One of the most common phrases I hear today is “thank you” directed toward people who have done some thing for another person. The question I am attempting to address is this, “Is there any Biblical basis for giving thanks to people for what they have done?” The Bible is replete with thanksgiving to God, but almost never is thanksgiving directed to man. It seems that the early church and the Old Testament saints recognized that every little act of goodness done towards another was ultimately God at work, so these saints learned to direct their gratitude to God and not to man. A few examples:
In The Old Testament, it seems that thanksgiving is always directed to God
“And it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever”” (2 Chr 5:13).
“For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God” (Neh 12:46). (see also Lev 7:12–13, 15; 22:29; 1 Chr 16:7; 25:3; 2 Chr 5:13; 33:16; Neh 12:8, 46; Ps 26:7; 50:14, 23; 69:30; 95:2; 100:4; 107:22; 116:17; 147:7; Isa 51:3; Jer 30:19; Amos 4:5; Jonah 2:9; 1 Chr 16:8, 34–35, 41; 2 Chr 7:3, 6; 20:21; 30:22; 31:2; Ezra 3:11; Neh 11:17; 12:24, 31, 38, 40; Ps 7:17; 9:1; 28:7; 30:4, 12; 33:2; 44:8; 54:6; 57:9; 75:1; 79:13; 86:12; 92:1; 97:12; 100:0, 4; 105:1; 106:1, 47; 107:1; 108:3; 109:30; 111:1; 118:1, 19, 28–29; 122:4; 136:1–3, 26; 138:1–2, 4; 140:13; 142:7; 145:10; Isa 12:1, 4; 38:19; Jer 33:11; Dan 2:23; 6:10)
In the New Testament, it seems that thanksgiving is always directed to God
“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruitsto be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thess 2:13).
“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing” (2 Thess 1:3).
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus” (1 Cor 1:4).
“But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed” (Rom 6:17). (See also Matt 15:36; 26:27; Mark 8:6; 14:23; Luke 2:38; 17:16; 22:17, 19; John 6:11, 23; Acts 27:35; Rom 1:21; 6:17; 7:25; 14:6; 1 Cor 1:4; 10:30; 11:24; 14:16–17; 15:57; 2 Cor 1:11; 2:14; 8:16; 9:15; Eph 1:16; 5:20; Col 1:12; 3:17; 1 Thess 1:2; 5:18; 2 Thess 1:3; 2:13; Rev 4:9; 11:17; 1 Cor 14:16; 2 Cor 4:15; 9:11; Eph 5:4; Phil 4:6; Col 2:7; 4:2; 1 Thess 3:9; 1 Tim 4:3–4; Rev 7:12; Heb 12:28; Luke 18:11; John 11:41; Rom 1:8; 1 Cor 1:14; 14:18; Phil 1:3; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 2:13; 1 Tim 1:12; 2 Tim 1:3; Phlm 1:4)
Thanks to Men?
There are three texts in the New Testament where thanksgiving is seemingly directed towards men. The first is in Luke 17:1–10, and according to 17:10, the point Jesus is making is that masters do not thank their servants. Servants are unworthy of thanksgiving because they only do what is required of them, thus they don’t deserve thanksgiving for something that’s already expected of them. So it is with all Christians since every good work we do was prepared beforehand by God for us (Eph 2:10).
The second instance is Acts 24:3 where Tertullus deceitful expresses gratitude (by flattery) to Felix in order to have Paul killed. However, Tertullus is a God–despiser who is seeking to kill God’s servant and should not be a model for us to follow.
The most significant text to consider in this section is Romans 16:4. The ESV renders it as “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.” (Rom 16:3–4). Based on the ESV, it seems Paul and the churches are expressing thanks to Prisca and Aquila. But given the overwhelming evidence of Paul’s rendering of thanks only to God for people and never to people, it is possible that the thanks in Romans 16:4 is directed to God as well. I propose that the use of the dative relative pronoun oi[v is what Wallace calls “dative of reference” (Wallace 144). If it is a dative of reference then the verse should be rendered “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, about whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles as well.” With this reading, it means that Paul and the Gentile churches are giving thanks to God in reference to the work of Prisca and Aquila. James Dunn renders it as “for whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles” (James D. G. Dunn, Romans 9–16, 892-893.) If Dunn and I are correct, then we can conclude that Paul always direct thanks to God for what He is doing in and through the churches and her members.
