He who began a good work in you will complete it.
Paul's confidence about his friends — and about us.
The episode in a glance.
- 01God starts the work — you don't initiate your own transformation.
- 02He carries it on — the middle is his too.
- 03He completes it — your growth has a finish line.
- 04Confidence rests in the worker, not the work.
Read along.
Paul opens his letter to the Philippians with this line: 'I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.'
Three verbs, three tenses. He began. He will bring on. He will complete. Past, present, future. The whole arc of your transformation belongs to him.
'He who began' — you didn't start this. The first stirring of faith in you, the first time you cared about the things of God, that wasn't your idea. It was his.
'Will bring it to completion' — the middle is his too. The long stretch between conversion and Christlikeness isn't a project he handed to you. He's still on it.
And 'at the day of Jesus Christ' — there's a finish line. The work doesn't trail off into nothing. It lands somewhere. You will, in the end, be made like him. That's the promise.