to pray to God · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 1st person singular
that
ἵναina
G2443
compare G3588 (ὁ)) · preposition
your
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
love
ἀγάπηagapē
G26
love · noun — nominative singular feminine
abound
περισσεύῃperisseuē
G4052
to superabound (in quantity or quality) · verb — present active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
yet
ἔτιeti
G2089
"yet · adverb
more
μᾶλλονmallon
G3123
(adverbially) more (in a greater degree)) or rather · adverb
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
more
μᾶλλονmallon
G3123
(adverbially) more (in a greater degree)) or rather · adverb
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
knowledge
ἐπιγνώσειepignōsei
G1922
recognition · noun — dative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
all
πάσῃpasē
G3956
all · adjective — dative singular feminine
judgment
αἰσθήσειaisthēsei
G144
perception · noun — dative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Thessalonians 3:12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
Colossians 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of…
Philemon 1:6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
2 Peter 1:5-6 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
Colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
2 Corinthians 8:7 Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye ab…
2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Philippians 1:9-11
These verses contain the prayers he put up for them. Paul often let his friends know what it was he begged of God for them, that they might know what to beg for themselves and be directed in their own prayers, and that they might be encouraged to hope they should receive from God the quickening, strengthening, everlasting, comforting grace, which so powerful an intercessor as Paul asked of God for them. It is an encouragement to us to know that we are prayed for by our friends, who, we have reason to think, have an interest at the throne of grace. It was intended likewise for their direction in their walk, and that they might labour to answer his prayers for them; for by this it would appear…
The subject of his prayer for them (Phi 1:4).
your love--to Christ, producing love not only to Paul, Christ's minister, as it did, but also to one another, which it did not altogether as much as it ought (Phi 2:2; Phi 4:2).
knowledge--of doctrinal and practical truth.
judgment--rather, "perception"; "perceptive sense." Spiritual perceptiveness: spiritual sight, spiritual hearing, spiritual feeling, spiritual taste. Christianity is a vigorous plant, not the hotbed growth of enthusiasm. "Knowledge" and "perception" guard love from being ill-judged.
Adam Clarke on Philippians 1:9
This I pray - This is the substance of all my prayers for you, that your love to God, to one another, and to all mankind, may abound yet more and more, ετι μαλλον και μαλλον περισσευη, that it may be like a river, perpetually fed with rain and fresh streams so that it continues to swell and increase till it fills all its banks, and floods the adjacent plains.
In knowledge - Of God's nature, perfections, your own duty and interest, his work upon your souls, and his great designs in the Gospel.
And in all judgment - Και πασῃ αισθησει· In all spiritual or moral feeling; that you may at once have the clearest perception and the fullest enjoyment of those things which concern your salvation; tha…
He wishes, with God's assistance, to pour into them pure Christian doctrine, that their faith will be firm and that they will see clearly all the vast implications of their faith. He wants them to be able to distinguish what is useful from what is useless. He prays that they may adorn the teaching of the Lord with works of righteousness, producing the fruit of immortality to bring about an abundance of good things. This will be the glory of the apostle to the Gentiles.
The elements are worshipped,-the air by Diogenes, the water by Thales, the fire by Hippasus; and by those who suppose atoms to be the first principles of things, arrogating the name of philosophers, being wretched creatures devoted to pleasure. "Wherefore I pray," says the apostle, "that your love may abound yet more and more, in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent." "Since, when we were children," says the same apostle, "we were kept in bondage under the rudiments of the world. And the child, though heir, differeth nothing from a servant, till the time appointed of the father." Philosophers, then, are children, unless they have been made men by Christ.
"And this," saith he, "I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more." For this is a good of which there is no satiety; for see, being so loved he wished to be loved still more, for he who loves the object of his love, is willing to stay at no point of love, for it is impossible there should be a measure of so noble a thing. Paul desires that the debt of love should always be owing; "Owe no man any thing, save to love one another." (Rom. xiii. 8.) The measure of love is, to stop nowhere; "that your love," says he, "may abound yet more and more." Consider the character of the expression, "that it may abound yet more and more," he says, "in knowledge and all discernment." He does not extol friendship merely, nor love merely, but such as comes of knowledge; that is, Ye should not apply the same love to all: for this comes not of love, but from want of feeling. What means he by "in knowledge"? He means, with judgment, with reason, with discrimination. There are who love without reason, simply and any how, whence it comes that such friendships are weak.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Philippians, Epistle to — Was written by Paul during the two years when he was “in bonds” in Rome (Phil. 1:7-13), probably early in the year A.D. 62 or in the end of 61. The Philippians had sent Epaphroditus, their messenger,…
Grace Of God · GROWTH IN — GROWTH IN
Love · 22:37,38; — 22:37,38;
Love To Christ · Increase of, to be prayed for — Increase of, to be prayed for
Love To Man · Saints should: Abound in — Saints should: Abound in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Philippians 1:9
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more,.... As a proof of his great affection for them, he puts up this petition on their account; which supposes that they had love, as they must certainly have, since the good work of grace was begun in them; for wherever the work of the Spirit of God is, there is love, which is a fruit of the Spirit; and where there is not love, there cannot be that good work; for it signifies nothing what a man says, nor what he has, nor what he does, if love be wanting; but this grace was in these Philippians, they had love to God, to Christ, to one another, to all the saints, and to the ministers of the Gospel, and particularly to the apostle, of wh…
Philippians 1:7-11
7. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
7. Sicuti iustum est mihi hoc de vobis omnibus sentire, propterea quod in corde vos habeam, esse omnes participes grati? me?, et in vinculis meis, et in defensione, et confirmatione Evangelii.
8. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
8. Testis enim mihi est Deus, ut desiderem vos omnes in visceribus [41] Iesu Christi.
9. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
9. Et h…
Love is a fruit of Christ’s Spirit within believers (Rom 5:5; Gal 5:22). • growing in knowledge and understanding: In this way, believers can understand what really matters (see Rom 12:2) and live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return (cp. 1 Thes 3:12-13; 5:23).
