In Philippians 2:12, 13 Paul encourages the recipients of his letter to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Many interpreters have pointed out the connection between Paul’s command for the believers to “work out” (katergazesthe) their salvation and his further statement that “God is the one who works” (energein) in believers.

But we might easily overlook another important point: the verb for “work out” and the pronoun translated “your own” appear in the plural form. This fact leads some commentators to suggest that Paul does not speak about our individual salvation here so much as the corporate wholeness of the church. Without taking a position on how we should read this passage, let me preach a bit on the importance of the grammatical point both here and elsewhere in Scripture.

English shows an odd difference from other languages at this point. Most languages have different words for the singular “you” and the plural “you.” Early modern English, the language of Shakespeare and the King James Version, made this distinction clearly. “Thou seest me” and “I see thee” are singular, addressing only one person, while “Ye see me” and “I see you” are plural, addressing more than one. In a similar way, some spoken dialects of American English make the distinction today. “You” is singular, but the plural can come out as “you all,” “y’all,” “you’uns,” “you guys,” or even “youse guys,” depending on where you come from. Strangely, the standard form of the language often leaves it unclear whether the speaker addresses one person or more than one—since “you” means both singular and plural—while dialects sometimes considered substandard fill in the grammatical gap and communicate this point more clearly.

Now back to Philippians 2. If Paul had used singular forms, we could translate the text this way: “Each of you should work out your own individual salvation with fear and trembling, because God is the one who works in you individually,” and so on. But Paul uses plural forms instead. While we could still get an individual interpretation out of the passage, the plural forms also leave open a possibility like this: “All of you should work out your corporate salvation with fear and trembling, because God is the one who works among you” —referring to the congregation and not the individual, or perhaps referring to both.

Once we start noticing this ambiguity in our English translations, we see it again and again. In the “armor of God” passage in Ephesians 6:10-17, we might picture a single courageous soldier, armored against the Evil One, still standing after the battle. But when we notice that the verbs, pronouns, and participles appear in their plural forms, we start to get a different picture: the Ephesian church as a whole, not like a single soldier but like an army unit, fighting side by side together and winning the battle together.

We Americans are an individualistic lot. We tend to read Scripture as God’s personal communication to each of us. This approach has its merits, but we should also realize the corporate nature of God’s Words. Noticing this simple grammatical point will help us minimize any excessive individualism and maximize our sense of the church’s corporate life. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
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November 1, 2009 - Walking the edge
October 18, 2009 - Watch what you say
October 4, 2009 - Proposing a new proverb
September 20, 2009 - Fear and trembling
September 6, 2009 - Elwyn
August 23, 2009 - Where did the Bible go?
August 9, 2009 - The public school: a local mission field
July 26, 2009 - Astonishing the judges
July 12, 2009 - Letting the past go
June 28, 2009 - Line up
June 14, 2009 - The path to spiritual growth
May 31, 2009 - A tribute to one of my heroes
May 17, 2009 - Silent soldier
April 19, 2009 - Operation Resensitization
April 5, 2009 - The temptations of ministers
March 8, 2009 - Conversation over shoes
February 8, 2009 - What is missing from your retirement plans?
January 25, 2009 - Turn the page
December 28, 2008 - Abba, Father
December 14, 2008 - Elementary truths
November 30, 2008 - The illusion
October 19, 2008 - Acting like a toddler
October 5, 2008 - Don’t miss this
September 21, 2008 - Foolish schemes
September 7, 2008 - God’s hand is everywhere
August 24, 2008 - The dance
August 10, 2008 - Strange land
July 27, 2008 - God’s amazing grace
July 13, 2008 - A best seller
June 29, 2008 - My grandfather’s clock and worship
June 1, 2008 - Reclaiming the name
May 4, 2008 - God is not our fairy godmother
April 6, 2008 - Success: what is it and who can measure up?
March 9, 2008 - Need to know
February 10, 2008 - The top three myths of singleness
January 13, 2008 - By invitation only
December 5, 2007 - Yes, Abbie, there is a Jesus
November 18, 2007 - 10 Ways to be a good Christmas customer
October 21, 2007 - The dividing line
September 23, 2007 - What do you fear?
September 9, 2007 - A life well lived
August 26, 2007 - To murmur, or not to murmur
July 29, 2007 - The cross and the Christian
July 15, 2007 - Turning the other cheek: still a valuable biblical principle
July 1, 2007 - Why the tie?
June 3, 2007 - The death of a son
May 6, 2007 - A prayer for the dying
April 8, 2007 - The omnipresent God
March 11, 2007 - Do the Amish have superheroes?
February 11, 2007 - What’s your black history?
January 14, 2007 - The split branch
December 31, 2006 - The house of regret
December 10, 2006 - The redemption of the innkeeper
November 26, 2006 - Too many choices
November 12, 2006 - Break the bashing habit: Learning to love the unsaved like Christ does: November 12, 2006
October 15, 2006 - Be ‘salt and light’ this Christmas!: October 15, 2006
September 17, 2006 - Who is a legalist?: September 17, 2006 Issue 38
July 23, 2006 - God speaks through our brokenness: July 23, 2006 Issue 38
June 25, 2006 - 'What I am looking for in my church leaders'