FOR I AM
CONFIDENT OF THIS VERY THING: pepoithôs (RAPMSN) auto touto: (2Co 1:15;
2:3;
7:16;
9:4;
Gal 5:10;
2Th 3:4;
Phile 1:21;
Heb 10:35)
God is the one who began this good
work in you, and I am certain that he won't stop before it is complete
on the day that Christ Jesus returns (CEV)
Confident
(3982) (peitho)
means to have come to a settled persuasion concerning some truth or
fact and so to be persuaded, convinced. Peitho
suggests that a conclusion has been reached on reasonable ground. The
apostle’s observation of what God had done among the Philippians in
particular, and his reflections on the ways of God in general, led him
to form this judgment. Paul was entirely convinced of the truth of
what he said and he thus uses the language of a man who had no doubt
on the subject.
The
perfect tense
indicates that Paul had come to the settled persuasion and that he
remained confident of God’s desire and ability to continue His
transforming work in the lives of the Philippian
believers. Paul is still firmly confident and will continue to
be so. He has no doubts about their salvation or their security. Paul is saying
I have been persuaded by words to
believe that God will bring to completion the good work He began when
you were born again.
Note that
Paul's confidence did not rest ultimately on the Philippians
themselves, but on God, Who would preserve them and enable them to
reach the goal.
Matthew Henry
adds that
The confidence of Christians is the
great comfort of Christians.
A Debtor to Mercy Alone
The work which His
goodness began,
The arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen,
And never was forfeited yet
—Augustus M. Toplady (play)
THAT HE WHO
BEGAN A GOOD WORK IN YOU: hoti o enarchamenos (AMPMSN) en humin ergon agathon:
(Phil
1:29;
2:13;
Jn 6:29;
Acts 11:18;
16:14;
Ro 8:28
29
30;
Eph 2:4,
2:5,
2:6,
2:7,
2:8,
2:9,
2:10;
Col 2:12;
1Thes 1:3;
2Th 2:13
2:14;
Titus 3:4,
3:5,
3:6;
Heb 13:20,
21;
Js 1:16,
17,
18;
1Pet 1:2,
1:3)
(Phil
2:13
Ro 8:31)
That
explains the reason for Paul's thanksgiving and making request with
joy on their behalf.
He Who - Who is this?
Father, Son or Holy Spirit? Vine comments that...
Where the context does not indicate
that either the Son or the Spirit is intended, the pronoun should
always be understood to refer to God the Father. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
)
As an aside, God always finishes
what He begins as we see in this Old Testament example from first
Samuel...
(God declared) In that day I will
carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house,
from beginning to end. (1Sa 3:12)
God had told Eli that he and his
sons had forfeited their right to the priest's office in 1 Sa 2:30-33.
Hophni, Phinehas and Eli all died the same day (1Sa 4:11,18). Later,
Saul slew Ahimelech, grandson of Phinehas, who had continued to serve
as priest (1Sa 22:16-20), but his son Abiathar escaped and served as
priest under David. Abiathar was in turn deposed by Solomon (1Ki
2:26-27), finally completing the prophecy. God always finishes what He
begins!
Began
(1728) (enarchomai
from en = in + árchomai = begin) means
make a beginning or commence. It was the normal Greek word for
beginning a sacrifice and described scattering the grains of barley on
and around the victim which was the first act of a sacrifice.
Enarchomai
is used only
here and in
Gal 3:3 both times referring to salvation. The point is that God takes
the initiative in starting His work in us. Salvation always begins
with God and if He didn’t make the first move, we would make no move
at all (cf
Jn 1:13).
It's like the country preacher who was asked at his ordination how he
had become a Christian. He replied, "I did my part and God did his."
When asked to explain "his part in salvation", he answered "My part
was to run from God as fast as I could. God’s part was to run after me
and catch me and bring me into his family." This is a great picture
for every person born is born a rebel running from God and in
desperate need of God taking the initiative to begin His
good work in all who are
dead in (their) trespasses and sins. (see note
Ephesians 2:1) God not only initiates
the
good work of salvation, but continues it and guarantees its
consummation.
