Philippians 4:12

οἶδα κ. τ. λ. καί must be read with all good authorities. The one καί must be correlative to the other, unless he intended to continue the sentence without the second οἶδα (see an excellent note on καί in N.T. in Ell [56]. ad loc. He defines somewhat too minutely). Examples of the infinitive after οἶδα are to be found in classical Greek. ταπειν. The best comment on this is 2 Corinthians 11:7, ἐμαυτὸν ταπεινῶν ἵνα ὑμεῖς ὑψωθῆτε. There it means, “keeping myself low” (in respect of the needs of daily life). Moule aptly quotes Diod., i., 36 (speaking of the Nile), καθʼ ἡμέραν … ταπεινοῦται = “runs low”. ἐν παντ. κ. ἐν π. A vague, general phrase = “in all circumstances of life”. It has no immediate connexion with μεμύημαι (Cf. a similar expression τῷ παντί in Xen., Hell., 7, 5, 12, and τοῖς or πᾶσιν in Thucyd., Soph., etc.). μεμύημαι. The verb was originally used of one initiated into the Mysteries. It came (like our own “initiated”) to lose its technical sense. But the word probably implies a difficult process to be gone through. Cf. Psalms 25:14 : “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Vaughan), and Wis 8:4, μύστις γάρ ἐστιν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιστήμης. In later ecclesiastical usage ὁ μεμυημένος = a baptised Christian (an instructive hint as to the growth of dogma). See Anrich, Das Antike Mysterienwesen, p. 158. μεμύ. goes closely with the infinitives following. Cf. Alciphron, 2, 4 ad fin., κυβερνᾶν μυηθήσομαι. χορτάζεσθαι is a strong word, used originally of the feeding of animals, which gradually became colourless in the colloquial language (see Sources of N.T. Greek, p. 82). πεινᾶν should be written without iota subscript. It is contracted here with α as usually in later Greek. See Phrynichus (ed. Lobeck), 61, 204. So always in LXX. ὑστερεῖσθαι has the rare meaning “to be in want” (absol.), or rather (in middle), “to feel want”. Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:9, and esp [57]. Sir 11:11, ἔστιν κοπῶν καὶ πονῶν καὶ σπεύδων, καὶ τόσῳ μᾶλλον ὑστερεῖται.

[56] Ellicott.

[57] especially.