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Philippians 4 · a question people ask

After "In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need." (4:12), the letter says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (4:13). Does that mean I can do anything?

In the text

The verse stands at the end of a run of sentences, and the letter says them together: "Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (4:11-13). The I who says it speaks of lack, of being humbled and abounding, of being filled and being hungry. The verses don't say more than that about what all things covers, and these notes don't either. They don't read the verse as a promise of anything the verses don't say.

The verses

“Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it. I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:11-13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Philippians 4

Philippians 4: I have learned the secret

Philippians greets its readers with grace and ends with grace (1:2, 4:23). Near its close it says, "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it" (4:11), and behind learned the secret in the next verse (4:12) is a Greek verb the New Testament has nowhere else.

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions