Aren’t we supposed to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling? What about our Cross? Let's take a fresh look at some old ideas.
Philippians 2:12 -"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling"
Read that verse from the A.S. Way translation: “… work out, with fear and self-distrust, ay, with trembling self-distrust, your own salvation. You have not to do it in your unaided strength: it is God who is all the while supplying the impulse…"
Paul wrote this during his Roman imprisonment awaiting possible death. Knowing that he might never return to his beloved Philippian church, his most generous supporter, he lovingly tells them that they must not rely upon him any longer but they must trust in the impulse of God within them.
The apostle was essentially teaching them to drink from the Source of salvation, and not just be the messengers of it. The sense of the Scripture is not working out our salvation in our own strength, but in fact, it is the opposite. It is that we should trust none but God alone, who is giving us the strength and the impulse for our salvation. We should approach our salvation with trembling self-distrust, resting solely in God’s wondrous ability.
If we miss the meaning of these simple Scriptures, we are in danger of placing the emphasis upon ourselves instead of on Christ.
Christ is our substitute; His sacrifice should not, and indeed cannot, be followed. I’m not talking about giving our lives in martyrdom for the Gospel; I’m talking about attempting to pay a price that only He was anointed to pay.
Matthew 16:24- "Whoever wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me."
This seems to be one of the most twisted and misunderstood verses in the Bible. To most people, this verse seems more like another burden to bear, rather than a burden lifted, which is its intended meaning. Jesus said first, “Follow Me.” Where was He going? He was going to Jerusalem to be crucified and to pay the ransom for all humankind, to lift the burden of sin from humanity. This Scripture is not a call for the self-sacrifice of the disciples or the believer but a call to follow and trust in Christ and His work that He was about to accomplish on the cross.
He had just revealed this to His disciples in the previous verses. And of course, good ol’ Peter rebuked Jesus for saying such crazy things. This “Crucified Messiah” did not fit into Peter’s grid.
In the most practical sense, Jesus was saying to His disciples, “Hey guys, we got some rough times ahead. I’m gonna be killed pretty soon but it will be OK. You boys better stick with Me; I know what I’m doing. Don’t go running off on your own and getting yourselves into trouble. Just trust Me!”
It is Christ who bore our burdens, and continues to bear them and us to Himself. In our trying and hard times, we are to rejoice even more, knowing that Christ has everything sovereignly in His hands. I’m not saying that hard times don’t come; I’m simply saying that you can have supernatural joy in the midst of them. In the eternal sense, this verse means that we are to follow after Christ’s sacrifice, not mimic it, but trust in it alone for our salvation and sustainment.
This verse in Matthew 16 in no way implies that believers have anything to do with the removal of sin from their lives by carrying their own cross. Here is a simple question: Whose cross was Jesus carrying? His own? No way! When Christ was hanging naked and mutilated on the tree of Calvary, it was not for His own crimes, but ours. He was murdered! He was innocent of all evil.
He was our scapegoat—the substitution for all of humanity.“ He was not carrying His cross; He was carrying our crosses!” He commands us to “deny self'—this word here actually means “to forget and lose sight of self."
The sense here in this Scripture is not self-sacrifice in the way that most would see it. It actually is a call to deny any heavenly advancement through self-achievement. It means that salvation or any of its benefits cannot be owed or due to ourselves!
Celebrate the full and finished work of our King!
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