As a statement, it’s always stood out to me. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13). It’s inspiring. Paul’s got a “can-do” attitude.
But it used to confuse me. There seem to be all kinds of things I can’t do, despite Christ’s strength. I know people sing: “I believe I can fly”, but you can’t, can you? No matter how much faith you have, not one Christian could survive in space without oxygen, or live without eating or drinking. We believe in an all-powerful God, who does miracles; so, in principle, Christ could enable you to do those things, but that doesn’t seem to be Paul’s point. He didn’t write: “I could do all things through him who strengthens me (if God permitted it, but he probably hasn’t it!)”.
What is Paul’s positivity really about? Many Christians read it inspirationally. They treat it as a version of the power of positive thinking. They think he’s saying: “Live your dreams”. “Have bold, visionary faith”. “Be bold, and daring!”. “Start your own business”. “Get that house!”. But there was plenty of disappointment in Paul’s life – a thorn in the flesh that God didn’t take away (2 Cor 12:8), abandonment by the church in Asia (2 Tim 1:15); he despaired of life itself (2 Cor 1:8)! In those moments, would Paul have taken back Phil 4:13 and denied it?
No! The “all things” in Phil 4:13 is God’s revealed will. Paul is saying: “I can do everything God asks of me, through him who strengthens me”. “I can obey God’s revealed will, through him who strengthens me”. This is what makes the verse so powerful. It’s designed to stop us excusing ourselves. When the Christian life gets hard, we find God asking us to do things that we think are too hard. “I can’t”, we tell ourselves. “I can’t forgive that person”. “I can’t give God my money this week”. “I can’t submit to my husband’s petty requests”. “I can’t keep the Sabbath today”. “I can’t parent my disobedient child at the moment”. “I can’t deal with this difficult situation at work in a Christ-like way”. “I can’t stop grumbling about that Christian brother”.
And Paul says: “yes, you can!”. This verse is a promise that there is no situation I face in which my sin is inevitable. It’s true that in ourselves we can’t, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can do all things which God’s holy Word asks of us.
