Light Brings Salt
Volume 2, Issue 17 May 2, 2004
Dedicated to the
Systematic Exposition of the Word of God
Do You Have Love's Perception?
Philippians
After praying in vs:9 that their love would keep increasing in real or
developed knowledge of doctrine and that as they developed a Biblically based
frame of reference that they would have the insight and discernment from that
knowledge to make practical application of that truth in real life situations.
Now in verse 10
Paul lays out two purpose clauses, that define the objectives he sees that are
important for the believer as we utilize the truth learned under love as we
noted last time, that is, under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit
illuminating that truth for us.
The first purpose stated is so
that you may approve the things that are excellent.
The word for
approve is dokimadzo (dokima,zw) to test for approval. This is a word that was used of testing metals, assaying
ore, to determine whether it met
specified standard's.
Here Paul is
talking about having the insight/discernment to test for approval "... the things that are excellent." To what is Paul referring here?
The word for excellent diapherw (diaferw) which has
two meanings:
#1 to differ; to be
superior to, be worth more than (Matt
6.26);
#2 abstract idea of
the
essential things, the things that matter or are of greater value (Rom
2.18) therefore what is excellent or vital.
You can look at
this word as it is used in the context then 2 ways, but as you think about it they're really 2
sides of the same coin.
#1
to test for approval things that differ; and therefore discriminate between
things. [chocolate and
vanilla]
#2 - to approve the
things that are excellent/vital
The idea here that
Paul is working to get across to us is that the testing here is for approval between what is better
and best; not between what is right and wrong.
You don't need to test for approval what is clearly marked out by
scripture as outside the parameters of the will of God. You have some epignosis,
some developed knowledge of truth -- you know that stealing, lying,
adultery, living together, is always wrong!
But here the
emphasis is on having the insight from doctrine, the frame of reference of truth to test for
approval between what is better and
best, what is important, what is vital.
Often the line of demarcation is not so clear, not so
readily visible as it is for what is right and wrong.
What do we do
then? How do test for approval? What is
the standard? Rom 12:2 gives us a clue
as to how this is to work. Paul states
that as believers our norms and standards of our conscience must be renewed by
the intake of truth illuminated by the Holy Spirit so that they might prove (dokimadzo) what is the good and acceptable and perfect will
of God.
Also this brings
into view the points made in 1 Cor
The second purpose clause "... in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ..."
Paul is praying
that they would prepare now for the day that is yet to come - the Rapture of
the Church and the Judgment Seat of Christ
(JSC) the first order of business after the rapture.
The word sincere is eilikrines (eilikrinhj ) which means pure, genuine,
without hypocrisy. The idea is that of moral purity in one's relationships.
The word eilikrines is made up of two words, first eile (eilh) meaning sun and secondly krines (krinhj)
meaning to judge
therefore together they mean to judge by
sunlight. The background for this word
is that it was used to indicate the evaluation of clay pots that were on sale
in the market place. The buyer would hold up the pot or bowl towards
the sun to see if there were any cracks in the pot covered over by wax. The sun would illuminate the cracks if they
were present. Therefore the buyer was
able to see if what he is buying was pure and genuine or if they were
defective and then was able to make an informed choice. The choice for the
excellent.
Paul's desire for
his readers is always to be rightly related to God, to be in fellowship. But he
is also concerned that their relationships with others be what God would
desire, according to His standards. He uses the word blameless
aproskopos
(avpro,skopoj) which means to be blameless,
void of offense. It does not
mean to be sinless. In the active use it means to not cause others to stumble
spiritually while in the passive sense it refers to one stumbling themselves.
Paul's point here
is that the Love that we have, we have seen is to be growing & abounding, and it is to be
defined by an ever increasing and developing knowledge of doctrine so that we
have insight and discernment to make right decisions so that our lives are
morally pure and therefore we do not cause others to stumble spiritually.
Then once again
Paul references the day of Christ. Paul's
prayer focuses on the daily life of the believer from salvation, all through
life as we grow and advance in love until the day of Christ, when we meet Him
face to face.
As translated by Dr. Vincent in his helpful word studies of the
New Testament: (9) "And this I pray, may your love increase and
abound in ripe knowledge and perceptive power, (10) that you may apply the right tests and reach the right decisions in
things which present moral differences."
OBSERVATIONS
1. The result of
having a developed knowledge and discerning love is that we might be competent
to ascertain what is important and vital in our lives.
2. The love that
Paul is describing here is able to determine, to give insight as to what really
matters in your life as a believer in Christ.
The idea is that we need to
evaluate and come to a conclusion about what we should devote our physical, mental and
emotional energies to?
3. If we apply the
principles of BD that we're learning we will be able to ascertain what are the
things that are excellent - that are superior - what is vital for our lives today as believers.
Today we are flooded, bombarded
with information from many sources, more so than in any other time in
history and its still advancing.
With all this "info"
available we must have the insight, the discernment to evaluate all that we're
exposed to sort out what is spiritually superior, the excellent and to reject
what is not.
Many activities from the divine
viewpoint perspective will not be worth the time/energy and quickly become a
distraction and a snare. Leading us away from a vital relationship with Christ.
4. What we must do
is to always test these things in life by the developed knowledge we have to
determine their true worth.
5. Failure to
evaluate all things by truth, developing knowledge, will lead us in all kinds
of directions contrary to the will of God.
6. Believers who
remain steadfast in their devotion to the Word of God, avoiding at all costs
that which is unworthy of their support, will arrive on that day sincere and
blameless, that is without hypocrisy and not having caused others
to stumble or themselves to stumble over false issues.
7. This condition
of sincerity - blamelessness will result when the believer is positive to truth
and remains intellectually honest while continually being exposed to sound
teaching in a
8. One of the keys
is to live our lives in the light of the day of Christ, in the light of
eternity, and therefore on the basis of what really matters from God's
perspective.
9. What we should
be seeing from this prayer is that the provision is there and will always be
there to do just that, to take us from here to there, from salvation to glory
so that we can stand there before Him blameless, genuine, without hypocrisy.