In Philippians 2:12, the Apostle Paul tells the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This seems like such a strange command for those who believe that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Wouldn’t “work out our salvation” mean that our salvation is somehow based on works? And wouldn’t that contradict much of what Paul says elsewhere?
And working this salvation out with “fear and trembling” seems to contradict verses like 1 John 4:18, where we read that “perfect love casts out fear.”
What is Paul talking about in Philippians 2:12? What does it mean to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and how is this even accomplished? Read on to hopefully untangle a few of these knots.
What Is the Context of Philippians 2:12?
Paul’s letter to the Philippians is all about gospel advancement. His letter to them, sent while he is in prison, is meant to be an encouragement to them to continue as they have begun.
Paul wants them to know that even though it appears that he is shackled to Rome, in reality, God has wisely shackled Rome to Paul.
The gospel was advancing through Paul’s imprisonment, and so they should boldly continue advancing the gospel. And they should do this in unity with one another.
This theme of unity is part of why we have Philippians 2. Here he is outlining the way in which the gospel is to advance in their individual lives and in their relationships with others.
Philippians 2:1-11 contains a beautiful “Christ hymn,” which outlines the way in which our Lord emptied himself.
They have been given this same “mind of Christ” and are called to then “in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” (2:5).
What does it look like for God to complete the good work which he began in Philippi? (1:6) What will it look like for their community to “conduct themselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27)?
What happens when the gospel makes an advancement into the heart of a community or an individual? These questions are the concern of the text in Philippians 2:12.
To rip Philippians 2:12 out of its context causes us to ask all the wrong questions of the text. We make this verse about an individual believer trying to earn their individual situation. But this is not Paul’s chief concern in Philippians. It is to show what gospel advancement looks like.
And within their community, it will look like accepting Epaphroditus as a faithful minister of the gospel (2:19-30), it will look like rejecting the “circumcision party” (3:1-11), and it will look like Euodia and Syntyche agreeing in the Lord.
Considering Paul’s overall point in Philippians helps us as we ask some of the pressing questions of this text. To fully understand this passage, we need to first consider what is meant by “salvation.”
What Is ‘Salvation’ in Philippians 2:12?
When most Protestant evangelicals hear the word salvation, we immediately think of a person going from death to life in regards to their eternal souls. We think about heaven and hell.
So, when Paul says, “Work out your salvation,” what we hear is something like, “work out your eternal destiny.” But for Paul, the word salvation is far more comprehensive. For Paul, “‘salvation’ is not only something they receive; it is something they do.”
Paul’s statement here in 2:12 is similar to his statement in 1:27 when he tells the Philippians to “live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
To live “worthy” does not mean to live in such a way as to make yourself deserving of the gospel. It means to live in such a way that your life accurately reflects the gospel.
Just as John told those he was baptizing to bear fruits “worthy of repentance,” so also we are to live in such a way that we accurately reflect the gospel. This is similar to what salvation means in 2:12. Gordon Fee says it well in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians:
“The context makes it clear that this is not a soteriological text per se, dealing with ‘people getting saved’ or ‘saved people persevering.’ Rather it is an ethical text, dealing with ‘how saved people live out their salvation’ in the context of the believing community and the world. What Paul is referring to, therefore, is the present ‘outworking’ of their eschatological salvation within the believing community in Philippi. At issue is ‘obedience,’ pure and simple, which in this case is defined as their “working or carrying out in their corporate life the salvation that God has graciously given them.”
What, then, will it mean for the Philippians to “work out” this salvation?
Why Do We Need to ‘Work Out’ Our Salvation?
The word for “work out” is an imperative, which means “to cause a state or condition, bring about, produce, or create” (Ibid.). Think of how we might use this word in our day.
A teacher and an intern are given a class roster at the beginning of the school year. The teacher tells the intern, “We need to work out a seating chart.”
Clearly, she doesn’t mean that they need to “earn” a seating chart. Nor does she mean that they are responsible for creating all of the students to fill out the class, purchase all the chairs, etc.
No, she means that they need to take the information that they have (all the students' names) and, from this, bring about a seating chart.
Paul means something similar here. He is not telling the Philippians that they need to “bring about their salvation” as in “bring about new life” but rather that they need to live out what Christ has already purchased.
Philippians 2:13 confirms this as Paul reminds them that it is God who is at work within them to bring this to completion according to His good pleasure.
But even though this is God’s work, we must remember that we are called to holy effort. I appreciate Matthew Harmon’s reminder in Philippians: A Mentor Commentary:
“The believer must realize that one does not drift towards godliness. It only comes through intentional efforts using the means God provides, all the while trusting in God himself to produce the desired growth in His timing.”
And we see what this “working out” looks like in the following verses. How do you “work out” your salvation in a dark world that is filled with grumbling? How do you live in such a way as to make it obvious that a change has taken place?
How do you shine the life of Christ flowing through you? You do this by living humbly and not grumbling or complaining. Working out our salvation means making visible what Christ has accomplished internally.
But why is this done with fear and trembling?
Why Should We Work Out Our Salvation ‘With Fear and Trembling’?
The phrase “fear and trembling” comes from the Old Testament, and it usually indicates awe in the presence of God (Exodus 15:16, Isaiah 19:16).
If you are living in sin and disobedience, God’s presence would certainly create a certain type of fear. A word like “dread” might be more accurate in these situations. But that is most certainly not what Paul means here.
It is also not a servile fear, like a fear of punishment, but rather a reverent fear or a loving fear. Walter Hansen is likely correct when he points out in The Letter to the Philippians that “Israel was called to fear and love God at the same time.”
“And also that this paradox is still present in Paul’s writing. As Hansen notes: Fear and trembling united with trust and love in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father inspire us to work out our salvation.”
We labor to live in such a way to accurately reflect the worth of Jesus with fear and trembling because so much is at stake.
We are in awe of the salvation that God has wrought within us, and we know that we live before the presence of God.
This calls us not to take our Christian walk flippantly but to know that there is much at stake in how we live. Our witness matters. And so does the way in which we relate to one another.
Paul’s primary concern here is likely their unity with one another. The disunity that seems to have hit Philippi will have a great impact on their ability to advance the gospel.
If a church is fighting and squabbling and grumbling and complaining, then it cannot be shining like stars in a crooked and depraved generation.
God is watching, and God cares about the way we relate to other believers. This should cause us to approach our task much as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 2:3, with weakness and fear and much trembling.
What Does This Mean?
When we put all of this together, what we have in Philippians 2:12 is a call to live out what the gospel has produced in our hearts. And to be reminded that it truly does matter the way that we live. Gospel advancement is at stake, and so we proceed with fear and trembling.
For further reading:
What Does it Mean That the Lord Is My Light and My Salvation?
What Does it Mean to Fear God?
What Does it Mean to Have Reverence for God?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/kieferpix
Mike Leake is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He is also the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and Jesus Is All You Need. His writing home is http://mikeleake.net and you can connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake. Mike has a new writing project at Proverbs4Today.
