Thursday, February 09, 2023

Contentment or Self-Sufficiency (Pauline Use of Autarkeia)

The Greek adjective αὐτάρκης occurs in Philippians 4:11, its only appearance in the GNT. NWT 2013 still renders the adjective with "self-sufficient" while grammarian and scholar William Mounce offers the rendering, "for I have learned to be content." Either translation is acceptable.

On the other hand, in 1 Timothy 6:6 and 2 Corinthians 9:8, Paul uses the Greek noun ατάρκεια. This noun is a cognate of the adjective αὐτάρκης, so they are related words. Here are some translations that I found for ατάρκεια:
  • sufficiency
  • contentment
  • self-sufficiency
  • independence
So either "contentment" or "self-sufficiency" are fine renderings for ατάρκεια. Nevertheless, to show the difference between Paul and the Stoics, please consider these points: "self-sufficiency" is contextual: the Stoic view of being autarkic is not the Pauline view. The inspired apostle said that he learned to be self-sufficient regardless of what he possessed, whether he had much or little. Note how he goes from describing self-sufficiency/contentment to identifying the source of his ability to be self-sufficient (Philippians 4:13). Compare also 1 Timothy 6:6-8.

See https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10523/5576/ThorntonDillonT2015PhD.pdf?sequence=1

2 comments:

aservantofJEHOVAH said...

I'm reminded of an aphorism I read in the reader's digest (yes I'm that old) many years ago "If your outflows exceed your income then your upkeep will be your downfall"

Edgar Foster said...

Love that aphorism, servant. I'm old enough to remember Reader's Digest too plus my parents used to have a subscription and loved reading it. Thanks for the brief trip back to the past for a guy who's not getting any younger--yet!