Philippians 4:6–7: Do Not Be Anxious About Anything

Verses 6 and 7 are two sentences in a paragraph that begins with joy and ends with peace. This is the whole of it, in the World English Bible, Catholic Edition, the translation this site uses:

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!” ⁵Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. ⁶In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹Do the things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

— Philippians 4:4–9 (WEBC)

“In nothing be anxious.” Paul uses the same Greek verb Jesus uses in the Sermon on the Mount: “don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself” (Matthew 6:34). In both places it is the worry that divides the mind, trying to carry tomorrow today. Neither Jesus nor Paul says that the things we worry about are unimportant. They say where to take them.

“But in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving.” The cure for “nothing” is “everything”. Prayer is the general word; petition is asking for something specific; thanksgiving is remembering what God has already done. Paul asks for all three at once. The Catechism calls petition the most usual form of prayer, “because the most spontaneous” (CCC 2629), says that “every need can become the object of petition” (CCC 2633), and that every event and need can also become an offering of thanksgiving (CCC 2638).

“Let your requests be made known to God.” God already knows. The point is that we say it: naming the worry to him takes it out of the dark and into a conversation.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.” This is not the peace of having understood the situation, or of having it solved. It goes beyond what we can explain. Paul does not promise that the circumstances will change; he promises this peace.

“Will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” The verb is a military one: Paul uses the same word for the governor who “guarded the Damascenes’ city” to arrest him (2 Corinthians 11:32). Philippi was “a Roman colony” (Acts 16:12), and its readers knew what a garrison at the gate looked like. The peace stands guard; it does not depend on how we feel at a given moment. And it guards “in Christ Jesus”: the peace is his, not a technique.

Paul wrote Philippians in chains. He mentions his bonds to “the whole palace guard” (Philippians 1:13) and sends greetings from “Caesar’s household” (4:22). The traditional view is that he wrote from house arrest in Rome, in the early 60s; some scholars argue for an earlier imprisonment in Ephesus. Either way, he did not know whether he would live (1:20–24). “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it,” he writes a few verses later (4:11).

Philippi was the first church Paul founded in Europe. Acts 16 tells the story: Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, baptized with her household; Paul and Silas beaten and put in the stocks, singing hymns at midnight; the jailer asking what he must do to be saved. This church had been with Paul from the first day (Philippians 1:5), and it had just sent him a gift by Epaphroditus (4:18).

Philippians 4:6 is sometimes quoted at anxious people as if their anxiety were a failure of faith. That is not how Paul uses it. The same Paul writes of the “anxiety for all the churches” that pressed on him daily (2 Corinthians 11:28), and in this very letter he admits that he was spared “sorrow on sorrow” when his friend Epaphroditus recovered from an illness that nearly killed him (Philippians 2:27). Feeling anxious is not a sin.

Anxiety that is constant, that wakes you at night, that brings panic attacks or makes ordinary life hard to manage, is a health condition, common and treatable. Please speak to a doctor. Prayer and medical care are not rivals: the Church has always sent the sick to physicians and prayed for them at the same time. And if you are in danger, reach help now.

The verse gives its own method. It takes a few minutes, and it can be done anywhere.

1. Stop, and say it to God. Name the worry in a sentence, as plainly as you would tell a friend. “In nothing be anxious, but in everything…”: everything includes this.
2. Ask for something specific. That is what “petition” means. Not “fix my life”, but “give me what I need for this conversation”, “help me sleep tonight”, “be with my daughter at her appointment”.
3. Give thanks for one real thing. Not a forced feeling: one concrete gift from today or this week. Thanksgiving turns the mind from what might happen to what God has already done.
4. Hand it over. “Casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). You may need to hand it over again in ten minutes. That is normal; do it again.
5. Think about what is true. Verse 8 is the next step, not a separate lesson: turn the mind toward whatever is true, honorable, just and lovely, one thing at a time.

For an anxious moment, built on the words of the verse. Say it slowly, and put your own worry where the words leave room for it.

For when there is no time for more. Each asks, in a line, what Philippians 4:6–7 asks.

Before sleep: “Lord, I give you everything I could not finish today. Guard my heart and my mind while I sleep.”

Before an exam, an interview or a hard conversation: “Father, I have done what I can. Give me a clear mind and a quiet heart, and thank you for bringing me this far.”

For someone you are worried about: “Lord, you love them more than I do. I place them in your hands. Give them what they need today.”

When a wave of panic comes: “Jesus, I trust in you.” Or the ancient Jesus Prayer, said slowly with the breath: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

Verse 8 is the most searched verse in the chapter after 6 and 7, and it belongs with them. Having told the Philippians where to take their worries, Paul tells them where to rest their minds: on whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and worthy of praise.

The best-known verse of the chapter comes five verses later: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (4:13). Read in context, it is about the same thing as 4:6–7. Paul has just said he has learned to be content “in whatever state I am” (4:11), whether he has plenty or goes hungry (4:12). “All things” means all these circumstances: he can live through them, with Christ’s strength.