He Who Began the Work Will Finish It “A Meditation on Philippians 1:6” Santamaria

He Who Began the Work Will Finish It

“A Meditation on Philippians 1:6”

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” — Philippians 1:6

Philippians 1:6 is sometimes interpreted as though Paul were promising the gradual moral improvement of the believer’s flesh. According to that reading, God begins regeneration and then progressively makes the old nature holier until the Christian reaches increasing degrees of personal sanctity. The verse, however, says nothing about the progressive sanctification of fallen human nature. Paul’s confidence concerns the certainty and completion of God’s work, not the rehabilitation of the flesh.

The good work begins with God. He quickens those who are dead in trespasses and sins, reveals Christ within them, grants faith, and makes them new creatures. This work is not the improvement of Adam’s fallen nature. It is the impartation of spiritual life. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). Flesh does not slowly become spirit, nor does the old man gradually develop into the new man. The two remain fundamentally opposed.

The believer therefore possesses flesh and spirit. Paul writes, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other” (Galatians 5:17). He does not describe the flesh as gradually becoming less fleshly. He describes an abiding conflict between two contrary principles. The Spirit does not educate the flesh into holiness; He opposes it.

Paul’s testimony in Romans 7 confirms this truth. He does not say that sin once dwelt within him but had gradually disappeared through progressive sanctification. He declares, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). He distinguishes between the renewed inward man, which delights in God’s law, and the law of sin operating in his members. His conclusion is not that the flesh is becoming holy but that deliverance is found entirely in Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that Christians cannot grow in knowledge, experience, discernment, obedience, or usefulness. Scripture plainly speaks of growth. Believers may become more mature, more watchful, and better instructed. They may learn through chastening and gain a deeper awareness of their dependence upon Christ. Such growth, however, must not be confused with the progressive sanctification of the flesh. Growth in grace is growth in the knowledge and experience of what God has freely given in Christ, not the gradual purification of Adamic nature.

The believer’s sanctification is first and decisively found in Christ. Paul addresses the Corinthians as those who “are sanctified in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:2). He later declares that Christ “is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Sanctification is therefore not merely a moral achievement produced within the believer over time. Christ Himself is the believer’s sanctification.

Hebrews presents sanctification as the accomplished effect of Christ’s offering: “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). The perfection of God’s people rests upon the finished sacrifice of Christ. Nothing can be added to His offering, and nothing in the flesh can improve the standing that His blood has secured. The believer is accepted in the Beloved, not accepted according to the measurable progress of his personal holiness.

Philippians 1:6 must therefore be read as a promise of divine preservation and final completion. God will not abandon those in whom He has implanted spiritual life. He will sustain them through faith, preserve them amid temptation, and bring them safely to the day of Jesus Christ. The completion occurs not because the flesh has been gradually perfected, but because mortality will finally be swallowed up of life.

The decisive transformation awaits the resurrection. Paul writes that Christ “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). Scripture does not teach that the present mortal body slowly becomes glorious. Christ changes it. Corruption does not gradually refine itself into incorruption; rather, “this corruptible must put on incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:53).

Until that day, believers continue to feel the painful presence of sin in the flesh. Their increasing awareness of corruption may even cause them to feel less holy rather than more holy. Maturity frequently produces a deeper sense of unworthiness because clearer spiritual sight reveals more fully the deceitfulness of sin. The mature Christian does not boast that his flesh has improved. He confesses more earnestly that his hope is Christ alone.

To deny progressive sanctification is not to excuse sin or reject obedience. Paul strongly condemns such reasoning: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Romans 6:1–2). The child of God is called to mortify the deeds of the body, resist temptation, walk in love, and obey the commandments of Christ. Yet this obedience is the fruit of spiritual life and divine grace—not proof that the flesh itself is undergoing sanctification.

The distinction is essential. If obedience is interpreted as the progressive holiness of the flesh, believers will either become proud of their perceived advancement or despair over their continued corruption. But if holiness is understood as belonging perfectly to Christ and being communicated through the life of the Spirit, all boasting is excluded. Every good desire, act of obedience, and expression of love must be credited to God’s grace.

The “good work” of Philippians 1:6 is certain because God is its Author. Its security does not rest upon a supposed upward development of human nature. The old man remains corrupt; the new man is created “in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). One is not gradually transformed into the other. Believers are commanded to put off the works of the old man and to walk according to the life they already possess in Christ.

Paul’s confidence looks toward “the day of Jesus Christ.” That day will publicly reveal the completeness of redemption. The believer’s inward life, presently hidden with Christ in God, will be manifested in glory. The flesh will not finally succeed through gradual improvement; God will bring its dominion to an end through death and resurrection. Salvation will be completed by divine power from beginning to end.

Philippians 1:6 therefore offers a stronger consolation than the doctrine of progressive sanctification. If final salvation depended upon the steady improvement of the believer’s flesh, assurance would rise and fall with personal performance. Paul instead directs confidence toward God. He began the work, He preserves the work, and He will complete the work.

The Christian’s hope is not that tomorrow he will discover something good dwelling in his flesh. His hope is that Christ remains his righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He waits for the day when faith will become sight, conflict will cease, corruption will put on incorruption, and the divine work will stand openly complete.

“He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it.” The certainty lies entirely in Him.