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CONTENTMENT.—1. The word does not occur in the OT, but the duty is implied in the Tenth Commandment (Exo_20:17), and the wisdom of contentment is enforced in Pro_15:17; Pro_17:1 by the consideration that those who seem most enviable may, be worse off than ourselves. But the bare commandment ‘Thou shalt not covet’ may only stir up all manner of coveting (Rom_7:7 f.); and though a man may sometimes be reconciled to his lot by recognizing a principle of compensation in human life, that principle is far from applying to every case. It is not by measuring ourselves with one another, but only by consciously setting ourselves in the Divine presence, that true contentment can ever be attained. Faith in God is its living root (cf. Psa_16:6 with Psa_16:5; also Hab_3:17 f.).
2. In the NT the grace of contentment is expressly brought before us. Our Lord inculcated it negatively by His warnings against covetousness (Luk_12:15-21), positively by His teaching as to the Fatherhood of God (Mat_6:25-32 ||) and the Kingdom of God (Mat_6:33, cf. Mat_6:19 f.). St. Paul (Php_4:11-13) claims to have ‘learned the secret’ of being content in whatsoever state he was. The word he uses is autarkçs, lit. ‘self-sufficient.’ It was a characteristic word of the Stoic philosophy, implying an independence of everything outside of oneself. The Apostle’s self-sufficiency was of a very different kind (see Php_4:13), for it rested on that great promise of Christ, ‘My grace is sufficient (arkei) for thee’ (2Co_12:9). Christian contentment comes not from a Stoic narrowing of our desires, but from the sense of being filled with the riches of Christ’s grace. For other NT utterances see 1Ti_6:8, Heb_13:5.
J. C. Lambert.