Section 6
good. Paul realized that even though the supply had come from the church at Philippi, his cir cumstances were still in the hand of God. In God's sovereign arrangement, the Philippian church did not send the supply until now. Perhaps they had the heart to send him a gift, but not the oppor tunity until Epaphroditus could come. When the opportunity was available, the Philippian believ ers sent a gift to Paul. This supply brought him out of the condition of humiliation, want, and abasement and set him on a peak. But he did not know how long that would last. Nevertheless, he had the assurance that he knew both how to be abased and how to abound, both how to abound and how to be in want. He had learned the secret; he had been initiated into the basic principles of Christ and the church.
In Philippians 4:13 we find a basic principle related to the apostle's secret of sufficiency in Christ: "I can do all things in Him who empow ers me." Paul was a person in Christ (2 Cor. 12:2), and he desired to be found in Christ by others. Now he declared that he could do all things in Him, in the very Christ who empow ered him. This is an all-inclusive and conclud ing word concerning his experience of Christ. It is the converse of the Lord's word concerning