Perhaps you are like me…weary of pastors and teachers explaining what “is really meant” by various Bible passages. Why is it so difficult to just be honest? Why can’t Scripture actually mean what it says, particularly when it is obvious that we are not reading a parable or allegory that doesn’t have some deeper meaning? Here’s a plain passage of Scripture that I have often heard interpreted dishonestly:

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13).

As always, Paul chose words and ordered them in a sentence to communicate truth. And he meant what he said. The problem is, what he said doesn’t agree with the theology of so many pastors and teachers, so they twist Paul’s words to fit their underlying false premise. When they read Philippians 2:12-13, they inwardly say to themselves, “That can’t mean what it says because it doesn’t fit with what I believe. So I must find a way to make it fit my theology.” And their attempts to make Paul fit their theology expose them as dishonest.

So how should we interpret Philippians 2:12-13?

First, it is indisputable that Paul was writing to born-again believers. Paul’s entire letter to the Philippians, for start to finish, testifies of that, not to mention the fact that Paul declared in the passage we just read that his readers “always obeyed,” and that God was “at work in” them “both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” So there is zero doubt Paul considered his readers to be genuine born-again new creations in Christ.

Yet Paul told those genuine born-again new creations in Christ to “work out their salvation with fear and trembling.” That is where the problem lies for those who hold to false premises that contradict Paul’s words. So, they have to come up with a way to make Paul mean something other than what he wrote.

Usually, they make the claim that when Paul used the word “salvation,” he wasn’t speaking of salvation in the sense of being saved from the future punishment we deserve for our sin, that is, God’s wrath or hell. It can’t mean that, they tell us, because once you are saved, you are guaranteed to always be saved. So it must mean something else!

The problem is, that “explanation” is pulled out of thin air, having no biblical basis. Anyone who studies the Greek word Paul used that is translated “salvation’ in Phil. 2:12 (soteria), will find scores of examples where Paul used it to describe being saved from future punishment, God’s wrath, and hell. Honest readers admit that. Dishonest ones, however, claim that, in this single instance, Paul used the word “salvation” to refer to sanctification, and not only that, but to a sanctification that has no bearing on one’s ultimate salvation.

So not only do dishonest interpreters fail to explain why “salvation” in this one instance means “sanctification that has no bearing on salvation,” they also fail to explain why believers should be so concerned about such a sanctification that they should “work it out with fear and trembling.” To paraphrase these dishonest teachers, they have Paul saying: “Work out your sanctification with fear and trembling even though there is no reason to fear or tremble. The most you risk losing are heavenly rewards.”

These kinds of pastors and teachers remind me of children who get caught in one lie, and so they keep adding additional lies to cover their initial lie that only make them look more absurd.

What has happened to honesty? Obviously, Paul did not believe that the Philippians believers had salvation “in the bag.” A real danger existed—concerning which he wrote they should “fear and tremble.” Obviously, they could forfeit salvation, and that forfeiture had something to do with their obedience, as Paul mentioned right at the beginning of Philippians 2:12. Let’s read it again:

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13, emphasis added).

Paul’s letters are full of examples of similar warnings, and anyone who is honest will admit that. Two seconds after he wrote Philippians 2:12-13, Paul admonished the same readers to hold “fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain”(Phil. 2:16.) Again, honest interpreters affirm the obvious truth. If the Philippian believers didn’t “hold fast the word of life” (the gospel), it would mean that Paul had wasted all his time and energy bringing them the gospel. Again, as Christians, we must continue to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to ultimately be saved in the end.

Here’s another one of Paul’s similar warnings, concerning which, one wonders how it can possibly be misinterpreted:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

The underlying false premise behind so much modern theology is that God’s grace is unconditional, which is another way of saying God’s grace is a license to sin. The New Testament identifies that view as heretical, as it perverts the grace of God (see Tit. 2:11-14) and as blasphemous, as it denies the Lord and Master, Jesus Christ (see Jude 4).

If we are honest with Philippians 2:12-14, people in whom “God is at work”…”to will and to work for His good pleasure” (born-again believers) should work out their “salvation with fear and trembling.” That indicates salvation is a combination of God’s work and our work. 

Obviously, God does the majority of the work, but our cooperation is also required. And this is not an idea that is hidden in the New Testament. It is readily apparent to anyone who is honest. Again, honesty is the problem!

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