The Vision (1.16.26): He which hath begun a good work in you

 

Image: Winter morning. North Garden, Virginia. January, 2026.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Philippians 1:3-11.

“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).

In Philippians 1:3-4 Paul offers thanks to God for the saints at Philippi: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine making request with joy.” For what cause does Paul offer these constant prayers of thanks and intercession? He says in v. 5 that it is “for your fellowship (koinonia) in the gospel from the first day until now (the present).”

Koinonia is a great Christian word. Fellowship in the gospel means a common commitment to the truth of and proclamation of the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. This is the unseen glue that binds believers together. If I love the gospel and I meet someone else who loves the gospel, we have an almost instant koinonia.

Paul says he had this fellowship with these “saints” at Philippi from the beginning. It has been consistent, from the first day to the present. It is unbroken. He could not say that to some churches, like those of Galatia who had left the true gospel for “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6).

Paul then expresses a confidence in the Philippian believers in v. 6. Namely, that He (that is, God Himself) “which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

I have often used this verse in pastoral meetings to speak to individuals who have wondered about their standing in the faith. Have they come to the faith for the first time, or have they taken a great leap forward in the faith? Is God doing something new or is he growing and advancing what was already there in seed form?

I think this verse can rightly be used to that end. But notice the context. Paul is addressing a church. He is affirming that God will perform what He has started in this church (and indeed in all true churches).

Those who are disappointed in what the church looks like at present need to remember that she is not now what she one day will be by God’s grace. One day the church will be like a bride adorned for her husband in fine linen (“the righteousness of saints”) (Revelation 19:8).

Until what time will the Lord be nurturing that which He has begun in His people? “Until the day of Jesus Christ” (v. 6). That is, until the day of our Lord’s glorious second coming when all things are made new. The apostle John thus rightly says, “it doth not yet appear what we shall be” (1 John 3:2).

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle