1 Thessalonians 4:4

that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor,

The meaning of this passage is disputed, but it seems to be improperly so. The RSV rendered this passage:

That each one of you take a wife for himself in holiness and honor.

The excuse for such a translation derives from the double meaning of two Greek words in the passage: (1) possess, which in classical Greek is sometimes used in the sense of acquire; and (2) vessel which is capable of meaning either wife or body. The English language has many words with double meanings, as well known to all; but the fault in the RSV derives from their adoption of meanings which would make Paul advocate a low view of marriage in which the wife is the property of her husband! This is contrary to everything in the New Testament. This is an extensive field of study, and we shall concern ourselves here with giving our reasons for preferring the KJV, ASV, the NEB and many other reputable renditions instead of the aberration advocated in RSV.

The difficulty is compounded by the fact that, if vessel means body, the usual meaning of possess (acquire) is difficult to construe in such a sense, because it cannot be said that a man "acquires" his body. This however, is only an apparent difficulty. As Cousins noted, Papyri show that possess can mean simply to have; but here the sense may be to gain control."[7] F. F. Bruce rendered it, "Each of you must learn to control his own body."[8] While allowing the other meaning as possible, Barclay rendered it, "Each of you should know how to possess his own body."[9] As Morris declared, "The big difficulty in the way of accepting the meaning of body is the word acquire (literal meaning of the word possess)"; but he accepted the solution that the word "is found in the papyri with the sense of possess."[10] Moreover, the Old Testament usage is that of "gaining the mastery over that which one already has," thus: "And the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions" (Obadiah 1:1:17). Therefore, there can be no objection whatever from the standpoint of scholarship in accepting the KJV and ASV renditions. Morris, accordingly, gave the meaning of this verse as "Keep your bodies pure."[11]

[7] Peter E. Cousins, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 495.

[8] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1971), p. 198.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 76.

[11] Ibid.