3  Essentials for  Growth in Godliness  (Philippians 1:9–11)

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (1:9–11)

Paul’s passion for the spiritual development of the believers under his care was manifested not only in his preaching, teaching, and writing but also supremely in his prayer life. In Ephesians he assured his readers:

[I] do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. (Eph. 1:16–18)

Later in that letter he added,

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:14–19)

His deep desire and prayer for the Colossians was that they “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10). He affirmed his love for the Thessalonians with the assurance that “we give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers” (1 Thess. 1:2). He remembered special individuals in the same way, assuring Timothy, “I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day” (2 Tim. 1:3), and Philemon, “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, . . . and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake” (Philem. 4,6).

In the present text, having greeted the Philippians (1:1–2) and mentioned his prayer on their behalf (1:3–8), Paul revealed the specific content of those prayers. As in all his recorded prayers, the apostle did not pray for physical needs or church growth. It was not that those things were unimportant to him, but that spiritual issues were of supreme importance. He performed miracles of physical healing (Acts 14:8–10; 19:11–12; 20:9–12) and advised Timothy to “no longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Tim. 5:23). But the primary focus of his prayers was on the spiritual welfare of others.

There is no truer indicator of a Christian’s level of spiritual maturity than his prayer life. Paul’s prayer life reveals more of his true spirituality than all of his preaching, teaching, and miracles—marvelous and divinely blessed as those were. He was compelled to pray by the continual and powerful working of God’s Spirit in his heart.

Clearly, prayer is a spiritual duty for Christians. Jesus taught “that at all times [believers] ought to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Paul exhorted believers to be “devoted to prayer” (Rom. 12:12) and to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let [their] requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). Peter commanded believers to “be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer” (1 Peter 4:7).

But prayer is much more than a duty; prayer is a compulsion for the spiritually mature Christian. Fervent prayer does not arise from a mere sense of duty but from a deep inner desire. It does not flow from external requirement but from internal passion. The deepest longings of the Spirit-filled heart for the honor of God and the blessing of men find their natural expression in prayer.

The measure of a person’s spiritual maturity is not how well he or she conforms externally to the command to pray. The issue is how internally constrained that person is to pray by a strong love for God and others. The truest longings of the heart will come out in prayer. A selfish and superficial heart, focused primarily on personal problems, struggles, and interests, will produce selfish and superficial prayers. A heart focused on the glory of the Lord and His people will produce prayers focused on God’s glory and others’ needs. A strong sense of duty cannot compensate for a cold heart or produce fervent prayer. Early in the life of the church, the apostles set the standard when they instructed the congregation to appoint men to take care of the practical needs of the church. The apostles were to “devote [themselves] to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

Paul was so committed to the Lord and to the souls of people that the Holy Spirit could easily generate within his heart a passion to pray. He prayed constantly, not because of a legalistic sense of duty but because of his genuine and deep love for the Lord and for people, especially the Lord’s people. He prayed for the unsaved, including the pagan and despotic rulers under whom he and other Christians suffered such great injustice and affliction, and he commanded all believers to do likewise (1 Tim. 2:1–2; cf. Rom. 13:1–7; 1 Peter 2:13–17). He prayed with special fervor for his unsaved fellow Jews, for whom his “heart’s desire and [his] prayer to God [was] for their salvation” (Rom. 10:1). That desire arose from such “great sorrow and unceasing grief in [his] heart” that he “could wish [himself] accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of [his] brethren, [his] kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:2–3).

Paul prayed most often, however, for the church, for his spiritual kinsmen in Christ (Rom. 1:9; 2 Tim. 1:3). He exhorted other believers to pray fervently, just as he himself constantly made “petition for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18; cf. Col. 1:3; 1 Thess. 5:17). “To this end,” he reminded the Thessalonians, “we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:11–12).

