Koine Greek Spot 2. Philippians 2:12-13

Welcome to our weekly Koine Greek Spot. Lets take a short look at Phillipians 2:12-13. Chapter 2 begins with Paul exhorting the Church at Philippi to be united and to be humble. This is followed by what many consider to be a hymn quoted by Paul (verses 5:11). Then we come to verses 12 & 13. Lets look at them.

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, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

As is so often the case, there is so much we could draw from these verses but we will limit it to a couple of points here. First, lets take a look at verse 12 and the words "fear" and "trembling".

Sometimes these words are translated as "awe and reverence", which is a fair enough translation when some other uses of these words are taken into consideration. However, when we look at these words in a more literal sense we find that to translate them "fear and trembling" could also be appropriate (see the following verses for other examples of their use in the NT. 2 Cor 5:11, 2 Cor 7:15, Eph 6:5).

So what? Well what I draw from this is that sometimes the more literal translation is best and we as members of the Body really need to examine our attitude toward God. Simple.

Now to finish off I would like to address my inclusion of v.13 in this weeks blog. Its also very simple. In v.12, Paul says to "work out your salvation" and in v.13 he says "for it is God who works in you". It indicates to me that believers are co-workers with God (1 Cor 3:9, 2 Cor 6:1). When we consider the position this put us in, I think we need to approach the Lord with much awe & reverence, or perhaps fear & trembling might be more appropriate. What do you think?