Note that the only work that
is ever good
(agathos = "good" in character or constitution
and beneficial in effect) in God's sight is a work which He initiates.
Barnes adds that
It was on the fact that it was begun by God, that he based his firm
conviction that it would be permanent. Had it been the agency of man,
he would have had no such conviction, for nothing that man does today
can lay the foundation of a certain conviction that he will do the
same thing tomorrow. If the perseverance of the Christian depended
wholly on himself, therefore, there could be no sure evidence that he
would ever reach heaven.
Good work
almost certainly refers to God's work in salvation but a few
commentators feel that it may relate to their active financial
participation ("good work") in the furtherance of the gospel. For example
Wuest
feels that God who had begun in the Philippians the good work
of giving to missions would maintain their fruitful activity until
Christ returns. (Click for study of
Good Deeds)
Note where the sphere of that good
work? It is not among
you but in you. Paul is referring not to an external reformation or a surface
improvement but to a total rebirth by which a new creation is
regenerated by God the Holy Spirit.
Hendriksen calls our
attention to
how closely the apostle links human
perseverance (“your fellowship in the gospel from the first day
until the present”) with divine preservation (“he who began a
good work in you will carry it on toward completion”). Any
doctrine of salvation which does not do full justice to both of these
elements is unscriptural... Although it is true that God brings
his work to completion, it is equally true that when God has once
begun his work in men, the latter by no means remain merely passive
instruments! (Hendriksen,
W., & Kistemaker, S. J. New Testament Commentary Set, 12 Volumes.
Grand Rapids: Baker Book House)
WILL
PERFECT: epitelesei (3SFAI): (Ps 138:8;
Jn 6:29;
Eph 4:12;
2 1Th 5:23,
24;
2Th 1:11;
1Pe 5:10)
will carry it on to completion
(NIV)
will go on
completing it (NJB),
will continue his work until it is
finally finished (NLT)
will
carry it on until it is finished (TEV)
will
carry it through to completion (GWT)
will go on to
perfect it in preparation for the day of Jesus Christ (Weymouth),
will keep
right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is
finally finished (TLB)
developing [that good work] and
perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you (Amp)
will
keep it growing (Jewish NT)
Perfect
(2005)
(epiteleo
from epi = intensify meaning of
following verb + teleo = make an end and bring something
to its destined goal) (Click
in depth word study of
epiteleo) conveys the sense that God will carry the work
out to the
finish. God will not commence this and then abandon us. He will
finish the work He has begun in us
and will bring it to its intended
goal, when we shall be like Him (1Jn3:2).
God will will fully finish and accomplish His good work
in and through us as we surrender our wills to His perfect will. Nothing in this life will
prevent the successful accomplishment of God's good work in every
Christian.
The Greek historian
Herodotus wrote that epiteleo was used of performing of
religious services, referring to the act of fully completing the
ritual of any sacrifice.
Barclay
adds that
"the words Paul
uses for to
begin (enarchomai) and for to complete
(epiteleo) are technical terms for the beginning and
the ending of a sacrifice. There was an initial ritual in connection
with a Greek sacrifice. A torch was lit from the fire on the altar and
then dipped into a bowl of water to cleanse it with its sacred flame;
and with the purified water the victim and the people were sprinkled
to make them holy and clean. Then followed what was known as the
euphemia, the sacred silence, in which the worshipper was meant to
make his prayers to his god. Finally a basket of barley was brought,
and some grains of the barley were scattered on the victim, and on the
ground round about it. These actions were the beginning of the
sacrifice, and the technical term for making this beginning
was the verb enarchesthai which Paul uses here. The verb used for
completing the whole ritual of sacrifice was the verb epitelein
which Paul uses here for to complete . Paul’s whole sentence
moves in an atmosphere of sacrifice. Paul is seeing the life of every
Christian as a sacrifice ready to be offered to Jesus Christ. It is
the same picture as he draws when he urges the Romans to present their
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (see note
Romans 12:1)
Spurgeon said
The life of a Christian is a series
of miracles.
