Although Philippians is a short book, it is rich and profound. No other book in the New Testament reveals salvation in such a practical and experiential way. We know from the first chapter of Matthew that Christ became a man named Jesus and Emmanuel. Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior,” and Emmanuel means “God with us.” After I was saved, I treasured these names. However, I did not know their meaning in an experiential way until the Lord brought me into the reality of the book of Philippians. In this book we have the details of God’s practical, experiential, subjective, and constant salvation. Philippians presents God’s salvation in a way that is more practical and experiential than the way it is presented in Romans. Romans speaks of salvation more in a doctrinal way, but Philippians speaks of it more in an experiential way.
God’s salvation in Christ is not only eternal, but also constant and practical. In a sense, eternal salvation is rather remote. We need a salvation that can be applied to our daily situations, especially to our married life and family life. Married life can be compared to a prison. Our spouse is the jailer, and our children are guards. For such a situation, we need a salvation that is practical, constant, and experiential. The book of Philippians reveals a salvation that we can experience day by day, a salvation that we can enjoy in the “prison” of married life.
We need to experience a present salvation not only in our family life, but also in the church life. In the church there are saints of many different nationalities and with all kinds of dispositions and personalities. In order for us to stay together in the church life, we need a present and practical salvation. This is especially necessary if we are to experience the church not only locally, but also as the new man universally. Hence, we need salvation for our family life, for our local church life, and for our life in the one new man.
Suppose you plan to visit churches in different parts of the world. As you come in contact with saints of different cultures, nationalities, and dispositions, you will realize how much we need to experience God’s salvation in the church life. If we are to practice the church life with so many different brothers and sisters meeting together as one, we need the constant salvation revealed in the book of Philippians.
In 1:19 Paul says, “I know that for me this shall turn out to salvation.” As a prisoner in Rome, Paul needed a practical salvation. Suppose someone spoke to him about eternal salvation. Paul could have said, “Brother, don’t talk about something so remote from my present situation. I am a prisoner in chains. I need a salvation that can be applied to this situation.”
In 2:12-15 Paul speaks of working out our own salvation in relation to murmurings, reasonings, blame, guile, blemishes, crookedness, and perverseness. This indicates that we need a salvation from all these negative things. If we are still crooked in some way, then, whether or not we are Christians, we are part of today’s crooked generation. To be saved from the crooked generation is to be saved from crookedness. We all need a salvation for today, the salvation revealed in the book of Philippians.