1 Thessalonians 4:4

Contextual Overview

¹Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ¹ As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ¹ Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. ¹Finally then, brothers, we ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. ¹ As for some other things, we've taught y'all the fundamentals of how to ride for the Lord. But don't be satisfied with a little progress. Continue to grow and ride further every day. ¹ And last of all, the prayer which we make to you from our heart and in the name of the Lord Jesus, is this: that as we made clear to you what sort of behaviour is pleasing to God, as in fact you are doing now, so you will go on in these ways, but more and more. ¹ For the rest, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in [the] Lord Jesus, even as ye have received from us how ye ought to walk and please God, even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more. ¹ Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God—as you are doing—do so even more. ¹ Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, -- that you abound more and more. ¹ It remaineth then, brethren, that we beseech and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, that ye abound therein more and more.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

should: Romans 6:19, Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 6:15, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

his: 1 Samuel 21:5, Acts 9:15, Romans 9:21-23, 2 Timothy 2:20, 2 Timothy 2:21, 1 Peter 3:7

honour: Philippians 4:8, Hebrews 13:4

Reciprocal: Esther 2:12 - to go in Romans 1:24 - to dishonour 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - your

Cross-References

Genesis 4:16
So Cain went out from the LORD's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:16
So Cain went out from the Lord 's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:16
Then Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:16
Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:16
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lorde, & dwelt in the lande of Nod, eastwarde from Eden.

Genesis 4:16
Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod.

Genesis 4:16
Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:16
And Cayn yede out fro the face of the Lord, and dwellide fleynge aboute in erthe, at the eest coost of Eden.

Genesis 4:16
And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the East of Eden.

Genesis 4:16
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord , and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That everyone of you should know how to possess his vessel,.... By which may be meant, either a man's wife, or his body, and it is not very easy to determine which, for the Jews call both by this name. Sometimes they call p a woman גולם, which the gloss says is a "vessel" unfinished. It is reported q, that when R. Eleazar died, Rabbenu Hakkadosh would have married his widow, and she would not, because she was כלי של קדושה, "a vessel of holiness", greater than he. Moreover, it is said r, that

"he that forces (a young woman) must drink בעציצו, "in his own vessel" how drink in his own vessel? though she be lame, though she be blind, and though she is stricken with ulcers.''

The commentators s on the passage add,

"in the vessel which he has chosen; that is to say, whether he will or not, he must marry her;''

see Proverbs 5:15. And again, they sometimes call a man's wife his tent: hence that saving t,

"wtva ala wlha Nya "there is no tent but his wife", as it is said, Deuteronomy 5:30, go, say to them, get you into your tents again.''

And certain it is, that the woman is called the "weaker vessel" in 1 Peter 3:7, between which passage and this there seems to be some agreement. The same metaphor of a "vessel" is made use of in both; and as there, honour to be given to the weaker vessel, so here, a man's vessel is to be possessed in honour; and as there, husbands are to dwell with their wives according to knowledge so here, knowledge is required to a man's possessing his vessel aright. Now for a man to possess his vessel in this sense, is to enjoy his wife, and to use that power he has over her in a becoming manner; see 1 Corinthians 7:4, and which is here directed to "in sanctification and honour"; that is, in a chaste and honourable way; for marriage is honourable when the bed is kept undefiled; and which may be defiled, not only by taking another into it, and which is not possessing the wife in sanctification and honour, it is the reverse, for it is a breaking through the rules of chastity and honour; but it may even be defiled with a man's own wife, by using her in an unnatural way, or by any unlawful copulation with her; for so to do is to use her in an unholy, unchaste, wicked, and dishonourable manner; whereas possessing of her according to the order and course of nature, is by the Jews, in agreement with the apostle, called u, מקדש עצמו, "a man's sanctifying himself", and is chaste, and honourable. And it may be observed, that the Jews use the same phrase concerning conjugal embraces as the apostle does here. One of their canons runs thus w:

"though a man's wife is free for him at all times, it is fit and proper for a disciple of a wise man to use himself

בקדושה, "in", or "to sanctification".''

When these thing's are observed, this sense of the words will not appear so despicable as it is thought by some. The body is indeed called a "vessel"; see 2 Corinthians 4:7, because in it the soul is contained, and the soul makes use of it, and its members, as instruments, for the performance of various actions; and, with Jewish writers, we read of כלי גופו, "the vessel of his body" x; 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 he so called; see 1 Samuel 21:5

p T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol 22. 2. q Juchasin, fol. 48. 2. Shalsheleth Hakkabala, fol. 23. 1. r Misna Cetubot, c. 3. sect. 4, 5. s Jarchi & Bartenora in ib. t T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 7. 2. & 15. 2. u Maimon. in Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 4. w Maimon. Hilch Deyot, c. 5. sect. 4. x Caphtor, fol. 57. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel - The word “vessel” here (σκεῦος 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 2 Corinthians 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 σκεῦος 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 1 Peter 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 1 Corinthians 6:18-20.

In sanctification and honour - Should not debase or pollute it; that is, that we should honor it as a noble work of God, to be employed for pure purposes; notes, 1 Corinthians 6:19.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Thessalonians 4:4. How to possess his vessel — Let every man use his wife for the purpose alone for which God created her, and instituted marriage. The word ακευος answers to the Hebrew כלי keli, which, though it signifies vessel in general, has several other meanings. That the rabbins frequently express wife by it, Schoettgen largely proves; and to me it appears very probable that the apostle uses it in that sense here. St. Peter calls the wife the weaker VESSEL, 1 Peter 3:7. Others think that the body is meant, which is the vessel in which the soul dwells. In this sense St. Paul uses it, 2 Corinthians 4:7: We have this treasure in earthen VESSELS; and in this sense it is used by both Greek and Roman authors. There is a third sense which interpreters have put on the word, which I forbear to name. The general sense is plain; purity and continency are most obviously intended, whether the word be understood as referring to the wife or the husband, as the following verse sufficiently proves.