4 Finally then, brothers, we request and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel even more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no one violate the rights and take advantage of his brother (or sister) in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you previously and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for corruption, but in sanctification. 8 Therefore, the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. (1Thes4:1-8]
Progressing through 1Thess I have omitted chapter three for there is little to comment on in the context of this project. Briefly, it concerned Timothy’s visit to the churches in Thessalonica and the encouragement Paul received from his co-worker’s report on his return to Athens where Paul was residing. The Church was doing well in terms of what really mattered to Paul – their “walk”, i.e. manner of life, that was in accordance with what they had been taught by Paul.
That is affirmed in the opening verse of chapter four. As the Apostle reiterated in verse 3, God’s will for them (and all Christians) was their sanctification, especially (but by no means exclusively) in the area of sexual morality. As the latter part of the passage indicates (highlighted text), this is not an optional extra but “a solemn warning” concerning a God who will avenge wrongdoers in this area, keeping in mind that Paul here is addressing believers (v6).
Just prior to that Paul uses an expression that I mainly want to focus on in this post: “that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour” (v4). This touches upon one of the foundational theorems with respect to what I have to impart regarding God’s broader benign providence – the misunderstood distinction between the spiritual (eternal) and physical (mortal) components of humanity, especially in the context of “original sin” and its consequences. I will briefly quote from my book on the subject:
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“A creationist understanding of the soul’s origin maintains that each person’s soul/spirit, i.e. that which is separated from the body at death, is created immediately by God and planted into the embryo procreated by the parents. Such has been the prevalent view within Eastern Orthodoxy and is also the official teaching of the Roman Church albeit Augustine had wavered from it. Through original sin, the divinely created spirit finds itself within a morally sickly environment, or expressed another way is required to operate through an impure medium – the procreated body of death. Physiologically the physical and spiritual entities (body and soul/spirit) are in union, yet they have opposing moral impulses.
Augustine, considered to be the first Christian anthropologist had started well, aptly applying the analogy “your body is your wife”: the couple were once in perfect harmony but following the Fall are in combat with one another. Paul however goes further: these two entities are influenced by separate and distinct laws or engrained principles; the body, being the corrupted medium through which the soul/spirit (Paul’s “inner man”) functions, has impulses of its own:
For I am gratified by the law of God in my inner man, but I perceive a different law in my bodily members warring with the law in my mind and bringing me into captivity to the sinful law that is in my bodily members (Rom7:22-23).
The “law in one’s members” refers to the senses perceived through the members of the body processed by the brain, an organ that, it must be remembered, is part of the procreated vessel through which the divinely planted soul/spirit must operate. Like the rest of the body it ultimately derives from fallen Adam’s loins and is heading for the grave. The human psyche, emotions and motivations cannot be contained within that vital organ or entirely derived from it, for when the soul leaves the body it is conscious and memory-retaining as Scripture affirms; the rich man wondering why he must experience suffering in Hades was told by Abraham to “remember that in your lifetime you received good things and likewise Lazarus evil things, so now he is comforted and you are tormented”.
Paul’s reference in this context to the “law of God” is referring to a moral sense of right and wrong, in particular the need to exercise love and consideration for others, which the apostle confirms was always the law’s (and the Torah’s) heart and purpose (Rom13:9-10). It is intuitive, being the outworking of the human conscience (Rom2:15) which is clear or “clean” when one obeys that principle, guilty when one does not.
[Extract from “The Little Book of Providence” chapter two].
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It is interesting that Augustine used the analogy “your body (vessel) is your wife”, for as bible hub affirms σκεῦοςG4632 is sometimes used to refer to a wife, e.g. in 1Pet3:7 regarding the wife being the weaker vessel. Augustine’s analogy is sound, for it indicates that the vessel, and the spirit that inhabits it, are two distinct entities. As Scripture affirms, but traducianists unwittingly contest, the one (the body incorporating the brain) shall return to the dust, whilst the other (spirit/soul/Paul’s “inner man”) “returns to God who gave it” (Eccles12:8). And as I have previously affirmed, this is key to understanding what salvation is from (cf. Rom7:24-25) and what whilst we are in mortal flesh it is for (our verse here 1Thes4:4) – having been raised to newness of Life in Christ and knowing Father God “who gives His Holy Spirit to you” (v8).
Still more importantly, retaining Augustine’s analogy (though he would dispute the inference), the “husband” (spirit/inner-self) is the true self (Rom7:20) and is innately morally sound whereas the “wife” (the “flesh”/bodily members/brain) that conflicts with it is the actual source of sin arising from the Fall (cf. Rom7:22-23). The Good News being, the “wife” is temporal and replaceable (via resurrection), the “husband” (our true spiritual self) is eternal. Unlike the body, the latter is not replaceable, still less (as I once believed) can it be “clothed in righteousness divine”. It is our true self that shall relate to God through eternity.
The soteriological and providential implications are staggering, but I am aware that for some, my analysis is likely to appear gobbledygook, in which case this earlier post may help🥴. A read through my book* is probably needed fully to grasp what I’m on about, as well as to see how such an interpretation fits in with Scripture as a whole.
*The LITTLE BOOK OF PROVIDENCE: a seven-part synopsis of the bible: – available as a paperback from Amazon or FREELY as a PDF file HERE.
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The Little Book of Providence 