When the Apostle Paul exhorts his beloved brothers and sisters in Christ to “work out their salvation” (Phil 2:12), he is not calling them to do something for their salvation, that is to do something to gain their salvation. Rather he is calling them to live out the salvation they have received by grace through faith.

In Phil. 2:13 he makes clear that the motivation and the enabling to live out our salvation arises from the inward work of God. We can think of it this way: our ‘out-working’ arises from God’s ‘in-working’.

Here is one of the many places in Scripture where we see how our sov­ereign and personal God relates to us. Our responsibility to act is undergirded by God’s sovereign activity.

God is at Work In You⤒🔗

What does it mean for God to work in us? Here Paul is speaking about the ongoing sanctifying work of the Spirit of God. In Eph. 2 Paul speaks about the regenerating work of the Spirit who “makes us alive” when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. However, God is not content merely to make us alive spiritually; His Spirit continues to work in us, transform­ing us and causing us to grow.

The work of the Spirit in making us alive (regenerating us) involves a re­versal of the direction of our lives. He changes us from hating God and pursu­ing our own interests to loving God and seeking His interests so that our deepest desire is what Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

After this once-off work of God in us (regeneration), He continues to work in us by His Spirit because of our weakness and our continued sinful tendencies. Day by day He works to strengthen us and cause us to grow.

This work of God’s Spirit is hidden. It is not something we feel. It is like the growth of our bodies. When your son reaches his early teen years, he begins a period of physical growth that is so fast you can almost hear his body expanding to fill shoes and shirts that soon become too small. And yet if you asked him – “do you feel anything as your body is growing so fast?” – he would say he doesn’t feel any different than normal. Likewise the spiritual growth produced by the in-working of God’s Spirit is not something we feel. But it is real. Our Christian brothers and sisters will see it.

To Will←⤒🔗

We should also note that God’s work in us is not like a computer program that causes a robot to act in a predeter­mined way. As the Spirit of God works in us, He is not running us around like programmed robots. No, His work is in complete conformity with our nature as persons: we make our own choices and decisions.

Furthermore, the work of God’s Spirit is not like the work of the evil spirits that cause people to do things they would not do if they were in full control of their faculties. Think of the occasion when an evil spirit caused a boy to scream, go into convulsions, grind his teeth, foam at the mouth, and throw himself into the fire and into the water (Mark 9:17-26). The Spirit’s work in us is completely different. It is quiet, effec­tive and in complete harmony with our will as persons. He works in such a way that our will conforms more and more to His will, that our desires are more and more what He desires. This is what Paul means when he says that God is at work in us to will. He works so that we want and choose what pleases Him.

If you ask how the Spirit of God works in this unfelt yet effective way, we must answer, “we don’t know.” This is one of the mysteries of the Christian faith. It is similar to the mystery of God’s providence in nature. We believe on the basis of Scripture that God is ultimately in control of all events in nature, even what we call disasters, and yet we do not know how He works these things according to His purpose. We don’t see His hand directly causing the rain to fall and the sun to shine or an earthquake or a mine explosion. By faith we believe He is in control. In the same way by faith we believe He is at work in us to want and to choose what pleases Him.

He does not force us against our will to choose what He wants. No, He rather gently and sweetly transforms our desires so that more and more we want and choose what pleases Him.

And to Work←⤒🔗

In addition to transforming our will, the Spirit of God empowers us so that we seek to do what pleases Him. That is, He enables us more and more to live according to His commandments. This is made clear in Ezekiel 36:26-27,

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

As Jesus teaches, all our words and actions come from the heart. Those whose hearts are being transformed by the Spirit of God have a growing desire to act in the way that pleases God. But can we do that? Can we actually do anything that pleases God? Aren’t we depraved sinners?

There are many Christians of Reformed persuasion who are so intent on upholding the doctrine of man’s total depravity that they ignore the scriptural teaching concerning the transforming and empowering work of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer. Paul says that “God is at work in you, both to will and to work...” This scriptural teaching is set forth in our catechism in Q/A 86, “...we do good because Christ by His Spirit is also renewing us to be like Himself...” and Q/A 114, “...in this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God’s commandments.”

Although the works done by the believer as he seeks to please God are far from perfect, he truly does good in God’s eyes, seeking to obey all God’s commandments. How can he do that? Because the Spirit of God is working in him. To say that a true believer can do no good in God’s eyes is to deny the empowering work of the Spirit of God.

Such an idea runs contrary to the emphasis of the epistles of the New Testament as it addresses those who are in Christ and have His indwelling Spirit. There are many exhortations to do good and many commendations for doing good. Here are just four examples:

Gal. 5:22-23,

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...

Here Paul makes clear that the Spirit actually produces this kind of fruit in the believer.

Gal. 6:9,

Let us not lose heart in doing good...

Here Paul encourages the believers to continue doing good despite the struggle that entails, imply­ing that they are already doing good.

Eph. 6:7-8,

With good will render service, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord...

Here we are encouraged to do good because the Lord will reward us.

Col. 1:9-10,

We have not ceased to pray for you ... so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work...

Paul prays for the Colossians so that they will bear the fruit of good works which is expected of believers.

Many more passages could be listed which show that because of the in-work­ing of the Spirit of God we are enabled to do works pleasing to God. Therefore doing works pleasing to God is to char­acterise our lives. That is why the Spirit of God is working in us!

For His Good Pleasure←⤒🔗

Finally, we should note the goal of God’s work in us, “His good pleasure” or as the NIV has it “His good purpose.” I believe that this refers to the purpose He has for each of us in His overall plan of salvation. We cannot begin to comprehend His all-encompassing plan nor do we have much understanding of our own particular role in His plan. But this we can be sure of, as we seek to please God, humbly obeying His com­mands, seeking the direction of His Spirit through the Word: He will accomplish through us things beyond our imagina­tion. He is that kind of God.

The apostle goes on in subsequent verses to exhort the Philippians to “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold fast to the word of life...” (NIV). We cer­tainly live in a “crooked and depraved generation.” And who knows but God Himself what He will accomplish through such shining stars – through fallible, weak people of God as they are trans­formed and empowered by the Spirit of God working in them? Not that they are being empowered to do mighty deeds that cause the world to stand in awe, but that the Spirit of God is working in them leading them on toward being blameless and pure as they hold fast to the word of life.

This is the role God has for each of us as shining stars in His eternal, all-en­compassing plan.