Work Out Your Salvation; Shine as Lights in the World (Philippians 2:12–18)

Phil. 2:12. Therefore, my beloved, as you 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.

The purpose of these words is to impress upon them the need to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Yet St Paul surrounds the exhortation with a touching reminder of his relationship to the Philippians, so that by warming their hearts with this he may find a more ready entrance for his admonition. This is why he says: “my beloved”—showing how dear they are to his heart, and how earnestly he desires that they be perfect in everything. To this he adds: “you have always obeyed me.” As you have always obeyed, so obey now also—or rather, I trust that you will obey now as well. “He points to their own zeal and says, as it were: I ask you to imitate not others but yourselves” (St Chrysostom). But the Apostle also sets before them a further, more compelling motive for diligence when he says: in my presence you were always zealous; for that very reason, in my absence you ought to be all the more zealous. Otherwise it would appear that you were such not for God’s sake, but for mine; and that once I was no longer present, you became otherwise. This is the manner of one who seeks to please men, not God—who acts from the fear of God. St Chrysostom says: “Why ‘much more in my absence’? Then it might have seemed that you were doing everything out of respect for me and out of shame; but now there is no such occasion. Therefore, if it appears that you are now zealous, it is clear that even then you were such not for my sake, but for God’s.”

Having framed his lesson thus, he finally presents it: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” — And this is the chief concern not for them alone, but for all people. Whoever has acquired the fear of God will assuredly be found correct in all things—not merely outwardly, but inwardly as well—not only out of regard for external pressures, but moved by the heart’s own impulse. “What do you want, O holy Paul? Tell me,” St Chrysostom asks, and answers in his words: “That you should not only obey me, but work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For without fear it is impossible to accomplish anything noble or admirable. And he did not simply say: ‘with fear,’—but added: ‘and with trembling,’—which is a higher degree of fear—wishing to make the Philippians more attentive. Such fear Paul himself had. Therefore he also says: ‘I fear, lest, having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified’ (1 Cor. 9:27). For if earthly matters cannot be managed without fear, how much more is this true of spiritual ones? Tell me: who learned letters without fear? Who became skilled in a craft without fear? But if, where the devil does not lie in wait and only laziness weighs upon us, such fear is needed to overcome mere natural negligence—in the midst of such warfare, such obstacles, how can anyone ever be saved without fear? How then is this fear to be born? If we keep in mind that God is everywhere present, hears all things, sees all things—not only words and deeds, but all that passes in the heart and in the depths of the soul. For He is ‘a discerner’ of ‘the thoughts and intents of the heart’ (Heb. 4:12). If we so order ourselves, we shall neither do, nor say, nor think anything evil. For tell me: if you were always standing close to your ruler, would you not stand in fear? How then, standing before God, do you laugh, lean against the wall, and feel no fear or trembling? Do not take advantage of His longsuffering; He is longsuffering in order to lead you to repentance. Therefore, whatever you do, do it with the thought of God’s omnipresence. For He is truly everywhere present. Whether you are eating, lying down to sleep, or doing anything else—call to mind the presence of God, and you will never give yourself to laughter, never be inflamed with anger. If you hold this thought constantly, you will be constantly in fear and trembling, as though standing before the King Himself. A builder, however experienced and skilled, still stands in fear and trembling, afraid of falling from the structure. And you have believed, have accomplished much good, have ascended to the heights: hold yourself firmly, stand in fear, and watch with vigilance, lest you fall from there. For many spirits of wickedness seek to cast you down. ‘Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling’ (Ps. 2:11). — Note also that the Apostle did not say: accomplish your salvation, but: ‘work it out’—that is, with great diligence.”

