Charles Ellicott Commentary Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me." — Philippians 4:13 (ASV)

I can do all things.—Properly, I have strength in all things, rather (according to the context) to bear than to do. But the universal extension of the maxim beyond the immediate occasion and context is admissible. It represents the ultimate and ideal consciousness of the Christian. The first thing necessary is to cast off mere self-sufficiency, to know our weakness and sin, and accept the salvation of God’s free grace in Christ; the next, to find the strength made perfect in weakness, and in that to be strong.

Through Christ who strengthens me.—The word “Christ” is not found in the best manuscripts; it is a gloss, perhaps suggested by 1 Timothy 1:12, where we have exactly the same phrase, Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me. The same word is used in Ephesians 6:10, Be strong (strengthened within) in the Lord.

In this sentence we have the world-wide distinction between the Stoic and the Christian. Each teaches respect for the higher humanity in the soul; but to the one that humanity is our own, to the other it is the Christ within, dwelling in the heart, regenerating and conforming it to Himself. The words of Saint Paul are but a practical corollary to the higher truth To me to live is Christ. In this consciousness alone is any thoughtful teaching of self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-distrust, intelligible and coherent.