each or every · adjective — accusative singular masculine
you
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
how
εἴδωeídō
G1492
used only in certain past tenses
possess
κτᾶσθαιktasthai
G2932
to get · verb — present middle or passive deponent infinitive
his
ἑαυτοῦhe'autou
G1438
him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
vessel
σκεῦοςskeuos
G4632
a vessel · noun — accusative singular neuter
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
sanctification
ἁγιασμῷhagiasmō
G38
properly · noun — dative singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
honour
τιμῇ,timēa
G5092
a value · noun — dative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which i…
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Romans 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to i…
1 Corinthians 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God…
1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs to…
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
1 Corinthians 7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Here we have,
I. An exhortation to abound in holiness, to abound more and more in that which is good, Th1 4:1, Th1 4:2. We may observe,
1. The manner in which the exhortation is given - very affectionately. The apostle entreats them as brethren; he calls them so, and loved them as such. Because his love to them was very great, he exhorts them very earnestly: We beseech and exhort you. The apostle was unwilling to take any denial, and therefore repeats his exhortation again and again.
2. The matter of his exhortation - that they would abound more and more in holy walking, or excel in those things that are good, in good works. Their faith was justly famed abroad, and they were already examples…
know--by moral self-control.
how to possess his vessel--rather as Greek, "how to acquire (get for himself) his own vessel," that is, that each should have his own wife so as to avoid fornication (Th1 4:3; Co1 7:2). The emphatical position of "his own" in the Greek, and the use of "vessel" for wife, in Pe1 3:7, and in common Jewish phraseology, and the correct translation "acquire," all justify this rendering.
in sanctification-- (Rom 6:19; Co1 6:15, Co1 6:18). Thus, "his own" stands in opposition to dishonoring his brother by lusting after his wife (Th1 4:6).
honour-- (Heb 13:4) contrasted with "dishonor their own bodies" (Rom 1:24).
Adam Clarke on 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 σκευοςanswers 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, Pe1 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, Co2 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 th…
For although it is called "a vessel" by the apostle, such as he enjoins to be treated "with honour," it is yet designated by the same apostle as "the outward man," -that clay, of course, which at the first was inscribed with the title of a man, not of a cup or a sword, or any paltry vessel.
Warn the Lord's people, therefore, and beg them to abound in good works, to renounce vice, not to enkindle the fires of passion—I shall not say on the sabbath, but in every season. Let them not destroy their bodies. Let there be no immorality and uncleanness in the servants of God, because we are the servants of the unblemished Son of God. Let each one know himself and possess his vessel, and when the soil of the body has been ploughed, let him wait for the fruit in due season. Let his hand not cultivate thorns and thistles. Rather let him, too, say, "Our earth has yielded her fruit," and in the bodily passions that might once have been seen as being like thick and wild woods let there be seen the calm order of virtues that have been grafted onto each tree.
It is quite possible to pass decisive sentences on vessels and on instruments, to the extent that they participate in the merits of their proprietors and employers.… For every vessel or every instrument becomes useful by external manipulation, consisting as it does of material which is quite extraneous to the substance of the human owner or employer. However, the flesh, being conceived, formed and generated along with the soul from its earliest existence in the womb, is mixed up with the soul likewise in all of its operations. For, although it is called "a vessel" by the apostle, such as he commands to be treated "with honor," yet it is designated by the same apostle as "the outward man." This is the clay, of course, which at first was inscribed with the title of a man, not of a cup, or a sword or any common vessel.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Thessalonians, First Epistle To The — was written by the apostle Paul at Corinth, a few months after he had founded the church at Thessalonica, at the close of the year A.D. 62 or the beginning of 53. The Epistles to the Thessalonians,…
Sanctification · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on 1 Thessalonians 4:4
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 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 , "a vessel of holiness", greater than he. Moreover, it is said (r), that
"he that forces (a young woman) must drink "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…
1 Thessalonians 4:1-5
1. Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
1. Ergo quod reliquum est, fratres, rogamus vos et obsecramus in Domino Iesu, quemadmodum accepistis a nobis, quomodo oporteat vos ambulare et placere Deo, ut abundetis magis:
2. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
2. Nostis enim quae praecepta dederimus vobis per Dominum Iesum.
3. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
3. Haec enim est voluntas Dei, sanctificatio vestra: ut vos abstineatis ab omni sc…
