I have a Thread or 2 here on the forum....regarding "work out your salvation"
Let me condense... for you Ezra.
A heretic teaches : "work out your Salvation, means... produce fruit, self effort and obedience as your own Sanctification".., as if you are saving yourself by doing it.
A.) Paul teaches that "working out your Salvation" is to understand that you have it...that its the "Gift of Salvation" that God gave you, as the "gift of Righteousness"..= .when you trusted in Christ and your "faith was counted as righteousness".
Being born again is the only proof you have God's Salvation.
This means, that now HAVING God's Salvation, as your REDEMPTION< that is created by the Blood Atonement being "imputed" to you by God........you now learn how to exist IN the Salvation God provided = by renewing your mind, and living as "walking in the Spirit".
Error
Work out (katergazesthe).
Perfective use of kata (down) in composition, work on to the finish. This exhortation assumes human free agency in the carrying on the work of one’s salvation.
With fear and trembling (meta phobou kai tromou). “Not slavish terror, but wholesome, serious caution” (Vincent). “A nervous and trembling anxiety to do right” (Lightfoot).
Paul has no sympathy with a cold and dead orthodoxy or formalism that knows nothing of struggle and growth. He exhorts as if he were an Arminian in addressing men. He prays as if he were a Calvinist in addressing God and feels no inconsistency in the two attitudes. Paul makes no attempt to reconcile divine sovereignty and human free agency, but boldly proclaims both.
"work out your salvation" This verb is a mathematical term used of a problem brought to its conclusion. Its form is present middle (deponent) imperative plural.
Verses 12-13 have been the focus of much theological discussion relating to the sovereignty of God, which is emphasized in Phil. 2:13 (cf. Phil. 1:6), and the free will of human persons which is called on in Phil. 2:12. The term "salvation" in Phil. 2:12
1. refers to a believer's spiritual relationship with Christ. Paul has just mentioned becoming a Christian in Phil. 2:9-10. This is another example of the tension between sovereignty and free-will,
both initial and ongoing (cf. Phil. 2:16)
2. does not refer to eternal spiritual salvation, but either to
a. OT "physical deliverance"
b. "wholeness," as it does in Phil. 1:19
This aspect of salvation as "wholeness" can also be seen in Acts 4:10; 14:9; 27:34. The initiating grace of God and the required faith response of a repentant human are clearly seen in Eph. 2:8-9.
Obviously, believers do not work for their salvation, but after they are saved, they cooperate with the Spirit to live in Christlike maturity (cf. Phil. 2:14-17; Eph. 2:10; 5:18). Salvation is all of God and totally free but it requires an active, costly, repentant, continuing faith response (cf. Matt. 13:44-46).
-which you are in denial of Behold.
The context militates against an individualistic interpretation because the "your" in Phil. 2:12, "you" in Phil. 2:13, and all the verbs are plural, which refers to the entire Philippian church, not to an individual's spiritual salvation. If it did refer to spiritual salvation it is corporate (cf. Phil. 1:28) and progressive (cf. 1 Cor. 1:18;15:2; 2 Cor. 2:15). The thrust of the passage may have been to encourage them to trust in God's presence and purpose for the church at Philippi (cf. Gal. 3:4; 1 Cor. 15:2).
Emphasizes that obedience is intentional and purposeful. Paul’s point is that salvation, once received, must be put into practice through obedience.
Work Out Your Salvation LRC
Refers to reverence and awe before God (compare 1 Cor 2:3; 2 Cor 7:15; Eph 6:5). Paul’s imagery is derived from similar language used in the ot (e.g., Exod 15:16; Isa 19:16).
2:13 God’s transforming presence empowers believers to live in faithful obedience to His will. Compare Phil 1:6.
2:14 Expressions of discontentment and arguing lead to a spirit of division within a community of believers. Paul commands the Philippians to abandon such things so as to promote unity.
John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Php 2:12–14.
Johann.
