Question 226 In Philippians Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. That almost sounds that we have something to do with our salvation. But he also says, of course, that we have been saved by grace through faith and not by works so that no one can boast. Is there some type of contradiction here?
Answer: In dealing with God’s Word, there are three very important I’s: Inspired, Inerrant and Infallible. The Bible is inspired, God is its ultimate author (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is inerrant. That means that God used human authors to write exactly what He wanted them to write without error. However, He did not dictate word for word to them but He used them with their personalities, writing styles, and their life experiences to express His message as He wanted it. The Bible is infallible. His Word is incapable of error because He is perfect and His Word must be perfect and it will accomplish exactly what God wants it to accomplish (Isaiah 55:11).
With that said, there cannot be any contradictions. However, there are what theologians call paradoxes or antinomies and mysteries. Paradoxes or antinomies may appear to exist as a contradiction but the error is with us, in our interpretation of the passages. (We will return to this again in a moment below). A mystery, on the other hand, is that we simply do not have enough information at the present to solve it even though we believe it is true.
When there are two passages which appear to contradict each other, a helpful principle is to allow the clearest passage to shed light on the obscure passage. Since the question concerns Philippians 2:12-13 and Ephesians 2:8-10, let’s take a look, first of all, at the one which seems to be the clearest in what is being taught. In this passage Paul states, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). It is clear that we are saved through faith not works and it is important to note that even our faith is a gift from God. We cannot muster up our own faith, God must provide it. However, once we have been made alive by Almighty God, good works are vital and must follow our faith as evidence of our salvation. If there are no good works, there is good reason to question if there has been a conversion.
In the Philippians passage there appears to be a contradiction but let’s now take a look at it. Verse 12 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presents but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” verse 13 “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). We know from Ephesians 2 that our salvation is completely of God. If God was responsible for 99% of our being made alive, converted, regenerated, and we were involved in only 1%, we would still have reason to boast, but Paul makes it clear that we have no right to do that. It is all God. These two passages complement each other rather than contradict one another. Since we know that we are saved by God’s grace through faith, we can’t work to earn our salvation, so what is Paul saying? In the Ephesians passage Paul is talking about our regeneration, that we are saved through trusting in what Jesus has done for us. In the Philippians passage, Paul is talking about how we work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to do good works after we have been converted. We participate in the sanctification process. That is, we work with the Holy Spirit in becoming more Christlike. He states in verse 13 that God works in us to give us the will or desire to do good works. We are to work out what God has worked in us. He has worked in our heart to regenerate us and we then are to work out the good works that He has ordained for us to do. What a Savior!