524. What Are We to Understand by "Work Out Your Own Salvation" in Phil. 2:12?

Grace is inactive without our will, hence the order as to "work." "Fear and trembling"(Phil. 2:12) simply mean the holy reverence which accompanies obedience (see Eph. 6:5; I Cor. 2:3; II Cor. 7:15); not slavish fear, like the terror of a mind in danger of condemnation, but anxiety to do what the Lord would have us do, and the realization that our own merits are insufficient and we must trust him to give strength for our weakness. The last clause of the sentence (verse 13) confirms this interpretation.