Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Philippians 1:6
It’s probably just me, but when I read the title and verse above, the word “circumlocution” comes to mind. That means using a whole lot of words to say something that could be said in just a few.
Now, it’s not the same as rambling, because that usually gets off-topic. Circumlocution is on-topic, but verbose.
With that said, I put a lot of thought into trying to condense the title He who has begun a good work in you and I couldn’t come up with anything that was an exact fit. The closest I got was “I.T. guy.”
An I.T. guy is a person who works with Information Technology (i.e., computers) and sets you up with all the software you need to get everything started. Once that’s done, he’s just a phone call away whenever the computer crashes or gets sick with a virus. You have confidence that he’ll be there to complete the job until the day the warranty runs out.
Christ began the good work of salvation in the lives of every believer, but His work and relationship with each continues on a daily basis. He cleans, sanctifies, and glorifies each saint as they go on in their daily walk of faith. This relationship is not only continuous, but progressively gets better until either the Christian dies and enters glory or the church is raptured.
Well, my explanation of the title He who has begun a good work in you has become somewhat circumlocutious, not to mention a little garrulous and pedantic. I should have just given my paraphrase of the verse instead: “Being confident of this very thing, that Christ’s got ya covered” (Philippians 1:6 RKV).
September 1