Spurgeon was also once asked
by another minister...
whether he believed in the final
perseverance of the saints. "Well," said he, "I do not know much about
that, but I firmly believe in the final perseverance of God, that
where he has begun a good work he will carry it on until it is
complete." To my mind, that truth includes the final perseverance of
the saints. They persevere in the way of salvation because God keeps
them in it
The greatest miracle
is the transformation of a sinner into a saint by the grace of God in
the process referred to as sanctification. In simple
terms sanctification is
the work of God's grace in the heart of a believers conforming them
into "the image of His Son" (see note on
Romans 8:29),
this work being a continual process of transformation
from glory to glory...from the
Lord, the Spirit (2Cor 3:18)
Sanctification is synonymous with "present tense
salvation" the truth that every day we are "being saved"
(cf
1Cor1:18)
from the tendency of the world to conform us into its mold, from our
own flesh and from the devil. (Click
study of the
3 tenses of salvation) Note that sanctification
is the work of God, is a lifetime process, is never complete in this
life, won’t cease until the job is done, and that God will use
everything that happens to us—the good, the bad and the ugly—to make
us like Jesus. We can be certain of this completion for Jesus speaking
of His disciples (which includes us) said "for their sakes I
sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in
truth." (Jn 17:19)
F. B. Meyer gives an encouraging illustration
We go into the artist’s studio and
find there unfinished pictures covering large canvases, and suggesting
great designs, but which have been left, either because the genius was
not competent to complete the work, or because paralysis laid the hand
low in death; but as we go into God’s great workshop we find nothing
that bears the mark of haste or insufficiency of power to finish, and
we are sure that the work which His grace has begun, the arm of His
strength will complete.
Chuck Swindoll writes
How do we live with worry and
stress and fear? How do we withstand these joy stealers?...Let me be
downright practical and tell you what I do. First I remind myself
early in the morning and on several occasions during the day, 'God,
You are at work, and You are in control. And, Lord God, You know this
is happening. You were there at the beginning, and You will bring
everything that occurs to a conclusion that results in Your greater
glory in the end.' And then? Then (and only then!) I relax. From that
point on, it really doesn't matter all that much what happens. It is
in God's hands. (Laugh Again)
Here are some passages
from the OT which teach a truth parallel to that taught in Philippians
1:6:
Ps 57:2
(David speaking) I will cry to God Most High (see
El Elyon: Most High God - Sovereign Over All).
To God who
accomplishes
all things for me.
Ps 138:8
(David speaking)
Jehovah
will
accomplish
what concerns me. Thy
lovingkindness, O Jehovah is everlasting. Do not forsake the works of
Thy hands.
If one takes Paul's statement here
as referring to God's work in their salvation process
(sanctification), then the verb will perfect undergirds the bedrock truth of the believer's eternal security. God worked
a wonderful transformation in the Philippians when He first saved
them out of paganism and idolatry. Paul voices no concern that the God
Who began that work
would desert them now. How comforting and reassuring to know that God is totally committed
to the work He began in each of our lives. Every believer can now wear
the following button...
PBPGIFWMY
It means
"Please
Be
Patient.
God
Isn’t
Finished
With
Me
Yet."
Oftentimes when we look in the mirror and deep into our own soul, we
may not like what we see, but it's then that we need to recall this
great truth that God isn’t finished with us yet. To be certain
we are God's works in progress but our attitude should never be "Let
go and let God". Paul presents the balancing truth charging each
saint to
"work out your salvation with fear and
trembling (Man's Responsibility), for it is God Who is at
work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (God's Sovereignty)."
(see notes on
Philippians 2:12-13)
The good news is that
since God isn’t finished yet, we can have great hope. The bad news is
that since God isn’t finished with us yet, He won’t allow us to stay
the way we are. God will keep chipping away at us until we are
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Some of us have a long way to
go. So if you find yourself stuck in the "miry clay" of
personal discouragement and defeat (Ps 40:2)
be encouraged for God is not finished with you yet. If you’ve
been sent to the bench for a personal foul, learn the lesson God has
for you and then get back in the game.
