by Edwin Crozier<\/p>\n
Text: Philippians 2<\/p>\n
Jesus established the example. He left the throne of heaven and lived among us as a servant. God highly exalted Him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name because He was obedient even to the point of death on the cross. “Therefore<\/em>,” Paul says in Philippians 2:12, that is, because of what Paul has just said, that Jesus obeyed the Father completely, he is about to tell us something. Because Jesus obeyed, he says, “as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence<\/em>.” That is, because Jesus obeyed and was exalted, Paul tells us to obey. The implication, of course, is we will be exalted with Jesus.<\/p>\n But Paul doesn’t simply say we are to obey. He says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling<\/em>.” That doesn’t sound right, does it? We just finished Ephesians. This same Paul said there that we are saved by grace and not as a result of works, so we can’t boast (Ephesians 2:8-10). But to the Philippians, he says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling<\/em>.”<\/p>\n In this, we learn the significant difference between Paul’s teaching and that of the Calvinists who claim to merely be echoing Paul. For the Calvinists, because we are saved by grace and not by works, we don’t work. In fact, in their doctrine, even when we are working, we aren’t working. But that is not what Paul says. Paul says we are working. He even says we are supposed to work out our salvation. But why? Because God is working in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. The Calvinists tell us that because God is working, we don’t work. Paul tells us that because God is working, we should get to work. Do you see the difference?<\/p>\n If God were not at work, no amount of work on our part would accomplish anything. However, because God is working on us, in us, and through us, our work matters. By itself, our work is useless. But as Paul said in I Corinthians 15:58, in the Lord, our work is never in vain. If we tried to work out our salvation through obedience without God, we would certainly fail. We are not that strong, not that righteous, not that holy, not that godly. But, following behind Christ, confessing Him as Lord, God begins to work on us, in us, and through us. Suddenly, our effort, which is puny, minuscule, and ineffective by itself, becomes effective and powerful.<\/p>\n But Paul’s statement drives home another point. Why should we work? Because we have confidence in our work? Not at all, but because we have confidence in God’s work. Like Peter, who stepped out of the boat not because he was confident in his own ability to walk on water, we step out in faithful obedience because we believe in God’s effective power to walk us on the water.<\/p>\n When we work, God works. Let us put our confidence in God and His work by obeying God, working out our salvation with fear and trembling.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Edwin Crozier Text: Philippians 2 Jesus established the example. He left the throne of heaven and lived among us as a servant. God highly exalted Him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name because He was obedient even to the point of death on the cross. “Therefore,” Paul says in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1543,55],"class_list":["post-95111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-good-works","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34012,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-would-we-need-to-work-out-our-salvation-when-god-is-working-in-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":95111,"position":0},"title":"Why would we need to work out our salvation when God is working in us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Philippians 2:12, we are told to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. But verse 13 says \"for it is God worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.\" I have never, to my knowledge, heard verse 13 quoted before. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90778,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gods-power-to-save\/","url_meta":{"origin":95111,"position":1},"title":"God’s Power to Save","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0by J. F. Dancer When Paul wrote the letter to the saints at Rome, he explained to them why he had not yet visited them. He had promised to come and still intended to do so (Romans 15:24), but had been prevented (Romans 1:13). Then he set forth the basic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38202,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-self-emptying-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":95111,"position":2},"title":"The Self-Emptying Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer One of the most intriguing, discussed, and challenging texts in Scripture is found in the statement made by Paul in Philippians 2:5-8: \"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88044,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/naaman-was-healed-by-grace-through-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":95111,"position":3},"title":"Naaman Was Healed by Grace Through Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton At first, Naaman did not appreciate the simple instructions to dip in the Jordan seven times (II Kings 5:1-14). He wanted to be healed of leprosy, but he wanted it to be on his terms. He imagined that God would heal him some other way. He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37727,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-greater-progress-of-the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":95111,"position":4},"title":"The Greater Progress of the Gospel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer One of the highlights of Paul's attitude is that he was always more concerned for the spread of the gospel than for his own personal agenda or safety. He was willing to die for the Lord if it meant that the gospel would be proclaimed and more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Paul-in-Prison-300x207.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":39052,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/justification-by-works-and-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":95111,"position":5},"title":"Justification by Works and Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford At the end of Romans 3 and the beginning of Romans 4, we encounter the most famous of Paul's teachings: justification by faith in Jesus. Throughout the context, he contrasts it with justification by works. 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