For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:19, KJV).
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12, KJV).
Out of the most commonly used English translations of Phil 1:19, seventeen of them translate sōtēria as salvation. However, thirty-nine translations have deliverance in 1:19 but salvation in 2:12.
There can be no doubt that there is a connection between “my salvation” and “your own salvation.” Whatever type of salvation Paul knew would result from the Philippians’ prayers and the supply of the Spirit was the same salvation that he exhorted the Philippian believers to work out.
Do you have a reason for living?
Most people don’t.
In his 1854 book Walden, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
Nietzsche said, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?”
Cioran, a 20th-century Romanian philosopher wrote that we need “to recognize the futility of everything.”
Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, life ultimately has no meaning, no purpose, no direction. But the Lord Jesus Christ gives eternal meaning to life for all who believe in and follow Him.
When Paul says, “I know that this will turn [out] for my deliverance,” he might have been speaking prophetically, or he might have been expressing his conviction. I think the latter is in view here.
The fact that Paul speaks in the first person of “my deliverance” shows that his imprisonment and suffering are in view. He is not talking about surviving the imprisonment. Rather, he is talking about being victorious in the imprisonment.
Paul is alluding to Job 13:16. The NKJV translates Job 13:16a, “He also shall be my salvation…” The NIV translates Job 13:16a, “…this will turn out for my deliverance.” The HCSB reads, “Yes, this will result in my deliverance.” The NASB translates v 16a, “This also will be my salvation.”
Job was suffering, not for some sin in his life, but simply because God was allowing him to be tested, and Job anticipated vindication when the Lord judged him concerning this test. Note Job 13:18, “I know that I shall be vindicated.” He was thinking in terms of when his life was over. Little did he know that he would be vindicated after his interactions with his friends ceased.
Ralph Martin approvingly cites J. H. Michael’s view that sōtēria here means that “[Paul’s] stand for Christ will be vindicated” (p. 75).
Likewise, Gordon Fee says, “Christ being thus magnified would be Paul’s vindication” (p. 68).
Greg Sapaugh in The Grace NT Commentary says that sōtēria refers to the “rich welcome [Paul will receive] when he stands before Christ [“at the Judgment Seat of Christ”]” because he “continue[d] to serve Christ faithfully” (p. 897).
Verse 20 explains what sōtēria means in v 19. What Paul longed for was to avoid the shame that would come if he stopped confessing Christ. He would be delivered or saved from shame if “Christ [was] magnified in [his] body, whether by life or by death [i.e., by martyrdom].”
Note the contrast between shame and boldness! In life, Paul wished to avoid shame before Christ. The way to do that was to continue to proclaim Him boldly before all who would listen.
This is the same word John used in 1 John 2:28. He feared shrinking back in shame before Christ at His coming. Clearly, Paul feared that as well. We all should. The Apostle Peter also expressed this idea: “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Pet 4:16).
Phil 1:19 explains Phil 2:12, “work out your [plural] own salvation in fear and trembling.”
| Passage | Person(s) | Condition | Result |
| Phil 1:19 | Paul (my) | Magnify Christ, 1:20 | Vindication at Bema |
| Phil 2:12 | Philippians (your) | Shine as lights, 2:15 | Vindication at Bema |
| “ | “ | Hold fast word of life, 2:16 | Vindication at Bema |
Just as Paul’s “salvation” was to be vindicated by Christ because he magnified Him in what he said and did—especially while suffering for Him—so, too, every church, and every believer individually, should seek to be vindicated by Christ for shining as lights in this dark world and for holding fast the word of life. That is why, in Phil 2:13-18, Paul speaks of not grumbling and complaining, and of continuing to let our lights shine for Christ in our dark world.
Sadly, most people do not see the connection between Phil 2:12 and 1:19. Worse, most pastors and theologians suggest that in 2:12, Paul was teaching works salvation, or Lordship Salvation. He wasn’t talking about regeneration in Phil 1:19 or 2:12. He was talking about being saved from shame at the Bema.
John 3:16 lays out what we must do to be saved from eternal condemnation and to have everlasting life. Philippians 1:19 and 2:12 describe what we must do to be saved from shame before Christ at the Bema.
Keep grace in focus, and you will see that there are different types of salvation in the Bible.
