Salvation by works

Philippians 2:12-15
12 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.

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15 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;

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.


These verses sound like salvation is by works, or at least partly by works. I know that salvation does not come by works at all. How is this explained?
 
To work out your own salvation is to utilize the tools that God gives you. Namely, His righteousness imputed, and His righteousness imparted. We can choose to use them or abuse them, hence we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. In either case, if we submit, it is all Jesus working in us both the will and the doing of His good pleasure. Phil 2:13
 
To work out your own salvation is to utilize the tools that God gives you. Namely, His righteousness imputed, and His righteousness imparted. We can choose to use them or abuse them, hence we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. In either case, if we submit, it is all Jesus working in us both the will and the doing of His good pleasure. Phil 2:13
Thank you for that explanation.
 
If it's okay for me to chime in, I recently finished a series on the book of Philippians. The difficulty of interpreting a passage comes when it is viewed apart from the context of the rest of the book. In Philippians the apostle starts with an idea or theme and then continues to build upon it. In the first chapter he says (v.6) that "...He (God) who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ." So, what the Lord has done...is doing....and will complete...is taking place in us. Philp 2:12 is the verse that mentions "work out your own salvation," but the verse itself says more than that, and v.13 further qualifies it. V.12 begins "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed..." and this is directly connected to "work out your own salvation." This helps us to understand that what he is talking about is obedience. Then in v.13 he says "...for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." Then a few verses later in v15 he speaks about shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Paul is using a play on the idea of "in" and "out."
The only Biblically consistent, logical way interpret this is in context with everything else ...this exhortation is not to work "on" something you don't have – it is to work "out" something you already have! God has already worked salvation into us, and now we are to work it out from us - “work out” in NT Greek may also be translated “work down from” or “work away from," it carries the idea of growth, movement, expansion – your salvation IN you is to works its way OUT of you through obedience – that which is already in you is to work out from you to touch the outward world – which is exactly what he is talking about when he says shine as lights in the world. The salvation within us (the work of God in us) is to shine out (work out) of us through our obedience as we hold fast the word of life. (v.16)
 
The salvation within us (the work of God in us) is to shine out (work out) of us through our obedience as we hold fast the word of life. (v.16)
The salvation within us is to shine out...in fear and trembling...? I think you are making a great point and I don't disagree overall, but with that verse specifically, I do ;).
 
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Philippians 2:12-15
12 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.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 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;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
These verses sound like salvation is by works, or at least partly by works. I know that salvation does not come by works at all. How is this explained?
There are many scriptures pointing to the appearance of us needing to work at our salvation to keep it. There are many more scriptures from Paul discussing this. But we do need context and to divide matters. Context can never be that we must literally work at salvation because Eph 2:8 is a powerful / no context needed stand alone verse.

So to me and imho....Paul is urging us to ensure that we are in fact in Christ. See God knows who are His. God is omniscient. But we are not. Paul wants to to make sure that the guy that goes to church every Sunday does not ever think he is ok with God just because he goes to church every sunday. We should daily be mindful that we are in fact in Christ. That we do in fact still hate what is evil and are quick to repent. To be certain of that with fear and trembling.

For those who hate what is evil and repent, they find Jesus. To them is given the free gift of salvation. Ie, repentance can result in us still being stuck somewhere like Abrahams bosom / out of God's presence :notworthy:. But we have confidence in Jesus that we will not... as salvation is a free gift. Salvation is reconciliation wth God. Moving from death to life. We can repent all we want but we cannot move ourselves from death to life.
 
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There are many scriptures pointing to the appearance of us needing to work at our salvation to keep it. There are many more scriptures from Paul discussing this. But we do need context and to divide matters. Context can never be that we must literally work at salvation because Eph 2:8 is a powerful / no context needed stand alone verse.

So to me and imho....Paul is urging us to ensure that we are in fact in Christ. See God knows who are His. God is omniscient. But we are not. Paul wants to to make sure that the guy that goes to church every Sunday does not ever think he is ok with God just because he goes to church every sunday. We should daily be mindful that we are in fact in Christ. That we do in fact still hate what is evil and are quick to repent. To be certain of that with fear and trembling.

For those who hate what is evil and repent, they find Jesus. To them is given the free gift of salvation. Ie, repentance can result in us still being stuck somewhere like Abrahams bosom / out of God's presence :notworthy:. But we have confidence in Jesus that we will not... as salvation is a free gift. Salvation is reconciliation wth God. Moving from death to life. We can repent all we want but we cannot move ourselves from death to life.
Thanks. That makes sense of the first part of verse 12.
 
Thanks. That makes sense of the first part of verse 12.
You mean chapter 2?

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

When we are His. He prompts us and guides our footsteps to where He needs us (His good pleasure). Psalm 37:23. What I find interesting about this verse 13 and the one in Psalms is that there is no '''maybe, perhaps, on Sundays only'''...it says the path of the righteous IS ordered by God.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

If we complain have we fully submitted to Jesus? Should we complain about where He chooses to place us / lead our path too?

15 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;

Pretty self explanatory.

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Just a verse for encouragement that we can be confident that we will not labour in vain / Endure suffering for no reason. God has not got us down here like monkey's in a zoo.
 
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I simply meant that obedience is done through obeying the word of God. The "fear and trembling" part is connected to the fact that it is God Himself who is at work in us. We do not work for our salvation or save ourselves. The fact that it is God, not just our flesh, who is at work is an awesome, humbling thing. The presence of God, even for believers, brings fear and trembling. That which is at work in us is the holy, holy, holy, all-powerful Creator God. If that results in no fear then one does not know who God is. Just because we do not fear condemnation or loss of salvation does not mean we do not fear God. I'm not sure if that is what you were referring to.
 
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