God’s Word for You

Philippians 1:9 That love may increase

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, February 13, 2026

9 And I pray this: that your love may still increase more and more in knowledge and every insight.

We should spend a moment on the word “love” as Paul uses it here. You may know that there are basically four words for “love” in Greek. They are:

1. storgé (στoργή), the love a parent has for a child or vice versa.

2. filéo (φιλέω) friendship; the love of those with whom you have something in common. This is the word used for Jesus’ friend Lazarus (John 11:3) and Jesus incredibly uses this word when he tells us that “the Father loves (filéo) you because you have loved (filéo) me” (John 16:27) which he goes on to describe as faith in Christ. We have something in common with God (!) because we have put our trust in Jesus, his Son. Jesus is the one who brings us into the presence of the Father.

3. erōs (ἔρoς) from which our word erotic comes is really the love of one with whom you have little in common with; the love of the opposite (a man for a woman; a woman for a man). It is a love that feels incomplete without the other and is completed by the presence and love of the other, which is why it is associated with the love of husbands and wives. In Homer’s Iliad, Helen says, “For never yet has love [erōs] so enwrapped my heart” (Iliad 3,442).

4. agapé (ἀγάπη) in the Bible is the love that seeks the ultimate good. It is a love that doesn’t seek anything in return, and it is the only kind of love that isn’t located in the emotions. Instead, this is love that exists in a person’s will; this love is a choice the person has made.

Here Paul tells the Philippians that he wants their agape-love, the love they have because Christ loved them, to grow and deepen along with their knowledge of Jesus, which we get only from studying and meditating on his Scriptures. And he wants them to deepen their insight, which comes from applying God’s word to our lives and from more and more study and meditation.

Paul prays about the love of the Philippians, and about their knowledge and insight. It’s a natural prayer, a truly loving prayer, of a pastor about his people. He doesn’t pray about their prosperity or their finances, or the condition of their fields, flocks or herds. They will pray about those things themselves (Proverbs 27:23-24). He doesn’t even pray about their physical health, at least not first of all, although that’s the most common prayer request he usually receives (Matthew 15:22; Mark 5:23). No, a pastor prays about the spiritual health of his people. When I was a student serving my vicar year in Milwaukee, I attended the monthly circuit meetings of the pastors of our area churches. It was a group to be listened to; to learn from. At one meeting, our circuit pastor (other denominations might call this man a Bishop) asked us all, “What keeps you awake at night?” There were several pastors ready to answer, but it was a quiet man I did not yet know very well who was looking down at his hands and who said in a quiet voice, “The ones who aren’t there on Sunday.” How will their love for Christ, their understanding of and insight into the word of God grow if they’re not coming to worship? How can you be a pastor to a flock that is elsewhere? Paul’s heartache was not because they were staying away, but because he was being kept away from them, but the heartache was the same.

The saints pray for God to give them understanding and illumination. “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18). “Teach me your statutes” (Psalm 119:26). “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom, that is to say, a revelation in knowledge about him, and give you enlightened eyes for your hearts” (Ephesians 1:17-18). “We have not stopped praying for you, asking God that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and in all spiritual understanding” (Colossians 1:9). With such prayers, we show that we cannot obtain this understanding and insight according to our own powers of intellect and reasoning, nor by our understanding of grammar, since the genius of the Holy Spirit often transcends the limitations of human grammar. But by admitting our ignorance we beg God to open our hearts and minds to understanding. We must not become lazy, or give up understanding the Scriptures as some do, claiming “only my pastor or priest can understand all this.” No—not so. Your pastor (or priest) cannot understand the word of God apart from being enlightened by the Holy Spirit, but not on account of his position in the church. For all Christians can open their Bibles, read what is there, and know that there is a simple sense to the words. “All the prophets testify about Jesus that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). There is no hidden message there. There is no secret code. Forgiveness of sins is for everyone who puts their faith in Jesus, this is what the words say and this is what the words mean. In the same way, Isaiah says, “Your dead will live. Their bodies will rise” (Isaiah 26:19). This is hard to believe for some, but it should not be hard to understand for anybody.

A Christian once said: “God loved men, for whom he made the world and made all things on the world subject to man. He gave man reason and a mind, and allowed man to look up to him. He made them in his own image. He sent them his one and only Son. He promised them the kingdom of heaven—and he will give it to those who love him.” Any Christian could have said this, in any century. Why? Because the truth of God’s message does not change.

The longer a person reads or hears the Holy Scriptures, and meditates on the words, applying them to his or her life, the deeper the understanding will be. It takes root, and then branches out in many directions, and the Word blesses the person’s life, your life, as your love for God grows.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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