Philippians 2:13

For it is God&c. Here is the reason for the "fear and trembling." The process of "working out" is one which touches at every point the internal presence of Him before whom "the stars are not pure" (Job 25:5). Meanwhile the same fact, in its aspect of the presence of His power, is the deepest reason for strength and hope in the process; and this thought also, very possibly, is present here.

God which worketh in you The Immanence, Indwelling, of God in His saints, in deep and sacred speciality and reality, is a main doctrine of the Gospel. The Paraclete is not only "with" but "in" them (John 14:17; and see below, on Philippians 4:23). By the Paraclete's work, in giving new birth and new life, "Christ, who is our life" (Colossians 3:3), "is in them" (cp. esp. Romans 8:9-11, and see 2Co 4:10-11; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Colossians 1:27); and "in Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead" (Colossians 2:9). See further on this all-important subject Ephesians 3:17. In the light of a passage like this we arrive at the animating truth that the "grace" which is present in the Christian is not only a power, or influence, emitted as it were from above; it is the living and eternal God Himself, present and operating at "the first springs of thought and will."

"Worketh":the Greek word has a certain intensity about it, "worketh effectually."

to will I.e. His working produces these effects, not merely tends towards them. Effecteth in you your willing would be a fair rendering. Here, though in passing, one of the deepest mysteries of grace is touched upon. On the one hand is the will of the Christian, real, personal, and in full exercise; appealed to powerfully as such in this very passage. On the other hand, beneath it, as cause beneath result, if the will is to work in God's way, is seen God working, God "effecting." A true theology will recognize with equal reverence and entireness of conviction both these great parallels of truth. It will realize human responsibility with "fear and trembling"; it will adore the depths of grace with deep submission, and attribute every link in the chain of actual salvation to God alone ultimately [21].

[21] On the philosophy of the subject see some excellent suggestions in M'Cosh's Intuitions of the Mind, Bk. iv. ch. iii.

and to do Or, as before, and your doing, or better, your working; the verb is the same as that just above. The "will" is such as to express itself in "effectual work."

ofhis good pleasure Better, with R.V., for His good pleasure; for its sake, to carry it out. The saint, new created, enabled by grace to will and do, is all the while the implement of the purposes of God, and used for them. Cp. Ephesians 2:10 for a close and suggestive parallel in respect of this last point.