1 Thess. 4:3-6; Gen. 24:1-9, Acquiring Your Vessel

There is much to learn from this paragraph (v3-6).  Here is a simple outline that shows the three related commands:

1)    Know how to possess your own vessel. a)    In sanctification and honor. b)    Not in lustful passion. i)      Like the Gentiles. ii)   Who do not know God.

2)    Don’t transgress. 3)    Don’t defraud your brother.

The word “possess” means to procure something for oneself or to acquire it (Arndt/ Gingrich).  That’s easy to understand.  The more difficult term is “vessel:” what is Paul talking about?  There are basically two possibilities.

·        A man should possess his “body”.  This was the earliest predominant idea among Christian scholars.  Thus Paul is telling men to understand and control his sexual “member”.  That certainly is a point well-taken as in Paul’s day, as in ours, society subscribed to the idea that satisfying sexual urges was essentially un-controlled.  “If it feels good, do it” was the philosophy then as now.  Thus Paul is saying every part of the body must be used in holiness and honor.

·        A man should possess or acquire his “wife”.  This was the rabbinical interpretation. 

o   The New Testament uses this Greek word both ways.  2 Cor. 4:7 speaks of our bodies as earthen vessels.  Peter spoke of a wife as the weaker vessel (1 Pt. 3:7).

o   The immediate context seems to go better with the idea of one’s ‘wife’.  1 Cor. 7:36-39 says the virgin daughter belongs to her father and that violating her defrauds her father.  David’s sin with Bathsheba was a violation against her husband, Uriah the Hittite (1 Ki. 15:5).

o   In the end either way is important in the issue of sexual immorality.

§  We learned from Joseph about the importance of possessing your own body properly.  He remembered the Lord was with him (Gen. 39:2); he was open about his relationship with God (39:3); and he just said no to the temptation through Potiphar’s wife (39:8-10; Titus 2:11-13).

§  On the other hand, the story of Isaac acquiring Rebekah (Gen. 24) and the emphasis in Scripture on enjoying your wife (Prov. 5:15ff) stress the value of possessing one’s wife properly.  For today note some lessons from Gen. 24.

Involve your parents in the search, v1-2.

Recognize the seriousness of courtship, v2.

Make spiritual unity the highest priority, v3-4.

Make prayer the first activity, v12f.

Look for present godliness (not just the promise of future godliness), v14.

Commit to sexual purity, v16.

Court to love, v67.