THAT
EACH OF YOU KNOW HOW TO POSSESS HIS OWN VESSEL: eidenai (RAN) hekaston humon
to heautou skeuos ktasthai (PMN): (Romans 6:19; 12:1;
1 Corinthians 6:15,18, 19, 20) (1Samuel 21:5; Acts 9:15; Romans 9:21,
22, 23; 2Timothy 2:20,21; 1Peter 3:7) (Philippians 4:8; Hebrews 13:4)
Note:
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1Thessalonians 4 can be divided
as follows...
1Thes 4:1-2
= General Call to a God Pleasing Walk
1Thes 4:3-12 = Specific Aspects of God Pleasing Walk
1Thes 4:3-8
= Sanctification in Area of Sexual Purity
1Thes 4:9-12 = Sanctification in Area of Love and Work
1Thes 4:13-18 = Hope for
Grieving Saints
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Vessel is translated in one of
two ways - body or wife...
That each one of you should know how
to possess (control, manage) his own body in consecration
(purity, separated from things profane) and honor (Amplified)
that each one of you know how to
possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor
(ASV)
So that every one of you may keep
his body holy and in honour (BBE)
that each one of you know how
to control his own body in holiness and honor (ESV)
Each of you men should know how to
live with his wife in a holy and honourable way, (GNT)
That every one of you should know how
to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour (KJV)
that each of you know how to acquire
a wife for himself in holiness and honor (NAB)
every one of you must learn to gain
mastery over his body, to hallow and honor it (NEB)
and each one of you to know how to
control his body in a way that is holy and honourable, (NJB)
that each of you know how to possess
his own body in holiness and honor (NET)
that each of you should learn to
control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, (NIV)
Then each of you will control his own
body and live in holiness and honor (NLT)
that each one of you know how to
control your own body [how to take a wife for himself] in
holiness and honor, (NRSV)
That ye should know, each one of
you, how, of his own vessel, to possess himself in
sanctification and honour: (Rotherman)
learn how to take a wife for
himself in holiness and honor (RSV)
so that each of you will marry in
holiness and honor (TLB)
Each of you must learn to control his
own body, as something holy and held in honour (UBS)
that each man among you shall know
how to procure a wife who shall be his own in purity and honour
(Weymouth)
Stedman comments on the RSV
writing...
I am sorry that the RSV, which is
normally an excellent translation, does not include the margin reading
("how to control his own body") in the text because it is more accurate.
The reason for this disparity is because neither the word "wife"
nor the word "body" appears in the Greek text. "Vessel" is
the word that is used there: "that you may know how to handle your
vessel in holiness and honor." People differ as to what Paul meant by
"vessel." It may be that it means a wife, although I doubt that.
It is clear from the context that he is talking about our
bodies. They are the vessel, as he tells the Corinthians, "the
temple of the Holy Spirit," {1 Cor 6:19a RSV}.
But learning how to handle our
bodies properly is not always easy. God gave our bodies to us. We
did not design them ourselves. We would probably change a lot of things
if it were up to us to invent or even rearrange our bodies. Included in
the gift of our bodies is a remarkable capacity to churn out certain
hormones that pour into the bloodstream. Those hormones have a profound
effect upon the way our bodies function. At puberty, new hormones pour
into the bloodstream and we experience sexual changes, along with which
come very powerful drives that urge us, and almost seem to compel us, to
certain sexual activities. Society tells us that those urges that boys
and girls feel in their bodies are natural and therefore ought to be
satisfied whenever opportunity affords. They argue that the sexual
appetite should be satisfied just like the urge to hunger, thirst,
sleep, or any other natural function. By extension, this argument says
that there is nothing wrong with the fulfilling of sexual desires.
Now they are right in saying that sex is a natural function, but what
they are not saying, and what the Scriptures reveal, is that all natural
functions need certain degrees of control. Take hunger, for instance.
You do not eat anytime you feel like eating. You learn to restrict your
eating for certain reasons. If you do not want to put on too much
weight, or if you want to enjoy your meals better, you do not eat
between meals. Certain aspects and habits of control must be learned to
handle the hunger function. The same rules apply to sleep. You do not go
to sleep whenever you feel like it. (At least, I hope you do not, not
now.)...
But all of these functions must be
controlled. Control increases the enjoyment of a natural function. When
a flooding river is controlled by banks, its intensity is increased.
Many young people are discovering that in these days when the moral
restraints have been removed from sexual practices, that it results in a
kind of listless flood in which you wade continually with no enjoyment
whatsoever. But God has designed sex to be stimulating and arousing.
That is why marriage constitutes a kind of channeled control for sex.
There is ample provision made for the stream, but the limits increase
the intensity and enjoyment. That is what God has in mind as part of the
process of producing a whole person. Anything that tears down those
boundaries destroys the beauty of wholeness.
So Paul says that we are to learn how to control our bodies in holiness
-- wholeness -- and honor. Control contributes to that sense of
wholeness. You are in charge of your own body. You are not bound to it.
You are not a slave to it. (1Thessalonians
4:1-8: Sex Drive)
Each (1538) (hekastos from
hékas = separate) every single one. This idea
of separation or singling out is expressed still more strongly by heís
hékastos. This phrase (each of you) indicates that the demand being made
applies to each individual member of the church - no one gets a pass. The same moral
standards hold for all believers for all time.
