The Pulpit Commentary — Philippians — Section 47

According ton 1cm of mind, we must always think of those with whom we have the deepest sympathy. The chief object of love is ever the chief subject of thought. 2. They filled his heart. " I have you in my heart." And the reason he assigns iM because of their hearty i<lentification with him in his ministry. "Inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace." What a blessed thing it is for a. man to have himself in the heart of a true-hearted, truly generous one I 3. 'fhey inspired his Ohristliness. " For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." The word "bowels" should be translated "heart"-" I long after you all in the heart of Christ Jesus" (Dr. Samuel Davidson). In a.notber place the apostle says," I live; yet not I, but Christ livetb in me." Perhaps what the apostle means here is-All that I have in me of the ideas, spirit, and aim of Christ a.re excited to a yearning for your good when I think of you. It is a characteristic of a genuine disciple that he is under the inspira- tion and control of the same great moral passion as his Master; viz. disintereste<l, self-sacrificing, all-conquering love. "All real spiritual love is but a portion of Christ's love which yearns for all to be united to him" (Dean Alford).-D. T. Vers. 9-11.-The augmentation of Christly love ensures the improvement of the whole man. "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." Here again the apostle prays that that love for Christ, which they had shown in their deep, generous, and practical sympathy for him as Christ's minister, might not merely continue, but abound yet more and more. "The original verb here," says Dr. Barry, "signifies to overflow, a. sense which our word 'abound' properly has, but has in general usage partially lost; and St. Paul's meaning clearly is that love shall not only primarily fill the heart, but overflow in secondary influence on the spiritual under- standing." The words suggest that the augmentation of_ <Jhristly love 1m,1ures the improvement of the whole man. It secures- I. THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE INTELLECT. It promotes : 1. Knov,ledge. "And this I pray, that your love may abound ... in knowledge (epignosei)." The knowledge here must be regarded as spiritual knowledge-the knowledge of God in Christ. "Here St. Paul singles out the kind of love-the enthusiasm of love to God and man, which be knew that the Philippians bad-and prays that it may overflow from the emotional to the intellectual element of their nature, and become, as we constantly see that it does become, in simple and loving characters, a means of spiritual insight in knowledge and all 'judgment,' or rather, all perception." Love is the inspiration of all true knowledge. As we love an object, the more stimulus has the intellect to inquire into everything concerning it or him. '£he more love for God abounds, the more earnest will the intellect be in "inquiring in his temple" and the universe. 2. Percr:ption. "And in all judgment (aisthesei)." This means, perhaps, discernment or insight. There is evidently a. distinction between mere intelligence and intuition. I may know all the facts of a man's life, and yet not possess that insight into bis inner svriugs of action necessary to understand him. There are great technical theologians, who lack the spiritual eye to peer into the underlying, eternal, principles of truth. It is love that opens and quickens this eye of "judgmcnt," or spiritual discrimination. 3. Shrewdness. "That ye may approve things that are excellent;" margin, "that ye may try things that differ." Shrowdncss is that faculty of the mind which cna~les a man almost without the use of the critical power to see the reality umler all the lorms w1tu which it is invested. There are many intelligeut men-men, too, of intuition, who a.re not shrewd, not quick and accurate in tho discernment of the worth of thin~s. Now, love to God promotes this intellectual shrewdness of soul, the shrewdness that guards it from all imposture. This is an age in which men talk much of intellectual improvement, and numerous mechanical methods a.re proposed. But here is tbo infallible one. Let men's love to God abound more and more, and all the wheels of intellect will be set a.going. II. THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE coNs0IENCE, Here the language of the text implies that this love improves the conscience. 1. By giving it a sympathy with the true only.  42 THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. [ea, 1. 1-30.