The present text reveals five specific things for which Paul diligently prayed on behalf of the Philippians: their spiritual progress in love, excellence, integrity, good works, and in glorifying God. Those are the God-ordained spiritual essentials for which all Christians should pray on behalf of each other. Because of their indwelling sin and human frailty, believers cannot perfectly accomplish those spiritual objectives. But they are to be the unwavering goals of every child of God, especially those whom He has called into leadership in His church. “I have [not] already become perfect,” the apostle himself confessed later in this letter, “but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (3:12).

As in numerous other texts (cf. Rom. 5:3–4; 2 Peter 1:5–7), the things Paul mentions in Philippians 1:9–11 are sequential, each building on the foundation of the previous one. Abounding love produces spiritual excellence, which produces personal integrity, which produces genuine good works. Together they attain the supreme objective of God’s praise and glory.

LOVE

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, (1:9)

Anyone who is in the least familiar with the New Testament knows that love—of God for men and of men for God and for each other—is at the very heart of biblical Christianity. The God of Scripture not only loves but is love (1 John 4:8, 16). “Love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. . . . and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:7, 16). God loves fallen humanity so much that “He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Love is an absolute and pervasive attribute of God’s essential nature and a critical reality in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

No one understood the importance of love better than the apostle Paul. Because he loved the Philippian believers, he continually prayed for them. As with all those under his care, the apostle’s constant concern for these saints was for their spiritual growth, for which growth in love was essential. He expressed that same concern for growth to the Galatians: “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). The responsibility of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers is

the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. . . . [And] speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:12–13, 15).

The Greek word agap (love) is used so uniquely in the New Testament that ancient Greek literature, even the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), sheds little light on its meaning in the New Testament. In both Testaments, however, love is the virtue that surpasses all others; indeed, it is the prerequisite for all the others. When a Pharisee asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” He replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:36–40).

Paul also speaks of love in the opening sections of several other letters. Writing to the churches at Ephesus, Colossae, and Thessalonica, he commends believers for their love for each other and for fellow believers everywhere (Eph. 1:15; Col. 1:4; 1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:3). Later in Colossians he speaks of love as “the perfect bond of unity” (3:14). In 1 Corinthians, he elevates love above hope and even faith (1 Cor. 13:13). A few verses earlier he declares that love actually encompasses the other two, because love “believes all things [and] hopes all things” (v. 7). In fact, apart from genuine godly love, every other virtue and activity, no matter how seemingly biblical and sincere, amounts to nothing (vv. 1–3).

In the present verse, Paul mentions or implies at least five distinct but interrelated characteristics of Christian agap love. This love is divine, de facto, decisive, dynamic, and discerning.

First, as the statement And this I pray implies, the love Paul wrote about is divine in its nature and in its origin. Paul petitioned God to provide the Philippians with more of the love that comes only from Him. He clearly agreed with his fellow apostle John that “love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. . . . In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. . . . We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:7–8,10,19).

Godly love is produced only by the working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of those who belong to Him. “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). It is the first and foremost of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). Believers are taught by God Himself to love. “Now as to the love of the brethren,” Paul explained, “you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more” (1 Thess. 4:9–10).

Like God’s general love for mankind (John 3:16–17) and His electing love for believers (John 17:23; 1 John 4:16), biblical love is a choice. It is based solely on the intent of the one who loves, not on any merit of those who receive it. The only exception, of course, is the believer’s love for God, who is uniquely and supremely deserving.

Illustrating biblical love in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus declared,

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (Matt. 5:43–46)

It is therefore clear that agap love is not based on emotional or sentimental, much less physical, attraction. That is not to say that Christian love is without feeling or sentiment. It is inevitable that believers’ love for others, even those who do not love in return, will produce an emotional attachment (cf. Rom. 9:1–4; 10:1). Paul’s love for fellow believers, especially those like the Philippians, who loved and cared for him so much, was profoundly emotional. But that emotional attraction was not the basis of his love for them. On a volitional level, he also loved the immature, bickering, and ungrateful believers in Corinth.

