The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Thessalonians — Section 77

would abound more and more. The apostle this treMUre,'' namely, the gospel, "In aelmowledgea their Christie.n we.lking ; earthen veeeels" (2 Oor. iv. 7; comp. also they had already entered upon the road; l Sam. ui, 5). The body may well be their oonduct WlU! snnctifie<l; but he exhortll compared to a vessel, e.s it con t11ina the them to abound therein with still gree.ter eonl. This meaning is adopted by Ohry- - and fidelity. eostom, C11.lvin, Grotius, Bengel, Olshausen, Ver. 2.-For ye know; e.ppealing to their Meyer; and, among English expositors, by memory in ronfirmation of wbe.t be he.d Maclmight, Oonybee.re, Bishop Alexander, aid. Wh&t oommand.ments we gave you by Wordsworth, and Vaughan. In unoti.fioa- the Lord J"811U11; or, tArough the Lord J - ; tion and honour. What the apostle here that iB, not merely by bis authority, but by requires is that every one should obtain meaD11 of him. so that thel!e comme.ndmenta the mastery over his own body, and that did not proceed from Paul, but from the whereas, as Gentiles, they had yielded their Lord Jesllll himself. We have here, and members servants to uncleanness and to indeed in this chapter throughout, an asser- iniquity unto iniquity, they should now, tinu of the inspiration of the apostle: the as Christians, yield their memben1 servants oommandmenta which be gave to the Tbes- to righteousness unto holiness (Rom. vi. 19). 11aloniana were the oommaudments of the Ver. 5.-Not in the lust of oononpisoenoe Lord Jesua. --flOt in the pasBioo of luat (R.V.)--even a1 Ver. 8.-!'or tbill is the will of God. The the Gentiles whioh know not God; and phrase, "the will of God." has two sig11ifi- therefore from whom nothing better was cations in Scripture : the one is the de- to be expected. The more.I sense of the termination of God-his deoree; the other heathen was so perverted, and their natures is his desire, the.t in which he delights- so oorrupt, that they looked upon fornice.- will, however, which may be frustrated by tion as a thing indifferent. the perversity of his creatures. It is in Ver. 6.-That no me.n go beyond; or, this latter sense that the word is here em- transgresa. And defraud; or, as it is in the ployed. Even your sanoti.fioati.on; complete margin of our Bibles, oppresa, or, Oflef'rllaM; consecration ; holiness ta.ken in its most ummg (R.V.). His brother. Not an ex- general sense. Our holiness is the great hortation age.inst dishonesty, or prohibition design of Christ's dee.th, and is the revee.led against all attempts to overreach in usual will of God. Some (Olshe.usen, Lunemann) mutual interoourse, e.s the words would at reatrict the term to moral purity, e.nd con- first sight seem to imply, and e.s some oon- sider the n.en clause as ita explanation sider it (Hofmann, Liinemann, Riggenbach); <-P· Rom. xii 1). That ye should abstain but, as is evident from the context, 11 oon- frnm fornioati.on; a vice fearfully prevalent tinuation of the former exhortation, a prohi- among the heathen, e.nd which, indeed, bition e.gainllt impurity. In any matter; or, they hardly regarded as wrong. Especially more properly, in the matter, namely, that it was the great Bin of Oorinth, from which about which I have been discoursing. "An the apostle wrote, the patron goddesa of example of the modest reserve and refined which oity was VenUL delicacy which characterize the holy apostle's Ver. 4.-That eve'rf one of you Bhoald language in speaking of things which the Im.ow how to poBBeBB. The word here ren- Gentiles did without she.me, and thu, bT a dered "p0111101111 " rather signifies "acquire." chaste bashfulness of words, commendmg The R. V. renders the clalllle, " the.t each the duty of unblemished purity in deeds" one of you know how to possesa himself of; " (Wordsworth). 1 Beoe.ue the Lord is the hence it admits of the translation, "to ob- Avenger of all suoh; either of all such as tain the mastery over." His vessel. This are thus defrauded or of all such sinful word has given rise to a diversity of interpre- practices. All we also have forewa.rned you tation. Especially two meanings have been and testified. given to it. By some it is supposed to be a Ver. 7.-For God hath not oalle4111 unto; figurative expression for " wife,'' in which or, for the purpoae of. Unoleanness; more.I sense the word is used, though rarely, by uncleanness in general (comp. l Cor. vi. 15). Hebrew writers. Peter speaks of the wife But UiltO j or, in; in a atate of. B:olineBB j or ~ as the weaker vessel" (1 Pet. iii. 7). This ,anctiftcation ; the same word e.s in the third is the meaning adopted by Augustine, Schott, verse; so that holiness ill the whole sphere De Wette, Koob, Hofmann, Lunemann, of our Christian life. Riggenbach; and, among English ex• Ver. 8.-:e:e therefore that despi&eth; or, paaiors, by Alford, Jowett, Ellicott, e.nd as it is in the margin, reject.eth (R.V.). What .&die. This mtauing- is, however, to be is rejected ill either the above commands to njeetad as unusual e.11d strange, and unsuit- more.I purity, or the Christian ca.lliug to able kl what follows in the next verse. The bolineu, or, better still, Paul h.imllelf, 1111 the otalr 1118Ullllg-" one's own body "-i.8 more appropriaa Thu Palll 1&y11, "We han 1 See 1W10 Jowett, • looo. oH. 1v. 1-18.) THE FIHST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONlA.NB. 76