Many of us have been Christians for years, but we have never heard anything about this constant salvation. We knew, of course, about eternal salvation. That kind of salvation is objective. I wish to make it very clear that I certainly do not belittle eternal salvation in any way. I treasure it and deeply appreciate it. In His eternal salvation God has rescued us from hell and from His righteous judgment. But day by day we need to go on to experience a constant salvation in our practical life. When Paul was in prison, what he enjoyed was not simply God’s eternal salvation with the hope it afforded him; he also enjoyed a constant salvation hour by hour. To enjoy this salvation is to live Christ. Actually to live Christ is to enjoy constant salvation in our daily life.
Every aspect of God’s salvation brings us out of something on the negative side and ushers us into something on the positive side. Negatively, Paul was saved from being put to shame; positively, Christ was magnified in him. What a wonderful salvation!
In 2:12 Paul tells the saints in Philippi, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The constant salvation in 1:19 is for a particular person in a particular situation, whereas the constant salvation in 2:12 is for all believers in common situations. We have seen that the salvation in 1:19 saved Paul in the particular situation of his imprisonment in such a way that he would not be put to shame, but instead would magnify Christ. Now we need to see that, according to the context of 2:12, constant salvation is also for the believers to be saved from ordinary things in their daily living.
From verses 14 and 15 we see that these things include murmurings, reasonings, blame, guile, blemishes, crookedness, perverseness, and darkness. These are general characteristics of the condition of fallen man everywhere. No matter where we may be, there will be murmuring, reasoning, blame, guile, blemishes, crookedness, perverseness, and darkness. These may be found not only in society generally, but even in the family life of believers. It is common for wives to murmur, and for husbands to reason. A wife may complain about something, and her husband may vindicate himself. Then neither the wife nor the husband is blameless, and both may also have guile and blemishes. At times, a husband and wife are also crooked and perverted in their dealings with each other. Who can say that he has never been crooked in his relationships with others? Children may even be crooked in relation to their own parents. Although we have received God’s eternal salvation, to a certain extent we may still be crooked, not altogether honest and straightforward in certain matters. Thus, we need a constant salvation with respect to all the negative things in verses 14 and 15.
Paul tells us that we need to work out our own salvation. By working out this salvation we shall be saved from murmurings, reasonings, blame, guile, blemishes, crookedness, perverseness, and darkness. To be sure, it is not easy to be saved from such things. Paul deliberately used these words to indicate the fallen condition common to all.
However, just as the salvation in 1:19 has both a negative side and a positive side, the salvation in 2:12 has two sides. The negative side is in verses 14 and 15; the positive side is in verse 16, where Paul speaks of “holding forth the word of life.” The Greek word rendered holding forth means to apply, present, offer. To hold forth the word of life is to present it to others and offer it to them, applying it to them in their situation. Wherever we may be, we need to hold forth the word of life; we need to present the word of life to others. What we offer to those around us should not be words of murmuring or reasoning, nor anything related to crookedness or perverseness. We should offer nothing other than the word of life.
To hold forth the word of life is identical to living Christ. Whenever we live Christ, we hold forth the word of life. Once again we see that the book of Philippians is a book on the experience of Christ and a book also on living Christ. What Paul wrote in this Epistle is related to the experience of Christ and to living Christ.
I hope that we all shall be deeply impressed with the need to enjoy constant salvation in our practical life day by day. We need a salvation which we can term our own salvation. This salvation saves us not from hell, nor even merely from sin, but from murmurings, reasonings, blame, guile, blemishes, crookedness, perverseness, and darkness. When we experience this salvation, we spontaneously hold forth, present, apply, the word of life to those around us. This is to live Christ.