Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

virtue love? Yes, but he is piling these superlatives on top of one another to point to the continual,
non-stop, progressive nature of the spiritual life. He is interceding on behalf of his favorite
congregation of believers, because they have been following his doctrinal teaching better than any
other group of believers on earth. And he is encouraging them to keep up the excellent work!
How are the Philippians, and all other believers for that matter, supposed to continue this “staircase
to heaven” growth in virtue love? Are we supposed to shake hands more fervently, hug everybody to
our left and to our right and tell them how much we love them? Is this something we work up in the
energy of the flesh? Absolutely not! Paul doesn’t pray a profound prayer like this and then refrain
from telling us how to get there. He gives us the means to fulfill the desires of his intercessory
prayer. We are to scale these heights by means of full knowledge and all spiritual discernment. Full
knowledge is the Greek word “epignosis” which refers to the maximum saturation point of Bible
doctrine in the soul. Paul says there is no stage in a believer’s life where he has too much doctrine.
There is no point where there is nothing left to learn, where you have arrived at the pinnacle and can
go no further. We are to continue our intake and metabolization of doctrine until we die or are
raptured. And we are to continue to apply all the doctrine we learn to daily life.
What is this supergrace I am referring to? A combination of Greek superlatives represent the
“much more” or “super-abounding” grace that has been provided for us in salvation (positional),
and which are available to us by living the Christian way of life, growing in grace and
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (experiential). There are blessings and rewards, both in time
and eternity, for growing to spiritual maturity, i.e. fulfilling our spiritual destiny. Believers are
supplied by God with everything they need to advance into the greater spheres of grace:
supergrace A (spiritual self-esteem), supergrace B (spiritual autonomy), and ultra-supergrace
(USG: spiritual maturity). You never stand still in the Christian life! Either you progress into
supergrace or you retrogress into reversionism, depending on whether or not you continue to
listen to and metabolize Bible doctrine. Supergrace status is God’s standard for the spiritual life,
the correct exercise of the believer’s royal priesthood, and the place of glorifying God. The
supergrace nomenclature is derived from the literal Greek of James 4:6: “But He gives a greater
grace [superior or supergrace].” The believer who seizes and holds the high ground of spiritual
maturity receives the blessings of two special paragraphs that were written into the plan of God
specifically for him. R.B. Thieme, Jr. has labeled these paragraphs SG2 (supergrace and
ultrasupergrace) and SG3 (surpassing grace). We will discuss those in the next verse.
Paul even creates a “hapax legomena,” a word that is used nowhere else in Scripture, to point to the
continued application of doctrine to life. The consistent, correct application of doctrine to daily life is
how we attain Christian common sense, wisdom and discernment. First we hear the teaching, then
we categorize it and combine it with other Scripture so we have perfect understanding of all the
precepts and principles inherent in the teaching. Then we apply it to situations in our life, over and
over again, which produces spiritual discernment and wisdom. And as a by-product, this continued
process creates virtue love piled on top of virtue love piled on top of virtue love. Paul’s prayer has
just encapsulated the meaning, purpose and definition for our entire existence on earth. The
fulfillment of this continual process is why we are still alive. It is the Christian way of life, it is