And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in full knowledge and all intelligence,
Paul is in prison, and a church he loves has sent him a gift. His letter of thanks turns into prayer: not that they would simply love more, but that their love would grow along two lines — knowledge and discernment.
Their love was not in doubt. They had already proved it.
The gift was the expression of their love, as their earlier gifts had also been, which we read about in Philippians 4:16. There was no need for the apostle to urge these Christians to express their love. He wants the love they had shown so touchingly to abound, marked by full knowledge and all intelligence.
Paul never says who or what they should love. He leaves it open, and asks only that it grow.
Notice that LOVE is the foundation of everything… Living love must grow. A love that does not grow is probably a dead and worthless love — or at least a diseased and unhealthy love. And notice it is not spoken of as one particular love. It is not love to God only, or love to Christ, or to the apostle himself, or to other saints, or even love of the Word and prayer. It is love in general, and no doubt it takes in all of these… And the only way for that love to increase is to know more and more of His love to us. It is not by examining our love, or by trying to love more. It is by taking Him at His word when He tells us how much He loves us.
Paul is not asking for information. He asks for the kind of knowing that comes from closeness.
But it is not to be a blind love. It is to be a love in intimate knowledge and in all perception. The Spirit of God does not use the ordinary word for "knowledge." He adds a preposition to it, which gives the meaning of a deep, true, spiritual knowledge, not the shallow or merely intellectual kind… Notice what this prayer in Philippians tells us. The Spirit of God would have us, even now down here, have something of that "intimate knowledge" that we will have in full up there, when we see Him as He is and know Him as we are known.
The second word is not about knowing but about sensing. Older translations call it "all judgment."
The other word works in various directions, so it comes with the wide-reaching addition "all" or "every." It means that faculty of sensitive perception. Used rightly, it reaches the true knowledge God's children are urged to pursue, and it avoids the deceiving counterfeits of the father of lies. It is a versatile faculty. In healthy exercise it turns instinctively against every form of error and resists every departure from the truth.
These two words do not slow love down. They steer it.
He wanted no cutting back of that love. The spread of evil should not make it grow cold. Just the opposite: it should grow stronger in its beautiful course — only knowledge and judgment should regulate it. These should be the rails on which this mighty engine speeds along. Without such guides it might run a headlong course, for love is blind. Directed like this, it would tell a story of surpassing charm.
Understanding is not first a matter of study. It starts with the heart.
Remember that in divine things, spiritual intelligence springs from love. The heart attached to Christ is the heart that will learn the mind of Christ. That is not simply a knowledge of the letter of Scripture, but intelligence as to its spiritual meaning… The more we love Christ, the greater the spiritual intelligence that lets us do the right thing, in the right way, at the right moment, in every circumstance.
Love keeps knowledge safe. And the more of it you gain, the more you want.
Love is the basis. Without it there would be no building up. With love laid down and abounding, full knowledge guides and guards instead of puffing up. The more intelligence we have, if it is real and spiritual, the greater the desire to grow in it… Whenever we begin to be satisfied with what we have gained, growth is over. But when we make a little real advance, we want to make more.
The danger runs the other way too:
It is sad that too often, when knowledge increases, love begins to grow cool. We must watch against this with the greatest care… Knowledge is badly abused if it decreases love in any measure.
- Love first. It is the foundation of everything, and a love that stops growing is a sick love.
- Love more. Paul asks for no reduction of a love already proved by their gift — only that it abound more and more.
- Love knowing. The word is not surface information but deep, intimate knowledge — a taste now of what we will have when we see Him.
- Love perceiving. "All discernment" is a trained sense that instinctively turns against error and counterfeits.
- Love guided. Knowledge and discernment are the rails this engine runs on. Take them away and love runs blind. Let knowledge cool love, and knowledge itself has been abused.
that ye may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent, in order that ye may be pure and without offence for Christ's day,
Paul's prayer in Philippians reaches its aim here. Love that grows in knowledge produces a trained eye — one that can sort what is merely good from what is best. The verse then ties that daily skill to a fixed point: the day of Christ.
Condemning what is wrong is the easy part. Seeing what is excellent takes something more:
With this God-given intelligence we will be able to approve things that are excellent. It is fairly easy to condemn what is wrong. Even someone who does not know God can do that to a large extent. But to see and approve what is morally excellent takes spiritual discernment. The more we are attached in love to Christ, the greater our spiritual intelligence will be. It will help us do the right thing, in the right way, at the right moment, in every situation. Approving what is excellent, and acting with a pure motive, we are kept without offence until the day of Jesus Christ.
This phrase can be translated two ways. Both describe a grace that is rarer than we assume:
"Approve what is excellent" can just as well be translated "distinguish the things that differ." Other Scriptures translate these same words both ways. The meaning is really the same. Such people have learned to take the precious out from the worthless (Jer. 15:19). For a Christian, telling apart things that differ is the same as approving what is excellent. It is strange and sad that this grace is so rare.
Avoiding sin is only the floor here. The prayer asks for something finer:
He prays that they might have all kinds of knowledge and spiritual judgment, so that they would do just what fits to be done. They would know how one thing differs from another. They would be experts in the Christian path — not only not falling into sin, but knowing just the right thing to do in the circumstances. The standard is satisfying the heart of Christ, not "Where is the harm?" The apostle wants them to discern things now as they will be seen when brought into the light in that day of Christ.
Discernment shapes character. Where the ESV says "pure," older translations read "sincere." The word behind it is rich:
The Greek word properly means what is "distinct" and "unmixed." … Some think it comes from a word meaning "that which is cleansed by much rolling and shaking to and fro in the sieve." Others suggest a more beautiful origin, if only we could be sure it is right: "that which is held up to the sunlight and in that proved, and approved." … This grace shuts out all double-mindedness, the divided heart, the eye that looks two ways, all hypocrisies.
The next word, "blameless," reads "without offence" in older translations. It points to stumbling, and works in two directions:
The instruction here may mean either that we do not stumble ourselves, or that we do not cause others to stumble. I like to think it has both meanings. If we walk without stumbling ourselves, then we will not cause others to stumble. In Acts 24:16 the same word describes a conscience free from offence — a conscience that looks back on the path and sees no stumbles. That should be our aim.
Older translations read "till the day of Christ." That day tests today's choices:
The test will be "the day of Christ." It would keep a person from trying things that look good on the surface but may not be good underneath. That day will show everything up in the light.
Commentators differ on what that day covers. One calls it "the day when He comes to judge; it is always so when it refers to our responsibility" (J. N. Darby). Another calls it "the day for the saints when they meet Him in the air and then appear before His judgment seat" (Arno Clemens Gaebelein).
Notice how much Paul expects — and where the strength for it lies.
The apostle prays for these believers as if he thought it possible. Growing in love and intelligence, they might walk the path of faith till the day of Christ without a single false step… No progress in the things of God will ever keep a person. Nothing keeps us but real nearness to Him and dependence on Him… And remember, this is the only approved path for all believers. It does not belong by right to some advanced souls. It is what every Christian has to desire.
- Love first. Discernment is not cleverness. It grows where the heart is attached to Christ.
- Sift, then choose. "Approve what is excellent" also reads "distinguish things that differ" — taking the precious out from the worthless.
- Christ's pleasure, not permission. The question is never "where is the harm?" but what fits the moment and satisfies His heart.
- Character follows. Two things come out of that sifting. A life that is unmixed, held up to the light. And a walk that trips no one — not you, not anyone watching.
- Measured by that day. The day of Christ brings everything into the light. A walk with no false step is not for a select few. It is every believer's aim, kept only by nearness to Him.