Philippians 4:12

“I know how to be abased, and. know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have. learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want”

“I know how”:. know how to adjust to such external circumstances, and. know how to roll with the punches. Paul is saying, “I know how to handle life”. Or, “I know how to cope”. “To be abased”: “To get along with humble means” (NASV). “I know how to live when things are difficult” (Phi). “To be humbled” (Robertson p. 461). Paul had plenty of opportunities to practice contentment in humble circumstances (Acts 14:19; Acts 16:22; Acts 17:13; Acts 18:12; Chapter s 21-27; 2 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 6:4; 2 Corinthians 11:27; 2 Corinthians 11:33). “He knew what was meant by hunger, thirst, fasting, cold, nakedness, physical suffering, mental torture, and persecution” (Hendriksen p. 205).

Often, it is easy for people to forget that difficult circumstances involve more than suffering. They also bring with them. great opportunity for real spiritual growth (Romans 5:3; James 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:8). It is hard to develop such traits as patience and trust in God, if we have never really faced circumstances that demanded real patience and trust for an extended period of time.

‘How to abound”: “I know what it is to have more than enough” (Rhm). “I know how to face prosperity” (TCNT). “How to live amid abundance” (Wey). “How to enjoy plenty” (Gspd). Paul's whole life in serving God was not lived on. bare-bones existence. He enjoyed some material prosperity as well. “Not all of Paul's life was marked by. cramping and oppressive want of resources. He knew that grace was needed to handle prosperity properly as well as penury” (Hawthorne pp. 199-200). Abundance and want both have their own unique temptations (Proverbs 30:8; 1 Timothy 6:6; 1 Timothy 6:17). “Paul is well acquainted with these opposite experiences: to be made very lowly--to abound in or to be amid plenty. The idea is that he knows how to adjust himself to either with equal contentment” (Lenski p. 889). Unfortunately, many people cannot handle prosperity, and they get uneasy if things are going too well. They feel that such good fortune cannot last, so instead of anxiously awaiting the day that it could end, they make it end themselves, that is, they undermine their own success. Others can never take the time and simply enjoy the fruits of their prosperity (Ecclesiastes 2:10). “In everything and in all things”: “In all circumstances” (Wms). “Into all and every human experience” (TCNT).

“I have learned the secret”: “I learned”, again stresses the fact that contentment was not genetically. part of Paul's nature, and that such instruction came from without. Man, on his own and by his own wits, cannot bring true contentment upon himself (Jeremiah 2:23), and all human philosophies will fail to provide real contentment. The Christian is the person who has refused to settle for what is. distant second best. The phrase "learned the secret", “has an interesting background. Many scholars believe it has. pagan history, being used of the initiation rites into the ancient ‘mystery religions'. It thus may suggest that which is not commonly known (and how few know real contentment!), and possibly implies that. difficult process has been endured” (Jackson p. 86). Yet, unlike the pagan religions, this "secret" is made known to all. Anyone who wants contentment upon God's terms can have it! These verses reveal something about Paul's life, “He knows the joys and cares of life, prosperity and adversity, ‘good' days and ‘evil' days, favorable and unfavorable circumstances” (Muller p. 147).