Each of you
know how - As Richison quips "Avoiding sexual temptation requires
some “know how.” Each believer has the duty to learn to control
his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.
Eido/oida was often used to describe "know-how" or the possession
of knowledge necessary to accomplish a desired goal. In the present
context, this "know-how" of course comes from the
Word of God, including passages such as 1Thessalonians 4:1-8.
Know (1492)
(eido, oida - eido is used only in the
perfect tense
= oida) literally means perception by sight (perceive, see) as in Mt 2:2
where the wise men "saw His star". The meaning of eido is
somewhat difficult to convey but in general this type of "knowing" is
distinguished from ginosko (and epiginosko, epignosis), the other
major NT word for knowing, because ginosko refers to knowledge obtained
by experience or "experiential knowledge" whereas eido often
refers to more intuitive knowledge, although the distinction is not
always crystal clear.
Eido (oida) then is not so much by experience as an
intuitive insight that is "drilled into your heart". In spiritual terms,
eido is that perception, that being aware of, that understanding,
that intuitive knowledge that only the Holy Spirit of God can give. It
is an absolute knowledge, a knowledge that is without a doubt. Oida
describes absolute, positive, beyond a peradventure of a doubt,
knowledge.
Oida
suggests fullness of knowledge, rather than progress in knowledge, which
is expressed by ginosko, a distinction illustrated in John 8:55, (Jesus
said "you have not come to know {ginosko} Him, but I know
{oida} Him). Here Jesus says in essence "I know God perfectly (oida)".
In John 13:7 Jesus addresses Peter (Jesus answered and said to him,
"What I do you do not realize {oida} now, but you shall
understand {ginosko} hereafter.")
Know (oida) then
carries the idea of having the "know how" , the knowledge or skill
necessary to accomplish a desired goal. Every Christian needs
to know himself or herself well, so as to understand their
weaknesses and evil propensities and, thereby, know how to possess or
“gain mastery over” their own vessel.
Ro 6:19 I am speaking in human
terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented
your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in
further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to
righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
Possess (2932 ) (ktaomai) means to
get, procure, obtain or acquire something for oneself by purchase for a price
(Acts 1:18; 8:20; 22:28) or otherwise. To gain possession of.
In the present context Paul uses the
idiomatic phrase possess your vessel giving the idea of having control
of one's vessel or mastery over one's vessel. If this is indeed the
meaning of ktaomai in the present verse, it would make little sense if
the vessel was a wife - "each one of you know how to gain mastery over
your wife." Is she a tool? Is she an instrument or an implement? Many
hold this view and try to justify this interpretation by making a
parallel with skeuos in 1Peter 3:7 where Peter writes that "the woman is
the weaker vessel". However if the woman is the weaker
skeuos, the man therefore by comparative is a weak skeuos and
thus both of them are vessels in that passage. The Bible does not see
the man as the power and the woman as his tool as he might use for his
own gratification. She is not the vessel of the man, but instead they
are both the vessels of God. Also, note that the context is not
about marriage and wife but is about sexual immorality.
Hiebert explains that...
In classical Greek the verb rendered
"control" (ktaomai)
in the present tense meant "to procure for oneself, to acquire," and
only in the perfect tense did it have the meaning "to possess." But the
verb used here is
present tense.
Both ancient and modern commentators have believed this fact to be a
major difficulty in accepting the meaning of "body" for the noun
skeuos, literally "vessel." Since it would be quite
pointless to ask the readers to "acquire" their own bodies, it is held
that Paul must be referring to acquiring or procuring a wife, getting
married. But the use of the verb in the papyri indicates that in the
popular language of the day the meaning "to gain control over" was not
confined to the perfect tense; the present tense also took this meaning.
This relieves the major difficulty to the view that the body is meant.
In view of its papyrus usage, Moulton and Milligan suggest that in our
passage the verb very probably has the meaning "gradually obtain the
complete mastery of the body." This is in harmony with the fact that
attainment to the Christian moral standard involves a struggle that must
be won by persistent effort. (Hiebert,
D. Edmond: 1 & 2 Thessalonians: BMH Book. 1996)
In a secular use ktaomai means
to bring upon oneself ("I pray that they may not bring it (my
message) upon themselves as a witness {against them}") but there are no
NT uses with this nuance.
Here are the 7 uses in the NT...
Matthew 10:9 "Do not
acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts,
Luke 18:12 'I fast twice a
week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'
Luke 21:19 "By your endurance
you will gain your lives. (Comment: Sinful men
cannot acquire salvation by any merit of their own, but those who
patiently endure for Christ rather than renouncing Him will prove the
reality of their faith and in that sense "will acquire" their
salvation.)
Acts 1:18 (Now this man
acquired a field with the price of his wickedness; and falling
headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.
(Ktaomai here means to acquire or purchase for a price. Cp the two other
passages in Acts.)
Acts 8:20 But Peter said to
him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could
obtain (secure) the gift of God with money!
Acts 22:28 And the commander
answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of
money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen."
1 Thessalonians 4:4 that each
of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and
honor,
There are 76 uses of ktaomai in
the
Septuagint (LXX)
(Ge 4:1; 12:5; 25:10;
33:19; 36:6; 39:1; 46:6; 47:19, 20, 22, 23; 49:30; 50:13; Ex 15:16; 21:2;
Lev. 22:11; 25:14, 15, 28, 30, 44f, 50; 27:22, 24; Deut. 28:68; 32:6; Jos.
