Maybe it’s just a version thing that makes Paul’s words so hard to stomach. Whatever the reason, I always get caught up on Paul’s words in Philippians 2:12. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” How does your version read?

Why do I get caught by Paul’s words? For me, it boils down to confusion between the helpful theological terms of justification and sanctification. Recall that justification describes the good reasons God saves people; sanctification describes the effect of that salvation in the lives of the saved.

So, as I look at this text through my lenses of ethics and morality, I see Paul focusing on sanctification; ever and always moving toward Christ-like character because of the prior work of God in justification. We do not work to gain salvation; we do our best to make that salvation truly effect the way we live our lives.

What do I mean? It seems to me that when people accept Jesus as their savior (justification), it should have some real effect in their life. Being saved by God should affect our personalities, our characters, our traits, habits, and routines. In a world filled with indecent people, Christians should really try to be like Jesus: compassionate, caring, thoughtful, peace-loving, responsible, etc.

In Galatians 5:22, Paul talks about these hard-won character traits as “fruit” of God’s Spirit working in us. The “fruit” here is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. The fruit metaphor may be helpful to our understanding. Fruit doesn’t just happen; there is a lot of “work” plants must do to generate fruit. Like plants, we must direct our energies toward these beautiful ends — Christ-like character traits, personal habits and ways of being.

Don’t miss the point that it is God’s Spirit working in us. Our work is to turn the initial justification of our salvation into a consistent pattern, a habit that grows each day in sanctification. Our work is to develop the habits that allow God’s Spirit into our stony hearts. This is the work of salvation. It doesn’t save us — God does. But with His power in our lives, this work changes us day by day. This work makes us easier to live with at home, even when we want to fight with our parent, child or spouse. This work makes us more pleasant in our jobs, even with workmates or customers that are jerks. This makes us similarly kind, whether we are at church or at home, whether we’re talking to our mother or our grumpy neighbor!

Exactly how do we manage to work on our personalities, characters and virtues? One of the most helpful little books I’ve ever read on such matters is Ellen White’s Help in Daily Living. It is the final chapters of The Ministry of Healing published under a separate title in pamphlet form. Her effort here is well-focused on helping us understand the need for and method of “working” on our characters. On page 20, she makes an astounding statement relevant to our text: “Not even God can make our characters noble or our lives useful, unless we become co-workers with Him.”