Christ lives in the believers for them to be able to do all things in Him who empowers them. Paul says, “I can do all things in Him who empowers me” (Phil. 4:13). To be empowered by Christ is to be made dynamic inwardly. Christ dwells in us (Col. 1:27), and He empowers us, makes us dynamic, from within, not from without. By such inward empowering, Paul could do all things in Christ.
Paul was a person in Christ (2 Cor. 12:2) and he desired to be found in Christ by others (Phil. 3:9). In 4:13 he declared that he could do all things in Christ, the One who empowered him. This is an all-inclusive and concluding word of Paul’s experience of Christ. It is the converse of the Lord’s word concerning our organic relationship with Him in John 15:5, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” As long as we have Christ and are in Him, we can do all things in Him.
In Philippians 4:13 we find the secret to which Paul refers in verse 12, “The secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to be in want.” In chapter three Paul testified that he pursued Christ in order to gain Him and be found in Him. Now in 4:13 Paul says that he is in Him. In Christ as the One who empowers him Paul could do all things. Christ was his secret of sufficiency. By being in Him Paul could do all things in Him.
The “all things” in Philippians 4:13 refer to the things mentioned in verse 12 and to the virtues listed in verse 8. This means that the application of verse 13 is limited by the context of verses 8 through 13. By the empowering of Christ we can live a contented life (vv. 11-12) and be true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, and well-spoken of. This means that we are persons in Christ, who empowers us to live out every kind of virtue. This is to live Christ, to magnify Christ in His virtues.
We need to realize that Paul’s word about Christ as the empowering One specifically applies to Christ’s empowering us to live Him as our human virtues and thereby to magnify Him in His unlimited greatness. The six virtues mentioned in 4:8 are actually the image of God. God created man in His image, that is, in His attributes of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. The fact that man was made in the image of God means that he was made in the form of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. The six items, whatever is true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, and well-spoken of, are in these four divine attributes of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. This is the real virtue, for it is the expression of Christ. Christ empowers the believers to live Him and magnify Him in all these virtues.
To live a life of all these virtues is much more difficult than doing a Christian work. Many can preach the gospel, teach the Bible, and even establish churches, but they are not able to live this kind of life, a life full of the virtues of being true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, and well-spoken of. In order to live Christ as our human virtues for the expression of the divine attributes, we need to be empowered by the indwelling Christ.
If we would experience Christ as the empowering One enabling us to do all things in Him, we need to let Him live in us (Gal. 2:20), be formed in us (Gal. 4:19), make His home in us (Eph. 3:17), and be magnified in us (Phil. 1:20). If we, fail to do these things, He will not have the way to empower us. But when Christ lives in us, is formed in us, makes His home in us, and is magnified in us, the way is prepared for Him to empower us. Then, empowered by the indwelling Christ, we shall be able to do all the things spoken of in Philippians 4:8 through 12.
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