Proposal
Proposal
If, as shown above, the Bible is replete with thanksgiving only to God and if my data is correct, how then should we express gratitude today? Here’s what I propose: since we know that whatever good we do is done with the power that God supplies (1 Pet 4:21), and all that we are and have is a gift of God (John 3:27; 1 Cor 7:4), we should rather thank God for each other instead of thanking ourselves. Maybe we should say like Paul, “I thank God for you.” If all things are from God, then thanksgiving should be directed to God.
Therefore, we should not be peeved if people do not express thanksgiving to us because we are not worthy to be thanked. God intends for all praise and gratitude to culminate in him and not in us “for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever Amen” (Rom 11:36).
Thanking God for you all
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13 comments:
Please, I will like to know what you think.
Dieudonne, I thank God for this very challenging and thought provoking post. I liked it enough to link to it from my most recent post @ 2mites.com.
While I need more time to sit on it and investigate the Scriptures, you are on your way to convincing me.
I thank God for this new insight. May my life be filled with more thanksgiving to God because of it!
Amen Jeff. I am still investigating into it myself and will greatly appreciate your feedback. I hope to expound more on it in the course of my theological training if the Lord permits.
Hey Dieudonne -
It's Mickey here, and I found your blog through Jeff. I thought this is an interesting argument, but I must say I'm not entirely convinced that thanksgiving is given exclusively to God, while I think I would totally agree if you said, "God is the first person we should thank" or "God is the primary person we should thank."
I think the Luke 17 passage would support a belief that men are to be thanked. And we can see that if we flip the rhetorical question around an examine an implied premise.
Luke 17:7–10 (ESV)
7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”
v.9 says "Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?"
This is a rhetorical question - and when we change it to an indicative, we would say, "The master does not thank the servant for doing what was commanded." And this statement is the reason for the statement in v. 10,
"So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’"
So Jesus' logic is:
A master does not thank the servant for doing what is commanded
Therefore:
You should not be desiring thanks for doing what you are commanded.
But this would be a bad argument for Jesus if it was never appropriate to thank the servant. Jesus argument should have been:
1) It is inappropriate to expect thanks for anything
2) Therefore, you should not expect thanks for doing your duty.
Therefore, the implied assumption of v.9 (in order to make the logic work) is "A servant only deserves thanks if they do more than what is commanded."
And that is why I don't entirely agree with your conclusion that we ought to thank God rather than thanking one another. Instead, I would say we should thank God as we thank one another.
Mickey,
How can you do more than what is commanded, in the context of discipleship to Jesus? I don't think, "more than what is commanded" is a category when it comes to Jesus. We are already commanded to go the extra mile. We are commanded to love God and others all the way - all the time... how is it possible to do more than that when more than that doesn't exist?
Jeff
Jeff -
I think that's the intent of Jesus' parable. I totally agree, when we come to God, we have nothing to bring, we are unworthy servants.
But that's besides the point. The question Dieudonne is wrestling with is, "is it right to thank one another?" and my answer is "yes, because when someone does more than what is required of them, we thank them."
Mickey,
I understand your argument is mainly that if someone does more than it is required of them then they deserve thanks. I will add that, based on your argument, when someone does what is not required of them, which is better than doing more than it is required, they deserve thanks. It seem to me that even when one does what is not required of them thanks is still given to God alone.
For example, the church in Philippi supported Paul so greatly. It was not a requirement for them to support Paul but they did it willingly, meaning they did what was not even expected of them, which is better than doing more than what is expected. And Paul recognizes their kindness and thanks God for them.
He says, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity . . . Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 15 And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only. 16 Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. 18 I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Phil 4:10–20).
