Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

undertaken in the strength that the Spirit supplies, will not prove vain. The hope for working out our
salvation in all its varied dimensions is grounded in the help of God’s working in us the will and the
wherewithal to pursue His good pleasure … God also energizes the believer to do what he wills. The
present infinitive “energein” indicates that God’s work in us brings to effectual fruition the
behavioral end toward which one’s will is inclined. Any suggestion that the precedence of divine
causality nullifies the moral urgency of human behavior is not biblical. Paul certainly did not believe
it. Neither should we. (T. Schreiner, B. Ware)
The new principle of life that is implanted in the regenerate man, does not issue into conscious
action by its own inherent power, but only through the illuminating and fructifying influence of the
Holy Spirit. (L. Berkhof) God Himself is the hidden secret of the right action of the true human will.
(H.C.G. Moule) God can and does exert an influence on the human spirit as to make it willing -
positional truth. But the sinner has absolutely no right or claim to the blessings which flow from
divine election - experiential truth. (L. Berkhof) 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. (A.T. Robertson) There is no Biblical ground for the theory that even the minutest
detail of the eternal purpose of God will ever be uncertain because of a supposed unanticipated
action of the human will. God cannot be disappointed, defeated, or surprised … While God is
sovereign in the salvation of men, He has allowed sufficient latitude within the larger circles of His
unalterable purpose for the exercise of the human will. (L. Chafer)
Regeneration consists in the implanting of the principle of the new spiritual life in man, in a radical
change of the governing disposition of the soul, which, when under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
gives birth to a life that moves in a Godward direction. (L. Berkhof) It is not said expressly whose
"the good pleasure" is meant, God's or your own, or both. (F.F. Bruce) There is a perfect balance
between "human responsibility" in verse 12 and "divine enablement" in verse 13. (K. Wuest)
Foreknowledge, predestination, calling, regeneration, justification and adoption are exclusively
God’s work. But sanctification is a process in which, having been given a new nature by God, the
redeemed sinner now can and must cooperate. To put it in other language, justification is
monergistic; it is the work of God. By contrast, sanctification is synergistic; it is a joint work of both
God and man. No verse shows this more clearly than Philippians 2:12-13 ... When it comes to
sanctification, the true Calvinist is busy working out what God has worked in. (J. Boice)
We certainly obey God with our will, but it is with a will which He has formed in us. Those,
therefore, who ascribe any proper movement to free-will, apart from the grace of God, do nothing
else than rend the Holy Spirit. Paul declares, not that a faculty of willing is given to us, but that the
will itself is formed in us, so that from none else but God is the assent or obedience of a right will.
He acts within, holds our hearts, moves our hearts, and draws us by the inclinations which He has
produced in us. (R.C. Sproul) We are to let our energies out, and to let our energies out as a whole,
not restraining especially our best energies. We are not to be discouraged by difficulties, but rather to
regard them as an opportunity for our putting forth our energies more vigorously. We are not to
spend our energies simply for a livelihood, or in the pursuit of pleasure, or in the pursuit of a fortune,