What does it mean that God "began a good work in you" (Philippians 1:6)?

But he goes further, and says, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will complete it against the day of Jesus Christ." Remark the ground of his confidence. In the Corinthians it is because God was faithful. In Galatians, where there was a still a more serious trial, the Apostle says he was in doubt of them, till he thinks of the Lord; and then he has his heart lit up with a comforting hope that they were Christians after all. People that were practically slighting (little as they thought or intended it, yet virtually slighting) Christ for worldly elements — he could hardly understand how such could be Christians. To turn from a crucified and risen Christ to the rites of an earthly religion is worse than bare earthliness, destructive as this is. Here it is another thing. His confidence is grounded not merely on what God is in character and counsel, but on what he saw of Christ, by the Holy Ghost, in them. Thinking of what they had been and were then, could he hesitate to recognize the evident handiwork of God through His Son? He saw such an unequivocal enjoyment of Christ, and such an identification of interests with Him upon earth, that his confidence was not only in a general way that he would see them with Christ by-and-by, but in the solidity of the work of God in them all the way through. He who had begun in them a good work, he was sure, would complete it unto (or, against) the day of Jesus Christ (v. 6).

The affection of the Philippians, which expressed itself by sending help to the apostle, reminded him of the spirit they had always shown; they had cordially associated themselves with the labours and trials of the gospel. And this thought leads the apostle higher, to that which governs the current of thought (most precious to us) in the epistle. Who had wrought in the Philippians this spirit of love and of devotedness to the interests of the gospel? Truly it was the God of the glad tidings and of love; and this was a security that He who had begun the good work would fulfil it unto the day of Christ. Sweet thought! — now that we have no longer the apostle, that we have no longer bishops and deacons, as the Philippians had in those days. God cannot be taken from us; the true and living source of all blessing remains to us, unchangeable, and above the infirmities, and even the faults, which deprive Christians of all intermediate resources. The apostle had seen God acting in the Philippians. The fruits bore witness of the source. Hence he counted on the perpetuity of the blessing they were to enjoy. But there must be faith in order to draw these conclusions. Christian love is clear-sighted and full of trust with regard to its objects, because God Himself, and the energy of His grace, are in that love.

In the sentence, "He Who has begun a good work in you," the word "begun" has a solemn, ceremonial connection. "Inaugurated" might be a better word. It was no light matter to begin that work: let us ever remember it cost the life of the Son of God to begin it in any of us: and, if the work was real and true, it was no light matter with us either. But what comfort to look away from ourselves and our failures to Him Who began the work, and know we may count HIM to finish it! "The work which His goodness began, The arm of His strength will complete; His promise is Yea and Amen, And never was forfeited yet: Things future, nor things that are now, Nor all things below nor above, Can make Him His promise forego, Or sever our souls from His love." And let us remember that it is "God which worketh in both to will and to do of His good pleasure." the willing and the working are from God: there is no room to boast. And if it is of GOD, it cannot fail for, "HE FAILETH NOT."

But more, he could give thanks for them, and he did. Years had passed since he had seen them, but he had not forgotten them. "I thank my God," he writes, "upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Fellowship in the gospel had always characterized that assembly. (4:15.) It characterized it still. (1:7; 4:14.) Now, that fellowship betokened not only love to him, but a real work of grace in their souls - a work commenced, instrumentally, by Paul and his company (Acts 16:13), but really by God, who will perfect in His goodness that which He has begun in His grace. To Him, then, Paul turns for confidence about the saints: "Being confident of this one thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus." (v. 6.) And to the furtherance of Paul's joy, he had not to rest simply on the remembrance of that which they once had been in the first fervour of their love; for the coming of Epaphroditus with their tribute of affection told him of their continued interest in him, and in the work of God with which he was so closely associated. So he points to that as a further proof of the reality of their conversion. "Even," he writes, "as it is right for me to think this of you all, because you have me in your heart;* inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye are all partakers of my grace." Happy Paul, to have such continued evidence of the fruitfulness of his labours among them. Blessed too surely they were who furnished such proofs. Deeds, not words merely, was it with them. And what honour was put on them to have fellowship with Paul in the grace of furthering the interests of Christ and the kingdom of God! They were not ashamed of him, the prisoner. They identified themselves with him.

