Philippians 2:13 says, “For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” The little word for at the beginning of verse 13 connects it to verse 12. This indicates that we can work out our own salvation because God is operating in us. Salvation is the pattern, and God is the One who is operating, working this pattern into us. Therefore, we may say that salvation is God Himself operating in us. Salvation, the pattern, and God are not three separate things; they are one. The pattern is the salvation, and the salvation is God. Here we have one thing in three aspects. The pattern is Christ, the God-man who emptied and humbled Himself and who has been exalted and glorified by God. This Christ, however, is the very God Himself to be the daily salvation for us to work out. Furthermore, this salvation is actually the God who is operating in us.
The matter of God operating in us to be our salvation should not be merely a doctrine, but should be something we experience in a practical way day by day. Often when a sister is complaining or murmuring, she may sense that something within is constraining her and urging her to stop. This inner sense comes from God operating in her. If, by God’s mercy, she obeys this inner sense, she will experience salvation and be filled with joy.
We may say that, outwardly, objectively, Christ is the pattern. But when the pattern works within us, it becomes the operating God. Not only did Christ die on the cross as our Savior, but now He lives within us as the operating God. Christ as a man was not able to live in us. However, as God it is possible for Him to dwell in us. Thus, Christ is both the pattern objectively and the operating God subjectively. Once again we see that the pattern, Christ, and God are one.
In 2:13 Paul clearly says that God is operating in us. But elsewhere he usually speaks either of Christ or of the Spirit being in us. For years I did not understand why in 2:13 Paul spoke of God and not of the Spirit. Now I realize that Paul did this deliberately in order to show us that the Christ who is the pattern for our salvation is the very God operating in us. If we consider the context of this verse, we shall see that Christ as the pattern is also the operating God. Objectively, He is the pattern. Subjectively, when He comes into us and operates within us, He is the operating God. On the cross, He was Christ. But within us, He is the operating God. On the cross He, as Christ, established a pattern for us. But within us He, as God, is the operating One to work out this pattern. Therefore, the pattern is the salvation, and the salvation is the operating God.
We may experience the operating God daily as our practical salvation. Whenever we cooperate with God operating in us, we enjoy salvation. God’s operation becomes our salvation. Furthermore, this salvation is the reprint, the reproduction, of the pattern. When the pattern is reprinted in us, it becomes our salvation. The reprinting of the pattern is accomplished by God operating in us.
Verse 16 opens with the words, “Holding forth the word of life.” When God operates in us, we spontaneously hold forth the word of life. In fact, the word of life is actually the God who operates in us. God works in us by His word. He operates in us by being the word of life. We have spoken repeatedly of the operating God. Now we must see that God is embodied in the word of life. This means that the word of life is the embodiment of the operating God.
We need to put this understanding into practice by coming daily to the word of life, the Bible. Whenever we come to the Word, we should also come to God. This, however, is not to regard the Bible as God Himself. But we should not separate God from His Word, for God is embodied in the Word. Because God is mysterious, it is difficult for anyone to apprehend Him. How we thank Him that He has embodied Himself in the Word, the Bible! The Word is the condensation of the invisible and mysterious God. Many of us can testify from our experience that whenever we come to the Bible and open ourselves, we touch God, and God works within us. Whenever we touch the word of life, we experience God operating in us, moving in us, to produce a reprint of the pattern. This is our practical salvation.
Now we can see that Christ, salvation, God, and the word of life are one. Furthermore, to experience Christ, salvation, God, and the word of life in the way we have described is to live Christ.
Paul speaks of salvation both in 1:19 and in 2:12. In 1:19 Paul could say that his circumstances would turn out to him for salvation. This indicates that even in his imprisonment Paul enjoyed God’s salvation. The salvation in 2:12 is the practical salvation which rescues us daily from murmurings and reasonings. However, salvation in both 1:19 and 2:12 is the same in principle. In both cases salvation is a practical, daily, moment-by-moment salvation.
According to 1:19, Paul enjoyed salvation through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Apparently, we do not find this bountiful supply in chapter two. Instead, we have the word of life. However, the bountiful supply of the Spirit and the word of life actually are one. Paul enjoyed daily salvation through the bountiful supply of the Spirit, and we may enjoy daily salvation by the word of life. Moreover, Paul says that to enjoy salvation through the bountiful supply of the Spirit is to magnify Christ and to live Christ. In the same principle, when we enjoy salvation daily through God operating in the word of life, we also live Christ. Thus, to enjoy God’s salvation in a practical way is to live Christ, that is, to hold forth the word of life. In order to live Christ, we must first take Christ as the living pattern. Then we need to obey the operating God within us and receive His word of life. Then spontaneously we shall live Christ.
Salvation, Christ, God, and the word of life are four-in-one. Eventually, in our experience, the pattern is the word of life. The word of life works out the pattern by the operating God to apply salvation to our daily life. In this way we enjoy Christ and live Him.