The second kind of salvation spoken of in the Bible is daily salvation. This is our living of salvation, which is lived out by our daily relying on the Lord after our salvation.
1. “Work out your own salvation” (Phil. 2:12).
The Chinese translation, which says, “Carry out the work of your salvation,” does not convey the meaning of this verse. There is no such sentence in the original language of the entire New Testament, and there is no such thought in the Bible. Our salvation is not something we can work to carry out; rather, we obtain it freely through God’s grace. If our salvation was something we could work to carry out, it would be out of our own works. God’s Word clearly states that we are saved not by our works but by God’s grace. The meaning of work out your own salvation is that we should live out the salvation we have already received. We have received salvation; now we need to live it out.
We receive God’s salvation as soon as we believe, so the question of our eternal salvation is resolved; however, after being eternally saved we still must live out God’s salvation. The main elements in God’s salvation are the divine life and God Himself. Therefore, living out God’s salvation mainly means to live out the life of God Himself. This is not something we can do as soon as we believe; it requires obedience with fear and trembling. Our receiving of salvation is by faith, and we receive it once and for all. Our living out of salvation is by obedience, and we must be in fear and trembling daily, even moment by moment, to work this out.
As soon as we are saved, God enters into us to be our salvation. After we are saved, our willing and our working are according to the operation of God within us for the accomplishment of His good pleasure. Therefore, we must be in fear and trembling every day to obey God’s operation within us to make us blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation among whom we shine as luminaries, manifesting God’s life (vv. 13-16). This is how we can live out God, who lives in us as our salvation, and this is also how we live out the salvation we have received.
2. “He is able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, since He lives always to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25).
The salvation spoken of in this verse is not the salvation that Christ accomplished on the cross as our Savior; it is the salvation of Christ as our Priest in the heavens (cf. v. 24). This is not the Lord’s salvation for redemption of sins but Christ’s salvation through intercession. After we are saved by faith, the Lord gives us daily salvation. The Lord’s salvation as our Priest is based on His salvation as our Redeemer. His salvation of intercession is based on His salvation of redemption. His daily salvation is based on His eternal salvation. There is a distinction between these two kinds of salvation. The Lord as our Savior redeemed us from our sins and gave us eternal salvation. The Lord as our interceding Priest gives us a daily, instant salvation that saves us every day and solves our daily problems. In the former case, we received eternal life, and in the latter, we are enabled to live a heavenly life. The Lord’s eternal salvation saves us eternally, and the Lord’s daily salvation saves us to the uttermost. The word uttermost refers not only to time but also to extent. The Lord’s daily salvation with respect to time saves us to the end and with respect to extent saves us to the uttermost. This daily salvation comes from the Lord, who is always living in the heavens as our great High Priest to intercede for us.
3. “Deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13).
Being delivered from the evil one is to be delivered from Satan. The Lord said that we should pray this prayer every day. Thus, this is part of the daily salvation we receive. Satan tempts us daily, even hourly. He attacks and attempts to ensnare us; therefore, we need the Lord to deliver us from the evil one every hour of every day.