Second, this love is what might be called de facto. The Philippians were already showing love for Paul and each other. That is why the apostle could say he wanted their love to abound still more. Scripture reveals that all genuine Christians possess godly love, because the Holy Spirit places it in their hearts (cf. Rom. 5:5; Gal. 5:22; 1 Thess. 4:9–10; 1 John 4:7–8).

Love of fellow Christians is a sure mark of saving faith. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples,” Jesus said, “if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Expanding on that truth, John later wrote: “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. . . . If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 3:14; 4:20).

Third, genuine love is decisive. As mentioned above, it is a love not based on feelings, but is rather a conscious, intentional choice to show kindness and generosity. In obedience to the Lord’s command, believers willingly choose to express the love He has placed within them. They do so whether others are lovable or not, and whether they respond or not. Believers unselfishly love others because that is the way God loves and because that is how He commands them to love. By obeying the Lord’s command to “love one another, even as I have loved you” (John 13:34), believers become “imitators of God, as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1).

Jesus gave that command in the Upper Room, not long after He had washed the disciples’ feet, a menial and unpleasant task normally performed only by servants. The Lord went on to explain:

You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:13–16)

Jesus also illustrated this volitional, decisive, and sacrificial love in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–35). The Samaritan helped the stranger who was beaten and robbed because the man needed help, not for his own self-satisfaction, self-fulfillment, or feeling of enhanced self-worth. To love our neighbor as ourselves is to do all we can to meet our neighbor’s needs in the same way and to the same extent that we would want our own needs to be met under similar circumstances. It is to apply the Golden Rule: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12).

Again Jesus is the supreme example of sacrificial love. In John 15:12–13 He declared: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,” Paul wrote; “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Eph. 5:1–2). Husbands are specifically commanded to “love [their] wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” (v. 25).

Paul gives perhaps the richest summary of godly love later in Philippians:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (2:1–8)

That kind of willful, humble, self-giving love is much needed in the church today, which is all too often influenced by the world’s corrupted concept of love. People care little about beneficent, selfless love (not to mention godly love); the world’s concept of love is one that plays on self-interest, even when promoting causes that are meant to help others. Tragically, even in the church people are sometimes asked to give to the Lord’s work because doing so will make them feel good about themselves.

Fourth, godly love is dynamic. It has the capability to abound. Love is not mere emotion or feeling, and as it grows it always finds increasing expression in a righteous character and humble service. Abound is from perisseu, which has the basic idea of overflowing in great abundance. In this verse, the present tense indicates a continual progress. Love is to grow and abound throughout the life of a believer. Jesus used the verb in the parable of the sower, explaining that “to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him” (Matt. 13:11–12).

Because of its divine nature, this dynamic love energizes the fulfilling of divine law. Jesus declared that fulfilling the two supreme commandments to love God and men is the foundation of the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:37–40). In similar words, Paul said, “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8–10).

The second law of thermodynamics states that all matter and energy in the universe are in a constant state of entropy, a process of continual degradation and deterioration. That law of physics has a counterpart in the Christian life. There is a residual and destructive principle of spiritual entropy that pressures God’s people to slip backwards. To avoid doing so, believers must diligently study and obey His Word, come before Him in prayer, and trust in His continuing grace and power to make them grow and abound in love.

Paul described his own struggle with that residual principle in Romans 7:21–25:

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

In Ephesians he called this continuing propensity to sin “the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit” (Eph. 4:22; cf. Col. 3:9). For that reason the apostle reminded the church at Corinth that only “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed” (2 Cor. 9:8). It is also for that reason that he prayed for the Thessalonians that “the Lord [may] cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you” (1 Thess. 3:12; cf. 1 John 3:11).

