And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight …
Summary: Paul’s prayer is an interesting one. We don’t normally associate love with knowledge and insight.
Have you ever wondered what Paul prayed about? Today’s passage gives us the answer.
Paul isn’t asking for the Philippians to have love or to be able to love; they already have that. He is specifically asking that the love they already have multiplies and grows “more and more” in two specific ways: in knowledge and “depth of insight.”
What does that mean?
The first word we need to understand is “love.” The word Paul uses is translated from the Greek word “agápē.” Agápē is occasionally translated as “charity” because the kind of love agápē refers to is both affectionate and charitable. (Strong’s G26)
The best example of agápē that we have is the love God has for his creation. Even though we choose to reject God by putting our own will before his, he still provides sunshine and rain, even for those who continue to reject him (Matthew 5: 45). Paul expects believers like you and me to have the same kind of love for all people, but especially for other believers.
The second word is “abound.” Paul wants us to be overflowing with godly love for others, just like our Father in heaven. To “abound” as Paul uses the word is to have over and above what is needed. If we translated Paul’s word literally, instead of “abound,” we would say “superabound!” (Strong’s G4052)
The next part of the sentence is more challenging.
Paul’s prayer is that our agápē love for all people would be superabounding in “knowledge and depth of insight.” How does love abound in knowledge and insight?
Good question!
To find the answer to this question, we need to look at the whole passage to see where Paul is going. Paul writes:
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)
To love in “knowledge and depth of insight” means to recognize the Christ as the source of our love for others and rightly discern God’s will for us (righteousness).
In short, Paul wants us to love others as God loves us.
Application: Keeping our focus on God’s will provides us with the discernment we need to love as he does.
Food for Thought: How do “knowledge and depth of insight” help us love more like God loves?
When I was a child I learned this simple song in Sunday School:
“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak and He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me (repeat 2 times), for the Bible tells me so.”
It is a very simple song, appropriate for a child, that contains very powerful truths: Christ’s love for us, the authority of the Bible, and identity and security in Christ. But to understand these truths, we would need increasing “knowledge and depth of insight” into who Jesus is, what He accomplished, and why.
Matthew 9:35-38 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The part of this passage that stands out to me is “compassion.” The people were afflicted, harassed, and helpless, and Jesus went out to them, he sought them out, healing them. He saw their need for a Shepard, and he taught them about the gospel of the kingdom. He instructed His disciples to earnestly pray for the Lord’s intervention in their lives. His compassion was more than a “feeling,” He freely acted on it.
I think when we take the time to learn the “knowledge” of the Bible, and pray for “depth of insight” about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit and how they loves us, and how they act in love for us and to us, we develop the compassion that Christ has and demonstrated for us. It moves us to act freely. In doing so, we move past an understanding that love is something more than just what we receive, and move into an understanding that true love is something we give. I think the hard part for people is to give freely. I think this is the part that requires “greater knowledge and depth of insight.” When we can love freely, we can love as God loves us.
Thank you, Chris!
I love your insights about love and compassion! Powerful!
How do “knowledge and depth of insight” help us love more like God loves?
Believers are called to life in a deepening knowledge and understanding of this world. Constantly learning, growing intellectually, spiritually, exercising discernment in our daily decisions. Making choices that align with/in our growing knowledge of truth that God is our source of “knowledge and depth of insight”, becoming increasingly dead to self, as we receive life in Jesus Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
John 15:12
Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31
As, in the power of God, we become small and Christ becomes big, our concerns and love for self decrease, as our love for God and others increases. We see this as Christ on the cross cried out, ” Father forgive them, they know not what they do. “
Thank you, Ron!
Pointing us to increased knowledge of God is truly the key!