Philippians 4:10 to 20 · Passage · Contentment
Learning Contentment
Philippians 4:10 to 20 stands near the end of the letter, before Paul's last greetings.
The man who carried the gift to Paul fell sick in that service, “nearly unto death” (Philippians 2:27).
I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. I am accustomed to any and every situation—to being filled and being hungry, to having plenty and having need.
- The passage
- Philippians 4:10 to 20
- Book
- Philippians
- Hold in memory
- Philippians 4:11, Philippians 4:13, Philippians 4:19
Summary
Philippians 4:10 to 20 is Paul's thanks for the gift the church at Philippi sent him in prison by Epaphroditus. Inside the thanks he tells them that he has learned to be content in every state. Christ strengthens him for all of it. The passage shows contentment as a lesson learned over years of want and abundance, held beside a warm welcome of the church's help.
- Paul's verb for learning in Philippians 4:11 names a habit acquired through long practice.
- In Philippians 4:12 Paul says he has learned the secret, with a verb of initiation found only there in the New Testament.
- Paul calls the gift a fragrant offering to God and promises the givers that God will meet their needs from His riches in Christ.
The Gift from Philippi
Paul's thanks begins with joy in the Lord and a word about the delay in their giving.
Learning Contentment studies Philippians 4:10 to 20, the last long passage of Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. It belongs to the value of contentment, which the passage teaches by Paul's own example.
The question the study answers is what Paul learned, how he learned it, and what he means when he says he can do all things through Christ. It gives the setting of the gift, the ladder of the passage and the Greek of Philippians 4:11 to 13. It then turns to the giving of the Macedonian churches, the close of the thanks, the voices of the church and the two readings of Philippians 4:13.
Paul wrote the letter in prison, and he says that “it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ” (Philippians 1:13). The church sent Epaphroditus to him, whom Paul calls “your messenger and minister to my needs” (Philippians 2:25), and Paul asked the church to “honor men like him” when he came home (Philippians 2:29).
Now I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.The verse stands first because the whole passage answers the church's renewed care for Paul.
At Philippi the Lord opened the heart of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, and she and her household were baptized (Acts 16:14 to 15).
From the Gift to the Glory
The passage turns three times, from Paul's own state to the givers and then to God.
Paul's thanks rises in ten rungs from his joy at the church's renewed care to the glory he gives to God.
| Rung | What Paul does | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul rejoices in the Lord that the church has renewed its care for him | Philippians 4:10 |
| 2 | He says he writes from no need, since he has learned contentment | Philippians 4:11 |
| 3 | He lists the states he has known, from hunger to abundance | Philippians 4:12 |
| 4 | He names the One who strengthens him in every one of those states | Philippians 4:13 |
| 5 | He praises the church for taking part in his trouble | Philippians 4:14 |
| 6 | He recalls that they alone gave to him when he left Macedonia | Philippians 4:15 to 16 |
| 7 | He says he looks for the profit their giving brings to themselves | Philippians 4:17 |
| 8 | He calls their gift by Epaphroditus a sacrifice that pleases God | Philippians 4:18 |
| 9 | He promises that God will meet every need of theirs from His riches | Philippians 4:19 |
| 10 | He closes the thanks by giving glory to God the Father forever | Philippians 4:20 |
7, 8, 9, 10
Learned to Be Content
Paul uses a verb of practice for his learning and a verb of initiation for the secret he was taught.
I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.Paul's two key words, the verb of learning and the adjective content, both stand in this verse.
The verb is emathon, from manthano (G3129), which stands 25 times in the New Testament. Abbott-Smith's lexicon places Philippians 4:11 under its second sense, “to learn by use and practice, acquire the habit of, be accustomed to”. Paul's word for content is autarkes (G842), which the New Testament uses only here.
In Philippians 4:12 Paul changes verbs. The Greek has memuemai, from myeo (G3453), which the lexicon glosses “to initiate” and which stands only in this verse. J. B. Lightfoot, in his commentary on Philippians (1888 edition), rendered it “I have been initiated, I possess the secret”.
The verb for abounding, perisseuo (G4052), stands twice in Philippians 4:12, and Paul uses it again in Philippians 4:18 when the gift has come.
All Things Through Christ
The Greek of Philippians 4:13 and a parallel in 2 Corinthians 12 show what Paul's strength is.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.The verse stands at the turn of the passage, between the states Paul lists and his thanks for their gift.