The dynamic of godly love also abounds in real knowledge, namely, the true and infallible knowledge expressed in God’s Word. Any love that is not grounded and growing in the truth and standards of Scripture falls short of genuine biblical love. Real knowledge is much more than mere factual information about God’s Word, or even the acknowledgment of it as true and infallible. Real knowledge produces holiness through sincere devotion and obedience to the infallible Scriptures. It was because the faithful believers in Rome lived righteously that Paul could say to them: “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14). Virtue is inseparably linked to the real (true) knowledge of God’s truth. “For the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth [knowledge]” (Eph. 5:9). Likewise, Peter declares: “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22). “Fervently” is from ektens, which carries the basic idea of stretching, straining, or going to the limit, and figuratively speaks of great sincerity, earnestness, and fervor. Obedience to God’s Word, the only source of real knowledge, purifies the soul and enables one to love to the limit.

Biblical love involves obedience to the Word. “If you love Me,” Jesus said, “you will keep My commandments. . . . He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. . . . If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. . . . If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 14:15,21,23; 15:10; cf. 1 John 3:24).

No impulse or feeling that leads one to disobey Scripture can be approved and blessed by God. Such “love” not only does not reflect godly love but also is the antithesis and enemy of it. For example, people who try to justify an immoral affair by claiming the Lord led them to fall in love with the other person repudiate God’s Word. Scripture clearly condemns all sexual immorality without exception, including that of romantic attraction.

Fifth, godly love is discerning. It not only abounds in the life of one who has a true and accurate knowledge of God’s Word but also does so in all discernment. Aisthsis (discernment) is the source of the English word “aesthetic.” But the meaning of aisthsis is almost the opposite of “aesthetic,” which largely has to do with personal taste and preference. Paul calls believers to put aside personal tastes and preferences and to focus rather on achieving mature insight and understanding. Aisthsis appears only here in the New Testament and refers to a high level of biblical, theological, moral, and spiritual perception. It also implies the right application of that knowledge. In other words, discernment is the understanding and appreciation of the real knowledge of God’s revelation that produces holy living. Unlike the way that worldly love is often characterized, biblical love is far from blind. On the contrary, it is wise and judicious. It understands “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), has knowledge, and makes wise assessments, which provide clear directives for holy living. It is a biblically knowledgeable and discriminating love that is under the control of a Spirit-controlled mind and heart. It is the kind of love that can fulfill Paul’s admonition to the Thessalonians: “Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:21–22).

EXCELLENCE

so that you may approve the things that are excellent, (1:10a)

Having laid down the priority of love in verse 9, Paul continues his discussion of the elements of spiritual growth by looking at the second essential, excellence. The phrase so that indicates that the first essential is the foundation of the second. The progression is from love, which incorporates knowledge of God’s truth and spiritual discernment, to excellence, that is, to thinking and living biblically. When a believer is dominated and controlled by the love of God, there will be a corresponding desire to live according to His will as fully and faithfully as possible. That desire is based in part on a sense of duty. Scripture commands believers “to be perfect, as [their] heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). Therefore believers can never completely fulfill their duty to God or to others. After telling a story about a slave obeying his human master, Jesus concluded by saying, “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done’” (Luke 17:10). His point was that, if duty to a human master can never be exceeded, how much less can believers’duty to God?

But having a genuine, deep love for God—and, even more so, knowing and experiencing His love for them—raises believers’ motive for obeying Him far above that of merely fulfilling a duty. Obedience motivated by love for God not only becomes believers’ supreme objective but also their supreme pleasure and satisfaction.

Approve is from dokimaz, a commonly used New Testament verb that is variously rendered “allow, examine, prove,” and even “discern.” In classical Greek it was used of assaying metals to determine purity and of testing coins both for the purity of their metals and for their genuineness. In Luke 12:56 the word is translated “analyze” and is used in reference to predicting the weather: “You hypocrites!” Jesus said to a multitude who had come out to hear Him. “You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?” A short while later, in telling a parable of the kingdom while dining with a group of leading Pharisees, He spoke of a man who excused himself from attending a dinner given by a wealthy man because he had “bought five yoke of oxen, and [was] going to try them out” (Luke 14:19). Approve means much more than simple acknowledgment or agreement that something is right or true. Paul’s appeal is for believers to study, investigate, and determine the best possible ways to obey and please the Lord, and then to live accordingly.

