Thank God! What is clear in the vernacular often seems somewhat confused in the prayers of Christians. In the New Testament, however, thanks are given again and again. And that is formulated in a decidedly clear manner.
“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, as your faith is proclaimed throughout the world”
Rom 1:8
Paul gives thanks to God for the Romans. For the letter recipients, this is already an encouragement. The apostle gives thanks through Jesus Christ. This is the addition, the specification. It is also an indication of the reason for his gratitude. For he does not give thanks to God “across the board,” but he gives thanks to God for a specific occasion. We will come to this occasion later.
Who do we address in prayer?
Let’s stand still for a moment with what Paul is saying here. He gives thanks to God. He does not thank the Romans and he also does not thank Jesus. Today we live in a time in which this is not at all clear. Sometimes thanks are given to Jesus (very popular) or even to God’s Spirit (charismatic). It is just strange that we do not find this anywhere back in the New Testament. Nowhere is Jesus or the Holy Spirit thanked in prayer. It seems that there is a discrepancy between the practice of faith and its foundation (the Bible).
What the Bible says can be checked quite easily if we look up the word for “give thanks” (Gr. eucharisteo) anywhere. Insofar as it is a prayer, it becomes clear as day that thanks are given exclusively to God. And that is God as distinct from Jesus Christ, as it says “First I thank my God (1) through Jesus Christ (2)”.
This connection is also mentioned elsewhere:
“I wretched man! Who will save me from this body of death?- I
thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord!”
Rom 7:25
“And do not become intoxicated with wine, wherein is dissipation, but become full of the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord with your heart!
Give thanks always for everything to God and Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!”
Eph 5:18-20
“And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Col 3:17
If thanks are due to God, we thank God for what He has wrought in and through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus Paul writes to the Corinthians:
“I thank my God always for your sake for the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus.”
1Cor 1,4
It is the grace of God given to us in Christ Jesus. God’s grace has been realized through His Son. Through Jesus Christ, God has realized His salvation. But it is given to us. This brings us to the heart of the gospel: God works through Christ and that is the good news. So it is not that I work, but that God works, that is good news. For this Paul gives thanks. When I acknowledge and affirm what God has done for me in and through Christ, I can join in Paul’s prayer, “First, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ…”.
God at the center
The doctrine of the Trinity distracts from God. That is why in Christian congregations people sometimes give thanks to God, sometimes to Jesus, or even to the Holy Spirit. The confusion is complete. So you no longer give glory to God alone – as described in the Bible – but also to God’s Son or God’s Spirit. Because this is in accordance with the dogmas. Paul, on the other hand, always directs our gaze to God Himself. It is about Him. It works. It is about His righteousness that comes through His Son. Accordingly, his thanks.
A little further on in the first chapter of Romans this is brought home to us when Paul writes:
“For I am ashamed
of the gospel
not, it is God’s power for salvation to every believer, both Jew first and Greek. Because God’s righteousness is revealed in it.”
Rom 1:16-17
That is the amazing thing, that the Gospel is not about us, not about what we are to bring about, but the Gospel speaks of God Himself and of His justice . It says that God’s righteousness is revealed in it. This is not about a despot who demands justice from us, but about a God who has already brought about His justice and wants to give it to us. It is not about a demand of justice and an impending future judgment, but about an already achieved justice on the cross. It was through Jesus Christ that His righteousness was realized. The cross and resurrection are God’s language of righteousness, and love was His motive.
Therefore, Paul gives thanks to God, and he does so through Jesus Christ. There is no other order or other thanks. That is his focus and clear statement. We can give thanks by gratefully accepting God’s ways of righteousness, just as Paul does for the church in Rome.
Jesus Christ
When Paul gives thanks to God “through Jesus Christ,” this is an affirmation of God’s way of salvation. That is already included in this addition. “Jesus” is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew “Yeshuah.” Christ is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew “Messiah.” If we read this name entirely in Hebrew, it says “Yeshuah HaMashiach” (Jesus the Messiah).
Yeshuah we also know as Joshua. And the story of Joshua went as follows: Joshua, who was a servant of Moses from a young age, was not called Joshua at first, but Hosea. It was Moses who gave Hosea a new name. Before Moses sent the 12 scouts to the land of Canaan, “And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua” (Num. 13:16). The Hebrew Hosea means “savior”. Joshua, however, means “YHWH Savior,” that is, God is Savior.
Before Jesus was born, an angel came to Joseph who promised him:
“But while he was considering these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife to yourself.’ For that which is begotten in it is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bear a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus
name,
for he will save his people
from their sins.”
Mt 1,20-21
Jesus is called “YWHW saves” because that was the purpose of His birth. Mary also received a visit from an angel:
“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary. For you have found favor with God. And behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. This one will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end to his kingship.”
Lk 1:30-33
Later, when the child Jesus first came to the temple with his parents, there was an old Jewish man, Simeon. This encounter is reported:
“And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, named Simeon; and this man was righteous and godly, and waited for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And he had been given a divine promise by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until he had seen the Christ of the Lord have seen. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do with him according to the custom of the law, he also took him in his arms, and praised God, saying, Now, Lord, dismiss thy servant according to thy word in peace; for
My eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light for the revelation to the nations and for the glory of your people Israel.”
Lk 2:25-32
Thus we read of Jesus the Christ, or “Jesus Christ.” Paul gives thanks to God “through Jesus Christ,” namely through this Savior promised by God. It is to Him that the apostle refers. Elsewhere he gives thanks “in the name of Jesus Christ,” which refers back to the same facts, the same authority.
Thank God
God is One. This is simple and it is clearly testified in the Bible. He is not two and not three, nor four. That is why He is thanked. God, that is the Father (1Cor 8,6). It is therefore strange that one almost never hears this in a Christian environment. The understanding that God is One has been lost. It is veiled by a trinity. The blind assumption of a Trinity, which the Bible nowhere speaks of, consequently leads to doing and believing things that are also nowhere in the Bible. This is seen, for example, in prayer and thanksgiving. But insofar as the Bible is the only document of faith upon which we can base the gospel and our faith, perhaps we would do well to take the Bible seriously. Thank God we have the Bible.
Of course, this is not a matter of quibbling over words. And if someone insists on doing it differently, God is greater than all our understanding. Thank God.
Our privilege in reading the Bible is to get to know Him. There is encounter in it, and ever new discoveries may lead to ever more thanks. Thank God.
