Monday, August 28, 2023

David Bradshaw on Philippians 2:12-13

 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)