Paul recognizes the kindness of the Philippians (4:14) and to make it all God centered he says in 17 “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.” Meaning that, when they extended their kindness towards Paul it was to their own benefit. Paul goes ahead to pray for them as a way of expressing his heart in regards to their kindness. In verse 19 he prays, “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” and end in 20 with glory to God the Father forever.
This seems to me to be Paul’s way of expressing appreciation for what is done by man. He recognizes it, prays for them and gives glory to God. Note also the opening of his letter: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil 1:3–5). Someone might say these are all from doxological texts, and the simple response will be: our lives, as Christians, are supposed to be doxological always. We don’t separate life from worship; the Christian life should be a life of worship, not on Sundays morning worship only but also from Monday–Saturday in our interaction with others.
So it seems to me that, even when someone does what was not even required of them, which I think is better than doing more than what is required, thanks is directed to God.
NOTE: my argument is not that it is commanded in scriptures that we should NOT give thanks to men, but we cannot wave this issue away simply because it is not commanded. If the entire NT is loaded with all these God-centered examples of expressing gratitude. It might be that, the assumption in Jesus’ day and in the early church was that thanks are only given to God and that is why they did not even border to write about it and just practiced it. Again, I am not arguing that we are commanded in Scriptures to NOT gives thanks to man, but we are given several examples on how the early church expressed thankfulness and it is left to us to decide how to do it in a way that honors God and draws all attention to God.
Thanking God for you Mickey :-)
Very interesting! I've never thought about this before. I think it's especially interesting when you look at this through different cultural lenses also, because in some cultures, like in India, saying "thank you" is really much less common than here in the U.S. (where we tend to thank people for the tiniest acts, like a server bringing us a bill!) In some cultures it is just assumed that if people are close to one another, they will do good things, and the gratitude is implied. Hmmm. I will do some more thinking about this! But I'm prone to think initially that since the Bible doesn't say specifically not to thank men, it's probably a freedom and cultural relevance area...
Robyn
I like your comment. My main point is to show that the scriptures are loaded with thanksgiving only to God. I don't want to suggest that it is sinful to thank men. But having seen these examples in Scriptures, we have to wrestle with how those relates to the way we express gratitude today.
Grace to you as we all keep mining God's inspired Word.
(pt1)
Hey, you raise an interesting point here, and I've certainly thought twice each time I've needed to thank someone for something they did. However, your post drove me to do a little digging, and I'd like you to consider the following:
In Genesis 23 Abraham is negotiating with the Hittites for a burial place for Sarah. They offer him a choice of any of their burial places. Abraham's response? "Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land" (v.7). That looks like bowing in thanks.
Then Abraham asks for the field of Ephron who proceeds to offer Abraham the field for free (v.11). In response, "Abraham bowed down before the people of the land" (v.12). Again, this seems like an acknowledgment to a man of his generosity; in today's world, Abraham would have said, "Thank yoü, Ephron, for your generosity."
Ruth thanks Boaz for his kindness toward her (Ruth 2.10,13), although she doesn't actually use the words "thanks" or "grateful"; her words and her actions (bowing) can only be interpreted as an expression of thankfulness toward Boaz.
Interestingly, Boaz deflects the praise to God, which seems to me to be the thing to do when thanked if our concern is that God alone get the glory for the things we do (2.12).
Later, Boaz blesses (thanks) Ruth for her kindness in choosing him over younger men (3.10). I suppose one could make a distinction between blessing someone for an act and thanking that person, but I think the whole context suggests thanking. I think Boaz's words can be paraphrased, "Thanks, Ruth. God bless you."
1 Sam 1.17-18: Eli blesses Hannah after she's prayed for a son. Hannah responds, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Given the context and words, Hannah's response can be taken as thanking Eli for the blessing he pronounced on her.
1 Sam 20.12-41: Jonathan has just warned David to run away because Saul wants David dead. David responds: "David rose from beside the stone heapand fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times." Again, this really can only be interpreted as David thanking Jonathan for saving him even at the cost of being disloyal to his own father and jeopardizing his own claim to the throne. (You can read the whole chapter for context).
