judged by Christ to have both labored and run in vain! Beloved how is your work coming??? Be blessed!
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 19:31:40 +0000
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