24:32; Ruth 4:4, 5, 8, 9, 10; 2Sa 12:3; 24:21, 24; 1Ki. 16:24; 2Ki. 12:12;
22:6; Neh. 5:8, 16; Ps. 74:2; 78:54; 139:13; Pr. 1:5, 14; 3:31; 16:22;
17:16, 21; 18:15; 19:8; 22:9; 31:29; Eccl. 2:7; Is 1:3; 26:13; 43:24;
57:13; Jer. 13:1, 2; 16:19; 19:1; 32:7, 8, 9, 15, 25, 43, 44; Ezek. 5:1; 7:12,
13;
8:3; Am 8:6; Zech 11:5) Here are some representative uses in the
Septuagint (LXX)...
Genesis 4:1 Now the man had
relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain,
and she said, "I have gotten (Lxx = ktaomai) a manchild with the help of
the LORD."
Ruth 4:5 Then Boaz said, "On
the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also
acquire (Lxx = ktaomai) Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the
deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his
inheritance."
Vessel (4632)(skeuos)
refers to a hollow vessel or container of any material used for a
specific purpose, with the meaning varying according to the context -
utensil, jar, dish, gear (e.g., translated an anchor in Acts 27:17 in
NAS).
Figuratively
skeuos is used of the human body as formed of clay thus frail and
feeble. Of a human being exercising a function, as one who is
chosen for specific divine service (Paul as an instrument in Acts 9:15).
Of the body as a "container" of the soul (2Cor 4:7). Of people as
vessels who would be recipients of either God's wrath or mercy (Ro 9:22
= the unregenerate lost men or Ro 9:23 referring to born again men).
The NET Bible has an
interesting note writing that...
Vessel is most likely used
figuratively for “body” (cf. 2 Cor 4:7). Some take it to mean “wife”
(thus, “to take a wife for himself” or “to live with his wife”), but
this is less likely. See J. Smith, ”1Thes 4:4 - Breaking the Impasse,”
BBR 10 (Fall 2000), who argues that “vessel” in this context is very
likely a euphemism for the sexual organs.
There are 226 uses of skeuos
in the LXX (most of them refer to literal vessels but some are
figurative)- Gen. 24:53; 27:3; 31:37; 45:20; Exod. 3:22; 11:2; 12:35;
22:7; 25:9, 39; 27:3; 30:27, 28; 31:8; 35:13, 14, 16, 22; 37:16; 38:3,
30; 39:32, 33, 36, 38, 40; 40:9, 10; Lev. 6:28; 8:10; 11:32, 33; 13:49,
52, 53, 57, 58, 59; 14:50; 15:4, 6, 12, 22, 23, 26; Nu 1:50; 3:8, 31,
36; 4:10, 12, 14, 15, 26, 32; 7:1, 85; 18:3; 19:15, 17, 18; 31:6, 20,
50, 51; 35:16, 18, 20, 22; Deut. 1:41; 22:5; Jos. 7:11; Jdg. 9:54;
18:11, 16; Ruth 2:9; 1 Sam. 6:8, 15; 8:12; 10:22; 13:20, 21; 14:1, 6, 7,
12ff, 17; 16:21; 17:54; 20:40; 21:5, 8; 25:13; 30:24; 31:4ff, 9f; 2 Sam.
1:27; 8:8, 10; 17:28; 18:15; 23:37; 24:22; 1 Ki. 6:7; 7:45, 48, 51; 8:4;
10:21, 25; 15:15; 19:21; 2 Ki. 4:3f, 6; 7:15; 11:8, 11; 12:13; 14:14;
20:13; 23:4; 24:13; 25:14, 16; 1 Chr. 9:28f; 10:4f, 9f; 11:39; 12:33,
37; 18:8, 10; 22:19; 23:26; 28:13; 2 Chr. 4:11, 16, 18f; 5:1, 5; 9:20,
24; 15:18; 20:25; 23:7; 24:14; 25:24; 28:24; 29:18f; 32:27; 36:7, 10,
18f; Ezr. 1:6f, 10f; 5:14f; 6:5; 7:19; 8:25ff, 30, 33; Neh. 10:39; 13:5,
8f; Job 28:17; Ps. 2:9; 7:13; 31:12; 71:22; Eccl. 9:18; Is 10:28; 39:2;
52:11; 54:16f; 65:4; Jer. 22:28; 27:16, 19; 28:3, 6; 46:19; 48:12;
49:29; 50:25; 51:20, 34; 52:18; Ezek. 9:1; 12:3f, 7; 15:3; 16:17, 39;
23:26; 27:13; 40:42; Dan. 1:2; 5:2f, 23; 11:8; Hos. 8:8 (refers to
Israel as "a useless vessel"); Ho 13:15; Jon.
1:5; Nah. 2:9; Zech. 11:15;
Here are the 22 NT uses of skeuos
translated as article(2), container(1), goods(2), instrument(1), jar(1),
object (3), property(2),sea anchor(1), vessel(4), vessels(6).
Matthew 12:29 "Or how can
anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property,
unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his
house.
