Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
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.
- BSB I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.
- 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 6:6–9But godliness with contentment is great gain.
- Heb 13:5–6Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
- Matt 6:31–34Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
- 2 Cor 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
- Phil 3:8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
- 2 Cor 6:10As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
- 2 Cor 8:9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
- 1 Cor 4:11–12Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
- Heb 10:34For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
- 2 Cor 11:27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
- Luke 3:14And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
- Gen 28:20And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
- Exod 2:21And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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.