Phil. 2:13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

As a motive for the fear of God, the Apostle sets before them the fact that God Himself is at work in them—both in their good desires and in their good deeds. This is yet stronger than what St Chrysostom says: remember that God is everywhere, and therefore with you and near you. Here it is said that He is not merely near us, but within us; and not as a power at rest, but as a power actively working in all things. One who does what is displeasing to God in the presence of the omnipresent God resembles a man who defies a king to his face and openly resists his commands; but one who does what is displeasing to God as He works within his desires and deeds resembles a man who tears himself from the king’s hands when the king, having taken him by the hand, leads him to some task—and not only tears himself away, but strikes the king’s hands. Even the first is not safe in such conduct; but the second faces evident danger. Every sinner is in some sense a fighter against God; but one who goes against the will of God working in the heart and conscience, urgently drawing him toward what is right—his opposition to God is of an incomparably higher degree of guilt. And all Christians are of this kind. They are united with the Lord and have Him working within them. Their reverence and fear should know no measure.

These words may also be connected with the preceding ones in another way. If we place the force of meaning in the preceding verse not on “with fear and trembling,” but on “work out,”—then the present verse may be understood as the Apostle’s encouragement, speaking as it were: work out your salvation, for you are not alone; God Himself is working in you. If, with so great a worker as this within you, you still fail to work out your salvation, then there will be no measure to your folly, your inattentiveness to yourself, and your carelessness—and consequently no measure to your punishment for failing to work out your salvation. St Chrysostom says: “Do not be afraid that I said: ‘with fear and trembling.’ I said it not to discourage you, not so that you would regard virtue as something inaccessible; but so that you would be attentive, so that you would not be distracted. If this be present (attentiveness and zeal), God will do everything. Take courage: ‘for it is God who works in you.’ Therefore, since He Himself works, we (on our part) must show our intention (to please Him)—steadfast, concentrated, undistracted. When you desire, then He also works, ‘to will’ (raising the desire to firm resolve). Do not be afraid and do not grow faint. He will give us both zeal and activity itself (when we begin to act, He will give the strength to carry the work through to completion). For when we desire, He further strengthens our desire. And when we wish to do something good, He brings that good to completion. — By this, free will is not taken away, but is left in us. For look: have you given alms? You have disposed yourself more toward doing so. Have you not given? You have disposed yourself less. Have you lived a day in temperance? You have an incentive for the next day also. Have you been lazy? You have strengthened your laziness. — From this, one ‘having fallen into the depths of evil, takes no heed’ (Prov. 18:3). But as one who has fallen into the depths of evil takes no heed of himself, so one who has come to the depths of good strives of himself. ‘God works not by compelling and constraining, but because, finding zeal within us, He strengthens it by grace’ (blessed Theodoret).”

“According to His good pleasure.” God so works in us because it is His good pleasure to do so—because His entire good pleasure toward us tends to this end: that we should live and act according to His will, and since we are ourselves powerless to do so, He comes to us with His help. St Chrysostom says: “according to His good pleasure”—that is, out of love for God, to please Him, so that what is pleasing to Him may be accomplished and done according to His will. Here the Apostle shows and assures us that God truly does work. Since He desires that we live according to His will, and if He desires this and at the same time works toward it Himself, then assuredly He will also bring it about—because He wills that we live righteously. “Good pleasure”—the Apostle used this word to denote the good will of God. Now God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4) (blessed Theodoret). Or, “according to His good pleasure”—means: as, when, and to the degree that it pleases Him—measuring, of course, this good pleasure also in accordance with the direction of our own free will.

Phil. 2:14. Do all things without murmurings and disputes.