Mark 3:27 "But no one can
enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he
first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
Mark 11:16 and He would not
permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.
Luke 8:16 "Now no one after
lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under
a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, in order that those who come in
may see the light.
Luke 17:31 "On that day, let
not the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the
house go down to take them away; and likewise let not the one who is in
the field turn back.
John 19:29 A jar full
of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour
wine upon a branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth.
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to
him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name
before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;
Acts 10:11 and he beheld the
sky opened up, and a certain object like a great sheet coming
down, lowered by four corners to the ground,
Acts 10:16 And this happened
three times; and immediately the object was taken up into the
sky.
Acts 11:5 "I was in the city
of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain object
coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and
it came right down to me,
Acts 27:17 And after they had
hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and
fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let
down the sea anchor, and so let themselves be driven along.
There are 23 uses of skeuos in
the NT Matt. 12:29; Mk. 3:27; 11:16; Lk. 8:16; 17:31; Jn. 19:29; Acts
9:15; 10:11, 16; 11:5; 27:17; Ro 9:21-note,
Ro 9:22-note,
Ro 9:23; 2Co 4:7; 1Th 4:4; 2Ti 2:20, 2Ti 2:21; Heb 9:21-note;
1Pe 3:7; The NAS translate skeuos as article(2),
container(1), goods(2), instrument(1), jar(1), object (3),
property(2),sea anchor(1), vessel(4), vessels(6).
Romans 9:21-note Or does not the
potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one
vessel for honorable use, and another for common use? 22-note What if
God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power
known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction? 23-note And He did so in order that He might make known the
riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared
beforehand for glory,
2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness
of the power may be of God and not from ourselves;
1 Thessalonians 4:4 that each
of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and
honor,
2 Timothy 2:20 (note) Now in a large
house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels
of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.
21 (note) Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will
be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared
for every good work.
Hebrews 9:21 (note) And in the same
way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the
ministry with the blood.
1 Peter 3:7 (note)
You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as
with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor
as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be
hindered.
Revelation 2:27 (note) and he shall
rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are
broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father;
Revelation 18:12 (note)
cargoes of
gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple
and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article
of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze
and iron and marble
The
meaning of
vessel in 1Thessalonians 4:3 has traditionally been interpreted
figuratively in one of two ways...
(1) The wife which one acquires.
Those who favor this interpretation make mention of a similar use in
Ruth 4:10 - In the this verse reads "Moreover, I have acquired Ruth
the Moabitess" which the Greek of the
Septuagint (LXX)
translates
as "ten gunaika... kektmai"= "the wife...I have
acquired" which is ktaomai, the same verb used here in 1Thes
4:4)
(2) The body
which one possesses. This
is the view which these notes favor. Recall however that if we are married, we are
one flesh
and in that sense what a husband does with his body affects his
wife.
BDAG
comments that...
1 Thessalonians 4:4 from antiquity
has been interpreted to mean one’s own body (Theodoret, Calvin,
Milligan, Schlatter, M Dibelius; Knox, NRSV) or one’s own wife
(Theodore of Mopsuestia, Schmiedel, Dobschütz, Frame, Oepke; Vogel,
RSV).
In favor of the interpretation as
one's body (the interpretation favored by this site) are the following points...
(1) The vessel in 1Pe 3:7 is used in
a comparative sense (“weaker vessel”) referring to vessel in terms of
general humanity not femaleness. The point is that if she is the
"weaker" vessel, by comparison he is the "weak" vessel, and thus both
are considered as vessels. F F Bruce adds that
There is no NT parallel for calling a
man's wife his skeuos, which implies (as Lightfoot says) a low sensual
view of the marriage relation' and 'depreciatory estimate of the woman's
position,' as though her raison detre were to provide a means by
which her husband might satisfy his sexual appetite without infringing
the divine law.'
(2) Being married does not guarantee
sexual purity. Furthermore, undoubtedly some of the believers he
addressed in Thessalonica were not yet married and yet they were still
faced with the temptation to sexual immorality in their culture where
"In those days... everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges
21:25)
(3) Paul would be contradicting
what he taught in 1Corinthians 7 about the superlative state of singleness (cf.
1Cor 7:8,9)...
1Cor 7:8 But I say to the unmarried
and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But
if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to
marry than to burn.
(4)
If taken in the sense of “acquiring a wife” Paul would be talking to men
only and ignoring how women were to stay pure and/or they were not
tempted to commit sexual immorality. Further, if "vessel" here means
wife, then Paul in this verse would he forbidding celibacy altogether.
Wiersbe comments " I prefer the first interpretation, for Paul
wrote to all Christians, not just the married ones."
(5) According to Michael Martin
(1, 2 Thessalonians. The New American Commentary Series: Broadman &
Holman Publishers, 1995) the use of skeuos or vessel to
describe one’s body is more common in Greek writings. Elsewhere Paul
never used skeuos to describe a wife but gune, “woman.” In
fairness it should be noted that Martin also states that skeuos is
used to describe a woman or wife more commonly in Jewish writings.
Hiebert adds that...
The view that Paul means the body is
consistent with a recognized New Testament usage of the term vessel.
Thus Paul speaks of having "this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Cor.
4:7, NASB), and in 2 Timothy 2:21 he refers to the man who purges
himself from impurity as being "a vessel for honor" ( NASB). And in Acts
9:15 God's directive to Ananias designated the newly converted Saul as
"a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles" (KJV).
