This is the conclusion post to the series on thanksgiving in Scripture. It may be possible to add a few more passages where thanksgiving is implied rather than stated. However, I think that this series should provide the reader with a very thorough overview of the treatment of thanksgiving in Scripture. The key is this:…

This segment provides the references to thanksgiving in Revelation. There are three such references. It is interesting to note that in each case the twenty-four elders are involved in giving thanks to God. In the first passage the elders give the thanks together with glory and honour – they also ascribe power to God. Technically,…

This segment deals with thanksgiving in the catholic epistles, so called because they are universally directed. The only time some version of the English word “thank” shows up in these epistles is in 1 Peter 2. In this passage, Peter is commanding servants (slaves, he means, of course) to obey not only their good masters…

This post addresses the remaining mentions of thanks and thanksgiving in Paul’s epistles. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul comes close to one of those introductory thanksgivings we saw before. Paul essentially indirectly gives thanks for their salvation, attributing it solely to grace. In 2 Corinthians 4, there is related mention of thanksgiving. Here, however, we…

This set of passages are focused on Paul’s (counting Hebrews’ as Paul’s for simplicity’s sake) commands explicit or implicit to give thanks. The first passage is from Romans 14. This passage mentions that we are to give thanks when we eat. It does so implicitly by assuming that that those who eat give thanks. The…

Today’s passages commend thanksgiving to us by way of negative example, namely the unthankfulness of the ungodly. The first passage, from Romans, is a condemnation of men who do not worship God. They, in some sense, knew God, but they did not give him thanks. Instead, they worshiped and served the creature rather than the…

In this segment we see the thanks given by Paul in his epistles. There are a few subcategories here. Introduction Passages The first subcategory is the largest group: the group of thanksgiving statements provided by Paul at the start of his epistles. Most of Paul’s epistles have this form of introduction. Hebrews does not, which…

This segment addresses thanks in Acts. We’ve already looked at one passage in Acts where Paul thanks God for the food that he’s about to eat. There are two other examples of thanks in Acts as well. The first example is Tertullus’ thanks of Felix – an attempt to flatter Felix and win him over…

The final passage regarding thanksgiving from the gospels is from John’s gospel on the occasion of the raising of Lazarus. Only John’s gospel mentions the raising of Lazarus. In this passage, Jesus thanks the Father for hearing Him. Jesus clarifies that He already knew that the Father had heard him, but said this for those…

In today’s passage, there are two aspects of thanks. They are both, interestingly enough, about the thanks that it is not given. The passage is a particularly famous passage, because it speaks about loving our enemies and about being merciful in judgment (“judge not”). Leaving aside the abuses of this text, let’s consider its discussion…