This is not speaking about enduring troubles that befall one without complaint, but about doing one’s work without grumbling. This brings to mind a lazy servant who is placed under the unavoidable necessity of doing what he is commanded, yet has no desire whatsoever to do it—so that whatever he is made to do, he does it, but always with grumbling, or as we say, with muttering: he mutters against other people, against the master, against the task, against his own lot, even though he does the work all the same, shuffling from foot to foot. It is precisely this kind of doing that the Apostle forbids the Philippians. “Do all things”—embraces the entire range of deeds and dispositions that are obligatory for a Christian. The Apostle says: recognizing this obligation, fulfill everything without grumblings and mutterings (the Greek stands in the plural), which conceal dissatisfaction and displeasure at having to act in such a way; taking the opposite of this, it means: do all things willingly, with pleasure, joyfully, and with animation. With us, for example, when a fast comes, how much grumbling there is! And not only that—even if one is called to church in such a way that a few minutes must be taken from sleep, that also is not done without grumbling. Some give alms, yet inwardly grumble: “they come wandering here, there is no peace”—and the like. Judging from this, one can understand what the Apostle means when he enjoins that all things be done without murmurings. Blessed Theodoret writes: “Bear with readiness both the labor for the sake of virtue and the dangers for the sake of the gospel, not being troubled by the tribulations that befall you, not being led about by various thoughts—for you are laying up treasure for yourselves; and no one, in gaining great profit, grieves and grumbles.” St Chrysostom speaks at greater length on this: “Do you see that the Apostle is teaching not to murmur? For murmuring is the act of ungrateful and insensible servants. For tell me: what son grumbles while laboring in his father’s affairs and laboring for himself? Consider, he says, that you are laboring for yourself, that you are gathering for yourself. To grumble is proper to servants, since they labor for others, since they work for others; but one who is gathering for himself—why should he grumble? It is better to do nothing than to do with grumbling. For the very deed loses its value. Grumbling is close to blasphemy. Grumbling is ingratitude. One who grumbles is ungrateful to God; and one who is ungrateful to God is truly a blasphemer.”

“Without disputes,” διαλογισμων — deliberations. In the previous verse, unwillingness and displeasure at having to act was rebuked—a poor condition of the will and heart; here what is rebuked is a poor condition of the mind. Every task must be undertaken with discernment and deliberation, yet without wavering deliberations. One who grumbles acts, but with displeasure; one who deliberates and wavers has not yet begun to act, but stands at the threshold of the task wondering whether to abandon it. He is aware that there is a commandment, but deliberates whether he needs to fulfill it, whether to such a degree, whether in such a manner, whether perhaps it might be done better in some other way—and so forth. This wavering reveals the instability of his will’s resolve to do every recognized good in a manner pleasing to God. One whose resolve is firm takes up every task with fervor, as soon as he recognizes that it is good and that it lies before him to do—he burns with ardent zeal. But one who deliberates is neither hot nor cold—and always looking to see whether he might somehow excuse himself from the work. — Do not waver—press forward boldly! “Though labor lie ahead, though tribulation, though anything else—do not deliberate” (St Chrysostom). “In saying ‘without disputes,’ the Apostle forbade the wavering of thoughts and doubt in the fulfillment of the commandments; so that when it lies before one to fulfill some commandment, no one should say: will there be a reward for me if I do this? Is this good? For such doubtful thoughts must not be entertained, but one must act with confidence” (blessed Theophylact).

Phil. 2:15. That you may be blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

“That you may be”—so that in this way you may be, or become, “blameless and harmless.” You are obliged to be blameless and harmless; but you cannot attain to this in any other way than by acting as directed above—that is, by working out your salvation with fear and trembling, in hope that the grace which works all things in you will sustain you, and by doing everything willingly and with pleasure, without grumbling or wavering, in full assurance that you are doing right. If you act thus, you will be “blameless and harmless”—or, which is the same thing, you will walk worthily of the gospel of Christ. “Blameless,” αμεμπτοι — without reproach, so that there will be nothing for which you can be accused; “and pure,” ακεραιοι — unmixed—as gold, for example, when nothing foreign remains in it, is perfectly pure, so you too shall appear pure, without any admixture of elements alien to you, un-Christian elements, in thoughts, words, deeds, feelings, and dispositions—you will be pure, as pure as a ray of sunlight. And best of all, you will be “children of God without fault,” unstained by anything. Having been reborn in the font of baptism, you became by this new birth from God children of God, and you are obliged to manifest this in fact, in your life. And you will manifest it, if you act in the manner I have indicated. How dear to you it is to be such, so earnestly must you act as I have told you. “In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” As well-bred children of noble parents, even if they have mingled in a crowd of other children of a lower class, are immediately visible by their words, their manners, their conduct and deeds—so, he says, you, though you live among other people descended from Adam, by your spiritual birth are an altogether different race; and being a different race, you must appear different in life as well, so that all who look upon you would say: they are like us and yet unlike us; everything about them resembles ours, yet their manner of thinking, their principles of life, their purity of character, their aims and hopes are not ours. A different spirit of life breathes in them and points to a different birth. — Such you will be, if you act as I have said.

