Philippians 1:9

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more, etc.] 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…”

“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.”

“And this I pray - We pray for those whom we love, and whose welfare we seek. We desire their happiness; and there is no way more appropriate of expressing that desire than of going to God, and seeking it at his hand. Paul proceeds to enumerate the blessings which he sought for them; and it is worthy of observation that he did not ask riches, or worldly prosperity, but that his supplications were confined to spiritual blessings, and he sought these as the most desirable of all favors. That your love may abound ... - Love to God; love to one another; love to absent Christians; love to the world. This is an appropriate subject of prayer. We cannot wish and pray for a better thing for our…”

“And this I pray, that your love - Which they had already shown. May abound yet more and more - The fire which burned in the apostle never says, It is enough. In knowledge and in all spiritual sense - Which is the ground of all spiritual knowledge. We must be inwardly sensible of divine peace, joy, love; otherwise, we cannot know what they are. Philippians 1:10”

“1:9-10 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).”

“this: Phi 1:4 your: Phi 3:15, Phi 3:16; Job 17:9; Pro 4:18; Mat 13:31-33; Co2 8:7; Th1 3:12, Th1 4:1, Th1 4:9, Th1 4:10; Th2 1:3; Plm 1:6; Pe1 1:22 in knowledge: Co1 14:20; Eph 5:17; Col 1:9, Col 3:10; Pe2 1:5, Pe2 1:6, Pe2 3:18 judgment: or, sense, Heb 5:14 \*Gr. Philippians 1:10”