Philippians 4:10-13 ESV
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
– Philippians 4:10-13 ESV
I am challenged by Philippians 4:13 as it sits in the broader context of verses 10-13. Athlete or not. I mean who would not want the confidence to know that we can do all things.? Who would not want to know that we are not running this race of life alone? Who would not want encouragement in the midst of both our private and public worlds that at times are going BONKERS? Who would not want to know and experience a certain amount of contentment in this life? And perhaps more importantly, who would not want to experience the caring, illuminating presence of the Spirit in our lives?
SPOILER ALERT in case you can’t make it through the presentation. Contentment seems to come from reframing our experiences, especially the head scratching ones, considering the fact the world is passing away. Perhaps we are bit too attached to and demand too much from our desires and those folk around us. That is what I ponder as I consider what follows.
What follows is the work of Dr. Brian Gamel as he looks at these verses and to an extent applies them to the sports world. He is a New Testament scholar at Baylor University. I recently encountered his work you are about to engage in the course entitled Bible and Sport from the Faith Sports Institute at Baylor University. There are other theological positions Gamel holds that I counter. But I lean in or run with him on this item.
We begin. Take it away, Doc Gamel!
How might we understand these words given this shirt? It sets common sporting items side by side with this statement.
“I” is the first word; it is centered on me. I can take command of this sentence and be its subject.
“I can do.” I am capable. I have agency. I have ability and choice and power.
“I can do all things.” These words are in big font and in all caps. This is the main message of this image. I have agency and power and choice in everything. But the “all things” specifically envisioned here are sports. Football. Tennis. Basketball. Soccer.
The message seemingly conveyed by this image is that I have the power to perform in all of these sports. Or maybe not just perform. But overcome. Win. Dominate.
Oh, and look at those other words down there [middle].
“Through Christ who gives me strength.” These words are not highlighted as being important. They are smaller. Set beneath the main text and image. It’s not clear how Christ is the medium through which “I” will perform and perhaps win at all these games. Maybe it’s like a talisman [charm].
So, Christ somehow gives a mysterious kind of strength which enables the “I” of this passage to (out) perform in everything, but specifically here in all sports. This is what we might consider the implicit interpretive frame for this passage given this context.
This passage has become infamous among Christian athletes, and its appeal to them seems evident. Athletes face enormous pressure to perform. Feeling like I have an edge or access to extra ability or power, even psychologically, can be transformative. Maybe I feel that I don’t have enough ability, or willpower, or talent, or training to perform the way I need to once again, but it’s ok; I can perform at this sport because Christ will give me a mysterious strength.
Are we maybe being unfair to the people who made these shirts? Probably. Our previous exploration is a particularly uncharitable reading of the first image; perhaps all that is intended by it is that I am able to compete at all, or to try my best, because Christ enables me to do so. Does this passage offer hope and comfort to Christians, even Christian athletes. Yes and yes. But it is important to understand what kind of hope is offered; it is vital that we can name and articulate the kind of comfort it provides. Because even these notions are unfortunate examples of what we labeled eisegesis above, putting meaning onto or into the text from outside of it. In all of these cases Philippians 4:13 is not so much being interpreted as being used as an empty bucket to fill my own hopes and aspirations with.
What might a faithful interpretation of this passage look like? And how might athletes still find meaning and hope in these words?
The sentence is six words in Greek: πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντι με. (PAN-taischU-o en to en-duna-MOONTI me).
A very literal translation might be “In all things I can prevail by the one who empowers me.”
Even translating it differently reveals something helpful about the passage. The main verb, ἰσχύω, means something like to be strong, to be powerful, to prevail. It is not about accomplishment; that’s the impression we get when we see it translated as “I can do.” It is about status, disposition.
We also see that “all things” is not the object of the verb.
I prevail in all things. I have this status or disposition in the midst of everything that is happening.
But translating the passage only gets us so far. We also need to set it in context. If we read it in Greek we once again see that this is even more vitally important because this sentence is preceded by the Greek equivalent of a semi-colon. We have to go back to verse 10 to get a proper introduction for this passage. It reads:
I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and being in need. I prevail in all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:10-13, NRSV, v. 13 emended as above)
Reading the verse in context now reveals much more about how we should understand it. Paul is writing to his friends in Philippi and thanking them for their concern for him as he languishes in prison, a concern that manifested itself in the form of some kind of material gift.
But he assures them that even though he appreciate what they have done for him he does not need it. Why?
Because Paul has learned how to reframe his experiences through a different lens than the feelings and expectations that arise from each circumstance. He has learned how to exist in conditions of plenty and conditions of great need; in fact, in “any” and “all” circumstances. And these circumstances are the antecedents for the “all things” of verse 13; it is what they are talking about. Paul prevails in all things, that is, in any and all circumstances – even ones where he is hungry or at loss – because he sees those situations differently now.
Here Paul seems to follow his own advice that he offers to the Corinthians. There he wrote:
…let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Cor 7:29b-31)
To live as though things were different than the way we experience them is to live in light of God’s activity in the world, veiled though it may be to us. It is to hold fast to the conviction that “the present form of this world is passing away.” This is precisely the “secret” that Paul refers to in our passage. Learning to see the world this way is the “empowering” that Christ offers to Paul. “I prevail in all things through him who strengthens me” means to be able to continually reframe his experience so that he can persevere no matter the situation that confronts him.
What does all of this mean for understanding Philippians 4:13? Is it wrong to put this on T-shirts? Should athletes not use this passage at all?
Here are some concluding thoughts:
1.Understanding a Bible passage in isolation is hard, sometimes impossible. Understanding the Bible takes work.
2. Without this work we can easily import a meaning onto text that doesn’t exist. If people read the image of Philippians 4:13 on sports shirts or in sporting contexts they might be led to assume that Christ gives them the power to perform in all contexts. This message speaks to one of the secret fears of the athlete – that they are not enough, they will not prevail – but does so in the wrong way.
3. Ironically, the message of Philippians 4:13 in context speaks powerfully to the athlete, for it tells them that the “empowering” that Christ offers is not to enhance or enable their performance but their imagination. Whether they win or lose, whether they perform or falter, whether they succeed or fail, they can prevail in all those conditions by seeing the world rightly and understanding that their value and identity is not derived or determined by those outcomes. [bold added]
Dr. Brian Gamel. Professor of New Testament at Baylor University. Contributor to the Faith Sports Institute at Baylor University. Note: There are theological positions that Dr. Gamel holds that I counter. But I lean in or run with him on his treatment of this topic.
