Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

categories of blessings: (1) spiritual blessings of occupation with Christ, sharing the happiness of
God, capacity for life and love, and the inner resources from Bible doctrine to meet every
exigency of life; (2) temporal blessings in various areas of prosperity which may include
professional prosperity, social prosperity, romantic prosperity, mental prosperity, health
prosperity, leadership prosperity, etc.; (3) blessing by association to those in the periphery of the
supergrace believer; (4) historical blessing to the nation – the supergrace or ultra-supergrace
believer becomes the spiritual ‘Atlas’ holding up his generation of history; (5) dying blessing, a
period of supreme inner peace and happiness prior to or coterminous with death.” (R.B. Thieme,
Jr.)
Pretend for a moment that you have been studying the Word of God for many, many years and
you have reached supergrace status and are now receiving SG2 rewards and blessings. If you
don’t like these terms that represent spiritual growth, then use a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being a
believer who has just been regenerated and placed in God’s plan, and 10 being the highest stage
of spiritual growth ever attained by a man, eg., Paul, Moses, Enoch, etc. Looking over the five
categories of SG2 blessings again, don’t you think your thoughts, priorities, and scale of values
will have changed drastically if you are now receiving all these things? Yes, they will have
changed dramatically, because Bible doctrine changes a person from the inside. Things that you
once thought were important in life now seem rather frivolous. People you once had as close
friends now seem shallow and superficial. Occupation with Jesus Christ and personal love for
God the Father has now taken their place.
REVELANT OPINIONS
Paul wants them to have the discernment to focus their attention, give their strength and effort, not to
secondary but to primary things. To every man alike God grants a gift of 24-hours in any one day,
not a moment more or less. What a man accomplishes in that 24-hour period is determined by the
discipline that the man exercises in the use of time; one will exercise discipline and accomplish
much, another will be undisciplined and accomplish little. One is approving things that excel, and
the other is involved in the things of lesser worth. That may apply to every realm of life. A man
whose life is disciplined by the Spirit of God and the Word of God does not give himself to
something of secondary importance. Recognizing that he does not have time for both the good and
the best, he approves the things that are superior. This discipline that enables a man to approve the
superior things comes through saturation with the Word of God. It is the discipline of the Spirit of
God exercised in a man’s life. The test of a man’s life is not what men approve, or what society as a
whole approves, but what the Word of God and the God of the Word approve. (J.D. Pentecost)
The active pursuit of this goal must last an entire lifetime. It is “until the day of Christ.” Again,
this event refers to the imminent coming of Christ at the rapture of the church and the subsequent
Judgment Seat of Christ. If a believer lives in the light of the imminent appearing of Christ, he
will live a godly life. (R. Gromacki) Without the spirit of theological research it is impossible to
make rapid advances in the divine life ... Of all the prospective emotions the desire of knowledge is
the most exalted. The pleasures of intellect transcend those of sense ... A well informed Christian
possesses a weight of character which exerts the best influence (blessing by association). He will