Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; I. In the first place, I would have you notice that St. Paul speaks of giving thanks "UNTO GOD AND THE FATHER." The person described under these two titles is of course one and the same, but the thoughts which belong to the two titles are very different; the name of God may be said chiefly to testify of power, that of Father chiefly of love; it is because God has allowed Himself to be addressed as "our Father," that we can draw nigh to Him with fall assurance of faith. II. Next observe, THAT THANKS MUST BE GIVEN TO THE FATHER "IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST." This throws a remarkable light upon the nature of thanksgiving. Our natural feeling would (I think) be this, that if we came to ask any favour or mercy at the hands of God, we should rightly do so in the name of Him, through whom alone our petitions can be granted, but that the same thing would hardly hold good, if we came to pay the tribute of praise and thanksgiving to God; in asking we should feel that we needed a mediator, in giving (however small our gift might be) we should scarcely imagine that the same need existed. And yet, according to St. Paul, the need is the same in both cases; even our thanks must be offered up through Christ; we do not make God our debtor by such offerings; whether we ask or whether we pay tribute, it is we who are the gainers, and for both the one purpose and the other we need the righteousness of Christ, to make our approach to God's mercy seat acceptable. III. But again; St. Paul in the text gives a very wide range to thanksgiving, when he speaks of "GIVING THANKS FOR ALL THINGS." All the dispensations of God should be regarded as the acts of a Father, and therefore as demanding our thanks. I know the difficulty of realizing this state of mind; a time may perhaps come, when we shall be able to look back from our place of rest upon the way by which God hath led us, and when we shall be able to see that in all its turns and twistings (so far as they were the result of God's leading, and not due to our own perversity), and in all its darker passages, in its roughest as well as its smoothest portions, it was indeed "the right way," and all demands our gratitude to Him, who led us by a way that we knew not. IV. There is one other expression in the text which deserves notice, and to which a remark applies similar to that just now made upon the expression "all things." St. Paul says, "giving thanks ALWAYS"; the word "always" is sufficiently strong and comprehensive in itself, and becomes additionally so by being joined to the words "all things." "Giving thanks always for all things" is obviously as comprehensive a charge to give thanks as could possibly be devised; and I wish to remark that the peculiar force of the word "always" seems to be this, "under all circumstances." St. Paul is not intending (I think) so much to enjoin an unceasing course of thanksgiving, as to warn us against allowing our thankfulness to depend upon our own state of mind, or upon the prosperity or adversity of our outward condition. (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.) Parallel Verses KJV: Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; |
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