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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Philippians 2:12 - 2:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Not as in my presence only (mē hōs en tēi parousiāi monon). B and a few other MSS. omit hōs. The negative mē goes with the imperative katergazesthe (work out), not with hupēkousate (obeyed) which would call for ouch.
Much more (pollōi mallon). They are not to render eye-service only when Paul is there, but much more when he is away.
Work out (katergazesthe). Perfective use of kata (down) in composition, work on to the finish. This exhortation assumes human free agency in the carrying on the work of one’s salvation.
With fear and trembling (meta phobou kai tromou). “Not slavish terror, but wholesome, serious caution” (Vincent). “A nervous and trembling anxiety to do right” (Lightfoot). Paul has no sympathy with a cold and dead orthodoxy or formalism that knows nothing of struggle and growth. He exhorts as if he were an Arminian in addressing men. He prays as if he were a Calvinist in addressing God and feels no inconsistency in the two attitudes. Paul makes no attempt to reconcile divine sovereignty and human free agency, but boldly proclaims both.