Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

long as we are in fellowship with Him. It is His divine enablement and continued source of spiritual
power that enables us to will and to do (Iterative Present tense) according to the good pleasure.
“Willing” is a reference to our inner motivation to live the spiritual life; “doing” is a reference to our
successful function in the spiritual life. He gives us continued inner motivation to live the spiritual
life as His ultimate purpose; He gives us power to execute the spiritual life as His intended result.
The ultimate objective is “good pleasure,” the result of attaining ultra-supergrace status. This verse
has historically been a battleground between Calvinists and Arminians.
Calvinists traditionally see “willing” as referring to our initial entrance into the spiritual life at
regeneration, something which is based 100% on the sovereignty of God and 0% on the freewill of
man. “Doing” is then interpreted as living the spiritual life after we have become Christians.
Calvinists also see the “good pleasure” as being “His,” with yet another reference to divine
sovereignty. Arminians typically erase any notion of sovereignty from God the Holy Spirit in
regeneration, in effect, making us our own saviours with God’s help. They interpret the “good
pleasure” as a stage or end result of a successful spiritual life, “our” good pleasure as opposed to
“His” good pleasure. This may be an over-simplification, but Calvinists interpret this passage as
proof of divine sovereignty behind all events, while Arminians interpret this passage as proof that
freewill lies behind all events. It could be legitimately either “His” or “our” good pleasure.
Calvinists see sanctification salvation in verse 12 and justification salvation in verse 13. This is
another way of saying our spiritual walk in verse 12 (experiential truth) is based on our initial
entrance into the spiritual life in verse 13 (positional truth). They are often presented as a package
deal, a balance between divine sovereignty and human responsibility. It is my view that the Calvinist
is correct in his understanding of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, while the Arminian
holds to a heretical view that places man’s freewill over (superceding) God’s freewill. However, I do
not believe this verse is teaching divine sovereignty as the Calvinist proclaims. I believe both halves
of this passage, verses 12 and 13, teach experiential sanctification only. Both “willing” and “doing”
are experiential terms. “Willing” is inner motivation; “doing” is outer execution.
The motivation to live the spiritual life and the ability to execute it is made possible by the power of
the Holy Spirit. He indwells every believer, and is poised to help us live the Christian life, but he
does not “make” us live the spiritual life. The Holy Spirit does not live the spiritual life for us.
Divine sovereignty placed us into union with Christ, but divine sovereignty does not make us fruitful
believers. I see verse 12 as a lead-in verse to verse 13. Paul encourages us to accomplish great things
in the spiritual life in verse 12, because after all, God the Holy Spirit indwells us and gives us the
ability to live a successful Christian life in verse 13. How can we go wrong! There is no need to
make these two verses a battleground between Calvinists and Arminians, because they both teach
experiential sanctification – the joint effort between the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and the
forward momentum of the believer who is filled with (and therefore utilizing) the Spirit.
There seem to be only a few Bible teachers who share my view of this verse. Invariably, they are
both Calvinists and dispensationalists. Calvinistic non-dispensationalists tend to emphasize divine
sovereignty “causing” us to will and to do. Arminian dispensationalists tend to emphasize man’s