The Philippian saints and their brethren in Galatia ran equally well at the outset of their course,5 but steadfast continuance was found only in the former. In the latter case, we see how natural impetuosity and fickleness of character gave opportunity to the adversary to impede the work of God. But was it to a superior cast of natural disposition that Paul ascribed the admirable constancy of these Philippian saints? They were, it is true, as opposite in temperament to those of Galatia as the Saxon and the Celt are still in our times; but what the Spirit calls 'a good work' owes nothing for its goodness to what is natural. Its form is natural, its quality divine. In marked and measured words therefore the Apostle here ascribes to God the healthful condition of these saints of His. A good work was begun in them, which the Workman would not leave, and would know how to finish in due time. It was begun while as yet there was in them no subjective agency available for such a work, while they lay, as others, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. In the following chapter we shall see by what manner of internal and conscious agency the divine beginner of the work conducts it to its close.6 At present he records only his glad confidence on their behalf in the unchangeable character of God, and reminds them of the day of Jesus Christ as the distinct goal of their desire. If God wrought in them by His Gospel it was unto salvation, and that salvation would be attained unto perfection, for them and for all other saints, only in the day of Jesus Christ.7

What the Lord speaks of as "My day" in John 8, the Apostle Paul speaks of as "the day of Jesus Christ" in Philippians 1:6, and in this verse we read that "He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." From this Scripture we learn that God, in His sovereignty and love, is working His own good work in the hearts of His saints to bring them out with Christ in the day of His glory. The different conditions of life, and the varied circumstances in which God's people are found, are contributing to form in the saints what God will display of Christ, and with Christ, when Jesus is displayed before the eyes of the universe. Every one in that vast company will be the fruit of the work of Jesus, who died for us upon the cross, and the fruit of Him who, in His grace, began and completed His good work in us.

In the second place, we base the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer upon the perseverance and omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit of God. Look at Philippians 1:6. Writing to these saints, the apostle says, when he thanked them for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Do you see that? Who began the good work in you if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus? The Holy Spirit of God did. It was He who convicted you of sin; it was He who led you to put your trust in Christ; it was He who through the Word gave you the witness that you were saved; it is He who has been conforming you to Christ since you first trusted the Lord Jesus. Having thus taken you up in grace, the Holy Spirit has a definite purpose in view. He is eventually going to conform you fully to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He never begins a work that He does not intend to finish. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” If when you were a poor sinner the Holy Spirit had power sufficient to break down your opposition to God and to bring to an end your unbelief and rebellion, do you think for one moment that He does not have power enough to subdue your will as a believer and to carry on to completion the work that He began?

People say, “I see you believe in that old Baptist doctrine of ‘once in grace, always in grace.’” Or another says, “I understand you hold that old Presbyterian idea of ‘the final perseverance of the saints.’” I do not know why this should be called either Baptist or Presbyterian, only to the extent that Baptists and Presbyterians agree with the Book, and the Word of God clearly shows that once God takes us up in grace nothing can separate us from the love of Christ so that evidently the expression, “once in grace, always in grace,” is a perfectly correct one. But, on the other hand, I am not so enthusiastic about the other expression, “the perseverance of the saints.” I believe in it; I believe that all saints - all really belonging to God - will persevere to the end, for the Book tells me, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13), and if a man starts out and makes a profession but gives it all up, he will never be saved, because he was never born again to begin with, he was never truly changed by grace divine. On the other hand, the reason he endures to the end is not because of any particular perseverance of his own. What I believe in, and what the Word of God clearly teaches, is the perseverance of the Holy Spirit. When He begins a work, He never gives up until it is completed. That is our confidence.

This was the manifest work of God in their souls, and Paul speaks of his confidence that God would complete this good work He had begun. The completion is nothing short of "the day of Jesus Christ," this is when He shall be manifested and they also manifested as the finished product of His workmanship.

This good work was begun in us when first God took us up, and God will complete the work He started. If we apprehended this we would understand better God’s ways with us, for He is working in the details of our daily lives what suits His own purpose in view of the coming day, and we can well rest assured that what suits His purpose will be best for us. How good it is to rest in His hands, knowing the infinite wisdom and eternal love of Him who is working with us, and in us, in view of the delight He has in forming us for the display of the glory of Jesus Christ.

Having learned something of God’s thoughts we can understand the feelings of the heart of Paul when writing, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). We know that God will complete the work He has begun in the hearts of His own, and He has left us in this world with this in mind. Each saint of God is God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:10), and in each one God is working, using all the varied circumstances of life to this end, and in view of the day when Jesus Christ, His own beloved Son, will be displayed before the universe.