“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.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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