As noted above, dokimaz (approve) can mean “to discern,” which continues the call to discernment at the end of verse 9. The New International Version reading, “able to discern what is best” is helpful. To approve the things that are excellent is to assess, determine, and carefully identify whatever is the best, the most important, the most crucial. It is much like Paul’s later injunction: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (4:8). The excellent things are all the truths, attitudes, thoughts, words, and deeds that are expressions of God’s will for the believer. They are the elements of sanctified, holy thinking and living.

Paul is not speaking of distinguishing good from evil, which only requires a basic knowledge of God’s Word. Even the devil and his demons know what is good and evil, right and wrong, true and false. They know very well, for example, that there is only one God (James 2:19); and, early in His ministry, they knew (and even confessed) that Jesus was the Son of God (Luke 4:41; cf. vv. 3,9). The idea here is rather the desire and ability to rightly discover the things that are excellent, so that believers can live their lives at the highest level of spiritual devotion and obedience. That ability separates the fully committed believer from the less committed, the mature from the immature, the strong in faith from the weak, and the effective servant of the Lord from the ineffective. Christians who live at the noblest level of devotion to God and His will are single-minded. They are highly focused and do not become preoccupied by the countless distractions that inevitably come their way.

Tragically, many Christians are easily led from one thing to another, bouncing from one commitment or interest to another. They wander about, continually reacting to whatever circumstance comes their way or to whatever idea comes into their minds. Consequently, like young children, they are “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14). Even when they attempt things that are good and biblically correct, their lack of discernment and persistence prevents the work from being truly effective. Worse than that, their immaturity prevents them from finding and pursuing the things that are most important, most vital, and most necessary to the kingdom, the things that are excellent. Throughout the history of the church, from Paul’s day to the present, discerning Christians have been in short supply. Even the loving and faithful Philippians needed constant encouragement to pursue the most excellent spiritual objectives. Even those who are devoted to the pursuit of excellence are in constant danger of losing it by allowing their passion for the Lord to grow cold, as did the church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:4).

Approving the things that are excellent involves the mind; it is built on the “real knowledge and all discernment” (v. 9) produced in the mind by the diligent acquisition of the truths of Scripture. When Paul wrote, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16), he was referring to divine revelation, to Scripture, where the mind of Christ is revealed. Believers possess the Bible, but most Christians do not know the deep things of God, and do not think with the mind of Christ, which is to have the divine perspective on everything.

The discerning Christian cannot be a victim of his emotions and personal impulses if he is to successfully pursue and achieve spiritual excellence. Paul admonished the believers in Rome, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). Paul’s call to renew the mind signifies that growing in grace is a continual process. Because Paul had achieved such excellence, he could justifiably put himself forward as a model: “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9).

Paul reminded the Colossians, “We proclaim Him [Christ], admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Col. 1:28). He exhorted the Ephesians to “walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5:8–10), and those in Thessalonica to “examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). John had the same objective in mind when he wrote, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:1–2). Also echoing that cardinal objective, Peter admonished believers to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). The Lord commended the church at Ephesus for putting “to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false” (Rev. 2:2).

When John Wesley went away to Oxford, his godly mother, Susanna, wisely wrote in one of her many letters to him: “Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the delight for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin.”

Christian character at its highest level comes from a divinely implanted and ever-growing love. That both leads to, and is directed by, a rich understanding of and faithful obedience to the divine truth revealed in Scripture.

INTEGRITY

in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; (1:10b)

A third essential for growth in godliness is personal and relational integrity. Like the phrase “so that” at the beginning of verse 10, the phrase in order to be signifies a continued progression. Spiritual integrity builds on spiritual excellence just as spiritual excellence builds on godly love. To have such integrity is to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.

