How do you reconcile the need to “work out (basically “do” in Greek) your salvation with fear and trembling” with Sola Fide, let alone Once Saved Always saved?
It seems like Paul didn’t believe either.
Discussion
51 comments
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Because our sinful nature are still there.
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Use the scripture like a mirror on your daily life. Study it put it to use. Make sure you’re doing what it says. Faith without works is dead
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“working out your salvation” is the process of sanctification that each faithful, Spirit filled, Christian undergoes as they prepare for service to our God in Eternity. Sanctification is a work of the indwelling Holy Spirit as He daily tutors and teaches the faithful concerning the things of God and forms them, via obedience, into the image of Christ. This admonition has NOTHING to do with a heretical “works salvation” but simply commands the faithful to press forward in diligent study of the word and seek perseverance via the Spirit in a lost, deceived, dying World.
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Paul said to run the race. You have to complete it, thats how races are ran. But that just means we need to continually choose God over ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we have any room to boast
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Do isx believe. And yet faith itself is God’s gift not man’s to will or do on his own. For he is dead in trespasses and sin. Without him we can do nothing.
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If he had a brand new car he would have to m sa obtain it. He would have to take care of it. No gas no maintenance no go.
Salvation is free through repentance, why would anyone want to hide it or take care of such a special gift -
Good works is the logical response to saving faith, not the prerequisite for it.
A faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first.
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To work out your faith is to practice it. You can’t be plucked from Gods hand
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To work out your own salvation with fear and trembling means to live in the overiding reality of what God has done in you through the atonning work thst Christ Jesus did on the cross. It means to “take up your cross and follow Me daily.”
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I’d suggest context. But I’ve always understood “work out” as “figure out” or “understand.” That’s what we typically mean in English when we say to work something out.
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If you read the Gospels and Paul’s letters there are instructions on how to live. There are ‘works’ for us to do that were sanctified by Jesus at the Cross. Paul is an example of how to live the Christian life, the works are not a means of Salvation but a means of obedience.
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Jesus said….Ye are my disciples if ye do whatsoever I command you. This is the result not the cause, this is also working out our salvation!
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Our talking about two different processes. As a human being, You can not do any work until you are first born. In the spirit it is the same way. You must first be born again. Only after you are born spiritually can you do any kind of spiritual work including out what God has placed within.
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I’ll give an example: some people can go out, have a beer and end it there. Others can’t have even one drink because they wouldn’t be able to stop. One person can drink in moderation and another not at all. That’s working out salvation. Jesus saved us, working out our salvation is figuring out the best way to live our lives to honor what He did for us.
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You can’t work out something you don’t have. Only if you’re already saved can you work it out. It’s like muscles. You go to the gym and work them out to make the most of what you’ve got.
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Once saved always saved is a false teaching
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Work out: take it to its logical conclusion, i.e., experiental sanctification.
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Make sure you’ve truly been saved, not a false convert, that you haven’t believed in vain. Many who call Him Lord will be told I never knew you.
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Gina made the point I was about to emphasize. The concept here is sanctification, not justification or salvation. You work out what you already have, you work for what you don’t.
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To OP: you don’t. Sola fide, sola Scriptura, OSAS are all false
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If you keep reading the rest of the verse, you’ll see the answer. Who is doing the work?
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Therefore, my beloved, AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS OBEYED, not as in my presence only, BUT NOW MUCH MORE in my absence, WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING; FOR IT IS GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE. -Philippians 2:12-13.
Paul here speaks of like-mindedness and humility best depicted in the life of Christ. Christ, although He is God, humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. He AFTERWARDS was exalted above every name – remember he who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Humility in simple terms is obedience to God, which means we must KNOW God and HEAR God by His Spirit through His Word in order to obey. ALTHOUGH IN THE FINAL SENSE, He Himself works salvation. Here I see the Doctrine of Divine Concurrence. Read more on Louis Berkhof’s systematic theology
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no Paul understood the problem is many have tried to figure God out and how he works when we are told his ways are far above ours. thus the problem arises when we try to tell God what he meant by what he said or did.
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Sanctification!
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Well my philosophy is to listen to the entire gospel .. Sure there are some phrases that don’t seem to meld with others. But we were taught to read them all and accept them all as gospel and they blend themselves together.. and take the conservative approach. aim for the narrow gate +
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working out is after receiving. It is not a prerequisite nor is it a “maintenance” that would otherwise cancel salvation.
