# Receiving a gift without exhausting it

Commentary on Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

On [CH04.P034](https://glosses.org/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH04.P034/#char=1069,1143): "we should thank God for beer and Burgundy by not drinking too much of them"

The thanks takes the form of a limit upon enjoyment. Beer and Burgundy remain good things; restraint expresses recognition that their goodness does not make every use of them good. This compresses the chapter's earlier ‘Doctrine of Conditional Joy’ into an everyday example.

Two New Testament passages illuminate the combination. First Timothy 4:3–5 opposes the prohibition of marriage and foods by affirming that God's creatures may be received with thanksgiving. Ephesians 5:18–20 prohibits drunkenness and then turns to song and continual thanksgiving. Together they provide a biblical comparison for enjoying creation gratefully while refusing excess. Neither passage says that temperance purchases the gift, and Chesterton's formulation need not mean that: the restraint acknowledges what has already been given. [King James Version, 1 Timothy 4:3–5 and Ephesians 5:18–20](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10).

These are parallels rather than identified quotations. In particular, First Timothy concerns a prohibition of foods, not specifically beer or wine, while Ephesians supplies the direct injunction concerning wine. The inspected witness is Project Gutenberg's electronic King James Version, ebook 10 (updated 2024); the English translation was first published in 1611. This comparison does not establish which Bible Chesterton had before him, or that he consciously combined these verses.

## Sources

- [The King James Version of the Bible](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10), 1 Timothy 4:3–5; Ephesians 5:18–20; ebook release/update notice

Revision 1 · 2026-11-07 · https://glosses.org/a/a_ixpiihys/