Therefore my beloved, just as always you have obeyed, not only as in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).
The Scriptures declare concerning the entire human race that “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But while we were still dead in our sins God demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus Christ to die for us so that if we believe in Him we will not perish but have everlasting life (Romans 5:8; John 3:16). For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:9). We do not save ourselves, God does – but after we have come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches that God expects us to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). The reason given for this instruction follows immediately in the next verse: “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). That is, because God Himself is at work in us to make us willing to do His good pleasure we, in turn, have the responsibility of working out what He works in us- His will. Now, Jesus made this clear: it is either we are for Him, i.e. obeying Him or we are working against Him – there is no middle ground (See Matthew 12:30; John 14:15). It is either we are heeding the Lord’s instruction and, through the grace He provides, working out what He is working in us (i.e. doing His will) or we are following after our flesh/the devil and working against Him. The Scriptures make this abundantly clear.
The grace of God saved us, and this God-given grace has a teaching clearly spelled out in Scripture: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age (Titus 2:11-12). If the grace of God, which brings salvation, teaches and instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, then from whence cometh this deception which teaches/suggests that it is okay to live in sin and after the flesh as you please, and confession of sins and repentance from sin is a non-issue with God? As clearly shown, grace teaches that those who have been saved by it should live soberly/self-controlled, righteously and godly in this present age, and these things must be emphasized (See Titus 2:11-15). How can anyone who claims to have an understanding of grace not emphasize these virtues as we have been instructed, but simply pass them off as legalism? This is actually contrary to grace and its teachings according to the Scriptures.
We did not become robots, with no power to choose, when we got saved. Neither were we excluded from God’s eternal law of sowing and reaping when got born again (See Galatians 6:7). To Christians, Paul wrote and made clear that we have the option to live after the Spirit of God or after our flesh and reap the consequences thereof: For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6:8). Those who have yielded to God’s work in them are known by their fruits, for they bear the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23), and to them is the fruit of eternal life promised (Galatians 6:8). Those who live according to their flesh show forth “the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21). God gives a solemn warning, after this list, to those who have chosen to live according to their flesh: I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21).
To be continued….
Kwadwo Omari
© 2016