Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Philippians 4:12

οἶδα καὶ ταπεινοῦσθαι. Apparently he would have written οἶδα καὶ τ. καὶ περισσεύειν: but a second οἶδα is thrown in for emphasis. See Lightfoot’s note.—“I know both how to be abased.” For this use of εἰδέναι, callere, “to know how,” cp. e.g. Matthew 7:11, οἴδατε δόματα�: 1 Thessalonians 4:4, εἰδέναι ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι. For ταπεινοῦσθαι in the sense of “running low,” cp. Diodorus I. 36, of the fall of the Nile: καθʼ ἡμέραν … ταπεινοῦται. The same word is used of other rivers in the context.

οἶδα καὶ περισσεύειν. As I do now, thanks to the Philippians.—“I know how to abound”; for plenty as well as want needs grace if it is to be borne aright.

ἐν παντὶ καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν. In the detail and in the aggregate of experience. Lightfoot compares 2 Corinthians 11:6, ἐν παντὶ φανερώσαντες ἐν πᾶσιν εἰς ὑμᾶς.

μεμύημαι. “I have been initiated.” R.V., “I have learned the secret.” The word is the perf. pass. of μυέω, “to initiate”; connected with μύω, “to shut the eyes.” Hence μύστης, μυστικός, μυστήριον, κτλ.—The μυστήρια, or secret religious rites, were a great phenomenon in classical paganism, frequently mentioned from Herodotus downwards. The most famous were those of Demeter, at Eleusis in Attica; but every considerable Greek city had its “mysteries.” The secrecy of these rites perhaps originated in the desire of the votaries of pre-Hellenic religion to protect their belief and worship by concealment. “The mysteries probably were … scenic representations of mythical legends” (Liddell and Scott, s.v.). The celebration was always secret; but initiation was granted to even slaves, while it was sought by the most cultured and dignified, including Roman Emperors; with the hope apparently of a special immunity from evil in this life and the next. See Smith, Dict. of Gr. and R. Ant., s.v. Mysteries.—Freemasonry familiarly illustrates such a system of concealment; and we now often borrow its name, somewhat as St Paul here borrows μυεῖν (and μυστήριον itself, e.g. Romans 11:25; Romans 16:25, and about twenty times altogether; and cp. e.g. Matthew 13:11; Revelation 1:20; Revelation 10:7; Revelation 17:5; Revelation 17:7), when we speak of “the freemasonry of the Gospel,” meaning the intimate sympathy of hearts in Christ.

χορτάζεσθαι. “To be filled,” “full fed.” St Paul uses the word here only. Its first meaning was to give fodder to cattle; but it lost this lower (as a distinctive) meaning in later and Biblical Greek. Cp. Psalms 106 (Heb., 107):9, ἐχόρτασε ψυχὴν κενήν: Matthew 5:6, οἱ πεινῶντες … τὴν δικαιοσύνην … χορτασθήσονται.

πεινᾶν. No doubt often in stern literality; cp. 1 Corinthians 4:11, πεινῶμεν καὶ διψῶμεν καὶ γυμνητεύομεν: 2 Corinthians 11:27 ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Philippians 4:12

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