1 Timothy 4:5

for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.

Sanctified ... or "consecrated ..." Ward pointed out the value of this verse in another connection:

Paul says the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife (1 Corinthians 7:14). It cannot mean that the husband is saved because he has a Christian wife. But what does it mean? ... He is not to be regarded as unclean, and therefore divorced; he can continue to be the husband of a Christian.[15]

Spence noted that quotations, or allusions, founded upon the Bible often made up a portion of thanksgiving at meals in the Christian community, citing a very old form of the practice from the Apostolic Constitutions, thus:

Blessed be Thou, O Lord, who nourishes men from their youth up, and who givest meat to all flesh; fill our hearts with joy and gladness, so that we, always enjoying a sufficiency, may abound unto every good work in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be ascribed the glory, honour and power unto the ages. Amen.[16]

In this connection, Gould also pointed out the "table thanks" common among Wesley and his preachers thus:

Be present at this table Lord;

Be here and everywhere adored;

These creatures bless, and grant that we

May Feast in Paradise with Thee."[17]

[15] Ronald A. Ward, op. cit., p. 70.

[16] H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 197.

[17] J. Glenn Gould, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. IX (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1965), p. 594.