Yes, you disagree and that does not make you right it only makes your post disagree with whatever it is you think my post means and says.
That's your opinion. I do not share it. And I go out of my way to include context whenever it is useful - which is almost always - and only resort of single verses or portions of verses after the context has been given in a post. Besides even if I were to forget to include the surrounding verses the fact that a verse is quoted gives any reader who is willing to check whatever amount of context they may want to include.
Let's double check that and see if anything I wrote contradicts or negligently ignores what saint Paul wrote.
Philippians 2:
1 If I may advise you, in the name of Christ, and if you can hear it, as the voice of love; if we share the same Spirit, and are capable of mercy and compassion, then I beg of you, 2 make me very happy: have one love, one spirit, one feeling, 3 do nothing through rivalry or vain conceit. On the contrary, let each of you gently consider the others, as more important than yourselves. 4 Do not seek your own interest, but, rather, that of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ had:
6 Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, taking on the nature of a servant, made in human likeness, and, in his appearance, found, as a man,
8 He humbled himself by being obedient, to death, death on the cross.
9 That is why God exalted him and gave him the name which outshines all names,
10 so, that, at the name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead,
11 and all tongues proclaim, that Christ Jesus is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore, my dearest friends, as you always obeyed me while I was with you, even more, now, that I am far from you, continue working out your salvation “with fear and trembling.” 13 It is God who makes you, not only wish but also, carry out what pleases him. 14 Do everything without grumbling, 15 so, that, without fault or blame, you will be children of God, without reproach, among a crooked and perverse generation. You are a light among them, like stars in the universe, 16 holding to the word of life. I shall feel proud of you, on the day of Christ, on seeing that my effort and labour have not been in vain. 17 And if I am being poured out, as a libation over the sacrifice, and the offering of your faith, I rejoice and continue to share your joy; 18 and, you, likewise should rejoice and share my joy. 19 The Lord Jesus lets me hope that I may soon send you Timothy, and have news of you. With this, I will feel encouraged. 20 For I have no one so concerned for you as he is. 21 Most follow their own interest, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But Timothy has proved himself, as you know. Like a son at the side of his father, he has been with me at the service of the gospel. 23 Because of that, I hope to send him to you as soon as I see how things work out for me. 24 Nevertheless, the Lord lets me think that I, myself, shall be coming soon. 25 I judged it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, who worked and fought at my side, and whom you sent, to help me in my great need. 26 In fact, he missed you very much and was still more worried, because you had heard of his sickness. 27 He was, indeed, sick, and almost died, but God took pity on him, and on me, sparing me greater sorrow. 28 And so, I am eager to send him to you, so that, on seeing him, you will be glad and I will be at peace. 29 Receive him, then, with joy, as is fitting in the Lord. Consider highly persons like him, 30 who almost died for the work of Christ; he risked his life to serve me, on your behalf, when you could not help me.
It seems that you are troubled by the phrase I underlined. The phrase that says "
continue working out your salvation". You say it means "work out what that means with fear and trembling" and you refer to them as "saved". Your argument is "since they are already saved their task is to work out what their salvation means and to do that in fear and trembling", is that right? Is that what you think the passage and especially the phrase "
continue working out your salvation" means? Because if it is then you've misread the passage and that phrase. It does not say "work out what
it means" it says "
continue working out your salvation" and it does not mean that the Philippians are to problem solve the meaning of salvation it means and it says that the Philippians are to "
continue working out your salvation". What do commentators say about the passage? Let's have a look. Albert Barnes - a Calvinist Minister (a Presbyterian to be specific) says:
Work out your own salvation - This important command was first addressed to Christians, but there is no reason why the same command should not be regarded as addressed to all - for it is equally applicable to all. The duty of doing this is enjoined here; the reason for making the effort, or the encouragement for the effort, is stated in the next verse. In regard to the command here, it is natural to inquire why it is a duty; and what is necessary to be done in order to comply with it? On the first of these inquiries, it may be observed that it is a duty to make a personal effort to secure salvation, or to work out our salvation:
- (1) Because God commands it. There is no command more frequently repeated in the Scriptures, than the command to make to ourselves a new heart; to strive to enter in at the strait gate; to break off from sin, and to repent.
- (2) It is a duty because it is our own personal interest that is at stake. No one else has, or can have, as much interest in our salvation as we have. It is every person’s duty to be as happy as possible here, and to be prepared for eternal happiness in the future world. No person has a right either to throw away his life or his soul. He has no more right to do the one than the other; and if it is a person’s duty to endeavour to save his life when in danger of drowning, it is no less his duty to endeavour to save his soul when in danger of hell.
- (3) Our earthly friends cannot save us. No effort of theirs can deliver us from eternal death without our own exertion. Great as may be their solicitude for us, and much as they may do, there is a point where their efforts must stop - and that point is always short of our salvation, unless we are roused to seek salvation. They may pray, and weep, and plead, but they cannot save us. There is a work to be done on our own hearts which they cannot do.
- (4) It is a duty, because the salvation of the soul will not take care of itself without an effort on our part. There is no more reason to suppose this than that health and life will take care of themselves without our own exertion. And yet many live as if they supposed that somehow all would yet be well; that the matter of salvation need not give them any concern, for that things will so arrange themselves that they will be saved. Why should they suppose this any-more in regard to religion than in regard to anything else?
- (5) It is a duty, because there is no reason to expect the divine interposition without our own effort. No such interposition is promised to any man, and why should he expect it? In the case of all who have been saved, they have made an effort - and why should we expect that God will favour us more than he did them? “God helps them who help themselves;” and what reason has any man to suppose that he will interfere in his case and save him, if he will put forth no effort to “work out his own salvation?” In regard to the other inquiry - What does the command imply; or what is necessary to be done in order to comply with it? We may observe, that it does not mean:
(a) That we are to attempt to deserve salvation on the ground of merit. That is out of the question; for what can man do that shall be an equivalent for eternal happiness in heaven? Nor,
(b) Does it mean that we are to endeavour to make atonement for past sins. That would be equally impossible, and it is, besides, unnecessary. That work has been done by the great Redeemer. But it means:
(i)That we are to make an honest effort to be saved in the way which God has appointed;
(ii)That we are to break off from our sins by true repentance;
(iii)That we are to believe in the Saviour, and honestly to put our trust in him;
(iv)That we are to give up all that we have to God;
(v)That we are to break away from all evil companions and evil plans of life; and,
(vi)That we are to resist all the allurements of the world, and all the temptations which may assail us that would lead us back from God, and are to persevere unto the end. The great difficulty in working out salvation is in forming a purpose to begin at once. When that purpose is formed, salvation is easy.