“‘Among whom you appear as lights in the world.” “Among whom’—that is, amid the persons of ‘the crooked and perverse generation.’ — ‘You appear’—either asserts that they truly are so and thus praises them by way of encouragement toward something greater; or points to their significance in the world, and through them to all Christians, by way of arousing a sense of obligation to this end, as though saying: among whom you are obliged to appear as lights in the world. The night of ignorance and corruption covers the world. You, as Christians, have been set by God in the midst of it to be lights of knowledge and holiness. Such is your calling—let your light shine before men. “Stars shine at night and are visible in the darkness, and lose nothing of their beauty—indeed, they appear more brilliantly; whereas in the light they are not so visible. So also you shine more brightly when you remain upright in the midst of the corrupt. It is a wonderful thing to be blameless!” (St Chrysostom). “Such are those who can say: “The light of Your countenance has been marked upon us, O Lord” (Ps. 4:7)” (St John of Damascus). “Strive therefore to shine with righteousness and blamelessness amid the corrupt, as lights shine in the darkness. “You appear”—seems to be said imperatively (that is, appear as lights)” (blessed Theophylact).”

Phil. 2:16. Holding fast the word of life, to my glory in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain nor labored in vain.

“‘The word of life’—meaning the Gospel word” (St John of Damascus). “‘Holding fast the word of life’—means: attending to the word of life; for so the Apostle said in the Epistle to Timothy: ‘Take heed to yourself and to the teaching’ (1 Tim. 4:16), that is, be attentive to yourself and to the teaching. And he called the preaching the word of life because it leads to life” (blessed Theodoret). St Paul explains how they shine as lights in the world: by holding the word of life they appear as lights. To hold the word means not merely to receive it by hearing with the ear, or to keep and remember it in one’s thoughts, but to make it so that according to it the whole inner and outer life of a person is formed—so that what is written in the word is realized in them in deed, and so that to look upon them is the same as to hear or read the word of life. Of those who faithfully fulfilled the Apostolic word, the Apostle said: you are my epistle, written not with ink (2 Cor. 3:2). — In a similar sense he called the Apostles the fragrance of Christ (2 Cor. 2:15). As from the fragrance of a rose one surmises that somewhere a rose is present, so from the Apostles and all faithful Christians one recognizes that Christ is—and what He is. All this and the like is what St Paul brings to mind in saying: “holding fast the word of life.” It is as though he said: and you will truly be lights if you embody in yourselves the Gospel word of life, if you live in a manner worthy of the gospel. St Chrysostom expressed this thus: “having within you the seed of life, holding the pledge of life, holding life itself—this is what we call the word of life.”

“To my glory in the day of Christ.” — In saying this, the Apostle expresses the hope that they will continue to hold the received word to the end and order their lives according to it. In what does the glory consist? In having formed such disciples and established them so firmly that they remained steadfast to the end. The Apostle was not concerned with his own glory, but with stirring in them a zeal for constancy in good and faithfulness to the Christian calling. Through these words he conveys an admonition: see to it, then, that you stand in the word to the end.

