Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, 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.
- KJV Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
- BSB I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances.
- 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 13:5–6Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
- Matt 6:31–34“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’
- 2 Cor 9:8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.
- Phil 3:8Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ
- 2 Cor 6:10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
- 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, that you through his poverty might become rich.
- 1 Cor 4:11–12Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
- Heb 10:34For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
- 2 Cor 11:27in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
- Luke 3:14Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.”
- Gen 28:20Jacob 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 clothing to put on,
- Exod 2:21Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.