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1Ti_4:5 serves to elucidate the thought expressed in 1Ti_4:4, that every meat taken with thanksgiving is good, and not to be rejected.
Ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου Θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως ] ἁγιάζειν is not “declare to be clean and permissible,” but “make something holy.” In itself the meat is not something holy, for, as a purely material thing, it can be called neither holy nor unholy (so also van Oosterzee). It is less suitable to say, with Wiesinger, that “the κτίσις being burdened with a curse, is subject to ματαιότης and the δουλεία τῆς φθορᾶς ;” but it is made holy for those who enjoy it by the λόγος Θεοῦ . Wahl and Leo take Θεοῦ to be the objective genitive, and interpret it as “oratio ad Deum facta,” which makes the expression synonymous with ἔντευξις following it; but λόγος Θεοῦ never occurs in this sense. Other expositors have supposed that reference is made to some particular passage of the Scriptures, either to Gen_1:31 or Act_10:15; but de Wette rightly remarks that the words in that case go quite beyond 1Ti_4:4, and touch on the question whether certain meats are clean or unclean. For the same reason, λόγος Θεοῦ cannot mean generally “the expressions of the divine doctrine, the principles of Christianity” (Heydenreich). Since the expression points back to μετὰ εὐχαριστίας in 1Ti_4:4, and is closely connected with ἔντευξις , it can only mean the word of God occurring in the prayer of thanksgiving (de Wette, Wiesinger, van Oosterzee), either in this sense, that the word of thanks itself is called the Word of God, inasmuch as it is the expression of God’s indwelling Spirit, or because the prayer is supposed to consist of the words of Scripture.[156]
Regarding ἜΝΤΕΥΞΙς , see 1Ti_2:1.
[156] In the Apostolic Constitutions, vii. 49, there stands the following grace before meat: εὐλογητὸς εἶ , Κύριε , ὁ τρέφων μὲ ἐκ νεότητός μου , ὁ διδοὺς τροφὴν πάσῃ σαρκί , πλήρωσον χαρᾶς καὶ εὐφροσύνης τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν , ἵνα πάντοτε πᾶσαν αὐτάρκειαν ἔχοντες , περισσεύωμεν εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἐν Χρ . Ἰησοῦ , τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν , διʼ οὗ σοὶ δόξα , τιμὴ καὶ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας , ἀμήν .