Love goes both ways Pt 8: Fear and trembling

Philippians 2:12-15               12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  14Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”  Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16as you hold firmly to the word of life. 

Fear and trembling

We certainly live in a warped and crooked generation as we see good held to be evil, and right held to be wrong.  We believers are called intolerant because we adhere to universal truth and judgmental because we hold that there are two, and two only genders.  What are we to do?  How are we to live our lives in the face of such opposition?

We don’t live in fear and trembling of what the world can do, but we do live that way in our relationship with God because we love him and don’t in any way want to offend him.  Certainly, upon acceptance of Jesus as our Savior we have permanent and unwavering entry into eternity with God.  But Paul says, “Work out your salvation…”  What does that mean?  Is he proposing a works-based life?  No,  Paul is not teaching salvation by works; rather, he is calling for the ongoing, lived-out expression of salvation1. 

When Paul says ‘work out your salvation’ he means to apply the salvation already received to the living of your life.  This in turn means effort has to be applied to put that salvation into action.  Further, ‘fear and trembling’ doesn’t imply dread, but reverence and awe.  It underscores the seriousness of our spiritual walk before a holy God2.  But of course our first response is, “I can’t possibly do this!”  that’s true, but we don’t have to do it alone because God will be at our side doing the heavy lifting.  That’s why Paul says, “God works in you.”  In Greek the verb works has the connotation of continuing action.  In combination, this verse means the person does the work, but God initiates and empowers that effort to manifest the person’s salvation in real life.

Blameless and pure

None of us is blameless and pure—I think all of us would agree with that.  But we can work at it.  Blameless has the connotation of moral integrity, of making sure our walk matches our talk.  Even though we have a sin nature and can slip and fall, or just make mistakes, if we generally walk in righteousness and especially if we repent of our errors, then none of the accusations from the world will stick.  Similarly pure means that our life of salvation must not be mixed or contaminated with any of the world’s perversions or deceptions.  We follow Jesus—our loyalty to him must be undivided and uncontaminated.

Paul envisions Christians as moral counterpoints to a “warped and crooked generation”, reminding the Philippians that the ethical failures of ancient Israel should not be repeated.  In this passage, Paul gives no room for passive Christianity.  Instead, he calls for active, reverent, joyful obedience.  The Gospel is not merely to be believed—it is to be lived, visibly and courageously, in every sphere of life.  Through the Spirit’s power and the model of Christ’s humility, believers are invited into a dynamic life of transformation and mission.  As they shine like stars, the world catches a glimpse of the God who works in His people “to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”

Hold firmly to the Word of life

All of the Bible, old and new, is the written Word.  Jesus is the living Word.  Both bring life out of darkness.  If we believers are to exhibit active, reverent, and joyful obedience we will need help.  Our sinful nature draws us away from holiness.  The Philippians, and us,  are called to hold firmly to the Gospel message they have received and to embody it in their lives.  By holding firmly to the word of life, they both anchor themselves in truth and extend that truth outward like stars lighting up a dark sky.

What does this mean in the real world?  If one of us has just accepted Jesus as our Savior, then that means the bulk of our life is caught up with friends and family still firmly planted in Satan’s territory.  If one of those friends wants to go to the strip club, should we go?  The old self certainly would have, but should the new?  Now we follow a holy and righteous God who teaches that sexuality is only appropriate within a righteous marriage.  Moreover, God teaches that human being have value simply because they are created by God and that a person who sells her body is diminishing and devaluing herself.

Going to the strip club would then be denying the worth of God’s salvation.  It would show a person’s reverence is not complete.  That person would have to say no to the friend, but the friend might get indignant and say, “Why now, all of a sudden?”  a very difficult situation for the saved person.  In the midst of a “crooked generation,” believers function as luminous beacons—illuminating the truth of Christ by their behavior and message.  The purpose of their purity is not isolation but illumination.  Maybe the believer will lose that friend.  That might be hard, but sometimes toxic people have to be removed from our lives to protect us from temptation.  On the other hand maybe the friend has been privately been feeing drawn to Jesus himself.  What a grand testimony it would be for the believer to testify why he can’t go to those places anymore.

What about me?

Just how does a person ‘work out his or her salvation?  Here is where the rubber meets the road.  We are saved, but that does not mean we can sit out the battle to rid the world of sin and evil.  We must do our part.  Working out one’s salvation involves regular prayer, Scripture meditation, and self-examination, done with the weight of God’s holiness in mind.  It means dedicating the balance of our lives after salvation to worshipping God, praising his Name, and living in submission and obedience to him.  We must be serious about this.  It also means we must hold each other up through their struggles.  We must not hide out.  Paul is speaking to all the people at Philippi; he is speaking corporately to the group.  All of us are responsible to help all of us succeed in the Lord.

1.      Fee, Gordon D. Paul's Letter to the Philippians. NICNT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

2. Hansen, G. Walter. The Letter to the Philippians. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.

3. Silva, Moisés. Philippians. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.