Philippians - Verse-by-Verse Biblical Exegesis

His is not the joy of one who considers himself to be in dire financial straits and whose poverty is
alleviated by the timely arrival of Epaphroditus with the money! Instead, he simply claims that he
has not written in language dictated by want … In Stoic ethics “autarkeia” was regarded as the
essence of all virtues. It described the cultivated attitude of the wise person who had become
independent of all things and all people, relying on himself, because of innate resources, or on the lot
given to him by the gods. This Stoic doctrine was that man should be sufficient unto himself for all
things, and able, by the power of his own will, to resist the force of circumstances. It is not certain,
however, that Paul borrowed the term from this Cynic and Stoic source, even if he was aware of its
use, for it had a wider currency in everyday life. He was not so much self-sufficient as Godsufficient
… His contentment, however, was not the self-sufficiency of the Stoic, the cultivated
attitude of the wise person who could face life and death with equanimity because of his own inner
resources. Paul’s sufficiency was from God and related to Christ, Who alone empowered him in
various circumstances. (P. O’Brien)
Christ gives us strength to bear varying fortunes. Christ enables us to live in faith. Christ leads us to
live in the spiritual. In the inner world of spiritual things we must find our best experience, and when
this opens up to the higher world of Divine and heavenly things we have a source of unfailing peace.
Resting in God we shall be content in every variety of earthly affairs. (W. Adeney) It is blessed for
the believer to recognize the fact that his environment and his condition are all of God, Who is using
them for his welfare. Wealth or want, opulence or poverty, are alike means for our blessing. There is
no real contentment apart from this. (A. Knoch) In spiritual adulthood, sharing the happiness of God
is the Christian’s greatest and most effective problem-solving device ... As a mature believer you
will receive your own temporal blessings. Affliction will also fall in the category of suffering for
blessing, a test designed by God to advance you to pleroma status. But regardless of your subsequent
blessing you will have tranquility and contentment in every situation. (R.B. Thieme, Jr.)
Philp. 4:11 Not (neg. adv.) that (subordinating) I am
speaking (le,gw, PAI1S, Static) with reference to poverty (Acc.
Gen. Ref.; lack, need, deficiency), because (explanatory) I
have learned (manqa,nw, AAI1S, Culminative, an English idiom
actually requires the Perfect tense) to be continually (eivmi,
PAInf., Perfective, Contemporaneous Time) content (Pred.
Nom.; self-sufficient in SG status) in whatever (relative
pronoun; circumstances, any and every situation) I am in
(eivmi, PAI1S, Pictorial).
WHO Philippians 4:11 ouvc o[ti kaq u`ste,rhsin le,gw evgw. ga.r e;maqon evn oi-j eivmi auvta,rkhj ei=nai
VUL Philippians 4:11 non quasi propter penuriam dico ego enim didici in quibus sum sufficiens
esse
LWB Philp. 4:12 In fact, I have come to know [as the result of my past recovery from
reversionism] how to be humbled [by divine discipline]; I have also come to know [as a