Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

doctrine, combined with spiritual discernment which comes from applying this doctrine in daily life.
(K. Wuest) As we approach supergrace, Christ moves more and more to the central place in our life;
Bible doctrine, or the mind of Christ, becomes the actuating, dominating principle, an experience
that is ours in proportion to our priorities toward the Word. (R.B. Thieme, Jr.) He prays that the love
of God within the readers might increase beyond all measure, and that as it increased it might
penetrate more deeply ‘in knowledge,’ that is, into that personal relation with God through Christ,
and ‘in all insight,’ that is, into all types of situations involving practical conduct. (P. O’Brien)
When we ask in what ways this seed of love is to abound more and more, the answer is that the
growth of love is controlled and directed by knowledge and discernment. We grow in proportion as
we know. Without knowledge of salvation there can be no progress to maturity. If we do not know
the Lord, how can we love Him? And the more we know Him, the more we shall love Him.
Consequently we can put it this way: when Paul sees Christians growing as their love abounds in
knowledge, he sees every Christian as a student. Truth is an essential ingredient in Christian
experience. To be a Christian one must come to know the truth. To grow as a Christian is to grow in
one’s grasp of the truth, in breadth and in depth. Ignorance is a root cause of stunted growth.
“Everyone a Bible student” must be a Christian watchword – and a Christian characteristic. (J.
Motyer) While “epignosis” deals with general principles, “aesthesis” is concerned with practical
applications. (J. Lightfoot)
Sanctification consists of receiving a holy nature from Christ and being indwelt by the Spirit so that
the body becomes His temple, set apart unto God. By the Spirit’s giving me vital union with the
Holy One I am “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (I Cor. 1:2). There is a living principle, a moral quality
communicated at the new birth, and under sanctification it is drawn out into action and exercised in
living unto God. In regeneration the Spirit imparts saving grace, in sanctification He strengthens and
develops it: the one is a birth, the other a growth. Therein it differs from justification: justification is
a single act of grace, sanctification is a continued work of grace; the one is complete, the other is
progressive. Some do not like the term “progressive sanctification” but the thing itself is clearly
taught in Scripture in Philippians 1:9. (A.W. Pink) We are to love the unlovely, but we are to love
with knowledge and with discernment. That does not mean we just let our love slop over on every
side. It is to abound with discernment. Over the years when I would drive to my study in Los
Angeles, I used to say to the Lord, “I’m going to meet new people today, and I don’t know them.
Some of them I’ll be able to help. Others of them will put a knife in my back. Lord, help me to be
able to distinguish between the two. Show me which I should help.” Actually this verse rescues a
Christian from being naïve and gullible. His love is to abound in knowledge and discernment. (J.
McGee)
Philp. 1:9 In fact (emphatic), I myself repeatedly pray
(PMI1S, proseu,comai, Iterative, Intensive Middle, Deponent;
intercessory prayer) this (proleptic use of a demonstrative
pronoun) (prayer): (Acc. Dir. Obj.) That (conjunction,
appositional object clause) your (Gen. Poss.) virtue love
(Subj. Nom.; produced by God in the soul of the believer who
is in fellowship; category 1 love for Christ) might be