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Philippians 4:11-13
Content in Plenty and in Need
Philippians 4:11-13
Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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Why it is worth knowing
- Contentment is described as learned, twice: “I have learned”
- Paul names both sides: to be filled and to be hungry, to abound and to be in need
- Verse 13 belongs to this setting; the strength is for living with plenty or with less
- The thought starts with a church’s gift, so contentment sits alongside real thanks for help
Where it sits: Philippians 4:10-13
But I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your thought for me; in which you did indeed take thought, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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Background
Paul wrote Philippians while in custody, probably in Rome, partly to thank a church that had sent him a gift. Before he thanks them he makes sure they know he is not hinting for more. He had lived through full seasons and empty ones, and he calls contentment something he learned. The well known line “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” closes this thought about having much and having little.