Salvation, God, Luminaries, Word of Life

Bible Verses 

Phil 2:12  So then, my beloved, even as you have always 

obeyed...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;  

(13)  For it is God who operates in you both the willing and 

the working for His good pleasure.  (14)  Do all things 

without murmurings and reasonings  (15)  That you may be 

blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in 

the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom 

you shine as luminaries in the world,  (16)  Holding forth 

the word of life...

 
      Words of Ministry

In verses 12, 13, 15, and 16 we have four wonderful matters:
salvation, God operating in us, lights or luminaries, and the
word of life. The salvation in verse 12 is actually the very
God who operates in us in verse 13. The One who operates in
us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure is
Himself our salvation. As believers, we are children of God,
children of the One who is operating in us. Because we are
children of God, we most assuredly have the divine life and
divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). How could a child not have the
life and nature of his father? It is simply not possible for
someone to be born of a particular person and not have the
life and nature of that person. In the same principle, it is
not possible for us to be genuine children of God, born of
Him, and not have His life and nature. We have been truly
born of God and not merely adopted by Him.

We definitely do not claim that man is evolving into the
Godhead. However, we definitely teach according to the Word
of God that, as true believers in Christ, we have experienced
a divine birth. God has actually been born into us, and
thereby we have His life and nature. Because we are children
of God with the life and nature of God, we shine as lights in
the world. The Greek word rendered lights in 2:15 means
luminaries which reflect the light of the sun. In this
universe there is only one source of light, and this source
is God. As those luminaries, we also hold forth the word of
life.

These four important matters are very subjective and
experiential. We have received a salvation which is God
Himself. Now there is operating in us this very God, the One
who is real in our experience as our subjective salvation. He
is not dormant, passive, or idle. His operating in us is His
energizing in us. How wonderful that we have been born of
this energizing God! Hence, we have His energizing life and
nature. Spontaneously we reflect the light which comes from
God as the universal source. In the midst of a crooked and
perverted generation, we shine as lights, as luminaries, in
the world. Therefore, we can hold forth the word of life to
those around us.