Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

I have learned. The I is emphatic. I leave it to others, if they will, to be discontented. I, for my part, have learned, by the Holy Spirit's teaching, and the dealings of Providence (Hebrews 5:8).

Content, [ autarkees (G842)] - 'independent of others, having sufficiency in one's self.' Christianity has raised the term above the haughty self-sufficiency of pagan stoicism to the contentment of the Christian, whose sufficiency is not in self, but in God (2 Corinthians 3:5; 1 Timothy 6:6; 1 Timothy 6:8; Hebrews 13:5: cf. Jeremiah 2:36; Jeremiah 14:5).

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