I Can Do All Things Through A Verse Taken Out Of Context

What to do when Philippians 4:13 stops working.

Jul 27, 2026

Many years ago, in my youth pastor days, there was a high school student in our youth group who was really struggling to decide on a college. He wanted to be a veterinarian, so he had narrowed down his choices to Texas A&M and Colorado State, two of the top vet programs in the country.

But he was truly torn. We talked about it and prayed for clarity together for weeks. Then one Sunday morning I walked into church and heard him yell from across the lobby, “ZACH! I know where God wants me to go to college!”

He ran to me and blurted out, “Colorado State! God wants me to go to Colorado State.”

“That’s awesome, man!” I said. Colorado State is a great school. How did you finally decide that’s where God wants you to go?”

“Well, I was reading my Bible the other day and I came across Psalm 121:1 which says: I lift up my eyes to the mountains--where does my help come from?”

He stopped and I waited, thinking there must be another verse or two coming.

But after a few seconds of silence he said, “Don’t you see? College Station is flat, but Fort Collins and Colorado State have tons of mountains!”

God works in mysterious ways.

While this story is completely true, I know it feels like a ridiculous example. Most of us wouldn’t read a verse about mountains and declare it to be the voice of God directing us to his chosen university, but I bet every single one of us has experienced a Bible verse being plucked out of context.

I had a seminary professor who used to say: “A text without context is a pretext for a proof text.” Proof-texting is using a verse or passage to prop up an ideology that Jesus and the whole of Scripture doesn’t actually support. This happens all the time.

This is such a significant problem in the church and one that I talk about so often that someone bought me this notebook:

This is one of those laugh to keep from crying situations. While many times these verses are taken out of context in innocuous ways like the young man in my youth group, it often happens in ways that really hurt people. So many Bible verses have been used in ways that have not only really hurt people, but even driven many folks away from the church and Christianity altogether.

My goal is to help people engage these verses through the lenses of what we know to be true about God through Christ and what we know to be true about the context and culture they were written in. Our aim should always be to read and interpret these verses in ways that lead to Christlikeness, healthy community, and flourishing for absolutely everyone.

This is vitally important work because, as I insinuated earlier, you can twist the Bible and make it say just about anything you want it to. In her book about the Bible called Inspired, Rachel Held Evans puts it like this:

“The truth is, you can bend Scripture to say just about anything you want it to say. You can bend it until it breaks… If you are looking for Bible verses with which to support slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to abolish slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to oppress women, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to honor and celebrate women, you will find them.
If you are looking for reasons to wage war, there are plenty. If you are looking for reasons to promote peace, there are plenty more. If you are looking for an outdated and irrelevant ancient text, that’s exactly what you will see. If you are looking for truth, that’s exactly what you will find.”
Rachel Held Evans

Rachel is exactly right. We must approach all of Scripture in context in order to truly understand what it says. This process starts with a posture of humility and a desire to learn because none of us belongs to the original audience of Scripture. We aren’t ancient Israelites or first century Near Easterners living under Roman occupation. This means that we don’t intrinsically understand the biblical context and we must do everything we can to learn the setting, culture, author, audience, purpose, language, and genre of what we are reading when we do biblical interpretation.

We must learn to read Scripture over the shoulder of the original audience. As biblical scholar Justo Gonzalez says:

“The notion that we read the New Testament exactly as the early Christians did, without any weight of tradition coloring our interpretation, is an illusion. It is also a dangerous illusion, for it tends to absolutize our interpretation, confusing it with the Word of God.”
Justo Gonzalez

As one of the most popular verses in the Bible, Philippians 4:13 is the perfect example.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13

We see this verse all over the place and it often comes across as innocent; it feels basically the same as any other inspirational quote we see printed on posters or embroidered on decorative pillows.

When I was playing football in college, this verse was written on the whiteboard in our weight room. We used to have to get up at 5am for workouts every morning in the offseason. Believe it or not, sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to lift weights at 5am, especially when you are a college student.

Whenever someone was having trouble finishing a lift or slacking off during agility drills, we had a coach who would come and yell Philippians 4:13 at us. “GET THE LAST REP UP! YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS YOU!!!” Powerful stuff, no doubt about it, but probably not exactly what Paul had in mind all those years ago.

But the problem is that this inspirational quote props up an incredibly damaging view of God— that God is a genie who exists to help us have better workouts, get the next promotion, buy nicer stuff, get our kids a scholarship, or whatever else our hearts desire.

Again, this may sound innocuous at first, but what happens when we don’t get what our heart desires? What happens when we pray and tithe and read the Bible and go to church and things still don’t work out the way we want them to? The way we need them to?

I have a friend named Javier who grew up in a church with Philippians 4:13 literally painted on the wall in the sanctuary. He never knew his dad, but his mom took him and his little sisters to church every single time the doors were open. She diligently tithed even though her income was meager and she volunteered in the nursery every Sunday morning.

“She’s the most faithful person I have ever known.” Javier once told me. But when Javier was 16, his mom got sick. When she went to the doctor, they found stage four cervical cancer and she was given six months to live.

The first place they went after the doctor’s office was their church. Javier’s mom wanted the pastor to pray over her. She sat in a church pew right underneath that painting of Philippians 4:13 as the pastor laid hands on her and prayed.

Javier still remembers the pastor’s prayer, “Dear God, your word says that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, so we know that through the power of Christ, this woman is going to beat cancer and experience miraculous healing.”

