YOUR OWN SALVATION! Phil. 2:12-15. Every epistle was written to solve a problem or certain problems and address issues affecting the receivers of the letter. To address each or certain problems, doctrinal teachings must be dealt with. It is upon these doctrines that practical daily living is based upon. Therefore, for a successful Christian living, sound doctrinal foundation is very paramount. A life of daily living without doctrinal basis is a life of morality and legalism! it leads to unscriptural self-efforts. Our doctrine as Christians is our unseen foundation and as such, daily living and walk of a Christian must be a reflection of sound doctrine. Bad doctrine will produce bad Christian walk! Good doctrine will produce good Christian walk! We must spend time on our doctrines so that our daily walk will be right! What is the purpose of the Epistle written to the Philippians? If we do not get this right, we will be lost in the wilderness of that epistle! Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon were written at the same time in the first Pauls Roman imprisonment and sent through one person. Therefore, to have a good understanding of those epistles, they must be studied in parallel and used in explaining one another. The epistle to the Philippians was written two years later during Pauls second Roman imprisonment. The Philippians lost their peace and joy when they heard that Paul was imprisoned; they also lost their piece and joy by means of division within the church. (Phil.1:12-14, 18, 25-28; 2:1-3; 4:4, 6-7,8-9. The epistle to the Philippians was a letter about how to live and maintain a life of Peace in the midst of challenges! Phil. 1:27-38; 4:4 etc. Browsing through the book of Philippians, it seems to me that obedience and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the key to a life of peace. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the salvation that we are to work out in our lives! Peace is fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22) and this is what Paul is admonishing and teaching the church to work out in their daily living. Understanding the doctrines expounded by Paul in this epistle will also be applicable in working out all the fruit of the spirit as given in Gal. 5: 22- 23. In other to show how peace is worked out, Paul gave Jesus life as an example by highlighting the obedience of Jesus from his divinity as God, Paul continued with Jesus life of obedience as man, his walk of humility and long-suffering in fulfilling his purpose on earth and the result by way of exaltation by God. Phil. 2:5-11. In those verses, we see all the fruit of the spirit preceding the exaltation that followed in verses 9-11; we see fruit such as humility and long-suffering in clear terms. Once a fruit of the Holy Spirit is at work, the rest will follow suit at the same time; all fruit manifest at once in the same season in the life of a Christian. Though one or two fruit may be dominant at a given situation, such as in verse 6-8, all and the rest are also part of the manifestation. This example of the life of Jesus as elucidated by Paul is used as a template for explaining Phil. 2:12-13. He starts verse 12 with the word Wherefore! This word links with the life of Jesus as explained by Paul in the preceding verses. In other words, Paul is saying As you can see from the life of Jesus, I want you to follow suit by........’. Other versions like ESV and NIV used Therefore, while other versions like NASB and GNB used So then....’. It means that verse 12-13 should never be quoted in isolation from verses 5-11! In our daily Christian walk, we can only fulfil verse 12 because of verse 13. Obedience to verse 12 without verse 13 is tantamount to beating the wind which will be an aimless and unpleasant lifestyle. Our foundation to fulfilling verse 12 is in verse 13! it is because God WORKS within us that we can be able to deal with our character! Jesus did not live a life of himself apart from that of God, so also we will be able to deal with our flesh because God works in us. It shows that we are not alone in the dealing with self. As we deal with self so that the fruit of God can be expressed, so also God is working it out within us in his own good pleasure! The keys to the understanding of the two verses are in the word work in both verses. The word work in the two verses is completely two different Greek words! The word works in verse thirteen is from the Greek word which gives the meaning energy or to energise. This is the same word used in verse thirteen translated as to do! This energy is only available to born again Christians. Verse thirteen is saying that God incessantly energises our WILL and our ACTIONS or ACTIVITIES so that his fruit can be fully expressed through us. Gal. 5: 16-18, 22-25. This is what Paul was trying to show when he talked about the humility and long-suffering (fruit) of Jesus in Phil. 2: 5-9. God finds pleasure in this. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, WORK OUT (katergazomai) your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12 KJV) For it is God which WORKETH (energeo) in you both to will and to DO (energeo) of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 KJV). From the scripture above, it is clear that God gives ENERGY to our WILL! Our will is energised, strengthened and empowered. God did not stop there, whenever we obey in our actions, he gives energy! While we are doing his will, while we are putting self down, energy is supplied! You are not alone in this Christian walk and growth. Phil 2:12 must never be analysed outside of verse thirteen! Verse 12 can never be possible without verse 13. In fact, verse thirteen is the unseen foundation on which verse twelve stands upon. So let’s read the passage with the Greek in mind: “Carry out, continue your task of salvation with fear and trembling, for God is providing all the ability, means and energy….” Now the light is dawning. The passage’s meaning is clearer. When it comes to maintaining a healthy relationship with God, we do something and God does something. I want to suggest that these two verses together express the Christian life, our relationship with God, as unconditional good news. We are not puppets, being micromanaged by God. We are responsible people in a personal relationship with a personal God. But, on the other hand, we are weak and God gives us everything we need to maintain a strong, healthy relationship with him. Therefore, we must never think we are helpless or weaklings whenever we are walking in a life of righteousness and holiness from the NEW MAN. Eph. 4:24. We cant live right without his unceasing supply of energy! Our efforts to show forth the glory of God can never be achieved alone! He energises our WILL....he strengthens our WILL......he gives our WILL unfailing energy. When we now WALK in the Spirit, this God-given energy also WORKS with us. This is how we WORK OUT our salvation or WALK in NEWNESS of life. With this, we can go ahead to die to self! Only in this death can we have the peace of God that passes all understanding. The Peace of God is found in our walk in the spirit. The joy of The Lord becomes evident in our challenges and struggles. Jesus, in all his challenges, walked in the fruit of the spirit and was exalted and given a name above all names. Promotion is not by human ability! Success is not by cutting corners! Lifting is this: by not thinking it robbery to be equal with others: but by making ourselves of no reputation, taking upon ourselves the form of a servant being humbled and obedient as witnesses of Christ.....then and only then will we be exalted. Just after verse thirteen, Paul gave the first task...... Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 2:14, 15 KJV. Paul, here, came back to the issue he was addressing in Phil. 2:1-4. Therefore, without much ado, verse 14 is a summary of verses 1-4 of chapter 2. It seems to me that Phil. 2:14 is a parallel of Rom. 12:9. Here it is: Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. (Romans 12:9 KJV). Do all things without murmurings and disputings: (Philippians 2:14 KJV) Let Gods kind of love fully express itself without dissimulation! This us how I read it! They must die to murmurings and disputings! This is what they must work out knowing that God is working in them both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. Gods good pleasure that he desire from them is to do all things without murmuring and disputing’; once this is fulfilled, they will be blameless and harmless, the sons of God.... This church was being blamed and rebuked by unbelievers in the midst of crooked and perverse nation, among whom they shine as lights in the world. Due to this blame and rebuke, they lost their peace and joy! They lost the glow! The progress of the church became stunted. They were being blamed over a lot of issues! Contradicting one another and being blamed and rebuked by those who read them as the bible was taking a hard toll on them and others in the church. In other to cure this problem, they had to work out not murmuring and disputing. Then they will be without blame and harmless.......their peace and joy will be restored! Solutions to our problems are usually not directly related with immediate events around us! They all boil down to our walk as Christians. Are we walking in the Spirit or are we walking in the flesh? What has their murmuring and disputings got to do with the blames and rebukes they get from the crooked world around them? The source of their loss of peace and joy was the murmuring and disputings amongst them and NOT the blame and rebuke they got! Only if murmuring and disputings are solved will they not be blamed and rebuked, and only then will peace and joy be restored! Gods ways are past finding out! Sound doctrine will produce sound Christian life! May the peace of God remain with us in Jesus name. Amen.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 09:22:57 +0000
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