It is a response and a guideline that our continuous hearing and continuous learning may grow. This response will make you stay the course in the narrow gate.
This is the role we play in Sanctification that we may experience the blessings of a delivered life in this land of the living. -
You need to just take it seriously and know that you are unworthy.
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On the DOCTRINE OF DIVINE CONCURRENCE.
Here Berkhof is responding to the unbiblical idea that, we do our part in the work and God does the other part.?
“EACH DEED in its ENTIRETY is both a DEED OF GOD and a DEED OF THE CREATURE. It is the DEED OF GOD in so far as there is NOTHING THAT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE DIVINE WILL, and in so far as it is DETERMINED FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT BY THE WILL OF GOD. And it is a DEED OF MAN in so far as GOD REALIZES IT THROUGH the self-activity of the creature. There is INTERPENETRATION here, but NO MUTUAL LIMITATION”
Louis Berkhof(Book: Systematic Theology).
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Your perseverance and fruits are proof of the authenticity of your faith.
Eph. 2.8-10: Saved BY grace, THROUGH faith, FOR walk in good works that God prepared for his saints.
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By learning the context in which each text was produced.
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Ephesians Ch. 2:8-10
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It means to make sure you are saved, according to the Bible
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The passage says to “work “out” your salvation… in other words , you already have your salvation in place. Not if it’s genuine. The Holy Spirit will urge you, or motivate you to “do” something .
You can’t help it.
Remember –
It does not say, “work “for” your salvation but rather “work out” your salvation. -
You are working out what you already possess.
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Salvation is a wholistic term for:
1. Justification – salvation of the spirit by grace through faith
2. Sanctification – the daily molding to be more Christ-like by the Holy Spirit
3. Glorification – salvation (resurrection) of the body in the Last DayAll in this order.
Paul talks to the already believers in the verse, thus he is referring to SANCTIFICATION in this case, that we should all actively participate in by obeying.
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We are ambassadors of God in Christ, We are to represent Him correctly.
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Work out your salvation NOT work for your salvation
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Justification vs sanctification
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If you continue reading Paul says that we should work because God is working in us…our righteousness is filthy rags, only his imputed righteousness will do. I hate these one verse proof texts.
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Work out different from work for
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Fear of the lord brings wisdom. It’s not fear like in horror movies but fear that you feel as a child with your father or mother. You know they love you and they want what is best for you but if misbehave you get know punishment is coming. That kind of fear and respect
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Salvation is like a muscle to me you have to work it out Philipians 2:12-13
If i dont work out then im frail Hebrews 5:11-14 -
Remember that it’s not, Work out for your salvation. Redemption is a part of our salvation. The more WORK that we put into our relationship with the Father, the greater our salvation Walk, will be. Draw close unto God, and He will draw close unto us. He will lead and direct us in our salvation walk. Our New Life. Earthly parents or peers taught us how to navigate our personal lives, God will teach us how to navigate our spiritual rebirth. We don’t work for our salvation; we work because of our salvation. I hope that you can follow what I am saying.
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“… for it is God who is at work in you to will and to act…” (V. 13.) The point is that as a result of God’s grace in bringing about your salvation, He continues the process of salvation (sanctification) of bringing you to glory (final salvation- glorification). Thus, a person who has new life and who loves God and is connected to Christ, will act accordingly. It is part of his or her new nature. The works do not save. Period. If people will read and investigate the whole of scripture, they will get this. Christ brings new life. Works, apart from this new life, only bring death.
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Read the rest of the sentence. That verse cuts a sentence in half.
BTW The verse does not say work for your salvation.
How can you work out your salvation without the Spirit?
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13 ESV -
The same way you work out your marriage. You don’t lose marriage by being a crappy spouse. Jesus even calls divorce adultery if it’s done for any reason save sexual immorality. But why settle for being married on paper? Work out your marriage. In the same way, why settle for being saved theoretically? If you’re truly saved, act saved.
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It’s by faith, alone, that we are saved.
John 3:16. -
Could the difference between “working out” your salvation versus “working for” your salvation help in this discussion?
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Do Christians follow Paul or Jesus?
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