“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 what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and all circumstances, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want — Paul's experience spans extremes: need and abundance, satiety and hunger, surplus and want (hysteria). The verb 'learned' (manthanō, be trained in) suggests disciplined practice. The paradoxical secret (mysterion, mystery) is that contentment is independent of circumstance. Both extremes are transcended.
Church Fathers on Philippians 4:12
I have ofttimes said, that almsgiving has been introduced not for the sake of the receivers, but of the givers, for the latter are they which make the greatest gain. And this Paul shows here also. In what way? The Philippians had sent him somewhat, after a long time, and had committed the same to Epaphroditus. See then, how when he is about to send Epaphroditus as the bearer of this Epistle, he praises them, and shows that this action was for the need, not of the receiver,…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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