Responsible biblical exposition, a second look at Phillipians 4:13

Photo by The Lost Wanderer, used with permission

This post has nothing to do with Orthodoxy. Well, I should rephrase that. It does not only have to do with Orthodoxy. It is more general than that.

It's about a pet peeve in biblical exposition.

Now, I'll grant that annoyance is probably not the noblest of motivators when it comes to discovering the Bible. And I'll admit that it might make me sound a little preachy, which is something I'd really love to avoid on a news blog. (How about we agree to call this an "editorial.") But on the flip side, those who respect God's holy writ (and many of those who do not) should consider it a moral, ethical, and spiritual compulsion to identify and eradicate bad scholarship.

This post has to do with Philippians 4:13, in which Saint Paul writes

I hear this verse thrown about all over the place. It's a great proof-text for the folks who throw about the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. They'd say this verse is a deliciously encouraging piece of news. They tell us that we can accomplish any impossible job we set out to do because Jesus makes us strong, that we can't fail, that we will always be victorious. We sing songs that follow the quotation with nothing's impossible, Jesus is mine! (forgetting, perhaps, to ponder first if we are Jesus').

Ahem.

Now that you are all so excited, I'd like you all to sit back down now and take a deep breath. Stay with me.

I'm not saying that God does not give us strength, or does not grant us victory or power. Quite the contrary, I do believe through literary examples and personal experience that He does. There are verses that tell us so.

But this verse is not one of them.

This verse is about suffering. Yes, you read correctly. Suffering. Being able to get through the stuff that almost kills us. And if we're going to be honest about using the Bible, we have to do one of two things: either stop quoting Philippians 4:13 out of context, or get a lot cozier with adversity.

Here's the whole passage in context, starting from midway through verse 11:

Be content.

In other words, stop complaining and get back to work.

Ok, I just stuck my foot in my own mouth. I used a pet peeve to illustrate the point that illustrating the point of a pet peeve is a waste of time?

I feel better already.

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