Paul does not merely desire that their love may abound, but that it may
become more and more 'rich in knowledge and all discernment.' The former
is perhaps accurate knowledge, and the latter the application of it.
'Discernment' literally means 'sense,' and here, of course, when
employed about spiritual and moral things it means the power of
apprehending good and bad as such. It is, I suppose, substantially
equivalent to conscience, the moral tact or touch of the soul by which,
in a manner analogous to bodily sense, it ascertains the moral character
of things. This growth of love in the power of spiritual and moral
discernment is desired in order to its exercise in 'proving things that
differ.' It is a process of discrimination and testing that is meant,
which is, I think, fairly represented by the more modern expression
which I have used--keenness of conscience.
I need spend little time in remarking on the absolute need of such a
process of discrimination. We are surrounded by temptations to evil, and
live in a world where maxims and principles not in accordance with the
gospel abound. Our own natures are but partially sanctified. The shows
of things must be tested. Apparent good must be proved. The Christian
life is not merely to unfold itself in peace and order, but through
conflict. We are not merely to follow impulses, or to live as angels do,
who are above sin, or as animals do who are beneath it. When false coin
is current it is folly to accept any without a test. All around us there
is glamour, and so within us there is need for careful watchfulness and
quick discrimination.
This keenness of conscience follows on the growth of love. Nothing makes
a man more sensitive to evil than a hearty love to God. Such a heart is
keener to discern what is contrary to its love than any ethical maxims
can make it. A man who lives in love will be delivered from the blinding
influence of his own evil tastes, and a heart steadfast in love will not
be swayed by lower temptations. Communion with God will, from its very
familiarity with Him, instinctively discern the evil of evil, as a man
coming out of pure air is conscious of vitiated atmosphere which those
who dwell in it do not perceive. It used to be said that Venice glass
would shiver into fragments if poison were poured into the cup. As evil
spirits were supposed to be cast out by the presence of an innocent
child or a pure virgin, so the ugly shapes that sometimes tempt us by
assuming fair disguises will be shown in their native hideousness when
confronted with a heart filled with the love of God.
Such keenness of judgment is capable of indefinite increase. Our
consciences should become more and more sensitive: we should always be
advancing in our discovery of our own evils, and be more conscious of
our sins, the fewer we have of them. Twilight in a chamber may reveal
some foul things, and the growing light will disclose more. 'Secret
faults' will cease to be secret when our love abounds more and more in
knowledge, and in all discernment.
II. The purity and completeness of character flowing from this keenness
of conscience.
The Apostle desires that the knowledge which he asks for his Philippian
friends may pass over into character, and he describes the sort of men
which he desires them to be in two clauses, 'sincere and void of
offence' being the one, 'filled with the fruits of righteousness' being
the other. The former is perhaps predominantly negative, the latter
positive. That which is sincere is so because when held up to the light
it shows no flaws, and that which is without offence is so because the
stones in the path have been cleared away by the power of
discrimination, so that there is no stumbling. The life which discerns
keenly will bring forth the fruit which consists of righteousness, and
that fruit is to fill the whole nature so that no part shall be without
it.
Nothing lower than this is the lofty standard towards which each
Christian life is to aim, and to which it can indefinitely approximate.
It is not enough to aim at the negative virtue of sincerity so that the
most searching scrutiny of the web of our lives shall detect no flaws
in the weaving, and no threads dropped or broken. There must also be the
actual presence of positive righteousness filling life in all its parts.
That lofty standard is pressed upon us by a solemn motive, 'unto the day
of Christ.' We are ever to keep before us the thought that in that
coming day all our works will be made manifest, and that all of them
should be done, so that when we have to give account of them we shall
not be ashamed.
The Apostle takes it for granted here that if the Philippian Christians
know what is right and what is wrong, they will immediately choose and
do the right. Is he forgetting the great gulf between knowledge and
practice? Not so, but he is strong in the faith that love needs only to
know in order to do. The love which abounds more and more in knowledge
and in all discernment will be the soul of obedience, and will delight
in fulfilling the law which it has delighted in beholding. Other
knowledge has no tendency to lead to practice, but this knowledge which
is the fruit of love has for its fruit righteousness.