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A Wildly Popular and Wildly Misinterpreted Verse

The most popular verse among athletes is Philippians 4:13, which reads, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” In their excitement, well-meaning Christian athletes being interviewed after winning a big game want to give God credit, so they quote Philippians 4:13. When all-star running back Adrian Peterson tore his ACL, he said, “This is a blessing in disguise. I’ll come back stronger and better than I was before…I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

You can find Philippians 4:13 on posters and other inspirational art, keychains, rings, buttons, t-shirts, stickers, postcards, bracelets, and handbags. Like Isaiah 54:17, the verse is famous because it sounds terrific. On the surface, you will be able to do anything you have ever wanted to do. The verse is a blank check for whatever you want: a slogan of personal empowerment, a declaration of self-achievement, ambition, and accomplishment, and a motivating motto for prosperity, advancement, and success.

I know I sound critical of people misusing this verse. You might say, “They are trying to give God glory. How can you give them a hard time?” Whenever people misinterpret Scripture—even well-meaningly—it is problematic. Those listening are left with nagging questions, such as “Did God care who won the game? Did the winning team have more faith or commit more time to prayer? Did the losing team have more heathens or atheists?”

Picture a young man watching his favorite athlete on television, and he thinks, “This is wonderful. I can also do all things through Christ who strengthens me! As long as I have enough faith, I will win at everything from now on!” Then he plays in the big game, and the other team wins; he wonders: “Why did I lose? Did I not have as much faith as that athlete on television? Was God pleased with him, but he is displeased with me? Was God unable to give me the strength I needed?”

The Important Background to Paul Writing Philippians 4:13

If Philippians 4:13 meant we would be given the strength to do everything we ever wanted, how would you picture Paul when he wrote it? He was victorious, conquering the world, and his life could not be better. The truth is, he was a prisoner! From an earthly perspective, it did not look like he was winning. It looked like he was losing.

Paul was incarcerated in Rome for two years, probably in a small apartment that was more like a cell. Acts 28:16 says a soldier guarded him, and Acts 28:30 says he could receive visitors, but otherwise, he was isolated. He could not move around, so he lost the freedom to work and minister in the capacity that he did previously. He anticipated a trial before Nero, and as he wrote in Philippians 1:20−21, it could result in his death. F.B. Meyer wrote that Paul was “deprived of every comfort, and cast as a lonely man on the shores of the great strange metropolis with every movement of his hand clanking a [chain] and nothing before him but the lion’s mouth or the sword.”