Biblion Bible Commentary
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That Your Love May Abound
Philippians 1:9-11
9 This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment, · WEB
Paul prays for love to increase — and the two things he wants it equipped with are knowledge and discernment.
This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment.
The request is unusual in its pairing. Love is asked to increase, and the increase is to be in knowledge and discernment — so what Paul wants is not warmer feeling but better-informed affection. The second noun describes moral perception, the ability to tell things apart by handling them.
The purpose follows: that you may approve the things that are excellent. The verb means to test and then prefer, and the object is not good against bad but good against best.
The goal is a state at a date: sincere and without offense until the day of Christ — the same terminus as verse 6, so the prayer runs the length of the guarantee.
Verse 11 names the product — filled with the fruits of righteousness which are through Jesus Christ — and then, characteristically, sends the credit past the readers entirely: to the glory and praise of God. The prayer began with their love and ends with God's reputation.
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