What is the meaning and purpose of saying grace before a meal?

Scripture says that "every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." The current idea is that each meal needs to be prayed about, before it can properly be partaken of. But the contrary is the truth: it is sanctified by the fact of the new position in which the Christian stands. "All things are yours … the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours" (1 Cor. 3:22). The action on our part which scripture enjoins is not prayer but thanksgiving. "If it be received with thanksgiving" (1 Tim. 4:4). It is "created to be received with thanksgiving" (1 Tim. 4:3). Thus the Christian's meal-table becomes an altar of praise; the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. How different from the dead formula which some of us have had to listen to with pain: "Sanctify, we beseech thee, O Lord, this food to our use, and us to Thy service, for Christ's sake. Amen." Not a word here of thanks to the Giver of all good for His bounties spread upon the table before us; and the prayer which is made is out of place, it being that God would do something which He has already done, and for which He expects thanksgiving or praise from loving hearts which know Him.

And even where formulas have long been laid aside, one has often to hear what is really only an expansion of the gloomy one just quoted prayer about the food, about ourselves, about our service, but never a note of praise to our God for His creature-gifts! Prayer is very, very blessed, but so also in its place is praise not only does it re-act subjectively upon ourselves, but it glorifies God. "Whoso offereth praise (or, thanksgiving, marg.) glorifieth me" (Ps. 50:23). At a meal-table it is sometimes said, Will you ask a blessing? and the appropriate reply would be, "No; the food is already blessed; it is sanctified to our use; and for this food, thus already blessed, I will cheerfully give thanks."

1913 235 Why do so many Christians, on sitting down to meals, begin by praying? The appropriate thing on accepting a gift is to give thanks. The Christian recognises God as the giver of his food, and therefore should render thanks to Him. This indeed is consonant with scripture: "meats" are "created to be received with thanksgiving of them who believe and know the truth" (1 Tim. 4:3).

We will now refer briefly to the particular points of the query. (1) Some scriptures have been cited which afford guidance on the general subject. They undoubtedly show that thanksgiving at meals should be cultivated as a regular Christian habit. (2) It is true that all God’s gifts, such as fresh air and sunshine, should be acknowledged thankfully, but food is placed by God in a special category, and we are admonished not to overlook the giving of thanks for this mercy. (3) It is also true that the act of thanksgiving may be performed mechanically sometimes, but this is equally true of our prayers and Bible reading. A lapse into dry or dead formality does not provide an adequate excuse for occasionally abstaining altogether. It would be better to seek to overcome the tendency to legalism by recalling our direct indebtedness to God for the nourishment of our bodies.

It may be added that the above principles should be carried out in practice, not in a spirit of irksome bondage, but in the spirit of happy liberty ‘wherewith Christ hath made us free’ (Gal. 5:1). In one’s daily practice, problems are sure to arise, calling for individual exercise of heart and conscience. Food may be eaten under a variety of conditions, ranging perhaps from a glass of water or a biscuit or a bar of chocolate to a multi-course dinner. We may eat alone or in company, at home or at a public table, with fellow-believers or in the presence of unbelievers. One may say one’s own grace silently, or give thanks aloud for others. In all cases God looks at the heart and accepts the simple, real, earnest thanks rendered to Him. But where grace is said as a parade of piety, in a bold and conspicuous manner with the evident intention of being seen of men, it incurs the Lord’s condemnation of the hypocrites in their prayers (Matt. 6:5). Let us heed the words of the psalmist: ‘O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good … who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever’ (Ps. 136:1, 25).

When the redeemed people of Jehovah were settled in the good land of Canaan they were warned not to forget God who brought them there. In their worship of the one living and true God they were to be an example to all the nations around them that forget God. The Israelites might, and should, rejoice in every good thing the Lord their God gave them in the land flowing with milk and honey, but they were not to omit to bring the firstfruits to the Lord of all the earth, and worship before Him in grateful praise (Deut. 26:10–11). When they thus came before the Lord to ‘eat the fat, and drink the sweet’ (Neh. 8:10), the inspired words of thanksgiving for their lips would be: ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits … who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s’ (Ps. 103:1–5). Now it is the believer who is called to show an example to all men of what is due to God for all His benefits, receiving them with thanksgiving according to the word of the apostle regarding foods ‘which God hath created to be received [that is, eaten] with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth’ (1 Tim. 4:3).

The New Testament gives us the Lord’s own teaching and example. He taught His disciples to say, when they prayed, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’ (Matt. 6:11). He taught the poor of His little flock not to be over-anxious concerning what they should eat and what they should drink, because their heavenly Father knew they had need of all these things (vs. 31–32). The Lord Himself, at the outset of the meals He provided for the multitudes, blessed and gave thanks (Matt. 14:19; 15:36; Mark 6:41; 8:6; John 6:11). The importance of His public thanksgiving may be gathered from John’s subsequent reference to the miracle: ‘the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks’ (John 6:23). He emphasises, not the multiplication of the loaves which we think so wonderful, but the Lord’s giving of thanks at the beginning of the meal. There was blessing as well, as there was at the institution of the Lord’s supper (Matt. 26:26–27). But it must be noted that in no case does the Lord bless the bread (there is no ‘it’ after the verb in the original in Matthew 26:26; compare Mark 14:22). The Lord Jesus, as the obedient man, blessed God the giver, not the inanimate food.

