I’ve often written how people, often athletes, use Philippians 4:13 as their motto and quote it out of context. Tim Tebow, quarterback for the University of Florida Gators says:

A lot of people know Philippians 4:13 — ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ — but a lot of people don’t interpret that verse the right way, Tebow says. Most people think it means I can do anything … on the football field, or I can make a lot of money. But that’s not exactly what it’s talking about there. It’s [saying] I can be content with anything. When you’re a Christian, you can [be content] because God has put you where you are. That’s really a different view…. I know that I have Christ in me, so I can do whatever He wants me to do, and that’s how I approach everything.

Tim Tebow: (Super)Man of Faith at Baptist Press Sports

Philippians 4:13 NASB
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13 NIV
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:13 TNIV
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

I really like the TNIV rendering. Can you imagine if the TNIV was the standard rendering throughout the years how this wouldn’t be constantly taken out of context (shown below) and/or misinterpreted?

Philippians 4:11-13 TNIV
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

I’m not only learning the importance of context but also that the word all or everything isn’t always “an amount or quantity from which nothing is left out or held back” even in English:

Everything
1.
a. All things or all of a group of things.
b. All relevant matters: told each other everything.
2. The most important fact or consideration: In business, timing is everything.
American Heritage Dictionary

1 Timothy 6:17-19
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.

I wonder how many times I’ve glossed over this passage. After all, I’m not rich, am I?

According to some statistics I’ve seen, people who earn the median income in the USA are in the top 6% of income earners in the world. If I’m lower middle class I could still be considered rich.

In the last few years there have been times when I have felt poor when income has gone down, health problems have come up and car and cat repairs multiplied along with inflation. At the same time, I have been realizing my spiritual poverty more and more (Matthew 5:3). Although I can’t say I’ve been truly poor materially, I’ve felt like it and I wish everyone in this country could have a taste of what that feels like because it helps to develop a humble perspective and dependence on God (with always much room for improvement).

That said, aside from any caveats we could try to build from the income statistics, and not knowing exactly what constituted a rich person in Ephesus at the time (comments?), many of us reading this blog in the Western world are rich materially. This really stuck out to me the other day while reading this passage. It is indeed easy “to be arrogant or to set [our] hope on the uncertainty of wealth”. My surroundings and narrow worldview can deceive me into thinking I’m not rich.

Those of us who are rich, even if we are lower middle class, need to realize it and heed the warnings given in this passage.

We can of course thank God “who richly provides us with all things to enjoy” with what he has blessed us with materially as long as we are following the instruction “to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, storing up for [ourselves] a good foundation for the age to come, so that [we] may take hold of life that is real” realizing this is a gift from Him and that we are godly in acting similarly.

God, he [Paul] says, richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (cf. 1 Timothy 4:3-4; see also Ecclesiastes 5:19-20). Enjoyment, however, does not mean self-indulgent living (1 Timothy 5:6). The reason everything may be enjoyed lies in the recognition that everything, including one’s wealth, is a gift, the expression of God’s gracious generosity.

Gordon Fee, 1-2 Timothy, Titus

In the seemingly upside down world of the Kingdom of God, we are blessed when we are poor in spirit and we lay up treasure (true riches) for ourselves by giving away.

How great it is to be blessed when we are spiritually poor and to be strengthened to be content whatever our temporal circumstances.

Philippians 4:11-13
I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.