Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;… This climax is unexpected. We should have thought "in fervour, zeal, self-sacrifice." Instead of that the direction is upward from the heart to the head. I. KNOWLEDGE REVEALS CHARACTER AND CHARACTER DRAWS OUT LOVE. We can only love a person whom we know to be lovable. This holds especially true of our relations to God. Enmity comes of ignorance of Him. Hence, in Jesus He has given us a revelation of His heart, and to know Christ is to love God. "My people is destroyed for lack of knowledge," is the epitaph written over the graves of scores of dead Christians. Neglecting the diligent study of the Scriptures they have no nutriment for their love, and it starves. II. KNOWLEDGE OF GOD BRINGS US INTO COMMUNION WITH THAT DIVINE LIFE WHICH IS THE SPRING OF ALL DIVINE LOVE. If God is love, the more we come into fellowship with Himself the more we shall come into the exercise and experience of His love. But it is only through knowledge that we can come into this experience. (A. J. Gordon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;WEB: This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment; |
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