The adjective eilikrins (sincere) has two possible meanings. One possible root of that adjective conveys the idea of sifting, as of grain passing through a sieve to remove impurities. If that is the correct etymology, the meaning here is that of being separated to what is true and from what is false, to what is right and from what is wrong. But derivation from the other root seems more appropriate, because it carries the idea of testing something by sunlight. That is more consistent with Paul’s previous emphasis on approving. That meaning also is consistent with the Latin word from which the English sincere is derived. In ancient Rome fine pottery was relatively thin and fragile and often developed cracks while being fired. Unscrupulous shops would fill the cracks with a hard, dark wax, which would be concealed when the object was painted or glazed but would melt when the pottery was filled with something hot. In ordinary light, the deception was usually undetectable, but when held up to the sunlight it was clearly exposed, because the wax appeared darker. Reputable dealers would often stamp their products sine cera (“without wax”) as a guarantee of high quality.

Just as such pottery was held up to the sunlight to reveal cracks or other defects, the obedient, faithful believer makes sure to expose his life to the sunlight of Scripture. As the writer of Hebrews declared, “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Unfortunately, many people try to cover their faults in various ways in order to appear less spiritually flawed than they really are. They use such things as regular church attendance, generous giving, activity in church functions, and spiritual talk to give the appearance of spiritual integrity. But when they are severely tempted or persecuted for their faith, the cracks show.

Because children are fallen sinners (Ps. 51:5), their parents are not wholly responsible for their behavior, even when they are small. But parents’ spiritual and moral integrity, or lack of it, always has a profound influence on their children. Sometimes children in the most godly homes rebel against the Lord. More often than not, however, an errant child rebels because of the hypocrisy of his parents, knowing that the faith they profess—regardless of how genuine and sincere it may appear to others in the church and community—is not manifested in their private lives. Although that does not excuse the sins of such children, it does make their parents share in the guilt.

Except for unbelief, Jesus condemned no sin more than hypocrisy, in particular that of the outwardly religious, but self-righteous, scribes and Pharisees (cf. Matt. 7:5; 15:7; Luke 12:56; 13:15). Paul also hated insincerity and deception, admonishing, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (Rom. 12:9). The apostle could honestly testify to his own integrity, claiming that “we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 2:17).

Eilikrins also carries the ideas of cohesiveness, oneness, and unity. In a sincere Christian life, everything fits together and works together. Nothing in it is unrelated to the foundation of saving faith and holy living. The practical, everyday aspects of life are in complete harmony with such obviously spiritual disciplines as Bible reading, prayer, worship, theology, morality, and doing good works. Living the sincere life, the life of integrity, is like baking bread. It is not enough merely to pour all the right ingredients together in a pan, stick it in the oven, and hope to produce bread. All the ingredients must first be properly mixed, so that every ingredient touches every other ingredient to form a common, cohesive, single whole.

Spiritual integrity also involves relationships with others. In 2 Corinthians, Paul affirmed that “in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you” (2 Cor. 1:12; cf. Acts 24:16). He had previously counseled believers there to “give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32), and would entreat those in Rome “not [to] judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way” (Rom. 14:13). The mature Christian determines not only to avoid sin in his own life but also to make sure that he says or does nothing that might cause another believer to stumble. Anything that harms even one of God’s children causes harm to the church, which is the body of Christ. An offense against a fellow believer is therefore an offense against the Lord. In one of His most severe warnings, Jesus said, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).

To have integrity is also to stand against the world. James made it clear that “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). John warned, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). And Paul pleaded: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).

Blameless (aproskopos) expresses the extent and goal of integrity. It means “without stumbling, or offense,” and has both the idea of not falling into sinful conduct and of not causing others to fall into iniquity. To be blameless is to move forward in one’s life without moral failure. This is not a call to the perfection in holiness that is true only of God and of saints in eternal glory, since Paul exhorted the Corinthians to: “Give no offense [aproskopos] either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32). It calls believers to do all they can to give glory to God and to live honorably before Him and others. Believers are to live lives of integrity as did Paul (cf. Acts 23:1; 24:16; 2 Cor. 1:12; 2 Tim. 1:3).

