Phil 2:12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; (13) For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. (14) Do all things without murmurings and reasonings (15) That you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world, (16) Holding forth the word of life...
In verses 12, 13, 15, and 16 we have four wonderful matters: salvation, God operating in us, lights or luminaries, and the word of life. The salvation in verse 12 is actually the very God who operates in us in verse 13. The One who operates in us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure is Himself our salvation. As believers, we are children of God, children of the One who is operating in us. Because we are children of God, we most assuredly have the divine life and divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). How could a child not have the life and nature of his father? It is simply not possible for someone to be born of a particular person and not have the life and nature of that person. In the same principle, it is not possible for us to be genuine children of God, born of Him, and not have His life and nature. We have been truly born of God and not merely adopted by Him. We definitely do not claim that man is evolving into the Godhead. However, we definitely teach according to the Word of God that, as true believers in Christ, we have experienced a divine birth. God has actually been born into us, and thereby we have His life and nature. Because we are children of God with the life and nature of God, we shine as lights in the world. The Greek word rendered lights in 2:15 means luminaries which reflect the light of the sun. In this universe there is only one source of light, and this source is God. As those luminaries, we also hold forth the word of life. These four important matters are very subjective and experiential. We have received a salvation which is God Himself. Now there is operating in us this very God, the One who is real in our experience as our subjective salvation. He is not dormant, passive, or idle. His operating in us is His energizing in us. How wonderful that we have been born of this energizing God! Hence, we have His energizing life and nature. Spontaneously we reflect the light which comes from God as the universal source. In the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, we shine as lights, as luminaries, in the world. Therefore, we can hold forth the word of life to those around us.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Philippians, pp. 101-102. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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