Commenting on Paul’s use of ἐνεργέω and his synergistic ontology, David Bradshaw wrote that:
One
[text] of particular clarity is Philippians 2:12, 13: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not
as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out (katergazesthe)
your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you
(ho energōn en humin) both to will and to do (energein) of his
good pleasure.” Here the exhortation to act is coupled with a reminder that it
is God who is acting. Neither negates the other; the Philippians are both free
agents responsible for their own salvation, and the arena in which God works to
bring about that salvation. Bearing this duality in mind, one would legitimately
translate, “it is God who imparts energy in you to will and to do of his
good pleasure,” where “to do” refers both to the Philippians’ action and
to God’s action as it is expressed in them. This rendering helps bring out
why for Paul there is no contradiction in urging the Philippians to do
something that he also sees as the work of God. The peculiar nature of God’s
activity is that it imparts the energy to do His will, although this energy
must be freely expressed or “worked out” to be effective. (David
Bradshaw, “The Concept of Divine Energies,” in Divine Essence and Divine
Energies: Ecumenical Reflections on the Presence of God in Eastern Orthodoxy, ed.
C. Athana Opoulos and C. Schneider [Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 2013], 37)