Another instance is after the Lord’s resurrection. At the evening meal in Emmaus, He ‘took bread, and blessed’ (Luke 24:30). On this occasion the meal was private, not in public; in the house, not on the hillside; with perhaps only two beside the Lord present, not a great multitude. It is especially helpful to note this in connection with the query before us. The risen Lord gave thanks at a little cottage meal!

What do we learn from Paul? On board ship, during the storm he advised the passengers and crew to take some food after their protracted fast of a fortnight. Setting them an example in more ways than one, he ‘took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all’ (Acts 27:35). Writing of eating special foods on religious feast days, the apostle, in view of the believer’s liberty, says: ‘He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks’ (Rom. 14:6). Mark that thanks were given in both circumstances. Again, in another epistle, speaking of eating things sacrificed to idols, he says: ‘If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I spoken evil of for what I give thanks for?’ (1 Cor. 10:30). From these scriptures it appears that thanksgiving at meals was a recognised habit in apostolic days.

But in addition to this habit of general thanksgiving, we find that a meal is to be considered a particular occasion for the giving of thanks. In partaking of food for the support of our life we are, or should be, reminded of our great benefactor. Ignorance on our part of this obligation is inexcusable, because from the beginning God by special revelation, both before and after the fall, showed that vegetable and animal food alike are His gifts to man for his maintenance (Gen. 1:29–30; 9:3). He has never failed to send rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling men’s hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:17). What a perennial cause for thankfulness to Him! But, alas, it is recorded as a signal mark of men’s sinful departure from God and forgetfulness of His mercies that ‘they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful’ (Rom. 1:21). Thus, despising the riches of God’s goodness in the things of nature has been true of sinners from earliest times. This is deplorable, but it is still more so if found in the children of God.

Let us consider these things as they are presented to us in the Word that we may know how to use them. They are to be received with thanksgiving. We give thanks for good gifts, and we recognise in so doing that God is the giver of them. We learn that "every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (Jas. 1:17). As we enter into this, these mercies from His hand become the means of communion with Him.

God knows our needs. He is a faithful Creator and He remembers how He has fashioned us. He has given us bodies and they need to be nourished and He has provided meats for this. Every mouthful we eat declares our dependence upon God, and should humble us before Him, we could not live without His provision for our daily needs. The knowledge of this would preserve us from independence of God and unrestrained appetites and keep us thankful to Him every day of our lives.

Take it simply as it stands. I enjoyed my breakfast this morning, and I thanked God for it. A person may say he enjoys his food because he is hungry, that is eating like a pig eats; but if you thank God for it, it is another thing for then you enjoy it as given of God.

Hence the great apostle lays down that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God, and prayer (1 Tim. 4:4-5). The word here used goes, no doubt, beyond the ordinary word for prayer and implies that intercourse which is now open to us with God by redemption, and encourages us in all intercession because of the access we have into the grace wherein we stand. But it is thoroughly prayer to God in a way that is as full as it is free which His love sanctions, now that His righteousness is manifested, the word expressing what comes from Him, as prayer what goes up to Him, in the life of faith.

Here, again, the importance of fasting is in no way impaired by the thankful reception of daily bread. Rather do both things go together in every sound and godly mind. But the wiles of the devil were shown in availing himself of abstinence from food. Fasting is admirable in its own place and for special reasons from time to time as the grace of God may direct. Wholly opposed is the delusion of seducing spirits, which the legend-mongers turned into a law, as in the eschewing of marriage: "Because every creature of God is good and nothing to be rejected when received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified through God's word and intercession." Thus the ordinary prohibitions of the law disappear, for in this respect as in others the law made nothing perfect. The gospel, the full revelation of Christ, whilst it rises to the glory of God in the highest and stands in presence of the inscrutable depths of God's most holy judgment of sin in the cross, vindicates all the ways of God in creation as well as in providence. Hence the Christian, if not the Jew, can say that every creature of God is good and nothing to be rejected; but there is the proviso — "if received with thanksgiving." An ungrateful saint is an anomaly. The simplest believer cannot more than the most intelligent overlook the kindness as well as the wisdom of God, Who created all things and has Himself said, "I will in no wise fail thee; neither will I in anywise forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5).

But the apostle adds a reason which confirms the thanksgiving of the believer; "for it is sanctified through God's word and intercession." Thus is the use of every creature of God guarded. It is no mere indiscriminate licence; but as the restrictions of a law for a circumscribed people vanished before the light of the gospel, and the goodness of God was heard declaring that He had cleansed what Jewish prejudice would have to be common ("to the pure all things are pure"), so the receiver proved his faith in "God's word" by the answer of his "intercession." Not their will but His word sanctioned the use of every creature good for food; and their hearts, brought to know His grace in salvation, draw near in that free intercourse which is assured of, as it springs from, His love made known to us in Christ and His redemption. But it is an intercourse based on His grace, which takes in the least things as not too little for God, as it has learnt in Christ that the greatest things of God are not too great for His children.

The spiritual significance of this for us we must not ignore. For if anyone in Israel did not give God this first place of recognition, he was to be sentenced to death. The matter is no less serious for us, though God is not today requiring the sentence of death for an offender. Instead He has given us the instruction of 1 Timothy 4:4-5, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” Even animals unclean for Israel by the law's standards are for us perfectly fit for eating, for they are sanctified by the word of God and by the prayer of thanksgiving on the part of the eater. If one does not thank God for his food, he has no proper right to eat at all. For every creature is the property of God, and in receiving it we ought to recognize His rights first of all.