Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 2:13

"for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure." — Philippians 2:13 (ASV)

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do.—In this famous paradox St. Paul calls on men to work by their own will, precisely because only God can grant them the power both to will and to do. The origination of all in God, and the free action (which is in some sense origination) of man, are both truths recognized by our deepest consciousness, yet they are irreconcilable to our logic.

In one passage only (Romans 9:14–24) does St. Paul touch, and that slightly and suggestively, on their reconciliation. Generally, Holy Scripture—in this confirming human reason—brings out each vividly and profoundly in turn, and leaves the problem of their reconciliation untouched. Here, the paradoxical form of the sentence forces on the mind the recognition of the coexistence of both. If that recognition is accepted, the force of the reasoning is clear. The only encouragement to work, in a being weak and finite like man, is the conviction that the Almighty power is working in him, both in will and in deed.

The phrase “worketh in you” is constantly applied to the divine operation in the soul (see 1 Corinthians 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:11; Galatians 2:8; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:2); it is rarely applied, as here (in the word rendered “to do”), to the action of men. It must necessarily extend to the will as well as the action; otherwise, God would not be sovereign in the inner realm of the mind (as, indeed, Stoic philosophy denied that He was). We are familiar with the influence of one created will over another—an influence that is real, though limited, yet in no sense compulsive. From this experience, we may catch a faint glimpse of the inner working of the Spirit of God on the spirit of man. Hence, while we cannot even conceive of the existence of freedom under an unbending impersonal law or force, the harmony of our will with a Supreme Personal Will is mysterious, indeed, but not inconceivable.

Of his good pleasure.—Literally, on behalf of His good pleasure; that is, in harmony with it. On the double meaning of “good pleasure,” see the Note on Ephesians 1:5. Here, the meaning is probably His “gracious will” for our salvation.