«　WEEK 3　DAY 1　»

　　Phil. 2:5-7 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave…

　　12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

　　[The salvation in Philippians 2:12 is] not eternal salvation from God's condemnation and from the lake of fire but the daily salvation that is a living Person. This daily salvation results from taking the very Christ whom we live, experience, and enjoy as our inward as well as outward pattern. The main elements of this salvation are Christ as the crucified life (vv. 5-8) and Christ in His exaltation (vv. 9-11). When this pattern becomes the believers' inward life, the pattern becomes their salvation. Only this would make the apostle's joy full. (Phil. 2:12, footnote 4)

　　The very pattern revealed in Philippians 2:5-11 must now become our salvation. This is indicated by the words so then at the beginning of verse 12. After giving us a clear view of Christ as our wonderful pattern, Paul says, “So then, my beloved,… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” As our pattern, Christ is both inclusive and exclusive. The pattern is exclusive because it excludes everything worldly, fleshly, or sinful. There is no way for negative things to have any part in Him or access to Him. But, on the positive side, He is all-inclusive, for He is the God-man Savior who emptied and humbled Himself and who has been exalted and glorified by God. With such a pattern available to us, we now must work out our own salvation.

　　To work out our salvation is to work out this pattern and to become in our experience a reprint of the pattern. Christ as the pattern can be compared to a page of type used in printing a book, and our subjective experience of the pattern becoming our salvation can be compared to the printing of the pages of a book. In making a book, each page of type is reprinted again and again until there are many copies. In our experience, the God-man Savior should be reprinted and become our subjective salvation. The very salvation we are to work out is Christ as our pattern.

　　For years I did not understand why in Philippians 2:13 Paul spoke of God and not of the Spirit. Now I realize that Paul did this deliberately in order to show us that the Christ who is the pattern for our salvation is the very God operating in us. If we consider the context of this verse, we shall see that Christ as the pattern is also the operating God. Objectively, He is the pattern. Subjectively, when He comes into us and operates within us, He is the operating God. On the cross, He was Christ. But within us, He is the operating God. On the cross He, as Christ, established a pattern for us. But within us He, as God, is the operating One to work out this pattern. Therefore, the pattern is the salvation, and the salvation is the operating God.

　　We may experience the operating God daily as our practical salvation. Whenever we cooperate with God operating in us, we enjoy salvation. God's operation becomes our salvation. Furthermore, this salvation is the reprint, the reproduction, of the pattern. When the pattern is reprinted in us, it becomes our salvation. The reprinting of the pattern is accomplished by God operating in us. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 378-379, 382)

　　In Philippians 1 salvation comes through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, but in 2:12 salvation comes from the operating God within us. The operating God is actually the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In both these cases salvation is a practical, daily, moment-by-moment salvation. The constant salvation in 1:19 is one in which a particular believer is saved from a specific encounter in a particular situation, whereas the constant salvation in 2:12 is one in which any believer is saved from ordinary things in common situations in his daily living. (Phil. 2:12, footnote 4)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 43, 48-49