Falling into sin usually happens in stages. First, a believer merely tolerates something he knows is sinful, perhaps criticizing it but taking no strong stand against it. Next, he accommodates it, a little at a time, each time becoming less concerned about its wickedness, until it ceases to become an issue. Next, he attempts to legitimize it, by making excuses for it and defending it. Finally, and inevitably, he begins to participate in it, embracing it as part of his normal lifestyle. Worldly values and standards become so mixed with biblical ones that the difference is no longer noticed or cared about. In his famous An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope beautifully, but soberly, expressed that tragic pattern:

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

Satan seldom attacks believers head-on. Beginning with his first evil work in the Garden of Eden, he has used subtlety and deception to lead God’s people astray (Gen. 3:1; Rev. 12:9). “He was a murderer from the beginning,” Jesus said, “and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Because of that, believers who pursue excellence not only must know God’s Word but also continually grow in understanding and application of it through the Holy Spirit. Every idea, every concept, every practice must be held up to Scripture’s divine light, by which they are to be judged.

Godly love, excellence, and integrity are not optional. They are obligatory and permanent—until the day of Christ, when He returns to take His people to Himself (v. 6). It is that future time when “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10), and where “each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work” (1 Cor. 3:13). “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time,” Paul warned, “but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God” (1 Cor. 4:5). The truth will be revealed about us on that day.

GOOD WORKS

having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, (1:11a)

The fourth essential for growth in godliness is good works, which Paul here refers to as the fruit of righteousness. The progression continues. Godly love produces spiritual excellence, which produces integrity, which produces good works.

Having been filled translates a perfect passive participle in the Greek text, referring to something that happened in the past and has continuing results. In other words, when believers stand before the Lord at the judgment seat, they already will have been filled with the fruit of righteousness. That refers to a divinely completed state, or condition, of righteousness that is based on the love, excellence, and integrity Paul has just explained.

The fruit of righteousness is an Old Testament idea, which the writer of Proverbs speaks of as “a tree of life” (Prov.11:30). The prophet Amos accused his people of turning “justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood” (Amos 6:12). In the New Testament, James refered to the concept in regard to the good works that are produced by God’s righteousness in a believer’s life. “The seed whose fruit is righteousness,” he explained, “is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18).

The spiritual fruit that the Lord produces in believers includes winning the unsaved to Christ. In Romans 1:13 Paul said, “I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.” He emphasized the same truth in Colossians, explaining that “the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also . . . is constantly bearing fruit and increasing” (Col. 1:5–6).

Spiritual fruit also includes good works, which is what Paul has in mind in the present text. Such good works always begin with godly attitudes, some of which Paul enumerates in his letter to the churches of Galatia: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23). These divinely bestowed attitudes are designed to produce divinely empowered good works. Paul spoke of the fruit of good works when he told the believers in Corinth that “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest [fruit] of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:10; cf. Eph. 5:9). As with every other righteous thing the believer possesses, the fruit of righteousness . . . comes through Jesus Christ. It cannot be humanly generated.

It is God’s purpose to produce such good works in all believers because “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Jesus made that truth especially clear in the Upper Room Discourse: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4–5).

THE GLORY OF GOD

to the glory and praise of God. (1:11b)

The fifth essential for growth in godliness that Paul mentions is by far the most important: the glory and praise of God.

Jesus said, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8). God makes believers fruitful for the sake of His glory. Paul therefore commanded: “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31), and in another letter explains that “we have obtained an inheritance, . . . to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also . . . were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, . . . to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:11–14). In the middle of that letter, as if overwhelmed by the wondrous truths he had just spoken of, he exulted: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20–21).

The supreme objective and result of the life of godly love, excellence, integrity, and good works is to manifest the glory and praise of God. His glory is the sum of all His perfection and the honor for being who He is and doing what He has done, and His praise is the affirmation of that glory by those who recognize it.