own compassion stirring his soul in their behalf, and has employed the strongest figures at his command to express it. The vigor of our prayer life will be found always in the intensity of our desires. The next three verses give the pray er itself (v. 9) and the purpose in ask ing it (w . 10-11). Since prayers in general are revealing, and Paul’s es pecially so, we shall linger awhile over this petition, indulging in a bit of word study to catch its deeper mean ing. “And this I am praying — that your love •(which has found such beautiful expression all along) may abound yet more and more in complete under standing and all discernment” (v. 9). Love is the thing for emphasis. The love of God poured forth in Paul’s heart through the Holy Spirit which was given him (Rom. 5:5) could be satisfied with nothing less than that love returned from the hearts of others. Through the years past, it had found varied and beautiful expression from the saints in Philippi. Paul recognized this, but he desired that it overflow increasingly, more and more. It was to be channeled in “knowledge and all discernment,” that they might dis tinguish between the things that differ. Nothing heightens the faculties of discernment like love. There is a say ing from the days of Shakespeare that love is blind. But that is not the case. It is those who do not love who are blind. A girl in love is not blind to the faults in her fiance which may be so obvious to others; but because her eyes are opened by love, she is able to per ceive his worth, and the things to which others have taken exception be come inconsequential by comparison. Love sharpens all our capacities of per ception. It is not hard to understand people whom we love. We can. catch their meaning in a glance or a smile or hear it in the overtones of their speech. Paul knew this held true in the things of God, and he wanted the Philippians prepared to lay hold on the higher values he had in store for them. The Greek words for “knowledge”
and “discernment” repay careful study. Since we are accustomed to “diagnosis” for knowledge of a very thorough sort, and to “prognosis” for a knowledge so accurate as to predict the course of a disease, why not make room in our vocabularly for epignosis, which is a transliteration of the very word used here? It suggests knowledge heaped up as in a pile, one fact upon another, and the possessor on top of it all. A man in such a position is supported by all the facts in the case, and that is what Paul is after. The other word, translated “discern ment,” is that from which “esthetic” is derived. The overtones of a rich emotional life are present in this “sci ence of the beautiful.” One develops a feeling for the finer distinctions that constitute real art. This faculty is more a matter of the heart than of the head. And by it one can come to know the intuitive leadings of the Spirit and sense what is, and what is not, pleas ing to him long before the issue in volved is plain enough to be reasoned through. Love sensitizes the soul and makes man receptive to all the finer distinctions in God’s revealed truth. The immediate effect sought in this prayer is explained in the first part of verse 10, “so that ye may approve the things that are excellent” (ASV). Ap proval is the next step after knowledge and all discernment. Actually there are three stages to the idea in the word translated “approve.” The meaning in the first stage is “to test,” and it is illustrated by the use of this same word in I John 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God” (ASV). (See also I Thess. 5:21.) The idea involved in the second stage is that found in the text we are studying, “approve.” For the meaning to be found in the third stage, we will turn to the famous exhortation to consecration in Romans 12:1-2, which concludes: “. . . that ye may prove what is the good and ac ceptable and perfect will of God.” The idea in this final stage differs from that in the first in that the will of God must be proved by experience as good and acceptable and perfect. 24
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