This week we’re going to slow down and focus on one verse:
“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6, CSB)
These words from Paul are not casual. They are confident. They are hopeful. And they are deeply practical for us.
Every Christian wrestles with questions like these:
Did God really save me?
Will I be able to remain faithful?
What happens when I fail?
Philippians 1:6 anchors those questions. It reminds us that salvation is God’s work, not ours. It tells us God is still active in us. And it points us forward to the day when His work will be finished.
Over the next five posts, we’ll walk step by step through this verse. Today, we begin with what God started.
“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you…” (Philippians 1:6, CSB)
Paul’s Confidence
Paul doesn’t write with hesitation. He is persuaded, convinced, assured. Something real had happened in the Philippian believers, and Paul saw God’s fingerprints all over it.
Notice the direction: Paul doesn’t congratulate them for starting something. He points to God. He is the one who began the work.
Salvation Has a Beginning
The “start” Paul mentions is the decisive act of God in salvation. It’s not self-initiated. It’s God’s work.
Titus 3:4–5 (CSB) says:
“But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
That’s where the Christian life begins: in God’s mercy, not our merit.
The Spirit’s Role
From the very beginning, God acts through His Spirit. Titus 3:5 calls it the “washing of regeneration and renewal.” Ezekiel foresaw it long ago:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; … I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes.” (Ezekiel 36:26–27, CSB)
Jesus echoed the same truth: “The Spirit is the one who gives life” (John 6:63, CSB). Paul adds: “The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2, CSB).
This is not symbolic language. Before Christ we were spiritually dead. But in Him we are made alive:
“And when you were dead in trespasses … he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.” (Colossians 2:13, CSB)
That’s the beginning Paul celebrates.
Our Response
God starts the work, but He calls us to respond. Scripture describes that response in simple but serious ways:
Trusting Christ’s blood for forgiveness (Romans 3:24–26).
Repenting and turning away from sin (Acts 3:19).
Confessing Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9–10).
Submitting to His saving work at baptism (Colossians 2:11-12).
These responses are not ways we earn salvation. They are God’s conditions of salvation—His appointed ways to express faith and surrender. They are our admission that we cannot save ourselves. They are a plea for Him to act. They are acts of submission.
And when we yield to Him in this way, God acts: He makes us alive, forgives our sins, and gives us His Spirit, who comes to dwell within our hearts.
The Result
At the start of the Christian life, God moves with decisive grace. He gives life. He wipes away sin. He changes our status forever. We move from death to life, from darkness to light, from guilty to forgiven.
And because it is His work, there is no room for boasting. “Where then is boasting? It is excluded.” (Romans 3:27, CSB)
Take This With You
Your salvation does not rest on your fragile record. It rests on God’s firm action. You did not begin this journey on your own. God began it. He planned it. He carried it out. And He never misfires.
Reflection Questions
Where do you tend to rest your confidence—in God’s mercy or in your own performance?
How does Titus 3:4–5 reshape the way you tell your story of conversion?
What would change this week if you lived like God already began a “good work” in you?
