I Can Do All Things...

Paul C. Keller wrote this article which appeared in the January 14, 1973 edition of Reminders, a publication of the Moundsville Church of Christ in Moundsville, West Virginia. Keller was also the editor.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). These words constitute a boast. Of course, boasting is quite common but justifiable boasting is not so common. Good and humble men have sometimes astounded those about them by the confidence of their utterances about their ability. One of the causes of the opposition to Jesus was the resentment some had for the statements He made about Himself and the claims He made. Here, we have the apostle Paul making a claim that staggers us. He is saying, "I can do anything and everything." Such claim can only be justified if it can be verified.

Can the boast be verified? On the surface, there does not seem much justification for it. Paul writes this letter from prison. It would seem that if he has the power he claims, he would free himself from prison and go to the assistance of brethren who need his help. This very letter shows that he had a longing to do so. Other letters written from prison indicate the same. To escape prison only requires a certain amount of ingenuity. It has been said that no prison can be ingeniously constructed that men cannot escape if they set themselves to do it. Paul never attempted it. If the most obvious and simple thing was not done, how can we say Paul's boast is verified?

For him, prison simply game added opportunity to preach the gospel. In some ways, he finds the prison a better place for sounding forth the truth than had been afforded when he was free to travel. He says his bonds in Christ were manifest, "in all the palace" and tells of the saints even in, "Caesar's household." Letters he writes go throughout the empire and come down through the centuries to us; to instruct and encourage men to faithful service to Christ. He wanted the brethren to know that these things which had happened to him had not hindered but had, "fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel."

But, some would say, he couldn't escape suffering and trial. No he could not. He did not attempt to escape them. Even these became the subject of his boasting (See 2 Corinthians 11:12, 16-30). Instead if whining and complaining about his lot, he took pleasure in his infirmities, reproaches, persecutions, etc. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Even death had no terror for him. He actually longed for it and confidently claimed it would be better for him (Philippians 1:23-24; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8).

It is simply impossible to do anything with a man like this. No barrier known to human skill will stop him. No form of terror can be invented that will in the least, dissuade him. Truly, the boast of Paul is verified in the experience of his remarkable life.

There is a note of victory in these words of Paul. He is a victorious man! Think of the forces that were arrayed against him. There was first, the power of the Jews, the force of his own countrymen. This was exceedingly difficult for him because he intensely loved his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh (See Romans 9:3). Furthermore, their religion had been his religion, the most spiritual religion the world had known until Christianity and which had, in God's scheme of things, paved the way for Christianity (Romans 9:4-5). It was not easy to undergo the bitter opposition of those who also gloried in the proud heritage of Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah and other Old Testament worthies.

Second, the Greeks were arrayed against him. Theirs was a religion which sought beauty and pleasure. They were concerned with the beautiful. They preached the doctrine of the enjoyment of life to the fullest and the world had listened to their message. They were given to the worship of many gods and sought a way of life in philosophy and human wisdom. To them, the preaching of the crucified Christ was foolishness.

Third, the power of Rome was to be contended with. The mighty empire was arrayed against him. Rome held universal sway. While much could be said for her might of civilization, sense of justice and protection of her citizens, much could also be said for the hinderances wrought by her political corruptions and the debaucheries of her paganism. All of these forces were arrayed against Paul. He not only contended with them but felf he had the secret of their subjugation.

Paul's victory was in Christ. He did not trust in his own strength but in the strength of his Redeemer. His religion centered in Christ. Since that occurrence on the Damascus road in Acts 9 when he had learned that Jesus was the Christ, Paul's whole aim had been to please Him. Truly, he, "was not disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19). In Christ he had found the answer to all his needs. It was from this relationship his strength had come. In Christ he obtained forgiveness of sins (Acts 22:16; Romans 1:16; Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:17). In Christ he found peace (Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:14; Philippians 4:7). In Christ he found achievement. From the human viewpoint, nothing could seem more hopeless than the task on which the Lord sent Paul; to bring all that proud empire to His feet (Acts 22:14-15; 26:15-18). Humanly speaking, nothing could have seemed more visionary and unpractical. Yet Paul accepted the challenge. And here, not any more a young man with untried enthusiasm and untested zeal, but after long years of experience he says, "I can do all things." As we have seen, his was not a vain boast but a reality that can be tested by the realities of his life.

Today, do we who are Christians realize that what was true for Paul can also be true for us? Do we realize that His, "grace is sufficient" for us and that, "through Christ which strengtheneth" we can do everything the Lord wants us to do? The same forces arrayed against Paul are also against us. We may not call them by the same names but they are against us nonetheless. Does not traditionalism in religion, whether on the part of the Jews, denominationalists or our own brethren, engage the truth in constant conflict?

One of the hardest tasks before us is overcoming the prejudices and errors of traditionalsm. Was it only the Greeks who made pleasures the aim of life and who made their gods to conform to their own desires? Our world is pleasure-mad. The devotees of pleasure want nothing to interfere. Men construct their own mental images of God, making God after man's likeness and mold their religion to sanction and encourage them in doing as they please. This prevailing attitude and quest for pleasure is one of the strongest forces arrayed against truth and righteousness today.

Do not many today place their trust in the strength of human government? Feelings of nationalism may go through its cycles of rising and waning but the confidence in the "greatness of our civilization" seems unbounded. Struggles between Communism and the free enterprise system attract followers but behind it all, so many act as if the issues of time and eternity are to be settled only by the strength of human governments and systems of men. Whether we like to admit it or not, this preoccupation with material things and reliance upon human systems, both by those within and without the church, greatly hinders our efforts to advance the cause of Christ.

Whatever the forces against us, the power to overcome is available to us. That strength does not lie in human systems, whether old or new. It does not stem from human wisdom. It does not rest upon human strength. It is found in Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us. We must obey Him; surrendering our wills to His, consecrating ourselves to the faithful performance of the work He has authorized, and trusting Him for the fulfillment of the promises. In faithfully doing, one can say with Paul, "I can do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth me." May God help us make this true of ourselves.