Charles Ellicott Commentary Ephesians 5:20

"giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;" — Ephesians 5:20 (ASV)

Giving thanks always for all things.—This disposition of universal and pervading thankfulness is emphasized in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 5:18) as inseparably united with unceasing joy and prayer (Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.).

Since thanksgiving is for what God has given us, and prayer for what we still need, both must be united in our imperfect condition here. In Colossians 3:17 it is associated with action in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here it is dealt with alone, as the basis of the praises, public and private, corporate and individual, described above. In regard to the former, St. Paul marks thanksgiving as the fundamental and invariable element of all Christian worship, clothing itself naturally in all variety of music. In regard to the latter, he describes the habitual spirit of thankfulness, prevailing alike in joy and sorrow, undisturbed even by a penitent sense of sin, as the inner music of all Christian life.

To God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.—Both these expressions are emphatic. To all consciousness of God belong fear and reverence; to the belief in Him as our Father (Galatians 4:4–6) specially belong love and thanksgiving. But it is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—that is, as identified in perfect unity with Him—that we have the adoption to sonship which is the ground of such thanksgiving. So also in the same unity (John 15:16; John 16:23–24) we have the ground of perfect confidence in prayer.