The use of the word vessel as a reference to the body would be familiar
to Old Testament readers from 1 Samuel 21:5, "The vessels of the young
men were holy" (NASB). Paul's Greek readers would be quite
familiar with the thought of the body as the vessel or instrument of the
soul. If the reference is to the body, vv. 4 and 5 enjoin a fundamental
duty that applies to every believer, whether man or woman, married or
unmarried. We accept Paul's expression as a reference to one's own body.
(Ibid)
MacDonald writes...
If we allow the context to decide,
then vessel means the man’s wife. The teaching is that each man should
treat his wife honorably and decently, never stooping to any form of
marital unfaithfulness. This reinforces monogamy as God’s will for
mankind (see 1 Cor 7:2).
Matthew Henry writes...
Whereas the contrary will be a great
dishonour. And his reproach shall not be wiped away, Pr 6:33. The body
is here called the vessel of the soul, which dwells therein (so 1Sa
21:5), and it must be kept pure from defiling lusts. Every one should be
careful in this matter, as he values his own honour and will not be
contemptible on this account, that his inferior appetites and passions
gain not the ascendant, tyrannizing over his reason and conscience, and
enslaving the superior faculties of his soul. What can be more
dishonourable than for a rational soul to be enslaved by bodily
affections and brutal appetites?
Warren Wiersbe writes that...
Possess his vessel in 1
Thessalonians 4:4 probably means “control his body,” for our bodies are
the vessels of God (see 2Cor 4:7; see notes
2 Timothy 2:20;
21).
But it can also mean “learn to live with his own wife,” for the wife is
called “the weaker vessel” (see note
1 Peter 3:7).
I prefer the first interpretation, for Paul wrote to all Christians, not
just the married ones. The Christian who commits sexual sin is sinning
against his own body (1Cor. 6:19-20), and he is robbing God of the glory
He should receive through a believer’s way of life. This explains why
God gives such demanding requirements for spiritual leadership in the
church (1Ti 3). If spiritual leaders cannot rule in their own homes, how
can they lead the church? If we glorify God in our bodies, then we can
glorify Him in the body which is the church.
John Gill writes that...
Jewish writers (use the phrase)
the vessel of his body; so then, for a man to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honour, is to keep under his body and bring
it into subjection, and preserve it in purity and chastity; as the
eyes from unchaste looks, the tongue from unchaste words, and
the other members from unchaste actions; and to use it in
an honourable way, not in fornication, adultery, and sodomy; for, by
fornication, a man sins against his own body; and by adultery he gets a
wound, and a dishonour, and a reproach that will not be wiped away; and
by sodomy, and such like unnatural lusts, men dishonour their own bodies
between themselves: particularly by "his vessel", as Gataker thinks, may
be meant the "membrum virile", or the genital parts, which, by an
euphemism, may be so called; see 1Sa 21:5
Barnes writes that skeuos...
probably refers to the body.
When it is so used, it is either because the body is frail and
feeble, like an earthen vessel, easily broken 2Cor 4:7, or because it is
that which contains the soul, or in which the soul is lodged. Lucret.
Lib. iii. 441. The word vessel also (Greek skeuos) was used by
the latter Hebrews to denote a wife, as the vessel of her
husband. Schoettg. Hor. Heb. p. 827. Compare Wetstein in loc. Many, as
Augustine, Wetstein, Schoettgen, Koppe, Robinson (Lex.), and others,
have supposed that this is the reference here; compare 1Pe 3:7.
The word body, however,
accords more naturally with the usual signification of the word, and
as the apostle was giving directions to the whole church, embracing both
sexes, it is hardly probable that he confined his direction to those who
had wives. It was the duty of females, and of the unmarried among
the males, as well as of married men, to observe this command. The
injunction then is, that we should preserve the body pure; see the notes
on 1Cor 6:18-20. (Barnes NT Notes) (Bolding added)
In the area of sexual immorality,
where is the weakness - is it in the wife or is in the fallen
body that will one day be redeemed? Study the following cross
references that discuss the body and its relationship to
sanctification or holiness...
I am speaking in human terms because
of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as
slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness,
so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in
sanctification (hagiasmos).
(see note
Romans 6:19)
(Comment: The
flesh
is the human faculty
influenced by
Sin
(the Sin principle or propensity inherited from Adam),
and as long as believers remain in their mortal bodies,
Sin
still has a beachhead or a place to launch its attacks, in the present
context, those attacks that tempt us to commit sexual immorality in our
vessels or bodies.)
For I know that nothing good dwells
in me, that is, in my
flesh;
for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. (see
note
Romans 7:18)
(Comment: Here Paul is not using flesh of not literal physical or
material flesh, but the principle of
Sin
that expresses itself through one’s mind and body.)
for if you are living according to
the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death
the deeds of the body, you will live. (see note
Romans 8:13)
(Comment: Wuest writes that "The individual who lives
habitually under the dominion of the evil nature is an unsaved person.
