Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Philippians · About this commentary
I Have Learned Contentment
Philippians 4:10-11
10 But 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. · WEB
Paul thanks them for a gift, excuses the delay before they can, and then says he did not need it.
But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your thought for me.
The verb is horticultural — the word for a plant blossoming again after a dormant season, and it is chosen carefully. Their care did not die; it had no outlet.
Paul says so himself before they can feel accused: in which you did indeed take thought, but you lacked opportunity. He supplies their excuse for them, which is a small kindness and entirely characteristic of a letter that keeps removing grounds for embarrassment.
Then verse 11 makes an admission that could easily have gone unsaid: not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.
The adjective is the Stoics' own word for self-sufficiency — needing nothing from outside. Paul takes it and empties it, since the next verses will credit his sufficiency to someone else entirely.
And the verb is learned. Contentment is not described as temperament or as a gift received at conversion but as something acquired, which implies a process with failures in it. A man writing from prison reports having had to be taught this.
settled What this mark means