Letters from Paul

A taste of the study room coming with Paul — pull open whatever you'd like to sit with.

The reading — Philippians 4:10-23

¹⁰But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your thought for me; in which you did indeed take thought, but you lacked opportunity. ¹¹Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. ¹²I know how to be humbled, and I know also how to abound. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. ¹³I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. ¹⁴However you did well that you shared in my affliction. ¹⁵You yourselves also know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the Good News, when I departed from Macedonia, no assembly shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you only. ¹⁶For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need. ¹⁷Not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account. ¹⁸But I have all things, and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God. ¹⁹My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen. ²¹Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. ²²All the saints greet you, especially those who are of Caesar’s household. ²³The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

World English Bible

The words behind the words

When I wrote that I had "learned" to be content (Philippians 4:11), I used a word for being schooled, taught by hard experience — not a truth I was born knowing but one beaten into me over years of plenty and hunger. And "content" is a word the philosophers of my day used for a man self-sufficient, needing nothing outside himself. I took their word and emptied it: my sufficiency is not in myself at all, but in another — "him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). And "abound" and "be brought low" (Philippians 4:12) are the language of a river rising over its banks and of a man laid flat; I have known both, and Christ was in both.

Where else you say this

I have taken up this same thread before. To the Corinthians I wrote of learning weakness as the very place Christ's power rests: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). To Timothy I put it as a settled reckoning: "there is great gain in godliness with contentment" (1 Timothy 6:6). And the promise that God supplies what you need (Philippians 4:19) I have pressed elsewhere upon givers: "God is able to make all grace abound to you" (2 Corinthians 9:8).

The situation

The Philippians had sent me a gift by the hand of Epaphroditus — money and supply for my needs here, where I am chained and cannot work my trade freely. They were poor themselves, and their care for me had lately "revived" (Philippians 4:10) after a season when they had no means to send. So I wrote to thank them — but carefully, lest they think I was hinting for more, or that my joy hung on their coin. I wanted them to know I rejoiced not chiefly because my need was met, but because their gift was fruit growing to their account (Philippians 4:17), a fragrant offering pleasing to God (Philippians 4:18).

The hard question

A thoughtful reader will ask: does "I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13) mean I can do anything at all — win any contest, escape any hardship? Read the verse where it stands. I had just spoken of hunger and abundance, of being brought low. The "all things" I can do is this: to be content in every one of those states. It is not a promise that Christ will spare you the low places; it is a promise that he will hold you in them. Do not take it out of the furnace it was forged in.

This is a small window into what a study room with Paul will hold — word by word, letter by letter, and the maps and journeys behind them. Get notified when it opens →

← back to the word