That one is on the way to final death in the Lake of Fire. But the
person who by the Holy Spirit habitually puts to death the deeds of the
body, will live. That person is a saved person." As long we as
believers are in this earthly body, we will be subject to the
perils of the flesh and will need to keep putting the sins of the body
to death. Only in heaven will our need for practical or
progressive sanctification end. Until then, all believers are
admonished to put sin to death and to live in and for their new
Sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ)
And not only this, but also we
ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the
redemption of our body. (see note
Romans 8:23)
(Comment: Why do believers groan, a word that means with grief,
describing an internal squeezing of a person in distress. The pain we
feel now because we still live in bodies that harbor sin and are "prone
to wander", to still stumble and to grieve the Holy Spirit.
So our remaining sinfulness in these bodies is especially painful to
those who know that they have been shown great mercy and have manifold
grace to live victoriously for His glory.)
I urge you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of
worship. And do not be conformed (present
imperative with
negative = stop an action already in process) to this world, but be
transformed (present
imperative = as
your lifestyle, habitually, continually) by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect. (see notes
Romans 12:1;
12:2)
Do you not know that your bodies
are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and
make them members of a harlot? May it never be! (1Cor 6:15) (Comment:
Our spirituality and our sexuality are mysteriously intertwined for our
bodies are members of Christ Himself. When we become Christians, we're
joined in spirit with Jesus Christ. He comes to live in us, and whatever
we do with our body implicates our resident Lord Jesus. When a believer
commits immorality, he or she is dragging the union with Christ into the
illicit relationship! This should give any reasonable person pause to
consider his or her actions! D. S. Bailey describes sexual
intercourse as "an act which by reason of its very nature engages and
expresses the whole personality in such a way as to constitute a unique
mode of self-disclosure and self-commitment." There is no such thing
as casual sex or inconsequential sex or recreational sex.)
John MacArthur on the other
hand writes...
Paul was admonishing the
Thessalonians to control their bodies, the unredeemed human
flesh
that is the beachhead for sin
and immorality (cf. Ro 7:18; 8:5-8, 23). For that reason, Paul urged
believers to kill the flesh (cf. Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 7:1), live by the
Spirit (Ro 8:13), and dedicate their bodies to God and allow His Spirit
to renew their minds so that the body would not control them (Ro
12:1-2). As in today’s culture, the culture of Paul’s day operated
largely according to physical appetites and impulsive, superficial
emotions. (The words of the slogan “If it feels right, do it” are of
contemporary origin, but the philosophy they express is not.)
Keener comments that...
Vessel (KJV, NASB) was
commonly used as a metaphor for one’s “body” (NIV, NRSV) in Greek and
Diaspora Jewish literature; it was occasionally applied to one’s wife
(in some Jewish texts and, on one interpretation, in 1 Pet 3:7). It
probably means “body” here, although the matter is not beyond dispute.
(Keener, C. S., & InterVarsity Press. The IVP Bible Background
Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press)
Paul wrote...
Food is for the stomach, and the
stomach is for food; but God will do away with both of them. Yet the
body is not for immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the
body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up
through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of
Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them
members of a harlot? May it never be! (1Cor 6:13-15)
Commenting on 1Corinthians 6,
MacArthur notes...
The statement regarding “food” and
“the stomach” was likely a proverbial saying that called all physical
gratification natural and normal, and viewed sex, like eating, as purely
biological. Apparently some of the Corinthians used that analogy to
justify their sexual immorality. But sexual sin is not a servant; it is
a powerful master. Therefore, the apostle warned the Corinthians, as he
had the Thessalonians, that believers must not allow that sin to control
them. Instead, all Christians must know the importance of disciplining
their bodies so they will honor God (cf. 1 Cor. 9:27).
Leon Morris notes
A few early commentators like
Theodore of Mopsuestia and Augustine held that the word means wife
and a good number of modern writers follow them. The strongest argument
for this view appears to be that there are a few passages (Grimm-Thayer
cite two in the Septuagint and one in Xenophon) where the combination of
this noun and verb means “to marry.” This is said to be supported by the
reference to the wife as “the weaker vessel” in 1 Pet. 3:7. This latter
point must, however, be discounted, for the wife is not spoken of as the
husband’s “vessel” at all. Both are “vessels” of the Holy Ghost, the
wife being the weaker. Thus the passage does not really bear on our
problem. Among the Rabbis the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word here
is used of the wife, and this may have influenced Paul.
It is not easy to decide the point,
but it does seem to me that it would not be very natural for a Greek
writer to speak of a wife as a vessel. And in this case it would
be the less likely since Paul is inculcating a high view of marriage,
and it is a very low view that thinks of the wife as no more than a
vessel for gratifying the husband’s sexual desires. This … inclines me
to the view that “body” is meant. Paul then is exhorting his
Thessalonian friends to keep their bodies pure. (The First and Second
Epistles to the Thessalonians. The New International Commentary on the
New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989], 123–24)
John Piper
comments that...
The issue here is not just behavior
but also sexual desires that dominate your life in ways they should not.
For our day I think we could include here desires that lead to the use
of pornography, and desires that lead to a fantasy life and the
masturbation that is so often imbedded in it – for men and women.
I have reports on all hands that this issue is huge, and that the easy
access to internet pornography and cable TV is capturing many men and
women and making slaves out of them. The positive alternative to this is
described in verses 1, 3, and 7. Verse 1: "How you ought to walk and
please God." Verse 3: "This is the will of God, your sanctification [or
holiness]." Verse 7: "God has not called us for the purpose of impurity,
but in sanctification [or holiness]."
