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Php_1:9. After having stated and discussed, in Php_1:3-8, the reason why he thanks God with respect to his readers, Paul now, till the end of Php_1:11, sets forth what it is that he asks in prayer for them. “Redit ad precationem, quam obiter tantum uno verbo attigerat (namely, Php_1:4); exponit igitur summam eorum, quae illis petebat a Deo” (Calvin).
καί ] the simple and, introducing the new part of,[54] and thus continuing, the discourse: And this (which follows) is what I pray,—so that the object is placed first in the progress of the discourse; hence it is καὶ τοῦτο προσεύχομαι , and not κ . προσεύχ . τοῦτο . Hofmann’s explanation of the καί in the sense of also, and his attaching ἐν σπλ . Χ . Ἰ . to Php_1:9, are the necessary result of his perverse metamorphosis of the simple discourse, running on from πεποιθώς in Php_1:6, into a lengthened protasis and apodosis,—a construction in which the apodosis of the apodosis is supposed to begin with ἐν σπλ . Χ . Ἰ .; comp. on Php_1:6.
ἵνα ] introduces the contents of the prayer conceived of under the form of its design (Col_1:9; 1Th_1:10; Mat_24:20), and thus explains the preparatory τοῦτο . Comp. on Joh_6:29. “This I pray, that your love should more and more,” etc.
ἡ ἀγάπη ὑμῶν ], not love to Paul (van Hengel, following Chrysostom, Theophylact, Grotius, Bengel, and others),—a reference which, especially in connection with ἔτι μᾶλλον κ . μᾶλλον , would be all the more unsuitable on account of the apostle having just received a practical proof of the love of the Philippians. It would also be entirely inappropriate to the context which follows ( ἐν ἐπιγνώσει κ . τ . λ .). Nor is it their love generally, without specification of an object for it, as a proof of faith (Hofmann); but it is, in accordance with the context, the brotherly love of the Philippians one to another, the common disposition and feeling at the bottom of that κοινωνία εἰς τὸ εὐαγγ ., for which Paul has given thanks in Php_1:5.[55] This previous thanksgiving of his was based on the confidence, ὅτι ὁ ἐναρξάμενος κ . τ . λ ., Php_1:6, and the contents of his prayer now is in full harmony with that confidence. The connection is misapprehended by Calovius and Rheinwald, who explain it as love to God and Christ; also by Matthies (comp. Rilliet), who takes it as love to everything, that is truly Christian; comp. Wiesinger: love to the Lord, and to all that belongs to and serves Him; Weiss: zeal of love for the cause of the gospel,—an interpretation which fails to define the necessary personal object of the ἀγάπη , and to do justice to the idea of co-operative fellowship which is implied in the κοινωνία in Php_1:5.
ἔτι μᾶλλον ] quite our: still more. Comp. Homer, Od. i. 322, xviii. 22; Herod. i. 94; Pind. Pyth. x. 88, Olymp. i. 175; Plat. Euthyd. p. 283 C; Xen. Anab. vi. 6. 35; Diog. L. ix. 10. 2. See instances of μᾶλλον καὶ μᾶλλον in Kypke, II. p. 307. With the reading περισσεύῃ note the sense of progressive development.
ἐν ἐπιγνώσει κ . πάσῃ αἰσθήσει ] constitutes that in which—i.e. respecting which—the love of his readers is to become more and more abundant. Comp. Rom_15:13; 2Co_3:9 (Elz.), 2Co_8:7; Col_2:7; Sir_19:20 (24). Others take the ἐν as instrumental: through (Heinrichs, Flatt, Schinz, and others); or as local: in, i.e. in association with (Oecumenius, Calvin, Rheinwald, Hoelemann, and others),
περισσ . being supposed to stand absolutely (may be abundant). But the sequel, which refers to the ἐπίγνωσις and αἴσθησις , and not to the love, shows that Paul had in view not the growth in love, but the increase in ἐπίγνωσις and αἴσθησις , which the love of the Philippians was more and more to attain. The less the love is deficient in knowledge and αἴσθησις , it is the more deeply felt, more moral, effective, and lasting. If ἐπίγνωσις is the penetrating (see on 1Co_13:12; Eph_1:17) cognition of divine truth, both theoretical and practical, the true knowledge of salvation,[56] which is the source, motive power, and regulator of love (1Jn_4:7 ff.); αἴσθησις (only occurring here in the New Testament), which denotes perception or feeling operating either through the bodily senses[57] (Xen. Mem. i. 4. 5, Anab. iv. 6. 13, and Krüger in loc.; Plat. Theaet. p. 156 B), which are also called αἰσθήσεις (Plat. Theaet. p. 156 B), or spiritually[58] (Plat. Tim. p. 43 C; Dem. 411. 19, 1417. 5), must be, according to the context which follows, the perception which takes place with the ethical senses,—an activity of moral perception which apprehends and makes conscious of good and evil as such (comp. Heb_5:14). The opposite of this is the dulness and inaction of the inward sense of ethical feeling (Rom_11:8; Mat_13:15, et al.), the stagnation of the αἰσθητήρια τῆς καρδίας (Jer_4:19), whereby a moral unsusceptibility, incapacity of judgment, and indifference are brought about. Comp. LXX. Pro_1:7; Exo_28:5; Sir_20:17, Rec. ( ΑἼΣΘΗΣΙς ὈΡΘΉ ); 4Ma_2:21. Paul desires for his readers every ( πάσῃ ) ΑἼΣΘΗΣΙς , because their inner sense is in no given relation to remain without the corresponding moral activity of feeling, which may be very diversified according to the circumstances which form its ethical conditions. The relation between ἘΠΊΓΝΩΣΙς and ΑἼΣΘΗΣΙς is that of spontaneity to receptivity, and the former is the ἩΓΕΜΟΝΙΚΌΝ for the efficacy of the latter. In the contrast, however, mistaking and misapprehending are not correlative to the former, and deception to the latter (Hofmann); both contrast with both.
[54] The word προσεύχομαι , which now occurs, points to a new topic, the thanksgiving and its grounds having been previously spoken of. Therefore κ . τ . προσεύχ . is not to be attached, with Rilliet and Ewald, to the preceding verse: and (how I) pray this. Two different things would thus be joined. The former portion is concluded by the fervent and solemn ver. 8. Jatho also (Br. an d. Phil., Hildesh. 1857, p. 8) connects it with ὡς , namely thus: and how I pray for this, namely, to come to you, in order that I may edify you. But to extract for τοῦτο , out of ἐπιποθῶ ὑμᾶς , the notion: “my presence with you,” is much too harsh and arbitrary; for Paul’s words are not even ἐπιποθῶ ἰδεῖν ὑμάς , as in Rom_1:11.
[55] The idea that “your love’ means the readers themselves (Bullinger), or that this passage gave rise to the mode of addressing the hearers that has obtained since the Fathers (very frequently, e.g. in Augustine) in the language of the church (Bengel), is purely fanciful.
[56] Not a mere knowledge of the divine will (Rheinwald), which leads to the right objects, aims, means, and proofs of love (Weiss; comp. Hofmann). This, as in Col_1:9, would have been expressed by Paul. Neither can ἐπιγν . be limited to the knowledge of men (Chrysostom, Erasmus, and others).
[57] “Nam etiam spiritualiter datur visus, auditus, olfactus, gustus, tactus, i. e. sensus investigativi et fruitivi” (Bengel).
[58] “Nam etiam spiritualiter datur visus, auditus, olfactus, gustus, tactus, i. e. sensus investigativi et fruitivi” (Bengel).