Javier’s mom passed away four months later. Do you know what this terrible use of Philippians 4:13 did to Javier’s faith? Absolutely destroyed it. He walked away from church and from God.

This is why Justo Gonzalez calls this kind of Biblical interpretation “dangerous illusions.” When these illusions shatter, it’s like dropping a sheet of glass—the shards go everywhere and people get cut by the broken pieces.

It wasn’t until Javier talked with a pastor almost two decades later that he was able to deconstruct the harmful way this verse and many others had been used in his life. He was able to see Philippians 4:13 in context and, by God’s grace, the biblical passage has been transformed from a weapon of harm into a tool of healing in Javier’s life.

When you understand this verse the way the author intended it, it’s really quite beautiful. You may be wondering how you can figure out the context. Great question! The easiest thing to do is simply read the passage surrounding any given verse. Let’s try it out with Philippians 4.

Philippians is a letter written by a persecutor-of-Christians-turned-pastor named Paul. We know from the first chapter of this letter that Paul is writing it from prison. He wrote this letter to the church in Philippi mostly as a kind of “thank you note” for their support of him during difficult times, but he also spends part of the letter offering encouragement and support of his own.

Chapter 4 is the last section of this letter. In it, Paul reminds these early Christians to “rejoice always” and bring all of their worries to God in prayer. He promises that God’s peace is always available to them, no matter what they may face. And when we come to the section which houses the infamous Philippians 4:13, Paul thanks them again for their support and then says:

“I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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. For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:10-13

When you read this verse in context, it’s easy to see that Paul is not casting God as some magical genie who grants your every wish. He’s not saying that God will get you a promotion or heal your cancer if you just pray hard enough. He’s not promising a life of blessings if you just follow all of God’s rules.

Paul is saying that his faith in Jesus empowers him to endure any circumstance, no matter how difficult. Paul can be content in any situation— even prison— through the encouragement of Christ and his fellow Christians. Jesus gives him strength when he has none left of his own.

The truth of this message is what resonated with Javier almost two thousand years after Philippians was penned. When Javier found himself imprisoned by grief after the death of his mom and so angry at the God he thought refused to heal her, this message of hope in the midst of pain was a healing balm for his soul.

Many people call me a heretic, a Bible-hater, and all kinds of other ridiculous things, but the truth is that I believe strongly in the power of Jesus working through Scripture to promote wholeness and flourishing in our lives. I care about it so much that I have dedicated my life to pastoring my congregation in Austin and helping people everywhere read the Bible more accurately. I even wrote a book about it.

Bad Bible interpretation hurts people, but the answer to bad Bible interpretation isn’t throwing Scripture away. The answer to bad Bible interpretation is good Bible interpretation, because good Bible interpretation helps people.

This is what Javier learned and it’s what so many of us have experienced, too. We really can experience hope in the midst of pain, joy in spite of hardship, and peace that surpasses all understanding through Jesus. Sometimes it comes in the form of a calming presence within us— the Holy Spirit comforting us in times of need. At other times it comes in the form of our community around us— folks offering tangible support when we are going through hard times.

It’s not all up to us. We don’t need to just rely on our own strength. Just like Paul, we can endure all things— any circumstance— every situation through Jesus Christ and our community who strengthen us.

Here’s my advice:

1. Seek out support from Jesus and your community when you are in need.

2. Offer support to your neighbor when they are in need.

It really is that simple. And the next time you see or hear Philippians 4:13 taken out of context, remember that the truth is so much better than an inspirational quote or motivational catch-phrase. This verse is a promise that Jesus is always with you, working for your good through the Holy Spirit and your community, no matter what life throws your way.

“Prayer For All Needs”

A Prayer from Saint Clement of Alexandria

We beg you, Lord, to be our help and our support.
Free us from our troubles; take pity on the lowly;
raise up those who have fallen;
give help to the poor, health to the sick,
and bring home those who have wandered away.

Feed the hungry, ransom captives,
give strength to the weak and courage to the faint-hearted.
Let all peoples come to know that you alone are God,
that Jesus Christ is your son, and that we are your people
and the sheep of your flock.

For by your acts you made visible the everlasting structure of the Universe
and set the Earth on its foundations.
For all generations you have been faithful and just in your judgements,
and wonderful in your power and majesty.
Wisely you have created, and wisely you have kept things in being.
All that we see shows your goodness;
to all who trust in you, you are faithful, kind, and merciful.

Come, Lord, let your face shine upon us
so that we may peacefully enjoy all good things.
May your powerful hand be a roof over our heads
and may your strength preserve us from all wrongdoing.
Give peace and harmony to us and to all the inhabitants of the Earth,
as you gave them to our fathers who called on you with trust and faith.

You alone can give us these gifts and confer these favors on us.
We put our trust in you through Jesus Christ,
our high priest, the guardian of our souls.
Through him be glory and majesty to you now
and through all generations until the end of time.
Amen.

There is something really incredible in knowing that these words from Clement have been prayed by literally billions of Christians in every city and language around the world. Like an old trail through the woods, our siblings in Christ have walked this difficult road so many times that it’s become smoother for us.

We can look in front of us and see the footsteps of those who have come before and be reminded that we can keep walking in faith, too, because the same Holy Spirit that lived in them lives in us. And we know, just like they did, that we can endure all things through Jesus Christ who gives us strength.

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