Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme (New Studies in Biblical Theology, vol. 13 | NSBT)

by David W. Pao

Publishers:

Apollos; IVP

, 2002

Overview

“Be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). This is a recurring exhortation in the letters of the apostle Paul. No other New Testament writer gives such a sustained emphasis on thanksgiving—and yet, major modern studies of Paul fail to wrestle with it.

David Pao aims to rehabilitate this theme by showing how, for Paul, thanksgiving is grounded in the covenantal traditions of salvation history. He states that to offer thanks to God is to live a life of worship and to anticipate the future acts of God, all in submission to the lordship of Christ. He makes a claim that ingratitude to God is idolatry. He shows a link between theology, including eschatology, and ethics. Here he provides clear insights into the passion of an apostle who never fails to insist on the significance of both the gospel message and the response this message demands.

Key Features

• Contains scholarly and accessible volumes written by well-respected Biblical scholars
• Includes notes that interact with the best of recent research and significant literature
• Engages the immense challenges facing today’s church
• Offers new insights and challenges established positions
• Encourages Christians to better understand their Bibles through biblical theology

Contents

• Thanksgiving as God-Centeredness
• Thanksgivng within the Covenantal Traditions
• Thanksgivng and Covenantal History
• A Life of Thanksgiving
• Thanksgivng and the Future
• Ingratitude

Top Highlights

“More importantly, thanksgiving is not simply a reaction to random acts of kindness, it is a way to affirm the supremacy of God the Creator and the mighty acts he has done on our behalf.” (Page 25)

“The response, however, is more profound than simply noting the reception of favours. One of the prominent ways to express thanks to God for what he has done for his people is to offer him praise.” (Page 25)

“More significant is the fact that only in Paul does one find a call to be thankful.^{3” (Page 15)}

“further notes that praise and thanksgiving ‘have a symbiotic relationship’ in that ‘one cannot live without the other” (Page 26)

“focus on the heart of Pauline thanksgiving: God-centredness.” (Page 21)

Praise for the Print Edition

Very few treatments of this theme in Paul comprehensively reflect on the theology of thanksgiving and how such theology is deeply embedded in Paul’s thought, and in the gospel itself. 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 occasion for self-examination, repentance and a new resolve to be thankful.

—D.A. Carson, research professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Product Details

• Title: Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme
• Author: David W. Pao
• Series: New Studies in Biblical Theology
• Volume: 13
• Publishers: Apollos, IVP
• Print Publication Date: 2002
• Logos Release Date: 2015
• Pages: 212
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul › Theology; Bible. N.T. Epistles of Paul › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Gratitude › Biblical teaching
• ISBNs: 0851112722, 0830826130, 9780851112725, 9780830826131
• Resource ID: LLS:NSBT13
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:53:49Z

About David W. Pao

David W. Pao received his PhD from Harvard University, and is a professor of New Testament and chair of the New Testament Department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus, Thanksgiving: An Investigation of a Pauline Theme, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, and coeditor of Early Christian Voices: In Texts, Traditions, and Symbols and After Imperialism: Christian Identity in China and the Global Evangelical Movement.