“That I have not run in vain, nor labored in vain.” — The Apostle calls his apostolic labors his course. If you, he says, remain always in the word, then my labors in converting you and sustaining you in the faith will not be in vain. In the day of Christ I can point to you as my glory—that I did not labor over you in vain, or that I did not bear the apostolic title in vain. The aim of the Apostleship is to bring people to Christ and make them saved; if you prove to be such, you alone will redeem my entire course. Even if no others are found, and you alone remain, I shall not be deprived of approval. For in that case—that no others are found—it will mean that the failure did not depend on me but on those who heard the word. You yourselves will prove that I knew how to teach; for if I had not known, I would not have made even you true followers of Christ.

The Apostle inserts a word about himself because of the Philippians’ love for him, knowing that out of love for him they are ready to do anything. They will begin to live as they ought, motivated by this—and through it they will arrive at the other grounds for why one must live in this way and no other.

But one may also place a full stop after: “to my glory in the day of Christ,” as in our Slavonic translation; and render “for” not as “that,” but as “because”—or “for.” For I have not run in vain, nor labored in vain. The thought will be the same as in the Epistle to the Corinthians: “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so I fight, not as one who beats the air” (1 Cor. 9:26)—that is, I run in full, clear, and unshakeable assurance that I shall receive the incorruptible crown (1 Cor. 9:25). Likewise here—St Paul expresses assurance that the Philippians, by fulfilling all that has been prescribed and holding fast the word of life, will be to his glory in the day of Christ; for, he says, I have hitherto run in the apostolic office not uncertainly, not without a definite aim and hope, and I have not labored in my preaching at random. I fulfill a definite will of God and I know with certainty that I do what is pleasing to Him and that the work of my ministry will have a blessed end. By setting this forth regarding himself, he also inspires them with the same blessed hopes: for if his labor in preaching will be crowned, then their following of that preaching will also be crowned.

The following two verses correspond more closely to this interpretation.

Phil. 2:17. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering over the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and rejoice with you all.

Phil. 2:18. Likewise also you rejoice and rejoice with me.

Having such assurance, the Apostle says, nurturing such definite and certain hopes, I—though I must suffer for bringing you to faith—rejoice within myself and rejoice with you all, that I have succeeded in setting you on the right path of salvation toward the attainment of eternal blessedness. But as I so rejoice within myself and rejoice with you, so rejoice also within yourselves that you are walking on the right path to eternal blessedness, and rejoice with me that through you my inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ is increased. The Apostle wishes to say: our path is true; we walk according to God; there is no cause to be troubled by trials; let us rejoice and mutually rejoice, looking toward the inheritance that awaits us. Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle said ‘of your faith’—instead of the faith of all those who, through his ministry, have believed. I rejoice and am gladdened, as a sacrifice offered to God for your faith. It is fitting that you also share in my rejoicing.” St Chrysostom concludes his words on this thus: “Therefore let us entirely cease from grieving, entirely cease from weeping; let us give thanks to God in all things; let us do all things without murmuring—let us rejoice, let us please Him in all things, so that we may receive the good things to come.”

By the words “being poured out as a drink offering” the Apostle means not only what he was then suffering, but what he had suffered before and what he would suffer in the future. The thought is: even if it falls to me to suffer in the course of preaching and to face death, I am glad of it—I bear it with joy and will continue to bear it. “Over the sacrifice and service of your faith”—for what I make of you through faith, a sacrifice to God, I perform a service to God. “He calls their being brought to faith a sacrifice. Truly, to offer a soul as a sacrifice is far better than to offer bulls” (St Chrysostom). — “In saying: ‘rejoice and rejoice with me also,’ he likewise encourages them to endure sufferings. I am glad, he says, of both what I have already endured, and what I am enduring, and what lies ahead for me to endure; I am ready with joy for all manner of death, because of the certainty of our hope. Be animated by the same spirit and be ready with joy for everything” (Photius in Oecumenius).