4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
4 that each one of you know how to control his own body
4 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body,
4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor-
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:4
Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
(Read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work of faith. The rule according to which all ought to walk and act, is the commandments given by the Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification, in the renewal of their souls under the influences of the Holy Spirit, and attention to appointed duties, constituted the will of God respecting them. In aspiring after this renewal of the soul unto holiness, strict restraint must be put upon the appetites and senses of the body, and on the thoughts and inclinations of the will, which lead to wrong uses of them. The Lord calls none into his family to live unholy lives, but that they may be taught and enabled to walk before him in holiness. Some make light of the precepts of holiness, because they hear them from men; but they are God's commands, and to break them is to despise God.