Philippians 2:12 Explained
Philippians 2:12 says, "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." Does this mean that one must work out to keep their salvation or lose it in the process? Absolutely not otherwise it would contradict Ephesians 2:8-9 in which salvation is by grace through faith and if it is not of works, it is of grace otherwise it is of works as stated in Romans 11:6. On the other hand it should perfectly with Ephesians 2:10 and Titus 2:11-15 where God's grace teaches the fear of the LORD in the live of the believer. The Christian life is never without the Lordship of Christ. As said, Jesus is Lord and He means business. Christians should always seek guidance from the LORD and obey Him lovingly to get that salvation out of them, as in to show what a saved life really means but it should be done in an attitude of relying on God's grace. Matthew 5:16 says letting the Christian light shine before men.
So what do we really mean? The "fear and trembling" issue is NOT on fear of losing salvation, rather the type of fear that is shown in Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7 and Proverbs 9:10 which is reverential fear to God, a holy concern to give God the honor and to be careful to obey Him which keeps a child of God more on track than he/she has been during the earlier stages. If it were fear in terror, 2 Timothy 1:7 would be a lie because the fear of the LORD is NOT about being in terror of God but rather in love and a sound mind, that is respect. The Greek used for fear here is "respect or reverential awe" instead of "to be afraid of" because love and sound mind gives reverence to anybody, both meanings are in the DICTIONARY! Also the trembling here refers to Isaiah 66:2 of trembling before the Word of God. This trembling means, "To shake slightly because of some force." God's Word has an impact on every person and Christians do not take it lightly. Sadly many people take it lightly and are still stuck in the heresy of works salvation.
The next verse would actually make things clearly. Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Again this is the work of God, not of man and man's part in obeying as a Christian is because of the new creature. If man stumbles into sin it's because they are still sinners at best and may be trying their best not to sin by their own efforts so they need 1 John 1:9 in order to stop sinning but that of course is NOT part of salvation.. Remembering salvation, it was by grace through faith. Romans 4:5 says, "But to him that worketh not but believeth upon Him which justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." meaning it results to righteousness because God is righteous and holy, the command for holiness is obeyed because the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer and good works are a result of this justification by God. God worked through the hall of fame in Hebrews 11 causing their faith to result to good works. James 2:23-23 has it where Abraham believed God and was given righteousness and by his actions, he was shown saved which again, justified in the book of James refers to giving out of proof. It was not our actions but rather God's actions that justified a man and His saving work changes the believer.
However do note that there is NO violation of free will. Why? Well even when God is not directly commanding, a Christian freely does the good works as they please because of God's grace. God works with the believer and He does not force Himself in the sense, that He uses fear and intimidation, rather He uses a loving chastisement on Christians whenever they fall down.
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