“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

In summary, God’s will for the Christian is for him or her to study His Word, the Holy King James Bible, on a daily basis. God the Holy Spirit will then use that doctrinal truth that was studied and believed and work in the Christian for God’s glory. The result will be the very life of Jesus Christ manifested in and through the Christian. This is grace living, not law-keeping! Three passages that deal with specifics of Christian living are Rom. 12, Eph. 4, and Col. 3, and you are encouraged to read those passages, too. They are very handy to re-read and memorize verses from, verses that deal with daily Christian living.

While by no means exhaustive, this brief study attempted to capture the highlights. You are strongly encouraged to read Paul’s epistles (Romans through Philemon) to find all the details of the grace gospel. It is my hope and prayer that you can benefit from these materials, and that you reach others with them. This information is not being taught as it should, and that is why “the Body of Christ” is so doctrinally weak and unstable. We must walk by faith in an intelligent understanding of who God has made you in union with Him, so He can then manifest His life in and through you. This, ultimately, is God’s will for our Christian lives!

Many are needlessly confused by the words of Paul’s admonition to “work out your own salvation” (v12 below).

 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, ‘work out’ (Gk. katergazomai, complete) your own salvation with fear and trembling. ¹³ For it is God which Worketh In You both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)

What is it that the Apostle Paul is calling for when he appeals to the Philippians saying “work out your own salvation?”  First, know that when Paul makes this statement, he has already acknowledged that he is writing to the believers, the sanctified ones, the “saints” (Philip. 1:1), to believers who already are positionally in union with Christ, and thus set apart from sin and unto God. 

Therefore, Paul is not saying to “work for your own salvation,” but to “work out” the salvation God had already given to them in their spirit.  Scripture is clear that salvation today is of “grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9). Salvation must have first been received into us by simply receiving Christ as Savior, before it can be worked out… as an ‘out-flow’ in our daily living.

The Philippians are instructed here by Paul to “work out,” or put into practice in their daily experience that which God had already wrought in them by “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”  When we trusted in His all-sufficient provision for us by Christ’s death and resurrection, salvation was accomplished In Us by the Spirit.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of [by] the Holy Ghost;” (Titus 3:5)

Salvation is worked out by the renewing power of Spirit through our continuing faith in Christ as our new and eternal life. Working out your salvation is about living the same way that you were initially saved, that is “by grace through faith” in God’s work for us and now In us (Col. 2:6).  Salvation is found in the living person of Christ who is our salvation. The moment we first trusted in Christ for our salvation, Christ’s own resurrection life was in-worked to us.  Thus, Paul says in Col. 1:27 all who have trusted the Lord Jesus as their Savior have “Christ In You, the hope of glory.” 

After salvation from sin’s penalty, God desires that Christ’s life to be outworked practically in our lives, which glorifies (expresses) His life. It’s the full blossoming of the indwelling “Seed which is Christ” (Gal 3:16). As we do so through and by the Spirit’s power, in accord with His Word, in faith we work out our own salvation and our lives begin to exhibit Christ-like attributes (cf. Gal. 5:22-23). 

To ‘work out our salvation’ is also to live in victory over sin in our daily lives, experiencing salvation over sin’s power by Christ’s resurrected “Spirit of life” within us. “For the law (operating principle) of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law (operating principle) of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2 (KJV) We are empowered to live righteously in the freedom we have by “Christ who is our life.” (Col. 3:4; cf. Rom. 6:1-13). Phili. 2:12 shows us there is an expected human response to all that we’ve received by Christ in us, as we are told to “work.”  So yes, effort must be put into the Christian life, but this effort is to simply maintain fellowship with Christ, by abiding in our spirit-union with Him. 

Paul says that we are to “work out our own salvation … with fear and trembling.” These terms show us that the outworking of our salvation must be done realizing the seriousness of living the Christian life before a lost and dying world, lest we misrepresent “the gospel of the grace of God.”  We live “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation (Gk. genea, generation).” Father God would have us to shine brightly and boldly for Him “as lights in the world” (Phili. 2:15).  If we live still as self-seeking, self-glorying, selfish selves we are misrepresenting Christ to the world.

Working out our own salvation with fear and trembling also reminds us of our own weakness and inability to live the Christian life in our own strength.  We should rightly fear and distrust our own self-abilities to meet God’s will and instruction.  We need to humbly trust in Him and not in ourselves to live godly lives.  It’s by His power only that we can work out our own salvation. Paul is talking about the believer’s practical, daily sanctification here and he shows us both the believer’s responsibility and God’s role in it.  Phili. 2:12 could not be carried out without the reality of verse 13 where Paul tells us ‘Who’ exactly is doing the “work,” saying:

“it is God which worketh In you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

We could never work out our own salvation and grow and mature to be more like Christ without God working in us.  God does not ask us to do what we can’t do, for He Himself in us is our provision.  We could say the Christian life is a process of “ins” and “outs.”  God works in and we work out.  As God works in us and we grow spiritually in Him, in communion with Him, His life then works its way out through us. His life and light become reflected in our lives.

I Thessalonians 2:13 says, “the Word of God…effectually Worketh… In You that Believe.”  God works in us by His Word, and changing our will and desires as we grow and apply it.  Our minds, attitude, priorities, worldview, and understanding of life are transformed by “the Word of God.”  Through it we learn to see the world through His eyes and feel with His heart.  As God works in us by His Word, His “will” becomes ours, and we will seek to “do” things of “His good pleasure” (Philip. 2:13).  And to will and do of God’s good pleasure is about “Look(ing) not every man on his own things (of self), but every man also on the things of (concerning) others” (Philip. 2:4).  God’s will and desire is for us to put the needs of others first, in love, just as Jesus did for us at the Cross.

Now consider Paul’s words here, instructing us and then also telling us how Jesus of Nazareth as “the Son of Man” (in His humanity) lived out His life on earth.

“Let this mind (Gk. phroneo, mindset or attitude) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷ But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ⁸ And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8)

What was Jesus of Nazareth’s mindset?

We can let Him answer this question in His own words.

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (John 5:19)

“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge (Gk. krino, I decide): and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30)

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of (from) myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” (John 14:10)

“But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment (Gk. entello, instructs), even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.” (John 14:31)

Aren’t we as believers now endowed with the indwelling Godhead; Father, Son, and Sprit? Then, we can hear His “Spirit of life” within us guiding us in our decisions and doings… that we might also, by Christ’s life, please the Father.

He in us is able to live overcomingly, overcoming “Sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3) “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” (Eph. 3:20).

Paul says the unlimited power by which Almighty God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask in prayer is the same power that works in us.  So, there is no limit to what God can do in and through us according to His will. As God works in us, He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, or could ever conceive, or possibly imagine through you and me!

- Concept adapted from articles by Shawn Brasseaux