KJV
Bible Commentary
has a well worded comment (See
also study of the
3 tenses of salvation):
"The good work has its initiation in regeneration
(past) [Past tense salvation]; has its continuation in
sanctification (present) [present
tense salvation]; and
will have its consummation in glorification (future) [Future
tense salvation]. In the past there was God’s unchangeable
purpose; in the present there is God’s unlimited power; and in the
future there is God’s unbreakable promise. This is God’s guarantee for
the final preservation and perseverance of the saints. Salvation is
all of God." (Dobson,
E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV
Bible Commentary: Nelson)
IT UNTIL THE
DAY OF CHRIST JESUS: achri hemeras Christou Iesou: (Php 1:10; 2:16
1Co 1:8;
2Co 5:9
10;
see note on
"Day of the Lord" at 2Peter 3:10)
will continue until the day of
Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return] (Amp)
so that you may be ready for the day of Jesus Christ (Barclay)
Day
of Christ Jesus (Related
Resource - see the chart
Comparison
of 3 Divine Days)
refers to Christ's Second coming (as in
Phil 1:10
- see
note),
to the time of His coming again to take His people home to heaven and
probably also includes the Judgment Seat of Christ, when service for
Him will be reviewed and rewarded. This coming day is referred to as the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1Cor 1:8)
This phrase is not to be confused with the Day of
the Lord (Click). Paul never sets the time for the Lord’s return,
but he is cheered by that "blessed hope" (see note
Titus 2:13), the period of blessing
most likely beginning
with the rapture of the church.
C H Spurgeon (Spurgeon,
C., & Clarke, R. H. Beside Still Waters : Words of Comfort for the
Soul. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers)
once said that...
Every Christian will in time have
spiritual cares. Jesus Christ has begotten us again to a living hope
(see note
1 Peter 1:3), but you
fear your faith will die. You hope that you have some spark of
spiritual joy, but dark and dreary nights lower over you and you fear
that your lamp will die out in darkness. You have been victorious, but
you tremble that one day you might fall by the hand of the enemy.
Listen to me. Cast all your care
upon Him, for He cares for you (see note
1 Peter 5:7).
I am confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6).
“He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ ”
(see note
Hebrews 13:5). “The mountains shall depart and the hills be
removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My
covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord , who has mercy on you”
(Isa 54:10). “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk
through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch
you” (Isaiah 43:2).
“The Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold
from those who walk uprightly” (Ps. 84:11). “I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them
out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than
all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand”
(John 10:28-29).
Why, I might keep you here all day
repeating the precious promises of God! I close by saying:
What more can He say than to you
He hath said,
You who unto Jesus for refuge hath fled?
(Play
the hymn "How Firm a Foundation")
><>
><> ><>
ILLUSTRATIONS
Miracle House
- One woman writes, “My engineer husband is meticulous but
mild-mannered. While our new house was being built, he would leave
notes for the workmen, politely calling their attention to mistakes or
oversights. Two weeks before we were to move in, the floors still were
not finished; the bathrooms not tiled, nor were necessary fixtures
installed. I was sure that the work would never be completed in time.
However, on moving day, we found that the house was ready to receive
us. Curious as to how this miracle had been accomplished, I went and
checked where my husband always left his notes for the workmen. Posted
prominently on the living room wall was my husband’s last note: “after
September 15, all work will be supervised by 5 children.”” God doesn’t
need any motivation. He’s planning on finishing the work He’s begun in
you.
><>
><> ><>
Once someone came on Michelangelo
chipping away with his chisel at a huge shapeless piece of rock. He
asked the sculptor what he was doing. “I am releasing the angel
imprisoned in this marble,” he answered. The things that Jesus is
doing in our lives aren’t something already hidden inside of us, He’s
doing His own work, a new work in our lives. But He sees where we’re
going. He has things in mind for what we are to be.
><>
><> ><>
The Teacup - An American
couple went to Europe, to England and they were celebrating their 25th
wedding anniversary. Both the man and the wife were connoisseurs and
fanciers of pottery, antiques and China. When they came to Sussex they
went into a Little China shop. Their eyes singled out a beautiful
little tea cup on the top shelf. The man said, “Can I see that, that’s
the most beautiful tea cup I’ve ever seen. “And as he was holding the
tea cup the tea cup begins to speak.
