biblicalthought.com

Part 1 of a 2 part series on Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God.” - Philippians 1:3-11

The love that Paul prays for is not an end but rather a means to an end, namely, that they may discern and approve what is best.  Many times in the New Testament we read of the necessity of love in order for situations in the local church to bear fruit that honors and glorifies God.  We also read of the necessity of love in order for a healthy church environment to bear fruit toward one another (i.e. spiritual gifts).  But this passage provides tremendous insight for the God-fearer that desires to grow and mature spiritually rather than remain stagnant in nominal Christian mediocrity.  It also addresses and puts to shame the folly of those that say that love is all you need, it’s all about love, and various other hippy slogans left over from the sixties.

As D.A. Carson points out in A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers, a book that I will heavily lean on for this post, “Paul does not expect excellence to be dropped on the church in a package.  He prays that believers may discern and approve what is best, that is, that they may experientially test and thereby approve what is best (pg. 125).”  Carson then asks the question, “But what are these distinguishing things, these excellent things for which Paul prays?”  He goes on to provide three clues given by the text that will help us answer the question.

1. In order to discern and approve what is best, Paul assumes that their love will have to “abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.” This appears to be the reason why he prays for such love. This indicates that the excellence that he wants the Philippians to pursue is not an excellence so easily discerned and that it must be done by Christians that are characterized by this abounding love. Paul seems to believe that it is necessary to describe this abounding love as “more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.” Carson notes, “Perhaps we will get Paul’s point rather quickly if we replace the phrase with the opposite qualities.” Paul does not pray that their love might:

• a. abound more and more in ignorance and insensitivity;

• b. abound more and more in stupidity and ham-fistedness;

• c. abound more and more in cheap sentimentality and myopic nostalgia.

The ever increasing love that Paul prays for is to be discriminating and constrained by “knowledge” and “depth of insight.”  I agree with Carson here when he says, “Without the constraints of knowledge and insight, love very easily degenerates into mawkish sentimentality or into the kind of mushy pluralism the world often confuses with love.”  One of the recurring themes here at biblicalthought.com is that Christian love is accompanied by knowledge.  As I previously mentioned, right thinking is right living and right living is right thinking.  If the Christian life was only about the acquisition of knowledge, and if faith was merely mental assent to the knowledge acquired, then love would be of no true benefit - it would only get in the way.  But here in Ph. 1 and many other places in the NT, Paul makes it clear that without this love, all is meaningless.  So, clue number one is that love must abound more and more, not a “so-called” love by itself, but in knowledge and depth of insight.

2. Clue number two is found in the expression rendered “what is best” (v. 10 NIV). Is Paul praying that love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight only? Remember how clue number one began; in order to discern and approve what is best. So the answer would be no - Paul is not praying that the Philippian believers’ love abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight alone. It is so that they may discern and approve what is best! According to Carson, scholars have debated whether the expression (Gk: ta diapheronta) means something like “things that differ” or “superior things.”

• a. The first option means Paul wants believers to grow in their love “in order that they may put to the proof things that differ;”

• b. The second means Paul wants believers to grow in their love “in order to discern and approve [i.e., to test] superior things, the things that really matter.”

Carson does not believe that these two notions are as far apart as some think.  He says, “Paul’s thought is that there are countless decisions in life where it is not a question of making a straightforward decision between right and wrong.  What you need is extraordinary discernment that helps you perceive how things differ, and then make the best possible choice.  That is what Paul means by choosing ‘what is best.’  His point thus far, then, is that love shaped and honed by knowledge and moral insight is the absolute requirement for testing and approving ‘what is best,’ for developing ‘a sense of what is vital’ (Moffatt).”  So as we desire to grow into Christian maturity, we must recognize that some, if not many important decisions in life will need to be made against a backdrop that is not a clearly right or clearly wrong scenario.  Acknowledging this causes us to be aware that an “extraordinary discernment” is essential in choosing “what is best!”

3. The third clue that will help us understand the content of “what is best,” is the content of the excellent things for which Paul prays. Carson says, “This clue is none other than one of the dominant themes in this entire epistle.” He goes on to note that “Paul does not envisage mere maintenance of the Philippians’ faith, but positive improvement in their discipleship, until it is capped by the perfection effected by the last day, the day of Jesus Christ.” Carson gets this from verse 6 where Paul says that he always prays for the Philippians with joy because he is confident “that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” “Paul’s confidence that the Lord will bring about such growth does not in the least diminish the need for personal resolution to grow.”

“Thus, two chapters later the apostle testifies to his own aim: ‘I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection of the dead’ (3:10-11).  Then he explains just where he sees himself in this process: ‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus’ (3:11-14)”

Interestingly enough, this section of Carson’s book [Ch. 8] is titled “Overcoming the Hurdles.“  He concludes this section by saying that when we “bring these three clues together, the nature of the excellent things Paul wants believers to pursue, of ‘what is best,’ comes into focus.  These excellent things are nothing less than all the elements characteristic of maturing Christian discipleship, and we cannot discern and approve them unless our love abounds more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.“ 

Carson goes on to say that “‘What is best’ includes increasing experience of the power of the resurrection and increasing participation in Christ’s sufferings.  Above all, these excellent things result in a growing knowledge of Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:10), in anticipation of the day of Christ when all of God’s good work in us is brought to culmination.“

“The pursuit of such excellence does not turn on transparent distinctions between right and wrong.  It turns, rather, on delicate choices that reflect one’s entire value system, one’s entire set of priorities, one’s heart and mind.  That is why Paul prays that the love of the Philippians might abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight: he wants their hearts and minds to become profoundly Christian, for otherwise they will not discern and approve what is best.”

To be continued, God willing, next Theothursday!