1 Sam 25: David praises Abigail. Abigail has just very wisely dissuaded David from destroying Nabal. David responds by 1) blessing God (v.32) 2) blessing Abigail's discretion (v.33) 3) blessing Abigail herself (v.33). The phrase used is "blessed be", but again, given the context, I don't think one can make a clear distinction here between "Bless you, Abigail" and "Thank you, Abigail." In any case, even if such a distinction were made, the fact remains that David is acknowledging Abigail herself in his blessing. It is, however, instructive that in expressing gratitude to Abigail, David invokes God's blessing on her, thereby acknowledging both God's hand and her as an instrument of God. This is perhaps the best way to go about acknowledging people for what they (by the grace of God) do.
2 Sam 9: David shows kindness to Mephibosheth because he is Jonathan's son. In response, "he paid homage and said, 'What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?'” (v.8) Again, the paying homage and the words are a way of saying thank you or of acknowledging David for his kindness.
1 Kings 1:30-31 David informs Bathsheba that he will make good on his promise to her that Solomon her son will be king after him. Her response: "Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, 'May my lord King David live forever!' Again, context plus words make me read this as an act of thanksgiving.
(please see part 2 in next comment)
pt2
So, it seems there is Biblical evidence for thanking people for what they do. And I think there's also Biblical principle for thanking people.
1) We're commanded to honor one another (1 Peter 2.17), and to give honor to whom honor is due (Rom 13.7). I think thanking people is definitely one way of honoring them for the kindness they've rendered to us.
2) We, like the Bible, need to be able to acknowledge both God's sovereignty and human agency. And there are definitely ways to do that without sacrificing either.
Way forward?
Probably the best way to thank people is modeled by David in his reaction to Abigail's wisdom: he blessed her. So perhaps we should say "God bless you for xyz" instead of just "thank you." That seems to be a non-awkward and Biblical way to acknowledge both God and man as we respond to a kindness done to us.
On the other side, if we really are concerned about God getting the glory for all our good deeds, we can make sure that when others thank us, we do what Boaz did and deflect the praise to God. Ruth bowed to Boaz and marveled at his generosity towards her, but he basically said, "Look, it is God showing you kindness; it is under God's wings that you've come for refuge." So instead of just saying, "You're welcome" when someone thanks us, perhaps we should say, "Thank God."
I think this should actually be our main concern, how to make sure we are giving glory to God when we are praised and guarding our own hearts against presumption and glory stealing. We probably shouldn't focus as much on keeping others from pride by not saying "thank you." (This is often one reason why people [especially in reformed circles] may hesitate to thank people directly. Carson talks about this in his book Spiritual Reformation.)
Anyway, this is coming a bit late, but for whatever it's worth...
Grace,
Wow! That was shocking. I didn't expect it. That is a perspective I have NEVER heard before and I would like to pray through it.
I think that you are right in that we praise man too much and God not enough. It does make sense that in our self-esteem saturated society, we would give too much thanks to man.
I am trying to figure out how this would play out in the nitty-gritty parts of our lives though. I was a nanny for a year and, I admit, I taught the toddlers to say thank you from the time they could barely pronounce words. I can still hear a cute little voice say, "Da doo daddi." Translation: "Thank you, Kassie." That's what every "good" childcare provider would teach right? Okay, maybe not. Maybe it would be better to teach them to say, "Thank You God" for each cup of water.
BUT what about those silly small things that Robyn said we American's thank people for? The waitress at a restaurant when she brings the bill-should we really say, "I thank God for you?" Or when my professor hands back a graded paper, should I answer the same? And if we were to say, "I thank God for you," every time we feel the desire to say thank you, will the beautiful name of God become so common place that it will roll off our lips without reverence? How many of our "thank yous" are common cultural courtesies and how many are true praise?
I admit, when you help me with Greek I ought to say, "I thank God for your help." Last week after my Pastor's sermon, instead of thanking him I ought to have said, "I thank God for your sermons." But my gratitude in these things are FAR greater than the thank yous of common courtesy.
I thank God that you wrote this Dieudonne. I have much to pray about. :)
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