Philippians 4:12

The Biblical Illustrator - Philippians 4:11-13

Philippians 4:11-13Not that I speak in respect of want ContentmentI. The great lesson. “I have learned,” etc. Man might very correctly be distinguished as the discontented animal.1. We are not content with life in its severer aspects.(1) We do not know how to be abased, neither are we instructed to be hungry. In the fields and woods we find organic life most responsive to changing environment--the spreading tree at the first chill beginning to modify its leaf, to retrench its branchery, to... read more

Joseph Exell

The Biblical Illustrator - Philippians 4:12

Philippians 4:12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound The Christian I.Expects vicissitude.II. Knows how to adapt himself to all circumstances.III. Is instructed by the spirit of God. (J. Lyth, D. D.)How to be abasedDuring the periods between the paroxysms of the fever, Cromwell occupied the time with listening to passages from the sacred volume, or by a resigned or despairing reference to the death of his daughter. “Read to me,” he said to his wife, in one of these intervals,... read more

John Trapp

John Trapp Complete Commentary - Philippians 4:12

12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Ver. 12. I know both how, &c. ] Sound bodies can bear sudden alternations of heat and cold: so cannot distempered bodies. Both how to be abased ] So Chilo (one of the seven wise men of Greece) said to his brother, who took it ill that he was not chosen to be one of the judges, I know how to be injuriously dealt with;... read more

Samuel Bagster

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge - Philippians 4:12

how to be: 1 Corinthians 4:9-1 Chronicles :, 2 Corinthians 6:4-2 Samuel :, 2 Corinthians 10:1, 2 Corinthians 10:10, 2 Corinthians 11:7, 2 Corinthians 11:27, 2 Corinthians 12:7-2 Samuel : I am: Deuteronomy 32:10, Nehemiah 9:20, Isaiah 8:11, Jeremiah 31:19, Matthew 11:29, Matthew 13:52, Ephesians 4:20, Ephesians 4:21 Reciprocal: Genesis 33:11 - and because Exodus 2:21 - content 1 Kings 13:14 - sitting Esther 5:13 - Yet all this Proverbs 19:23 - shall abide Luke 6:25 - full Acts 28:10 - laded 1... read more

John Wesley

Wesley's Explanatory Notes - Philippians 4:12

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.I know how to be abased — Having scarce what is needful for my body.And to abound — Having wherewith to relieve others also. Presently after, the order of the words is inverted, to intimate his frequent transition from scarcity to plenty, and from plenty to scarcity.I am instructed — Literally, I am initiated in that mystery,... read more

Daniel Whedon

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Philippians 4:12

12. I know As the result of having learned. He had been in poverty and want, and again in sufficiency and more, without murmuring in the one, or elation in the other. He knew the two extremes of fulness and hunger, of superfluity and necessity, and was fully initiated into both. read more