2:14–16 and its focus on avoiding arguments on the way to being blameless beacons of light. Paul calls to the Philippians in 2:12 to “work out” their own salvation with fear and trembling, and he connects two dependent clauses to this thought, “as you have always obeyed” and “not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence.”2 Paul places the verb “work out” last in the sentence, so we will start there and work toward the front of the verse. The verb