Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. I am confident of this very thing, that who has begun a good work in you, will perform it is until the day of Jesus Christ. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favour of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus. I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation – the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ – for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
Phil 1:3-11
In the previous Gem I left you with these questions:
- What makes him so certain, confident and sure?
- What is he so confident about?
- What very thing is he putting his confidence in?
- Is it “a good work” or “the good work”?
- What’s the difference and does it matter?
All of these elements are connected together. Paul is not confident in himself or the Philippians. Rather he is confident in God who began the work in them. Paul doesn’t actually use the word “God” in his statement but it is clearly God he means. In saying He who began a good work in you Paul can only be referring to God who began the work of redemption in each one of the Philippians. The “you” of “began a good work in you” is plural not singular, referring to all of those in Philippi who were in partnership with Paul and were saints of God.
Was Paul’s confidence in the Philippians because of their support of him and the special relationship he had with them? Did you notice how everything is so closely connected and why? Let me lay the connectedness out for you in a way that you can see. Remember I told you in Gem 1907 that I had emboldened the text above highlighting Paul’s feelings toward them. I italicised the text which marks the resultant prayer Paul prayed for them or the desire he had for them as a result. For what you see below I have resorted to Propositional Analysis layout. I have explained what Propositional Analysis is in Gem 604 and have included a section below the Propositional Analysis layout in Gem 604 titled An Explanation of Propositional Analysis. While the block of text here from Philippians 1:3-11 is not strictly one Greek sentence, it’s actually three, the way it fits together lends itself to treating it as though it is, given the way Paul links the pieces.
Paul’s Feelings for the Philippians
Every time I think of you I give thanks to my God.
Whenever I pray,
I make my requests for all of you with joy,
for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ
from the time you first heard it
until now.
So it is right that
I should feel as I do about all of you,
for you have a special place in my heart.
You share with me the special favour of God,
both in my imprisonment
and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News.
God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.
Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians
I pray that your love will overflow more and more,
and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.
For I want you to understand what really matters,
so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation
– the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ
– for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
Do you notice how Paul has written this opening passage in such a deliberate and brilliantly balanced way. He has balanced his feelings for the Philippians and his prayers for them. But his prayers for them grow out of two things: his feelings for them and his confidence. Ah but where is his confidence placed? That was the focus of my opening three questions to you in the last Gem.
- What makes him so certain, confident and sure?
- What is he so confident about?
- What very thing is he putting his confidence in?
- His confidence has nothing to do with his feelings for them.
- His confidence has nothing to do with the strength or length of their relationship.
- His confidence has nothing to do with the faithful support the Philippians have been giving him regularly.
- His confidence has nothing to do with their partnership in sharing the Good News or defending the truth of the Good News.
- His confidence has nothing to do with their care for him in nor out of prison.
Paul’s confidence is based on one thing and one thing only. His confidence is always and forever in God.
I am confident of this very thing, that He Who has begun a good work in you [Philippians] will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Paul’s confidence is always and forever in God. He is confident that what God started He will bring to fruit. He will complete it. He will perfect it in the same way He perfects the work of salvation. The Greek verb [ἐπιτελέσει] for completing or perfecting the work is the same root that is found in [τετελέσται]. The latter is the word used when Jesus pronounced the work finished on the cross. It is finished; It is done; It is paid in full! It is also related to the word used in Hebrews as the theme word perfected [τελέoō]. It is all related and combines a major truth. God works His work of salvation in us right to the end, to the point of Him perfecting the work in us. He doesn’t give up. What He begins, He perfects to the end. Don’t misunderstand as some do. “This good work”, “a good work” or “the good work” has nothing to do with any good works that might be accomplished by you along the way. It has nothing to do with our good works full stop. It has everything to do with God accomplishing His Great Good Work or completing His redemption process in you. Yes in you (singular) as individuals but more importantly all the saints (plural) in Philippi. In like manner God is completing His Great Salvation Work in all the saints throughout the earth. God is focused on the big picture where all of His saints in training are down through the ages all over the world.
Let’s focus for a moment on the question of a good work or the good work. I have partially answered it above but I have one more thing to add. If good work is related to us and is without the definite article [the] then it more likely refers to our good works. If it is related to God and is with the definite article then it certainly refers to God’s Great Redemptive work in each one of us. This is why there is variation among the translations related to “good work”.
Have a look at and ponder what John wrote:
They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.
John 6:28-29
If good work is anarthrous (without the article) it could also be emphasising the lack of the definite article in a greater way. By focusing on the specificity of the meaning related to it being God’s Great Work and not our little good works along the way. Our good works will never secure our salvation! The idea of anarthrous examples in Greek are complicated and if you really want a better oral explanation talk to me about it. I sense that is what we are dealing with in this example. You will need to think deeply about:
- the above explanation of ‘good work’
- the meaning of the verses I clipped from John
- this very thing that Paul refers to in his statement of where his confidence lies.
Ponder them all together. We are dealing with a deep statement of Paul as to where his confidence lies. The Subject or Agent of his confidence is in no doubt as to Whom he is referring. It is God! However God’s focus is in terms of what He is performing, perfecting or completing on the big picture level and needs our careful attention and clear thinking. I will leave that task for you to complete. As I have told you before – the good teachers show you where to dig but don’t tell you what to see.
Notice how I have picked out what Paul writes related to the reasons for Paul’s Feelings for the Philippians. But those feelings are matched by how Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians is shaped. He puts no confidence in the Philippians to persevere to the end and be filled with God’s spiritual fruit. Nor does he commend them or hint that he is confident the Philippians will live blameless, pure lives or develop righteous character. Rather he prays for God to do that work in them, knowing that only God can perfect that work in all of us as we hang on to our trust in Christ until the end. Hence he closes his prayer with the phrase until the day of Jesus Christ.
All of which leads me to ask, where is your confidence? As you contemplate your loved ones, where do you place your confidence for their salvation? Especially for those who are your prodigals, the ones still not part of the fold of ‘other sheep’. Our confidence can’t ever be in them or what we believe they will do in the end. God will never violate their free will. Place your trust and your confidence in God to bring your wayward loved one back to the fold. He will continue to draw, convict and cajole them until the very end but He will never compromise their free will.
[Later in the Nuggets as I continue to grapple with the Puzzling Paradox which results from all of this I will give you Paul’s prayer for those who resist. Watch for it. When I complete it I will add the link to this Gem.]
If you don’t shape your future according to God’s Word, someone else will shape it along contrary lines and it probably won’t be in your best interests.
Ian Vail
The fullness of the abundant life follows faith.
Francis Chan
The most fertile soil is mixed with the ash of ruin.
Barton Fitzgerald
They tried to bury us; but they didn’t know we were seeds.
Mexican Proverb