The Pulpit Commentary — Philippians — Section 93

in fear and in much trembling." It ls the R1Jirit which he requires of servants toward their masters: "Servants, be obedient unto them that, accor<lin" to the llesh, a.re your maeters, wit~ fear ~ad trembling." We may well have fear an<l t;embling as to the w0rk of our ealvat10n bemg really commenced. For there is such a difference between a saved nnd an unsaved state, between being in Christ and being out of Christ. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he bath sent." Have we unmistakably ~iven ourselves up to Christ, eo that we are among the number of the saved, i.e. enjoy the fruits of Christ's work in the pardon of our sins, acceptance of our persons, and the beginnin~ of a better life? "Let us fear therefore, lest ha ply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it." A mistake here is, of all mistakes, the most stupendous, and the very possibility of it should make us fear and tremble. To be an entire stranger to fear and trembling regarding the reality of personal salvation is to be in an alarming condition. We may well have fear and trembling, too, regarding the satisfactory going forward of the work of salvation, which is more referred to here. It is a work for which we are made responsible, which is made to depend on our fidelity, and we may well fear and tremble when we think of our indifference, of our unsteadiness of purpose. It is a work which goes so far into our inmost being that we may well distrust our own power to do enough in connection with it. Can we but fear and tremble when we think that our doing has to pass under the all-seeing eye of God, and to be judged unerringly, not only as to its quantity, but as to its quality? We do not need to crouch as under the rod, when we think of failure; for we are in the hands of a merciful Father: but all the more because he is merciful should we have a trembling anxiety lest we do not come up to what he expects of us. It is a work for the accomplishment of which long time is needed, and we may well fear and tremble when we think of the little time that we can calculate on as at our disposal. In what state of progress towards perfection shall our thoughts and affections and energies be when we are called away from the scene of Qur trial into the presence of our God? 3. Encouragement. " For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure." (1) The Divine Energizer. We are encouraged to work out the work of our salvation in a spirit of anxious solicitude by the thought that it is God which worketh-literally, energizeth-putteth forth power in us. At the centre of our being is the will It is it which wills and energizes in our thoughts, affections, and practical activities. We are here taught that within our will, a centre within a centre, there is a higher power that wills and energizes. It is God which energizes in us both to will and to energize. This power he has over us by virtue of being our Creator. This is the power which he retains over bis creation, that he can touch efficiently the will in its choosing anu in its outgoing in the nature. It is a saving power that we are here to think of, i.e. a power which only goes forth in connection with the work of him who has been exalted as Saviour. From the crucified and exalted Saviour, through the Spirit, God puts forth power to counteract the weakness of our will, to give it power in choosing the good and refusing the evil. Until he puts forth his power on the will nothing good can come out of it. There is only depravity in it, and we can no more get rid of it ourselves than the Ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his spots. The first enabling power in good must come from God. While be enables us be holcis us responsible, and he gives us this to encourage us, in tremblingly discharging our obligations as to our salvation that, as it is his almighty grace that first comes down upon our will, so we have the same grace on which unlimitedly to rely for support in its struggle out of sin toward salvation. Great is the weakness of our will, but greater is the power that energizes in us both to will and to energize. We are thus in the position of carrying forward, while tremblingly, yet hopefully, the work of our salvation. (~) For what he energizes. The idea is that it is his good pleasure that gets the advantage. We reap great advantage in our experience of salvation. But God is here said to ener- gize in us saviugly for his own ad van tag~. 1t is not for the ad_vantage ~f his sovere!gut:r', eo much as of that goodness which 1s at the heart of his sovereignty. lt 1s his sovereignty that gives him the right to energize in our wills; but it is goodness that detormines the exorcise of his sovereignty, as always, so especially in our salvation from Rin, in meoting us in all our impotence, and in giving us the power to maint,1in the strugglo; nnd so it is the goodness of his pleasure that is advantaged in our salvation.  00 '1'111<; EPISTLI~ TO THE l'lllLIPl'IANS. [en. IT, 1-30,