Thanksgiving : An Investigation of a Pauline Theme

217 Pages·2002·1.736 MB·English

by  David W. Pao

NEW STUDIES IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY 13
Thanksgiving
Titles in this series:
1 Possessed by God,David Peterson
2 God’s Unfaithful Wife,Raymond C.Ortland Jr
3 Jesus and the Logic of History,Paul W.Barnett
4 Hear,My Son,Daniel J.Estes
5 Original Sin,Henri Blocher
6 Now Choose Life,J.Gary Millar
7 Neither Poverty nor Riches,Craig L.Blomberg
8 Slave of Christ,Murray J.Harris
9 Christ,our Righteousness,Mark A.Seifrid
10 Five Festal Garments,Barry G.Webb
11 Salvation to the Ends of the Earth,Andreas J.Köstenberger
and Peter T.O’Brien
12 Now My Eyes Have Seen You,Robert S.Fyall
13 Thanksgiving,David W.Pao
NEW STUDIES IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY 13
Series editor:D.A.Carson
Thanksgiving
AN INVESTIGATION OF A
PAULINE THEME
David W. Pao
InterVarsity Press, USA
P.O. Box 1400
Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426, USA
Website: www.ivpress.com
Email: [email protected]
© David W. Pao 2002
David W. Pao has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified
as Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
InterVarsity Press®, USA, is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®
<www.intervarsity.org> and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New
International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission
of Hodder & Stoughton, a division of Hodder Headline Ltd. All rights reserved. niv is a registered
trademark of International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790.
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ISBN 978-0-8308-7142-1 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-2613-1 (print)
Contents
Series preface 7
Author’s preface 9
Abbreviations 11
1 Thanksgiving as God-centredness 15
Source and traditions 16
Epistolary thanksgiving 17
A cross-cultural examination 19
To say ‘Thanks’ 21
Thanksgiving and worship 25
Thanksgiving as God-centredness 33
2 Thanksgiving within the covenantal traditions 39
God and his people 39
The past in covenantal traditions 42
The present in covenantal traditions 44
The future in covenantal traditions 45
Paul and the covenantal traditions 47
Thanksgiving and the covenantal traditions 53
3 Thanksgiving and covenantal history 59
Thanksgiving as remembrance 59
Remembrance as a covenantal act 60
Confessing the mighty acts of God 64
Climax of history 69
‘Do this in remembrance of me’ 71
The Pauline gospel 74
Divine acts through human agency 78
Grace and thanksgiving 81
4 A life of thanksgiving 86
To walk in him 86
Anti-idol polemic 91
Thanksgiving offering 98
In all circumstances 103
Redefinition of the structure of authority 108
Covenantal relationship 116
5 Thanksgiving and the future 119
Faithful and powerful God 119
Bridging the past and the future 126
Future as grounds for thanksgiving 131
In light of the future 139
6 Ingratitude 145
Rejection of the mighty acts of God 145
Forgetting their Lord and worshipping idols 149
‘Do not grumble,as some of them did’ 153
‘They neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks
to him’ 159
‘Lovers of themselves’ 162
Appendix:Pauline thanksgiving and the Greco-Roman
benefactionsystem 165
The Greco-Roman patron-client network 165
Gratitude in the patron-client relationship 168
Pauline thanksgiving and the patronage model 170
Bibliography 174
Index of modern authors 197
Index of biblical references and ancient sources 201
Index of subjects 211
Praise for Thanksgiving 213
About the Author 214
More Titles from InterVarsity Press 215
Series preface
New Studies in Biblical Theology is a series of monographs that
address key issues in the discipline ofbiblical theology.Contributions
to the series focus on one or more of three areas: 1. the nature and
status of biblical theology, including its relations with other disci-
plines (e.g.historical theology,exegesis,systematic theology,histori-
cal criticism, narrative theology); 2. the articulation and exposition
of the structure of thought of a particular biblical writer or corpus;
and 3.the delineation ofa biblical theme across all or part ofthe bib-
lical corpora.
Aboveall,thesemonographsarecreativeattemptstohelpthink-
ing Christians understand their Bibles better. The series aims
simultaneouslytoinstructandtoedify,tointeractwiththecurrent
literature, and to point the way ahead. In God’s universe, mind
and heart should not be divorced: in this series we will try not to
separate what God has joined together. While the notes interact
with the best of the scholarly literature, the text is uncluttered
with untransliterated Greek and Hebrew, and tries to avoid too
much technical jargon. The volumes are written within the frame-
work of confessional evangelicalism, but there is always an
attempt at thoughtful engagement with the sweep of the relevant
literature.
In a day with more than its share ofwhining,self-pity,lawsuits and
dissatisfaction, this volume by my colleague Dr David Pao has a
prophetic element to it. Numerous studies have treated Paul’s
‘thanksgiving’sections – exploring parallels in first-century literature,
noting their ties to broader themes in the corpus of Paul’s writings,
and teasing out their rhetorical devices. But very few treatments of
this theme in Paul comprehensively reflect on the theology ofthanks-
giving,and how such theology is deeply embedded in Paul’s thought
and in the gospel itself.Dr Pao supplies the lack,and does so in a way
that is both informed and edifying.His study is not only the stuff of
biblical theology and grist for many sermons,but will prove to be the
7
THANKSGIVING
occasion for self-examination, repentance and a new resolve to be
thankful.
D.A.Carson
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
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