1 J. T. MarshaU.
298 WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION
it would be obvious that we have a hard task upon our hands, and that if ever we gain freedom we shall have good reason to compliment ourselves.
But let us suppose the case of a slave emancipated by his master, given his full liberty at once ; and then directed, both for the sake of gratitude to his liberator and for the sake of his own self-development, to prove himself worthy of freedom. He, too, is now to work out his liberty: not, however, in the sense of procuring it, but in the sense of bringing out that which is in it, of using it well, of applying himself so as to enjoy his new privileges. He is to prove himself really free by manifesting self-control ; by securing employment and culture ; by making his own the blessings and the prerogatives of freedom. Legally free, he is to work out a freeman's life, that he may manifest to others and himself enjoy both the rights and the duties which pertain to his new condition.
This latter case illustrates the sense in which we are to work out our salvation. We may have it at once by faith in Christ Jesus. No one teaches this more plainly than Paul. Jesus secured our needed emancipation. We are free from condemna- tion. We have passed from death unto life. We are no more the possession of Satan, but the accepted children of God. We are reconciled to God by the death of His Son, and our first need is to realize, in all its wonderful meaning, the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Having this possession, we are to work it out to its consummation. Having it legally, we are to work it out practically. Having it in the germ, we are to work out in our lives all its tendencies and consequences.^
2. Salvation, though due to God, is a process that we must work out. — The Bible teaches immediate justification for Christ's sake. But it is important to add that the Bible insists with equal force that the salvation which is made legally ours we are to work out ; the liberty which has been declared to be ours we are to exercise both as to its privileges and its duties ; the acquittal which we have received we are to make a real and personal deliverance from the actual bondage of sin. It is only on the supposition that the formal will thus become the real that it is permitted. It is only on the supposition and certainty of our becoming like Christ that we are allowed to know that in Christ we are saved.
^ Our first and most important religious act is the signing of a declaration of dependence. We need to recognize our relation to » G. T. Purves, Faith and Life, 142.
PHILIPPIANS II. 12, 13 299
God, to see that He is the source of all good, and that without Him we can do nothing. But we are not to be mystics, folding our hands and leaving everything to God. He has made us reasoning and voluntary beings, and when He works in us, He only puts us in more complete possession of our powers of intellect and will. Our declaration of dependence needs to be followed by a declaration of independence. We must see to it that we become co-workers with God and not mere puppets moved by the Divine fingers. The true Christian is more of a man than he ever was before, and while God works in him, he is also to work out his own salvation.^
*ff A little seed, says a German fable, began suddenly to give signs of life, and it shot up through the hard crust of the earth, and it spread forth its roots, rejoicing in the pleasant sunshine, crying aloud in its joy, " Am I not a tree ? " But a voice came floating by which said, " The wind shall rock thee, and great storms tear thy very roots, and the winter's frost shall bite thee, and many winters and summers pass over thee as the years roll along, ere thou canst call thyself a tree." It is a fable not without application. It is not enough that we feel called to a higher and a better life, and that we perhaps suddenly burst the bonds that hold us to the past, and rejoice in the inherent and everlasting love of God. There must be patient growth and development of character — working out our own salvation.^
Let no man think that sudden in a minute All is accomplished and the work is done; —
Though with thine earliest dawn thou shouldst begin it Scarce were it ended in thy setting sun.
Oh the regret, the struggle and the failing!
Oh the days desolate and useless years ! Vows in the night, so fierce and unavailing!
Stings of my shame and passion of my tears ! *
3, Salvation is a personal matter. — It is " our own salvation." No one can work it out for us. Each one is to work out his salvation for himself. Each one stands in an individual relation to Christ, Each one has individually believed and individually lives. And so, individually, we are to weave into the fabric of our own lives, as that grows with the years, the pattern which God