Holiness in life is the consequence of salvation. He “hath saved us and called us with an holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:9). Being born of God and having received Christ as life, the principle of holiness is in every believer, although its conscious development and practical exercise is when the question of justification is settled. The affections of the heart are fixed on Christ as having so loved us and given Himself for us. He is received into the heart, and we are thus sanctified and grow up to Him, the Head, in all things, His walk being the only true measure of ours.
And here it is that diligence of soul comes in, not in connection with redemption and justification, but rather with the working out of our own salvation in fear and trembling. It is perfectly evident that we cannot work out our redemption; Christ has finished the work and God has accepted it as complete. There is no more offering for sin. Where then is the working out of salvation? The Christian is viewed in two ways in Scripture; first, as in Christ, and therefore as Christ before God; he has boldness for the day of judgment, because as Christ is, so are we in this world.
Second, almost all Christians pass through a longer or shorter period of exercise and testing. They are men on the earth, even if ever so truly men in Christ. There is no doubt that if they are really in Christ, Christ will keep them, and they shall never perish; still they are tested and proved in their life down here, and they have much to hear, much to correct and much to learn of themselves. At the same time, they also learn of God’s tender and faithful love and what it is to be dead with Christ to sin and to the world; they learn more of the fullness of Christ and how to grow up unto Him in all things.
In our course here below, the proof of reality is just the seriousness which works out the final salvation with fear and trembling, for the snares and dangers are real on the way, though there is the promise of being kept through them. But it is a solemn thing to be the scene of conflict between God’s working in us and the power of darkness, though victory through Christ is certain. Hence it is a moral process in the human soul; it is a testing, proving, sifting, teaching, helping: We learn ourselves and God, and it bears most precious fruit. We learn not only to glory in salvation and in the hope of glory, but in tribulations and, finally, in God Himself, whom we thus come to know.
The Christian, every true believer, then, is redeemed and in Christ, where there is no “if.” But he is also, in fact, on the road to glory and must reach the goal to have it. He has the promise of being kept, but he is morally exercised along the road in dependence, in grace, in watchfulness and diligence, the true proof that it is a reality with him. It is a place that belongs to one who is redeemed, where he learns the ways of God and works out his salvation in fear and trembling, for he is ever in danger as to his daily path to glory, though he is dependent and counts on the faithfulness of Him who keeps him. Christ’s grace is sufficient for him, and His strength is made perfect in weakness.
Bible Treasury, adapted