A Martyr's Heart II ~ Love Abounds: Philippians 1:8-14, especially vs. 9: "And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more...."
In the reading yesterday from Philippians, we saw that the supportive love of a gracious fellowship blessed the Apostle Paul as he awaited the outcome of his trial. No wonder he prayed for that greatest of virtues to continue developing and abounding among the Christians at Philippi. By his holy prayers, may love abound more and more among all our Orthodox Christian communities today!
Nevertheless, let us not sentimentalize his prayer, but rather understand the Apostle fully. He qualifies how love should abound, for, like St. John Chrysostom, he knew that "There are those who love without reason, simply and anyhow, whence it comes that such friendships are weak...For there is danger lest anyone be spoiled by the love of the heretics," and, we might add, by secularists, materialists, or the immoral. St. Paul names seven stages through which love must pass in order to abound "to the glory and praise of God" (vs.11).
Mature Christian love abounds "in knowledge" (vs. 9). The Apostle has in mind an advanced knowledge, for he adds to the root of the common word for knowledge, an intensifying prefix which points beyond ordinary knowledge toward a type of understanding which has no faults and is not deficient. He means a real and ready knowledge, capable of coping with all of life’s circumstances. Christian love learns the Gospel well and has a sound grasp of the "knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). Such knowledge gives a Christian sound, useful insight into the shortcomings and limitations of human reasoning.
St. Paul prays that love among the Philippians may abound in "all discernment" (Phil 1:9). The Holy Fathers particularly insist on discernment, because the angel of darkness, in despair at not being able to succeed through crude temptations, invariably disguises himself as an angel of light. To give or receive love without discernment steers one toward treacherous shoals and shipwreck. Therefore, the Apostle exhorts us to test and prove all, that one encounters in order to identify differences (vs. 10). He continues, then, to love with discrimination.
While love requires discernment to choose between good and bad actions, God-inspired discrimination is needed to choose among apparently ‘good' options, an arena in which human reasoning is highly susceptible to error. Mature Christian love equips one to distinguish between acts, which are intrinsically right, but may violate those of weaker consciences (see 1 Cor. 8).
What the Faithful wish to achieve through "love that abounds" are acts and wisdom that are pure and blameless (vs. 10). The word for "blameless" in the original suggests, "free of elements that would likely cause another to stumble" (1 Cor 10:32). The aim of pure, mature Christian love always is to "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22).
When one's love abounds in knowledge, discrimination, and discernment, then one's love abounds for others, and is "filled with the fruits of righteousness" (vs. 11). In turn, the fruits of righteousness fulfill that which the Apostle James commends: "...the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them who make peace" (Jas.3:18). The fruits of righteousness enable the Beatitudes to flourish (Mt. 5:3-12), for the disciple is practiced in abounding love in Christ.
Finally, love, having taken all these steps "which are by Jesus Christ," abounds "to the glory and praise of God" (vs. 11). If love does not commend the Lord Jesus to others, then it has not matured in Christ, and one needs to retrace his way once again to Him Who is above all.
O loving Christ, by the power of Thy love, preserve me from every word or deed that corrupts the soul and is hurtful to my brother-man. Inspire what I say and how I speak.