I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.
Parallel translations
- WEB Not that I speak in respect to lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.
- KJV Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
- NKJV Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
- NASB Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
- NLT Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul clarifies that his joy is not driven by need, for he has learned contentment in every situation. Contentment is a learned grace, not a natural reflex.
Overview
Lest his thanks be mistaken for complaint, Paul testifies to a hard-won contentment that does not depend on circumstances. This contentment is 'learned' through experience and grace, not innate. It frees him from being controlled by want, anchoring his satisfaction in Christ rather than in possessions.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Tim 6:6–9Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.
- Heb 13:5–6Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Matt 6:31–34Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
- 2 Cor 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
- Phil 3:8More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
- 2 Cor 6:10sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
- 2 Cor 8:9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
- 1 Cor 4:11–12To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
- Heb 10:34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.
- 2 Cor 11:27in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.
- Luke 3:14Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” “Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”
- Gen 28:20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Exod 2:21Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The one who, being in the form of God, emptied himself to the point of death on a cross and was exalted to the name above every name — the joy and prize of the believer.
How Philippians 4:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.