Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 1:6

"being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ:" — Philippians 1:6 (ASV)

That he who hath begun (or rather, who began) a good work in you will also finish it. The ground of St. Paul’s confidence in their perseverance is the belief that it was God’s grace which began the good work in them. He believed that because this grace was not resisted (as was evident from their enthusiasm for good), God would complete what He had begun.

In his view, God’s grace is the beginning and the end; humanity’s cooperation lies in the intermediate process linking both together. This is made still plainer in Philippians 2:12-13.

The day of Jesus Christ. So also in Philippians 1:10; Philippians 2:16, the day of Christ; and in 1 Corinthians 1:8, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. In all other Epistles it is the day of our Lord (as in 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2), or, still more commonly, both in Gospels and Epistles, that day.

As is usual in the Epistles, the day of the Lord is spoken of as if it were near. St. Paul, in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 2:2 and following), declines to pronounce that it is near, yet he does not say that it is far away.

He only teaches that much must be done, even in the development of Anti-Christian power, before it comes. It is, of course, clear that regarding the confidence expressed here, it makes no difference whether the day is near or far away.

The reality of the judgment as final and complete is the one important point; the times and seasons do not matter to us.