On the one hand, we work out our own salvation; on the other hand, God operates in us. In verse 13 Paul exclaims, “For it is God who operates in you.” God operates in us, and we cooperate with Him. This means that we work out our salvation according to God’s operation. At the very time a sister is murmuring or a brother is reasoning, God operates to enable them to work out their salvation from murmurings and reasonings. When we turn to the Lord and say, “O Lord Jesus, I love You,” we are saved from murmurings and reasonings.
The Greek word rendered “operates” can also be translated “energizes.” God is energizing us from within. Because it is not easy for us to experience God’s salvation in many situations, He energizes us. For example, a brother may be very strong in his reasonings. If this brother is to work out his own salvation from reasonings, he needs God to energize him.
In creating the heavens and the earth God simply had to speak. But to rescue us from murmurings and reasonings, it is necessary for Him to energize us. This indicates that it is more difficult for Him to save us from murmurings and reasonings than it was for Him to create the earth. When God wanted to create something, He simply spoke, and that thing came into being. However, if He tells us not to murmur or reason, we may not pay attention. Thus, there is a wrestling inwardly between us and God. Have you not wrestled with God many times? This wrestling is a proof that it is difficult for God to rescue us. In order to rescue us without damaging us, He energizes within us. The Christian life is a wrestling life, a life of wrestling with the God who operates in us.
The very God who operates in us is the supplying Spirit. Again and again we have pointed out that in 1:19 Paul says that his circumstances will turn out to his salvation through the bountiful supply of the Spirit. If God does not operate in us, it will not be possible for us to experience the supply from the Spirit. God operates in us in order to bring to us the bountiful supply of the Spirit. This is not mere doctrine; it is a fact of spiritual experience.
Through the bountiful supply of the Spirit, Christ is magnified in us. What Paul speaks of in 1:20 is the magnification of Christ, but in 2:16 he speaks of holding forth the word of life. Holding forth the word of life is equal to magnifying Christ. Christ Himself is the word of life. We hold forth the word of life, and this word is Christ.
I am very fond of these two portions of Philippians. On the one hand, we see from chapter one that it is possible for our environment to turn out to our salvation. On the other hand, we see from chapter two that we need to work out our salvation by cooperating with God’s energizing. However, according to our fallen disposition, our tendency is to go contrary to God’s desire. We need God to operate in us. Then if we cooperate with Him, we shall work out our instant salvation and hold forth the word of life.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the Spirit in 1:19 equals God in 2:13, and that Christ in 1:20 and 21 equals the word of life in 2:16. Actually, the Spirit, God, Christ, and the word of life are one.
We have seen that in order to magnify Christ and to live Christ, we need the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Now we must go on to see that this bountiful supply is stored in the Word. According to the Bible, the Spirit and the Word are one. In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus says, “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” This indicates that the Word is the Spirit. Ephesians 6:17-18 indicates that the Spirit is the Word. Second Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed. Every word of the Bible is the breath of God. We have pointed out that this breath is the pneuma, the Spirit. Thus, because both the Word and the Spirit are the breath of God, they are truly one. The Spirit is the breath of God, and the Word also is God’s breath. Furthermore, God’s breath is His pneuma, the Spirit. On the one hand, the Word of God is the Spirit; on the other hand, the Spirit of God is the Word.
From our experience we know that we can contact the Spirit and experience the moving of the Spirit within us by saying, “O Lord Jesus, I love You.” This inner moving of the Spirit often issues in a word from the Lord. For example, suppose a brother is unhappy with his wife. But he turns to the Lord and says, “Lord Jesus, I love You,” and the Spirit moves within him. Then this moving of the Spirit becomes a word to him: “Do not think of your wife in that way.” First the brother contacts the Spirit; then the Spirit becomes the word uttered within him. Furthermore, this word becomes a light shining from within the brother, causing him to hold forth the word of life.
At other times in our experience we first receive the Word, and then the Word becomes the Spirit moving within us. Whether we first experience the Spirit and then the Word, or first the Word and then the Spirit, the Spirit and the Word are one.