I pray that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9)
My Bible comments on this verse:
"Sincere means genuine, and originally meant 'tested by sunlight.' In the ancient world, dishonest pottery dealers filled cracks in their inferior products with wax before glazing and painting them, making worthless pots difficult to distinguish from expensive ones. The only way to avoid being defrauded was to hold the pot to the sun, making the wax-filled cracks obvious. Fine pottery that could withstand 'sun testing' would be marked as sine cera––'without wax.'"
