Sermon Tone Analysis

THANKSGIVING (תּוֹדָה, todah; εὐχαριστία, eucharistia).

The act of offering thanks or being thankful, usually to God.

Often connected to provision, deliverance, or God’s character.

Commonly associated in Scripture with meals and worship.

General Usage in the Bible

The concept of thanksgiving evolves theologically throughout the Bible.

In the Old Testament, it is closely tied with the verb “to bless” (בָּרַךְ, barakh; e.g., Deut 8:10).

The most common Hebrew noun used for “thanks” (תּוֹדָה, todah) derives from the verb “to praise, confess” (יָדָה, yadah).

While Genesis bears little evidence of individuals offering thanks to God, by the time of Leviticus the Israelites had instituted a thanks offering as part of the sacrificial system (Lev 7:11–15).

Thanksgiving bears a prominent place in the Psalms, both on an individual (e.g., Psa 116) and communal (e.g., Psa 100) level.

In the New Testament, thanksgiving is tied to the concept of “grace” (χάρις, charis).

Most Greek words related to “thanks” are semantically connected, including the noun “thanksgiving” (εὐχαριστία, eucharistia), the adjective “thankful” (εὐχάριστος, eucharistos), and the verb “to give thanks, be thankful” (εὐχαριστέω, eucharisteō).

People in the New Testament offer thanksgiving to God in worship (e.g., 1 Tim 2:1), individual prayer (e.g., Acts 28:15), and at meals (e.g., Matt 15:36–37).

Expressions of thanksgiving appear throughout Paul’s writings (e.g., Phil 1:3–8).

In the New Testament, thanksgiving is often a response to the redemptive work of Jesus (e.g., Rom 7:25).

Texts like Luke 24:30 indicate that thanksgiving held an important part in Jewish and Christian meals

All Men Exhorted to Praise God.

A Psalm for Thanksgiving.

1 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing.

3 Know that the Lord Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving

And His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

5 For the Lord is good;

New American Standard Bible: 1995 update.

(1995).

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La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

16 Rejoice always;

17 pray without ceasing;

18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father

16–18 A series of brief, staccato commands indicates the basis for Christian living.

They are quite general and would apply to any group of believers.

Christians have grounds for joy in both their experience of salvation and their hope of what God will do in the future, but they need to express that joy; there is a right and proper place for the expression of joyful emotion.

Christians must also pray—here probably in the sense of making requests to God, since the next command is about the need to be thankful.

Common to the three commands is the stress on fulfilling them all the time and in all circumstances; this does not mean, for example, that one prays uninterruptedly but that one prays regularly and frequently.

Such a life is made possible, Paul adds, because God intends it to be so; he wants his people to be joyful, prayerful and thankful, and he makes it possible for them to be so.