The Greek reads, word for word, “all things I have strength for in the One strengthening me.” The participle is from endynamoo (G1743), to empower, which stands seven times in the New Testament. Lightfoot read the phrase as “in Him that infuses strength into me”, that is, Christ.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.The Lord's answer to Paul's prayer about his thorn uses arkeo, the verb of being enough, for His grace.
The Giving of the Macedonian Churches
The Macedonian churches, Philippi among them, had given to Paul before.
Paul recalls that “no church but you partnered with me in the matter of giving and receiving” (Philippians 4:15). He told the Corinthians that “the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs” (2 Corinthians 11:9).
Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia. In the terrible ordeal they suffered, their abundant joy and deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity.Paul sets their giving before the Corinthians as a grace God gave in a time of trial.
My God Will Supply All Your Needs
The gift becomes an offering to God, and the givers receive a promise.
I have all I need and more, now that I have received your gifts from Epaphroditus. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.Paul names the gift in the words of the altar, so the giving of the church becomes worship.
And my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.God's riches in Christ Jesus are the measure of what He will give the Philippians.
Voices on the Passage
Four readers from the third century to the eighteenth, each under the line it teaches.
died 202 · Irenaeus
Against Heresies Book IV
The quotation1 quotation
“Inasmuch, then, as the Church offers with single-mindedness, her gift is justly reckoned a pure sacrifice with God. As Paul also says to the Philippians, ‘I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things that were sent from you, the odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, pleasing to God.’ For it behoves us to make an oblation to God, and in all things to be found grateful to God our Maker, in a pure mind, and in faith without hypocrisy, in well-grounded hope, in fervent love, offering the first-fruits of His own created things.”
Irenaeus · Against Heresies Book IV · on Philippians 4:18Patristic
died 430 · Augustine of Hippo
On the Good of Marriage 25
Augustine taught that knowing how to abound is as rare as knowing how to be poor.
The quotation1 quotation
“All sorts of people indeed can suffer poverty, but to ‘know how to suffer poverty’ is a mark of greatness. Likewise, who is there who may not abound? But to ‘know how to abound’ belongs to none but those who are not corrupted by abundance.”
Augustine of Hippo · On the Good of Marriage 25 · on Philippians 4:11 to 12Patristic
died 1107 · Theophylact of Ohrid
Commentary on Philippians
Theophylact read Philippians 4:13 as Paul giving the credit to Christ.
The quotation1 quotation
“Since he felt that he had said much about himself, he says: this perfection is not mine, but of Christ who gave me strength.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · Commentary on Philippians · on Philippians 4:13Patristic
1662 to 1714 · Matthew Henry
Commentary on the Whole Bible
The quotation1 quotation
“He did accept it: It is an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Not a sacrifice of atonement, for none makes atonement for sin but Christ; but a sacrifice of acknowledgment, and well-pleasing to God. It was more acceptable to God as it was the fruit of their grace than it was to Paul as it was the supply of his want.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible · on Philippians 4:18Puritan
Theophylact of Ohrid, Matthew Henry
How Far All Things Reaches
Commentators differ on whether Philippians 4:13 reaches every duty a believer meets or the states Paul has just named.
Strength for every trial and every dutyAlbert Barnes
Albert Barnes, in his Notes, Explanatory and Practical (1832 to 1869), wrote that Paul “could bear any trial, perform any duty, subdue any evil propensity of his nature”.
The objection: the line follows the list of hunger and plenty in Philippians 4:12, and Paul gives it no wider setting.
The cause of Paul's constancy in wantThomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, in his Commentary on Philippians, wrote that here Paul “reveals the cause of his constancy”. He paraphrased Paul, “I would not be able to endure want, unless the hand of God supported” him.
The objection: Paul writes all things, and Barnes answered that Paul's experience in every change of life warranted the wider claim.
Glory to Our God and Father
Paul closes his thanks with a doxology.
To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.Paul turns the whole account of gift and supply into praise of the Father.
The letter then closes with greetings from the saints with Paul, “especially those from the household of Caesar” (Philippians 4:22).
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- STEP Bible, Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament, the tagged text (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
- STEP Bible TBESG lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, based on Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922)
- J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians (London: Macmillan, 1888), pages 163 to 164.
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710), on Philippians 4:18.
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832 to 1869), on Philippians 4:13.
- Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Philippians, on Philippians 4:13, in a modern English translation.
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 4, on Philippians 4:18 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 1)
- Augustine of Hippo, On the Good of Marriage 25, on Philippians 4:11 to 12.
- Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Philippians, on Philippians 4:13, in a modern English translation.
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