PAUL’S PRAYER-DESIRE FOR THE PHILIPPIANS
Phil. 1:9-11 “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”
We come now to the seventh item in Paul’s prayer list for the Philippians: Verse 11 says, “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” Paul is saying two things in the words, “unto the glory and praise of God.” First, he is saying that what is done through Christ is to the glory and praise of God. The second thing he is saying, is that all that we do should be to the glory and praise of God. So we have both an EXPLANATION and an EXHORTATION.
The words “unto the glory” translate two words. “Unto” translates “eis” and is a preposition. This word is translated 1773 times in the New Testament. It is translated with 26 different words, and is not translated at all from the Greek text 99 times. It is translated 573 times by “into” and 281 times by “to” and 207 times by “unto” and 140 times by “for” and 138 times by “in,” then drops off drastically in the number of times that it is translated by other words. I think it might be interesting to quote from “Little Kittel” on the meaning of this preposition. He says, “More common in the NT is the use in which an action is performed with a view to some end.” I believe that is the correct use of the word here. “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, Unto (with a view to the end) the glory and praise of God. The glory and praise of God should be the end to which every believer lives his life. This is in contrast to man’s own work for his own selfish purposes.
The word “glory” translates “doxa” and means, according to Strong, “an opinion, a judgment, a view.” He says, “in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory.” The word “glory is not an easy word to define. I am sure you have discovered this if you have searched the definitions. I have come up with my own definition that I will share with you for whatever it is worth. It is “that in anything that solicits our admiration and praise.” Matthew 9:8 says, “But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.” They had just brought a man sick of the palsy, unable to walk, to Jesus and He had healed him instantly. This caused the multitudes to “marvel.” This word translates “thaumazo” which comes over into English in our word “trauma.” They were “traumatized” by this act of our Lord. This word describes the effect this miracle had on them. Then it says, “and they glorified God” because of what Jesus had done. This means they gave God the glory, believing that He was the Author of the miracle, through Jesus as the human instrument (vs. 8). The end result in this case was that God got the credit and praise for what was done.
Then in Luke 7:16 the Bible says, “And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.” This was the result of Jesus raising the widows son from the dead. The effect that this miracle had on the people who saw this it is described here.
So Paul is saying that the believer’s life is to have an effect on the lives of people who see Him at work in us. We are not to draw attention to ourselves. We cannot help it if people credit us with what is going on in our lives. But we can refuse in our hearts to receive the honor bestowed upon us. Let me illustrate. I often feel the power of His presence when I am teaching and preaching. After the service someone comes by and highly compliments the message and me for its delivery. I thank the person.
