Vol. 6, No. 10, 1989

Articles on Other Religious Topics

Tom Forehand

Philippians 2:12: "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Most cults which have a works system of salvation will use this verse in an attempt to prove that one must work their way to heaven. But is this what Paul means in Philippians 2:12?

Of course not! The New Testament is clear that escaping hell and getting to heaven is gift (see Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 6:23). Paul meant something else in Philippians 2:12.

First of all, the word for "salvation" in this verse is the word sorteria which comes indirectly from the verb, sozo, meaning "to save." However, sozo has many different meanings in the New Testament such as: "rescue, deliver, keep safe, preserve, cure, make well," (A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 177). The word, sozo, can be associated with the healing of one's physical body -- a woman being made whole (see Matt. 9:22, "thy faith hath made thee whole"). Thus, when this word "saved" or "salvation" is used in connection with the spiritual condition, it can and does have different emphases.

There are at least three main divisions in the spiritual concept of being "saved" as found in the Bible: being saved from hell (called justification); being saved from effects of the temptation of sin day by day (called sanctification); and having the body "saved" or resurrected from the grave and thus made whole (called glorification).

The first kind of saving, from hell, (justification) is received by faith in the Person of Christ. It happens only once and is pictured as having already occurred in the life of a believer (Eph. 2:8, "are ye saved," is perfect tense in the Greek -- this saving has already taken place in the past, at the moment of conversion; cf. Romans 4:2-6; John 5:24). This justification determines where one's eternal destiny.

Another kind of saving, glorification, is the final rescue of the body, by resurrection, from the grave. At that time, the physical body will become like Christ's (Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2). This glorification is viewed in the scripture as taking place in the future (Rom. 13:11, "is nearer than when we believed"). At that time Chrisitans will actually be made righteous (2 Cor. 5:21) rather than just being as "imputed" as righteous now (Rom. 4:5).

The third type of saving, sanctification, is being saved each day from giving in to temptation to sin. One avoids giving in to temptation when one coop¬erates each day with the indwelling spirit of God by obedience, continued repentance and confession of sin, etc. (Eph. 5:18; 1 John 9). The more one cooperates with the spirit, then the more of a victorious Christian life one will live, the more fruit one will bear and the better Christian witness one will bear before the world (John 15:4-6). This daily Christian living will be rewarded when the believer gets to heaven (1 Cor. 3:14-15). This kind of saving determines the quality of fellowship one has with God, but does not determine one's eternal destiny. This main fruit which comes from this sanctified living is that of love between Christians (John 13:35).

The last king of saving, sanctification, this avoidance of giving in to the temptation of sin, is what Paul was addressing in Philippians 2:12. Paul is telling the Philippians, who have been arguing and bickering with each other publicly, "Be careful in your corporate witness in Philippi. All of you work out before the whole town the being delivered or preserved or rescued each day from the sin of backbiting," (Phil. 2:13).

Philippians 2:12 cannot be a command to an individual church member telling him that he must work to escape hell. The reasons why? In Verse 13 the word "beloved" is plural; the verb "have obeyed" is plural; the verb "work out" is also in the plural; and the word "own" is plural. Thus, Paul is not giving a command to an individual, but is giving a command, a corporate command, to all the Philippian Christians about the safety or preservation or rescue of the entire church at Philippi. He is commanding them as a group to do something -- watch closely their public behavior as a group.

How are the Philippians to do this? Verse 13: "For it is God who worketh in you" -- once again "you" is plural, referring to the entire group. Since Christ has worked out the salvation from hell, Christians need to work together to give as good a witness as possible to a lost world.