SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:13
porque Dios es el que en vosotros obra así el querer como el hacer, por su buena voluntad.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Philippians 2:13
Verse 13. For it is God which worketh in you] Every holy purpose, pious resolution, good word, and good work, must come from him; ye must be workers together with him, that ye receive not his grace in vain; because he worketh in you, therefore work with him, and work out your own salvation. To will and to do] to qelein kai to energein. The power to will and the power to act must necessarily come from God, who is the author both of the soul and body, and of all their powers and energies, but the act of volition and the act of working come from the man. God gives power to will, man wills through that power; God gives power to act, and man acts through that power. Without the power to will, man can will nothing; without the power to work, man can do nothing. God neither wills for man, nor works in man's stead, but he furnishes him with power to do both; he is therefore accountable to God for these powers.
Because God works in them the power to will and the power to do, therefore the apostle exhorts them to work out their own salvation; most manifestly showing that the use of the powers of volition and action belongs to themselves. They cannot do God's work, they cannot produce in themselves a power to will and to do; and God will not do their work, he will not work out their salvation with fear and trembling.
Though men have grievously puzzled themselves with questions relative to the will and power of the human being; yet no case can be plainer than that which the apostle lays down here: the power to will and do comes from GOD; the use of that power belongs to man. He that has not got this power can neither will nor work; he that has this power can do both. But it does not necessarily follow that he who has these powers will use them; the possession of the powers does not necessarily imply the use of those powers, because a man might have them, and not use or abuse them; therefore the apostle exhorts: Work out your own salvation.
This is a general exhortation; it may be applied to all men, for to all it is applicable, there not being a rational being on the face of the earth, who has not from God both power to will and act in the things which concern his salvation. Hence the accountableness of man.
Of his good pleasure.] Every good is freely given of God; no man deserves any thing from him; and as it pleaseth him, so he deals out to men those measures of mental and corporeal energy which he sees to be necessary; giving to some more, to others less, but to all what is sufficient for their salvation.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 13. For it is God which worketh in you , etc.] Which is both an encouragement to persons conscious of their own weakness to work, as before exhorted to; (see Haggai 2:4); and a reason and argument for humility and meekness, and against pride and vain glory, since all we have, and do, is from God; and also points out the spring, principle, and foundation of all good works; namely, the grace of God wrought in the heart, which is an internal work, and purely the work of God: by this men become the workmanship of God, created unto good works, ( Ephesians 2:10), and are new men, and fitted for the performance of acts of righteousness, and true holiness; and this grace, which God works in them, is wrought in a powerful and efficacious manner, so as not to be frustrated and made void. The word here used signifies an inward, powerful, and efficacious operation; and the king's manuscript, mentioned by Grotius and Hammond, adds another word to it, which makes the sense still stronger, reading it thus, which worketh in you, dunamei , by power; not by moral persuasion, but by his own power, the power of his efficacious grace. The Alexandrian copy reads, dunameiv , powers, or mighty works: God works in his people both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure ; God works in converted men a will to that which is spiritually good; which is to be understood, not of the formation of the natural faculty of the will; or of the preservation of it, and its natural liberty; or of the general motion of it to natural objects; nor of his influence on it in a providential way; but of the making of it good, and causing a willingness in it to that which is spiritually good. Men have no will naturally to come to Christ, or to have him to reign over them; they have no desire, nor hungerings and thirstings after his righteousness and salvation; wherever there are any such inclinations and desires, they are wrought in men by God; who works upon the stubborn and inflexible will, and, without any force to it, makes the soul willing to be saved by Christ, and submit to his righteousness, and do his will; he sweetly and powerfully draws it with the cords of love to himself, and to his Son, and so influences it by his grace and spirit, and which he continues, that it freely wills everything spiritually good, and for the glory of God: and he works in them also to do; for there is sometimes in believers a will, when there wants a power of doing. God therefore both implants in them principles of action to work from, as faith and love, and a regard for his glory, and gives them grace and strength to work with, without which they can do nothing, but having these, can do all things: and all this is of [his] good pleasure; the word his not being in the original text, some have taken the liberty to ascribe this to the will of man; and so the Syriac version renders it, both to will and to do that, wtna ybxd , which ye will, or according to your good will; but such a sense is both bad and senseless; for if they have a good will of themselves, what occasion is there for God to work one in them? no; these internal operations of divine power and grace are not owing to the will of men, nor to any merits of theirs, or are what God is obliged to do, but what flow from his sovereign will and pleasure; who works when, where, and as he pleases, and that for his own glory; and who continues to do so in the hearts of his people; otherwise, notwithstanding the work of grace in them, they would find very little inclination to, and few and faint desires after spiritual things; and less strength to do what is spiritually good; but God of his good pleasure goes on working what is well pleasing in his sight.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 12-18 - We must be diligent in the use of all the means which lead to ou salvation, persevering therein to the end. With great care, lest, with all our advantages, we should come short. Work out your salvation, for it is God who worketh in you. This encourages us to do our utmost because our labour shall not be in vain: we must still depend on the grace of God. The working of God's grace in us, is to quicken an engage our endeavours. God's good-will to us, is the cause of his goo work in us. Do your duty without murmurings. Do it, and do not fin fault with it. Mind your work, and do not quarrel with it. By peaceableness; give no just occasion of offence. The children of God should differ from the sons of men. The more perverse others are, the more careful we should be to keep ourselves blameless and harmless. The doctrine and example of consistent believers will enlighten others, an direct their way to Christ and holiness, even as the light-house warn mariners to avoid rocks, and directs their course into the harbour. Le us try thus to shine. The gospel is the word of life, it makes known to us eternal life through Jesus Christ. Running, denotes earnestness an vigour, continual pressing forward; labouring, denotes constancy, an close application. It is the will of God that believers should be muc in rejoicing; and those who are so happy as to have good ministers have great reason to rejoice with them. (Php 2:19-30)
Greek Textus Receptus
ο 3588 θεος 2316 γαρ 1063 εστιν 2076 5748 ο 3588 ενεργων 1754 5723 εν 1722 υμιν 5213 και 2532 το 3588 θελειν 2309 5721 και 2532 το 3588 ενεργειν 1754 5721 υπερ 5228 της 3588 ευδοκιας 2107
Vincent's NT Word Studies
13. For it is God which worketh in you. Completing and guarding the previous statement. In you, not among you. Worketh (energwn). See on Mark vi. 14; Jas. v. 16. The verb means effectual working. In the active voice, to be at work. In the middle voice, as here (used only by James and Paul, and only of things), to display one's activity; show one's self-operative. Compare Eph. iii. 20.
To will and to do (to qelein kai to energein). Lit., the willing and the doing. Both are from God, and are of one piece, so that he who wills inevitably does. The willing which is wrought by God, by its own nature and pressure, works out into action. "We will, but God works the will in us. We work, therefore, but God works the working in us" (Augustine). For to do, Rev. substitutes to work, thus preserving the harmony in the Greek between "God which worketh" and "to work."
Of His good pleasure (uper thv eudokiav). Rev., better, for His, etc. Lit., for the sake of; in order to subserve. See 1 Tim. ii. 4.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:13 {Which worketh in you} (ho energ"n en humin). Articular present active participle of energew from energos (en, ergon) one at work, common verb from Aristotle on, to be at work, to energize. God is the Energy and the Energizer of the universe. Modern scientists, like Eddington, Jeans, and Whitney, are not afraid to agree with Paul and to put God back of all activity in nature. {Both to will and to work} (kai to thelein kai to energein). "Both the willing and the working (the energizing)." God does it all, qen. Yes, but he puts us to work also and our part is essential, as he has shown in verse #12, though secondary to that of God. {For his good-pleasure} (huper ts eudokias). So Whitney puts "the will of God" behind gravitation and all the laws of nature.
