Our last post discussed the difference between a soteriological (salvation) and a missional interpretation of the Bible. Since the entire Bible is a book of God’s mission in and for the world, I advocated that our interpretative process should also incorporate a missional dimension. This week, as promised, I demonstrate from Philippians 2.12-13 how these interpretative paradigms produce radically different interpretations. Here we go…
Philippians 2.12-13
"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."
The Soteriological Approach: Individual & Salvation
Philippians 2.12-13 is often preached and understood within an individual, soteriological paradigm. Protestants regularly approach this text, more or less, with the following interpretation:
Because we all know that our good works cannot save us, it is noted, thankfully, Paul said "work out," not "work for" our salvation." Otherwise, this verse would throw all of our justification by faith alone theology into great confusion. What does Paul mean to work out our salvation? He means, it is prominently taught, Christians need to take great care to ensure they live a pleasing life to God to prove they really are saved. It is all about ensuring that the outworking of our faith is legitimate. Since being a Christian entails particular desires and actions, we should be putting to death their old man and his desires and attempting to live righteously, thereby proving we are God’s child.
Through all of this effort and hard work Christians put into their life to ensure their salvation, they should never forget that God is the one who is doing all the work. He provides both the energy and the desire to live out the Christian life. This is why Paul says that it is "God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." Thus, to be a faithful follower of Jesus means to recognize God is the one who is ultimately giving you the power and means to obey.
To recap, the basic message of this passage centers on ensuring you are Christian by doing all you can to live a righteous life, knowing that God is empowering you.
A couple of points about this interpretation:
First, this is a case of right doctrine wrong text. It is not so much that the message of the interpretation is unbiblical as it is not the point Paul makes here. He certainly cares that the churches he founded inspect their lives. He twice implores the church at Corinth to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith (cf. 1 Cor 11.28; 2 Cor 13.5). Moreover, Christians should want to work hard at pleasing God with their lives (cf. 2 Cor 5.9). "Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning."1 We do not want to fall into the antinomian trap, where we feel like we can do anything we want and feel secure with our relationship with God. However, this is not the point Paul wants to make in this passage.
Second, this interpretation is ultimately concerned with an individual's salvation. When you get to the bottom of this interpretation, two primary foci emerge: (1) the individual and (2) salvation. The message concentrates on the individual's salvation. "Make sure you are doing everything you can to ensure you are saved." An introspective look into one own’s life regarding the status of their relationship with God becomes the dominating focus of this passage.
Why do we interpret this passage this way? Because we have been conditioned to see "salvation" as the subtext to our hermeneutic. Moreover, our individualistic society causes us to read this passage about ourselves. And again, it is not as though Paul is not concerned with such things. He surely is. But there is another way to read the passage that is more faithful to what Paul is saying.
The Missional Approach: Communal & Missional
A missional approach to this text presents an antithesis to the soteriological. A missional reading does not primarily concern itself with an individually focused salvation but with the communal and missional purposes of the church. Paul is not discussing the individual salvation of each believer in Philippi. He is concerned with the church together figuring out how to be the church in their pagan city of Philippi.
An excellent way to demonstrate the differences between the soteriological and missional approaches is to compare the following paraphrases of the verse, which gets to the crux of the issue:
Soteriological Paraphrase:
"Work on your individual Christian life really hard to ensure that you are truly saved and persevering in your faith."
Missional Paraphrase:
"Work out together what it means to be God's saved people in Philippi."
This text presents a command (work out—κατεργάζεσθε Present/Middle/Imperative/2 Plural) to the church to seek ways to demonstrate what salvation looks like in their city. This is a missional imperative. Paul desires the church to learn together what being God's saved people looks likes on the ground in everyday life.
This interpretation requires a robust understanding of the theological nature of salvation. Salvation in the New Testament is not only a vertical correspondence that exists between God and man. Salvation also must be seen as a horizontal reality based on the vertical. Salvation indeed entails a vertical dimension of God and man being right with each whereby we are now saved from the penalty, power, and presence of sin. However, Paul seems to broaden salvation to include the missional purposes of the church. Salvation is not just something one possesses but also what someone does.
The implications of the vertical reality demand that the church learn how to live out their salvation horizontally in their particular context.
Salvation, then, is not just a gift to receive; it is something the church acts out. Being God's saved people demands a particular way of living in the world, and the church must work to figure out what it looks like.
The horizontal dimension of salvation is universal. Whatever a group of people look to for their salvation— vertically necessarily entails figuring out how to live for it—horizontally. Every brand of salvation requires a particular way of life. And Jesus' salvation is no different. For example, suppose one looks to the conservative Republican values of open market and fewer governmental structures as their salvation. In that case, they will seek to embody these values in their everyday life. They will work out how to promote their way of salvation in their particular context. Paul is simply asking the church to stop promoting their previous forms of salvation and now, instead, work out what it means to be God's saved people.
This missional dimension of salvation is by no means a novel reading, even if it is rarely if ever discussed in Evangelical circles. Gordon D. Fee writes about this text,
"The context makes it clear that this is not a soteriological text per se, dealing with "people getting saved" or "saved people persevering." Rather it is an ethical text, dealing with "how saved people live out their salvation" in the context of the believing community and the world." (Philippians, NICNT)
N.T. Wright states,
"Work at bringing about your own salvation,' he instructs them, not at all in the sense of 'save yourselves by your good works', as some have anxiously imagined, but 'figure out what your version of soteria is going to look like in practice', as opposed to the 'salvation' offered elsewhere." (Paul and the Faithfulness of God, 1123)
Salvation is not just being saved from sin, Satan, and death to righteousness, Jesus, and life; it is also a way of living in the world.
Notice this is also a communal command. It is not everyone make sure you are a Christian. No. It is every Christian work together to figure out how to enact God's salvation. This is a command given to a group of people. Sure, there will be individual roles to play, but the church should all be working together in harmony. There is no room for Rambo Christians in the church. We do not work out our salvation on our own. The church corporate is necessary to fulfill Paul's command. If there is no corporate participation, there is no valid working out your salvation.
The missional approach to this text sees the church's mission as the key to unlocking what Paul means in this passage. It is not ultimately about whether or not one is saved, but whether or not the church is learning to work out their salvation in their context. This is not to downplay one's individual salvation. Obviously, one must embrace the salvation of Jesus by faith to work it out in the context of a local church. It just misses the entire point of the passage to only read it in the individual salvation paradigms.
Philippians 2.12-13 should not be interpreted soteriologically and individually. It should be interpreted communally and missionally.
"Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone." ― Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship.