That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Ver. 10. And may know him] Not notionally only (for so a man may do out of every catechism), but practically; not apprehensively only, but affectively; not with that knowledge that is cognoscitiva, only standing in speculation, but that is directiva vitae, as the apostle here expounds himself. A natural man may have a disciplinary knowledge of Christ, that is, by hearsay, as a blind man hath of colour, not an intuitive, i.e. per speciem propriam, &c.