What Does Philippians 2:12 Mean in the King James?

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Philippians 2:12 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The verb for “work out” shares its work-root with the next verse’s “worketh,” joining your lived effort to a work within you.

THE MEANING

You are addressed as beloved, and the deliverance in your own life is carried into effect through what you do. That movement continues in another’s absence; it does not depend on someone being there to watch. “Fear and trembling” marks the gravity of this work.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that your movement toward deliverance can continue only while someone else is present to watch or guide you.

THE ROOT

κατεργάζεσθε

katergazesthe

GROWS FROM

ἐργ

erg

Work, deed, action; the core idea of bringing something into effect.

The verb ⁨κατεργάζεσθε⁩ (katergazesthe, work out or carry through to effect) shares the ⁨ἐργ⁩ (erg, work) root with the next verse’s ⁨ἐνεργῶν⁩ (energōn, working). The two verses link what is carried through in your life with what is working within you.

ALSO GROWS

ergazomai: Work, accomplish

ἐργάζομαι

It shares the work-root and shows the active sense carried by “work out.”

energeō: Work, be active

ἐνεργέω

This is the verb family behind “worketh” in Philippians 2:13, connecting the inward working there with the work carried through here.

ergon: Work, deed

ἔργον

This noun is the shared work-seed in both verbs.

σωτηρία

sōtēria

GROWS FROM

σωζ

sōz

Deliver, rescue, preserve; bring safely through.

“salvation” in this verse is sōtēria. The word belongs to a family that includes the act of delivering, the deliverer, and deliverance itself. Here, the thing being carried through into effect is deliverance in your own life.

ALSO GROWS

sōzō: Deliver, rescue, preserve

σῴζω

The verb names the act at the root of the deliverance named here.

sōtēr: Deliverer

σωτήρ

The deliverer and the deliverance share the same root.

sōtēria: Deliverance

σωτηρία

This is the word translated “salvation” in the verse.

THE PATTERN

An inward work takes form through the actions it brings about.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13 · KJVThe next verse makes the inward work explicit, using a verb from the same Greek work-family as “work out.”

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

Ezekiel 36:27 · KJVThe inward gift is joined to walking and doing; what is placed within takes outward form.

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

1 Corinthians 15:10 · KJVThe speaker’s labor and God’s work are held together, as inward working and lived effort are joined.

THE THREAD

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13 · KJV

The “worketh” here is ⁨ἐνεργῶν⁩ (energōn, working), from the same ⁨ἐργ⁩ (erg, work) family as ⁨κατεργάζεσθε⁩ (katergazesthe, work out) in verse 12. The shared root links what is working within you to what is carried through in your life.

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