As I was going through Paul’s letter to the Philippians yesterday, and chapter two in particular, I was so impressed with the simple yet beautiful virtues of the Christian life the apostle presents to us there.

He tells us we are to be of the “same mind” and the “same love,” even “joined in soul” and “one-minded” with the other saints (v. 2); we are to give up our selfish ambition and our seeking after vain-glory, and even consider others more excellent than ourselves (v. 3); and we should care for “the things of others,” rather than just our own things (v. 4).

The apostle then makes it clear that, to be such persons, we must have the very mind of Christ within us. Our Lord was willing to humble Himself to the point of being crucified on our behalf, so that eventually God exalted Him and gave Him the highest name of all (vv. 5-11); according to the apostle, we should have that same attitude manifested in our Christian life.

Then Paul goes on to tell us that, to enter into the experience of these virtues, and of having the mind of Christ in this way, is to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (v. 12). But how can we do this?

For it is God who works in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.
— Philippians 2:13

This view of salvation is, in fact, very similar to what the apostle Peter shows us in his second letter. Paul says it is God who works within us, while Peter, along the same line, says we are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4); then he goes on to say that, “for this very reason also,” that is, because we have the divine nature within us, we should be diligent to develop all the virtues of the Christian life (vv. 5-7). And finally, concerning salvation, he states that,

…in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ shall be richly supplied to you.
— 2 Peter 1:11

Of course, the salvation spoken of in both these passages is not the salvation that relates to the forgiveness of sins; that was already settled the moment we believed in Christ. Rather, it is the salvation of being delivered from the fallen, corrupted life we lived before we believed, to be conformed instead to the image of Christ. How great a salvation is this!

This confirmation to the image of Christ is our ultimate, eternal destiny (Rom. 8:29-30). However, the work of this salvation, based upon the divine life and nature we have received within us through faith in Christ, should begin in our Christian life in this age. And it truly is a work of salvation, for it is by being transformed and conformed to the image of Christ that we are actually prepared to be with the Lord for eternity.

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—  13 August 2025 —