"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13)
It appears on jerseys, gym walls, and in prayers before exams. Its context has almost nothing to do with achieving goals.
Where Paul was when he wrote it
Paul wrote Philippians from prison (Phil 1:13). This is not a line written by someone who is winning.
What the verse before says
4:11-12: "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."
Then comes 4:13. "All things" refers to the things just listed — being full and being hungry, abounding and suffering need. Not "anything I want to do", but "any situation I find myself in".
I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound… I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.Philippians 4:12-13 (KJV)
What it actually promises
Read as one unit, the sentence says: whatever the circumstances, good or bad, I can hold up in them through Christ.
That is a harder promise and a far more useful one. "I can achieve anything" shatters the moment you fail. "I can stand in anything" only starts working then.
The word "learned"
Note that Paul says he has learned contentment. It was not his temperament; it was trained into him. And by the context, it was trained in during years of going without.
So can you use it before a match?
Yes — used correctly. It does not promise you will win; it promises you will still be standing if you lose. Put that way it carries more weight than the popular reading, not less.
The shape of the chapter
Philippians 4 is a run of practical instructions about not being anxious: be careful for nothing (4:6), think on these things (4:8), I have learned to be content (4:11). 4:13 is the close of that run, not a free-standing slogan.
Read 4:10 through 4:20 in the BiblePro app — five minutes, and the verse settles back into place. And do look for a local church to read alongside others.
In this series
- 1What Does Joshua 1:9 Mean? Be Strong and of a Good Courage
- 2What Does Psalm 23 Mean? A Verse-by-Verse Reading
- 3What Does Psalm 90 Mean? Moses Asks for an Arithmetic Lesson
- 4What Does Psalm 100 Mean? The Thanksgiving Psalm, Verse by Verse
- 5What Does Psalm 103 Mean? Forget Not All His Benefits
- 6What Does Psalm 107 Mean? Four Kinds of People, One Formula
- 7What Does Psalm 116 Mean? The Answer to What Shall I Render Is Take More
- 8What Does Psalm 136 Mean? Why One Line Repeats Twenty-Six Times
- 9What Does Proverbs 3:5-6 Mean? Trust and Direction
- 10What Does Ecclesiastes 3 Mean? The Poem About Seasons Is Not Consoling You
- 11What Does Immanuel Mean? A Name Nobody Ever Actually Called Him
- 12What Does Isaiah 9:6 Mean? A Past Tense Written Seven Hundred Years Early
- 13What Does Isaiah 40:31 Mean? Waiting, Renewing, Walking
- 14What Does Isaiah 43:19 Mean? The Verse Before It Is Reciting the Past
- 15What Does Jeremiah 29:11 Mean? Who It Was Written To
- 16What Does Lamentations 3:22-23 Mean? It Grows in the Middle of the Bleakest Book
- 17What Does Micah 5:2 Mean? The People Who Knew the Address Never Went
- 18What Does Matthew 11:28 Mean? Come Unto Me, All Ye That Labour
- 19What Does the Magnificat Mean? The Longest Speech by a Woman in the New Testament
- 20What Does Luke 2:14 Mean? Why Bibles Word It Differently
- 21What Does John 1:1 Mean? In the Beginning Was the Word
- 22What Does John 1:14 Mean? Dwelt Among Us Is Literally Pitched a Tent
- 23What Does John 3:16 Mean? Line by Line
- 24What Does Romans 8:28 Mean? What It Says and What It Does Not
- 25What Does 1 Corinthians 13 Mean? The Wedding Passage in Context
- 26What Does 2 Corinthians 5:17 Mean? The Greek Has No Verb
- 27What Does 2 Corinthians 9:15 Mean? A Word Used Once in the Whole New Testament
- 28What Does 2 Corinthians 12:9 Mean? My Grace Is Sufficient for Thee
- 29What Does Galatians 2:20 Mean? I Am Crucified With Christ
- 30What Does Galatians 4:4 Mean? Paul's Only Mention of Jesus Being Born
- 31What Does Philippians 4:13 Mean? The Verse in Context
- 32What Does Colossians 3:15 Mean? Let the Peace of Christ Rule
- 33What Does 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Mean? Give Thanks in Everything
- 34What Does Hebrews 1:1 Mean? Five Words in a Row Start With the Same Letter
- 35What Does Hebrews 11:1 Mean? The Bible's Definition of Faith
- 36What Does James 1:17 Mean? Every Good Gift Comes Down
- 37What Does Revelation 21:5 Mean? I Make All Things New Is Present Tense
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