Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

• Philippians 2:12-13

There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

• 1 Corinthians 12:6

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

• 1 Corinthians 15:10

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

• Hebrews 13:20-21

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

• James 2:17

“The controversy about faith and works is one that has gone on for a very long time, and it is a highly technical matter. I personally rely on the paradoxical text: ‘Work out your own salvation … for it is God that worketh in you.’ It looks as if in one sense we do nothing, and in another case we do a damned lot. ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,’ but you must have it in you before you can work it out.”

• C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (from essay entitled Answers to Questions on Christianity)

I apologize with C. S. Lewis using the “D” word.  Some might be offended.  His point was that in discussions over Philippians 2:12, we either do nothing or a tremendous amount of work.

But then he says that God is the one doing the majority of the work, mirroring Philippians 2:13.

What Paul tells the Corinthians is that God in us is at work, and although Paul worked harder, it was God within him that was at work.

But in salvation, we are saved by faith and works has nothing to do with it.  Then James 2 comes into focus.  With God within us, we will love more, love deeper, and love closer to perfectly.  The urge to take action will then overpower us and we will find our means in loving others by action.  As a theologian in a recent Philosophy Post said, if our lives do not change as a result of accepting Jesus, we are a liar.  That love that God builds within us will emerge.  As C. S. Lewis concludes, we cannot work something out unless we have something within to work out.

And that is the result.  In God working within us to make us more loving, we then show that love to others.  That action may be feeding them, clothing them, improving their home or ensuring they have a roof over their heads.  And as the saying goes, it is better to teach them how to fish than to simply feed them a fish dinner.  So, education and prayer become a part of the equation.

Yet, without God within us, we could still do those helpful things.  We must not lose the fact that salvation only comes with faith, an overpowering trust and belief in God and His Will for our lives.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.