“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
“Being confident”
“I am persuaded of this. I am certain of this.” Paul was certain that the God who launched a good work in the Philippians would continue it. When God begins the work of salvation in us, he will finish it. God never starts anything that he cannot finish. When God begins a work in us, he will see it through to completion.
God will either work in us or he will work on us, but he will finish the job. He will finish it whether we want it finished or not! Once we have come to know Christ we cannot say, “Stop the process–I want out.” Paul says, “I am certain of this; this is not debatable; I am sure; I am confident.”
It was this confidence that gave Paul joy. “Confidence” means to come to a conclusion based on a reasonable ground. God has taken care of billions of people over thousands of years and has not let one person down. Paul’s confidence was in the capacity of God, not in men. The Greek tense indicates that this was a settled confidence in Paul’s mind. Paul’s faith in God’s ability to finish what he starts did not waver.
“that He who has begun a good work in you”
God began it; God will finish it. At the point of salvation God did a complete job. In no way was it inadequate or incomplete. God did the most that he could for us in our salvation. Here is the principle of this passage: if God did the most for us at salvation when we were his enemies, what can he do now that we are his children? Answer: much more than the most. This is a paradox but note what he says in the next phrase.
“will complete it until…”
The word means “to bring to a completed end.” God finishes what he starts. He puts his finishing touches on it.
Many people are bedeviled by the idea that God may lose control of their situation. But God will not give up on us. He will let us go about as far as a dog on a leash. When we run from the Lord and come to the end of our leash we come to a terrible jerk. “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me” (Psalm 138:8). “For if while we were reconciled with God through the death of His Son, much more,having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans
5:10).
Principle:The unfinished work of Christ intercedes for us in time.
Application:Do we have confidence in Christ’s present work for us? Can we trust him to intercede for whatever we are currently facing?
I do not think Philippians 1:6 is referring to individual salvation/sanctification. I do believe in the eternal security of the believer but I do not believe this is being taught here.
First, in the context, Paul is not discussing salvation but rather his partnership with the Philippians (specifically their financial support).
Second, you here is plural (among you) so it is not referring to individual people but to the group as a whole.
Third, this is teaching that it will happen until the day of Christ Jesus (the return of Christ). If this is referring to sanctification then that would stop with the death of the person and would not continue until the day of Christ’s return. So, it makes more sense that this refers to God’s overall superintending of the spread of the gospel to the whole world. In other words, Philippians 1:6 is assuring the Philippians that they are sharing in God’s eternal work of spreading the gospel (vs. 7) which will indeed culminate in the return of Christ Jesus.
Duncan,
Thanks for your careful exposition of this passage.
I agree that this passage is addressed to the church and not the individual. Note in my exposition of 2:13 that I make the point that “salvation” there does not refer to individual salvation but to the salvation of the local church from schism (note context of chapter and the entire book–dealing with schism in the church as found in expressed in two persons in chapter four). However, the church is made up of a collection of individuals. What is true of the church as a whole can be true of the individual as well (depending on the context).
Did I say explicitly that this passage deals with eternal security? Eternal security is an application of the principle.
I agree as well with your point that Paul addresses the work of the church. The church was in danger of a split and needed to consider the principles of unity. That is why he said that God would “complete” what He started.
Thanks for your excellent blog.