When God calls you to himself, he justifies you freely by faith in
Christ on the basis of Christ’s blood and righteousness, and he calls
you to a life of holiness, which in this context refers explicitly to
sexual purity. This is the practical fruit of justification by faith.
(1Thessalonians
4:1-8)
Paul made it crystal clear that in
order to control the body, believers must rely on the Holy
Spirit...
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not
carry out the desire of the flesh (Gal. 5:16)
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by
the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Gal 5:24,25)
in order that the requirement of the
Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh,
but according to the Spirit. (Ro 8:4)
The key to walking in the Spirit
is being filled with the Spirit
So then do not be foolish, but
understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with
wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit (Eph
5:17-18)
The key to continually being
filled with the Spirit is for believers to let God’s Word dwell
within them
Let the word of Christ richly dwell
within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your
hearts to God. (Col. 3:16)
Word Dwelling Within
v
Filled with Spirit
v
Walking in Spirit
IN SANCTIFICATION AND HONOR: en hagiasmo kai
time: (Philippians 4:8; Hebrews 13:4)
Every believer must learn how to
bring his body under full control, to gain continuous mastery over over
it in a way that is holy and honorable.
Character is revealed by what
you do in secret, when no one else is around to see.
In sanctification and honor -
Hiebert comments that...
These two terms are linked
together under one preposition. This mastery over the body is to be
achieved in the sphere of personal consecration, in the realization that
the body must be set apart for the service of God. Such a sanctifying
use of the body excludes sexual and other forms of impurity; the use of
the body in immoral ways dishonors and degrades the body (Ro 1:24-note).
To use the body as a sacred instrument devoted to the service of the
Lord is to give it true honor. (Ibid)
Sanctification (holiness) (38)
(hagiasmos see notes on
1Thessalonians 4:3) means to be set apart from sin to God, for the purpose of living a
pure and holy life.
Remember the historical context, which helps us understand why Paul
hones in on abstention from sexual immorality as so crucial to our
sanctification process. For example, Cicero, a leading Roman
politician and philosopher of the first century wrote
Mind you, if there is anyone who
thinks that young men ought not to visit prostitutes, he is certainly
narrow-minded (no doubt about it), and completely out of step with our
present liberal thinking. In fact, he has nothing in common with the
customs and behaviour of previous generations, who were quite
broadminded on the subject.
Another Roman author wrote
Provided you keep away from married
women, virgins, young innocents, and children of respectable families,
love anyone you want.
To
have sexual relations with a prostitute was so common in Corinth that
the practice came to be called ''Corinthianizing.'' Many believers had
formerly been involved in such immorality, and it was hard for them to
break with the old ways and easy to fall back into them. Houses of
prostitution were widespread in the Greco-Roman world and were generally
looked upon as a social necessity. The venerable Roman leader Cato
was supposed to have congratulated a young man he saw departing from a
brothel. When your sexual passions are strong, he told the young man, it
is better to have sex with a prostitute than another man’s wife.
Like much of 21st century paganism
that affirms that men’s and women’s sexual activity should be based upon
personal choice and inalienable rights and that argues that their
bodies (vessels) are their own private property, so also most
ancient pagans did not correlate the satisfaction of bodily sexual
appetites with a view of divine ownership of their bodies. For the most
part neither ancient religions nor ancient philosophies affirmed
anything like the Biblical view that the divine creation of mankind
(with its sensual appetites) placed mankind’s sexual expressions and
activities under divine authority and legislation. The Biblical view
simply stated is that mankind is, was, and will always be creation and
will never evolve into the status of the Creator. As such, the creations
of God are subject to God’s laws and his divine ordering of creation.
Humans are never wise enough or holy enough to guide their own steps.
Remember that Paul’s charge that
sexual immorality is unacceptable was addressed to those who had a
choice about the matter. Keep in mind that a large numbers of boys and
girls and men and women, especially those who were slaves, had little
choice about their sexual involvement.
The Roman author Seneca the Elder
once commented that...
Losing sexual purity was a crime if
you were a freeborn.
Losing sexual purity was a necessity
if you were a slave.
Losing sexual purity was a duty if
you were a freedman.
Regarding the continual need to
pursue sanctification the Puritan John Owen warned that sin
is never less quiet than when it
seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when
they are still. Satan is likely to attack when a believer is most
satisfied with his spiritual life. That is when pride, the chief of
sins, easily sneaks into our lives unnoticed and lead us to believe that
contentment with ourselves is contentment in God.
Ray
Stedman has the following comments on sanctification
writing...
I am sorry that the word
sanctification appears here because I find a lot of people have very
confused ideas as to what constitutes sanctification.
Some think it is a kind of a religious sheep dip that they are put
through; an experience of cleansing and commitment entered into once for
all. Once they have been dipped, they feel, everything is fine.
Others think that sanctification is an extraction process. God
uses a kind of sin magnet to extract all the sin and then from then on
they can live to please him. Some people actually think they have not
sinned for years. Obviously, nobody has told them the truth yet. A
little deeper investigation would reveal how wrong they are.
Actually, the word sanctification is really almost the same as
the word that is translated holiness in this passage. It comes
from the same root. But again, I find that many are confused about
holiness.
When I was younger, most people thought of holiness as grimness.
I did not like "holy" people. They looked like they had been soaked in
embalming fluid. They were grim and dull; they frowned on anything that
was fun or pleasurable. But that is not holiness. I like the good
English word wholeness, which also derives from the same root. Everybody
wants to be a whole person. The Old Testament speaks about "the beauty
of holiness" {1 Chr 16:29, 2 Chr 20:21, Ps 29:2, 96:9}, the inner
attractiveness that is apparent when someone begins to function inwardly
as he or she was intended.
What this says is that God is designing beautiful people! That is what
he wants. And not merely outwardly beautiful people like those we see on
television, but inwardly beautiful people. He is more interested in
inward beauty, in making admirable, trustworthy, strong, loving,
compassionate people -- having all the qualities which make for inner
beauty. That is what God calls wholeness, and that is his will for you.
Isn't it exciting that God wants to make you a whole person?
The second thing Paul says about such wholeness is that it includes
moral purity. "... abstain from immorality," says the apostle in the
very next sentence. Moral purity is part of wholeness. You cannot be a
whole person if you indulge in sexual immorality. We need to be very
clear about these words. Words like immorality do not seem to register
with many people. Let us put it plainly:
Immorality means no sexual wrongdoing;
No pre-marital sex; no making out in
the back seat of the car with somebody you hope to marry someday, or
maybe not; no pre-marital sex (no fornication);
No extra-marital sex (no messing
around with someone else's wife or being faithless to your own husband
or wife);
No homosexual sex (that is very clear
in Scripture in many places);
No pornography (no standing in the
news section at the airport and flipping through Penthouse or Playboy
magazine and getting yourself turned on by looking at the pictures; that
is sexual fantasy and that is wrong, too, as Jesus pointed out).
So to "flee immorality" means to have
none of those things going on in your life.
The reason is, it destroys the wholeness that both you and God want.
There is nothing more beautiful than a young person who has his or her
life in order. At times I have been saddened to watch beautiful young
men and women, who have been raised in godly homes, who reflect moral
beauty in their lives, but they begin to let their standards go when
they get out into the world. Watch them a year or two later and you will
see the hardness in their faces, the slovenly habits that they have
picked up. Things have begun to drift. There is a downward slant to
life. They are beginning to lose the beauty of wholeness that God has in
mind.
In this day in which we live I know that probably many of you are
thinking that it is too late for you; you already have messed up your
lives. But the glory of the gospel is that the word is not that we must
never do this; rather the word is, "Do it no longer." That is what you
find all through these passages. Let us live no longer for ourselves but
for "Him who loved us" and "gave himself for us," {Ro 8:37, Titus 2:14}.
All of us have messed up our lives in one way or another; we have
destroyed the wholeness already. But the glory of the good news is that
in coming to Jesus, through his work on the cross on our behalf and his
raising again from the dead, he can actually give us a new start. All
the past is wiped out and forgiven. We are restored. As Paul wrote in
Second Corinthians, "I have espoused you [I have betrothed you] as a
chaste virgin unto Christ," {2 Cor 11:2 KJV}. The Corinthians had
already messed up their lives in many sexual ways, yet Paul declares
that because they had come to Christ they were now a chaste virgin.
If, even as a Christian, we have messed up, the Word of God makes very
clear that we can be restored. If we acknowledge that we have done
wrong, and accept God's forgiveness through Christ, we are a chaste
virgin again in Christ. What glorious good news that is!
Honor (5092) (time from
tío = pay honor, respect) is basically, the worth
ascribed to a person or the value ascribed to a thing. It refers to the
worth or merit of some object, event, or state. It is a valuing by which
the price is fixed, an estimation of the value of a thing. It is an
attitude towards person or thing commensurate with its value.
And
honor
means respect. In other words, your body is to be so holy that it is
worthy of respect toward the God who owns it, toward the God who dwells
in it, toward the God whom it represents, toward the church of which it
is a part. You're to live your life not asking how far can I go, but how far can I stay away and be utterly set apart
from sin and bringing honor to my body which is God's which should be
used for the glory of Christ.
Plummer comments
Honour for the human body as
something sacred is to a large extent a Christian idea. Heathen
philosophers often regarded it with contempt.
Honor in context is the result
of separation from sin. The believers would honor their bodies as
temples of the Spirit and instruments of service to Christ.
If any man destroys the temple of
God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is
holy, and that is what you are. (1Cor 3:17)
Or do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from
God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a
price (time): therefore glorify God in your body. (1Cor 6:19-20)
Or what agreement has the temple
of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;
just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL
BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. (1 Cor 6:16).
John MacArthur comments that...
The goal is positive pursue
separation and virtue with all one’s heart. No Christian should ever ask
how far his or her moral behavior can depart from God’s standard and
still avoid sin.
See these
excellent related resources
from John Piper:
Strategies for Fighting Sexual Sin
Battling the Unbelief of Lust
Satan Uses Sexual Desire
Sex and the Single Person
Sexual Relations in Marriage
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 1
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 2
ANTHEM - Strategies for Fighting Lusts
Avoiding Sexual Sin, Part 1
Avoiding Sexual Sin, Part 2
Avoiding Sexual Sin
How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure
Christian Hedonists or Religious Prudes? The
Puritans on Sex
The Will of God for You: That You Abstain from
Sexual Immorality
Missions and Masturbation
