1 Thessalonians 4:4

that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel Rather, that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel (R. V.); or, freely rendered, that each be wise in the mastery of his bodily frame.

This is the positive side of what has just been expressed negatively. The "vessel" we take to be the body, regarded as the vehicle and instrument of the inner self "the vessel of himself." What the tool is to the hand, or vase to the essence it holds, that the body is to the man's self. Comp. 2 Corinthians 4:7, "this treasure in earthen vessels"; similarly in 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 the body is "the earthly houseof our tabernacle," the clothingwithout which we should be "found naked." The victim of sensual passion ceases to be master of his own person he is possessed; and those who formerly lived in heathen uncleanness, had now as Christians to possess themselvesof their bodies, to "win" the "vessel" of their spiritual life and make it truly their own, and a fit receptacle for the redeemed and sanctified self (comp. Luke 21:19, "In your patience ye shall winyour souls," R. V., the same Greek verb). This they must "know how" (i.e. have skill) to do a skill for which there was continual need. The Greek expression for Temperance enkrateia, i.e. continence, self-controlexpresses a similar thought; so the simile of 1 Corinthians 9:27, "I buffet my body, and make it my slave."

in sanctification For it was under this idea, and within the sphere of the new, consecrated life that such mastery of the body was to be gained (see notes on 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:7). And in honour; for as lust dishonours and degrades the body (Romans 1:24; Romans 1:26; 1 Corinthians 6:15), so its devotion to God in a life of purity raises it to "honour." Self-respect and regard for the honour of one's own person, as well as reverence for God, forbid unchastity.