Since this is Thanksgiving Day I thought I would do a little word study on "thanks."
In the Greek the verb thanks is eucharisteo; and it means to be thankful: —gave thanks(2), give thanks(9), given thanks(7), gives thanks(2), giving thanks(7), thank(9), thanked(1), thank s(1). These are the NASB translation of this word within the New Testament and how many times it occurs in this verb form.
Then I started to look at the verb "thanks" in the epistles of the apostle Paul and here is what I found.
Rom. 1:8 ¶ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.
Rom. 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom. 14:6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.
Rom. 16:4 who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles;
1Cor. 1:4 ¶ I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,
1Cor. 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
1Cor. 10:30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?
1Cor. 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1Cor. 14:17 For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.
1Cor. 14:18 I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all;
2Cor. 1:11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.
Eph. 1:16 do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers;
Eph. 5:20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
Phil. 1:3 ¶ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
Col. 1:3 ¶ We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
Col. 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Col. 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
1Th. 1:2 ¶ We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;
1Th. 2:13 ¶ For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
1Th. 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
2Th. 1:3 ¶ We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater;
2Th. 2:13 ¶ But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
Philem. 4 ¶ I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,
There are 23 verses in which this verb appears in the epistles of the apostle Paul.
In Summary:
78% of the time the word "thanks" that Paul uses is a specific "thanks" to God Himself. While the remaining 22% is Paul's "thanks" to others.
Application to consider:
Are we living the Christian life that we say we have become in thanking God for all things? Yes even things like cancer, rebellious children, hard marriages, physical ailments, financial hardships and even when a small church closes its doors.
Brothers and sisters we have so much to be thankful for but more important is a God that we can be thankful to! Why not today start out by giving thanks!