It said, “You don’t understand, I haven’t always been a tea cup. There
was a time when I was red and that I was clay. My master took me and
he rolled me and he patted me over and over and over. I yelled out
“Let me alone “but he only smiled and said, “Not yet”. And then I was
placed on a spinning wheel, suddenly I was spun around and around and
around.” Stop it I’m getting dizzy,” I said. The master only nodded
and said “Not yet” Then he put me in an oven, I’d never felt such
heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me and I yelled and I knocked
on the door and I could see him through the opening and I could read
his lips. As he nodded his head he said “not yet.” Finally the door
did open “whew”, and he put me on a shelf and I began to cool. “That’s
better” I said. And then suddenly he grabbed me and he brushed me and
he began to paint me all over. I thought I would suffocate, I thought
I would gag, the fumes were horrible. And he just smiled and said,
“Not yet”. And then suddenly he put me back into an oven, not the
first one but one twice as hot, and I knew that I was going to
suffocate. And I begged and I screamed and I yelled, and all the time
I could see him through the opening, smiling and nodding his head,
“not yet, not yet. And then I knew that there was no hope, I knew that
I wouldn’t make it. I was just ready to give up when the door opened
and he took me out and he put me on a shelf .Then an hour later he
came back and he handed me a mirror and he said “Look at yourself”.
And I did. And I said, “That can’t be me, I’m beautiful!” “I want you
to remember,” he then said, “I know that it hurt to be rolled and to
be patted but if I would have left you, you would have dried out. And
I know that it made you dizzy to spin you around and around on a
spinning wheel but if I had stopped you would have crumbled. And I
know that it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven but if I
hadn’t put you there you would have cracked. And I know that the fumes
were oh so bad when I brushed you and when I painted you all over, but
you see, if I hadn’t done that you wouldn’t have hardened and there
would have been no color in your life. And if I hadn’t put you in that
second oven you wouldn’t have survived for very long. The hardness
would not have held. But now you are a finished product. You are what
I had in mind when I first began with you.”
><>
><> ><>
From
Our Daily Bread:
Occasionally when I walk
along the beach in Florida, I see the remains of partially built sand
castles. Apparently the sculptors got distracted or bored and left
their castles unfinished. There is something sad about these ruins.
Like the unfinished painting, the half-built house, or the incomplete
manuscript, they are a haunting reminder of our human tendency to
leave things undone.
In his book Intercepted Letters, William Marshall wrote: "It is a
great trial to one who is naturally fond of bringing a thing to
completion, to see how many fragments—unfinished bits of life—are
left over. He asks himself, `What do I have to show for my labor?' Our
trust must be that God will take up what is incomplete and wrap around
it His completeness. `He cannot fail."
What a difference between man and God! The Creator always finishes
what He has started. All of His masterpieces, planned in eternity past
and begun in time, will be brought to fulfillment in eternity future.
That's when each believer will be completely conformed to His image.
As we struggle now to be more Christ-like, we can be confident that one
day we will reach that goal. God is molding us into trophies of grace,
fashioned like His Son. He leaves nothing undone. —P. R. V. (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment; the growth of a
saint is the work of a lifetime.
><>
><> ><>
Also from Our Daily Bread a
devotional entitled "End Of Construction"
One day
Billy and Ruth Graham were driving through a long stretch of
road construction. They had numerous slowdowns, detours, and
stops along the way. Finally they reached the end of all that
difficulty, and smooth pavement stretched out before them.
This sign caught Ruth's attention: "End of construction.
Thanks for your patience." She commented that those words
would be a fitting inscription on her tombstone someday. As a
matter of fact, those words fit all of us as believers,
because in this life we are "under construction." When
we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we begin the
lifelong process of spiritual growth. The Holy Spirit works in
us to remove our selfishness (see note
Philippians 2:4), to renew our
thinking (see note on
Romans 12:2), and to develop qualities in us that
are more and more Christ-like (see notes on
Colossians 3:5ff). Paul
described this process as a work of God. He said, "He who has
begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of
Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). As we travel heavenward,
let's cooperate with God's construction of our lives. When His
work in us is complete, "we shall be like Him" (1John 3:2),
perfectly conformed to our Savior's likeness. —V C Grounds (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprint
