1: For
the rest then brethren we beseech you and exhort in [the] Lord Jesus even as [you]
received from us how you should walk and please God [in] that [you] should abound
more 2: For you know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus 3:
For this is the will of God even your purity that you should abstain from porneia 4: Each of you should
know how to possess your [own] vessels[1] in
purity and honor 5: Not in passion of lust even as the nations which
know not of God 6: That none go beyond and defraud the brethren in any
matter because the avenger is the Lord concerning all these thing as we also
forewarned you and testified 7: For God has not called us to uncleanness
but to holiness 8: He therefore that despises despises not man but God
who has also given to us his holy Spirit 9: But as touching brotherly
love you need not that I write to you for you yourselves are taught of God to
love one another 10: And indeed you do it toward all the brethren which
are in all Macedonia[2]
but we beseech you brethren that you increase more and more 11: And strive
to be quiet and be busy with your own business and work with your own hands as
we charged you 12: That you walk honestly toward them that are without the
unsaved and have need [of] nothing 13: But I would not have you to
be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not even
as others who have no hope 14: For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again even so them also which sleep[3] in
Jesus will God bring with him 15: For this we say to you by the word of
the Lord[4]
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep 16: For the Lord himself shall descend
from Heaven with a shout of command with the voice [of the] archangel and with
the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first 17: Then we the
living who remain together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the
Lord in [the] air and thus always with [the] Lord we shall be 18: So
encourage one another with these words.
[1] This verse is an example of how
extensively misogyny and gender-biased-English-translation-theology has been
integrated into English Bible translations, and through these, into the
very warp and woof of Christian thought and life.
1 Thessalonians 4:4, is written in gender
neutral terms and should be translated as such. Yet, with few exceptions, in
virtually every Bible, the verse appears to be speaking to men only, by saying,
“Every one of you possess his
own vessel…”
The word (in verse four), almost universally
translated as “his,” is a gender neutral word. It should always be translated
as “your,” because the verse is speaking to both women and men—to all Christians equally, regardless of
sex.
The word (in verse
four), almost universally translated as “his,” is a gender neutral word. It
should always be translated as “your,” [in this verse] because the verse is
speaking both women and men—to all
Christians, equally, regardless of sex. God has no double-standard when it
comes to sexual purity and morality, but apparently, Bible translators and
commentators do. And they have generally misapplied this verse, misleading
God’s people to generally understand that it speaks to men only. This misunderstanding
has, in turn, caused much consternation among men, who, apparently have been so
stymied by the plain sense of the words, “Each of you possess your vessels in purity…,” that they have
gone to ridiculous lengths to interpret it in a way that men could not only
live with, but also have a possible excuse when they fail to obey it.
No interpretation of any verse in the New Testament,
illustrates the low esteem in which women have traditionally been held, nor the
lengths to which Bible translators and commentators have been willing to go in
order to objectify women, nor the depths to which men have been willing to sink
in order to excuse immoral behavior.
Despite it being a well known fact, that having a wife is
no deterrent to a man hell-bent on immorality, respected and honored
commentators suggest that 1 Thessalonians 4:4, speaks to a need for men to
“procure” wives, so that the wives may “contribute” to the “usefulness” [of the
husband] and “satisfy,” his sexual passions. Though the context of 1 Thessalonians
4:4, clearly speaks to all Christians—including women—instructing all Believers
to possess the vessels of their bodies
in holiness and purity, lexicons do
not reflect this. No more than a surface perusal of popular resources,
brings the shocking revelation that men simply refuse to take the admonition
for what it clearly is, and can only see see it through the lens of a
double-sided moral standard.
In expanded and more explanative terms, 1 Thessalonians 4;4
clearly says: “Without excuse, control yourself!
Do not let your lust and porneia rule you. Whether you married or not, whether
you are a woman or a man, keep yourselves pure!”
Yet, despite the
simplicity and self explanatory nature of this verse [verified within context
of the entire passage], there appears to have been such a desperation among
[the all-male body] of commentators and most Bible translators, concerning such
an admonition, that they obviously began casting about in their minds how this
could actually be accomplished in a way they could live with, and they seem to
have come to an early consensus.
It is a sad fact,
almost universally acknowledged, that historically, men have been held to lower
standards of morality and accountability than women. And a mere surface perusal
of respected and much used Bible lexicons and commentaries on 1 Thessalonians
4:4, illustrates how perfectly this double-standard has been accepted as the
norm. Probably the most popular is the Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance, where James Strong spells out the androcentric bent
of both himself and his peers, when he defines the word, skeuos (G4632 can be translated as a vessel or,
metaphorically, a body).
He makes the unusual claim, that
the word, vessel, can also be translated as wife?!
Strong’s G4632 reads as follows: …“a vessel, implement,
equipment or apparatus (literally or figuratively [specially, a wife as
contributing to the usefulness of
the husband].”
With one stroke of his pen, James Strong, one of
Christianity’s most respected scholars, reduced women to little more than objects, whose only purpose for
existence, is to contribute to the usefulness of men. H. H. Halley, thought highly enough of Strong’s alternative
definition, that he alluded to it in his own publication, Halley’s Bible Handbook.
Can things get any worse? Yes. When we look at the word
“possess,” as used in verse four [G2932], the lexicon suggests that the words
“possess your vessels,” could alternatively read “Marry a wife.” Another alternative given for the the entire
verse, reads: “to procure for himself his own vessel (i. e. for the
satisfaction of the sexual passion;”
Why, has no one challenged these hateful and evil
interpretations until now? This writer challenges them and refutes them, and
calls them out as being from the evil one, from the seed of the serpent who is
perpetually at enmity with the seed of the woman.
Men of God, stand up. Speak out. Reject doctrines that give
men “a pass” on immorality, and allows for blame to shifted for this reason or
that reason, and reduces your God-given equal counterparts to mere objects
created for your “use’’ and sexual “satisfaction.” Reject this destructive
paradigm and publicly renounce it.
Women of God, stand up. Speak out. You are not objects to
be used. 1 Thessalonians 4:4, is not speaking of marriage, but even within the
context of marriage, you were not created to satisfy lust and porneia. As far as usefulness goes, with
the help of the holy Spirit, both men and women are capable enough of finding
ways to be useful to God, on their own, without reducing the status of their
equal counter-parts to that of mere servants.
Do the alternative interpretations of 1 Thessalonians 4:4
make you angry? They should. And it is a righteous anger, indeed.
People of God, stand up. Speak out!
[2] Alexander the Great was from
Macedon[ia]. Neighboring countries include Greece and Albania. http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/ConciseMacedonia/similarities.html
[3] The doctrine of Soul Sleep is not
taught in scripture. It is merely an interpretation which cannot be substantiated
by the term used to describe the righteous dead, who are usually referred to as
sleeping because of the hope of the resurrection. The term, only refers to their
bodies which are sleeping in death. It does not refer to their souls, which never
lose consciousness but go immediately to either Paradise (Abraham’s Bosom, *B.C.)
or to be with the Lord (in Heaven, *A.D.). *Changing the term B.C. (“Before
Christ) to B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) doesn’t change the amazing fact that God
himself, divided time when he came to earth as a man. The time-line of history testifies
to the historic fact of, and the amazing impact of, the life and death of Jesus
Christ.
[4] Paul was open about the fact that
everything he said, was not, “Thus
saith the LORD.” Some things he wrote were simply good advice according as he
felt led by the Holy Spirit. Some things, he felt he had permission to say, but
admitted that it was not Holy Writ. It is important to understand, that prior
to the Third century, A.D. (or thereabouts), there was no single volume, called
“the Bible,” such as we know it today. God’s people, in both the Old and New
Covenants, had writings, that they considered Holy, but there was no hard and
set consensus on what the so-called ”canon of scripture” consisted of. Even
today, there is a division on the canon of scripture between Protestants, Jews,
and Catholics. Most protestants reject the Apocrypha. Jews reject the New
Testament. We do know, that Jesus himself confirmed, the Torah [the terms, Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, and the Law, all
refer to the same thing—the Torah]. Jesus
referenced the prophets, and the Psalms. He quoted from the Septuagint (LXX).
He confirmed that the entire book of Isaiah was written by the same man (later
the Dead Sea Scrolls added to the confirmation we already had from Jesus). All
of these things, together, composed the scriptures of the early Church, and
were rather quickly augmented by the writings of Peter, John, Paul, Jude, and
James. Eventually also, by Matthew, John Mark, and Luke the physician (the book
of Acts was also a writing of Luke). The early Church compared the writings of
their New Covenant leaders to the sacred writings of the Old Covenant to find
out if the things they were being was true, according to the scriptures they
already had. This was in obedience to the Word of the LORD, through Isaiah,
where the prophet instructed God’s people to compare anything they are told
with what had already been written Isaiah 8:19-20. Any so called, “New
Light” that did not align with the Law (towrah) and the testimonies (confirmations
of the towrah), was no light at all, and should be rejected. That still
holds true, today, as the entire volume of the book (the sum total of all scripture—whether written under the
Old Covenant or the New, whether included in our “canon” or not), all of the towrah spoke of, and
predicted the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. All Bible Prophecy
revolves around the same Psalm 40:7, Hebrews 10:7, Hebrews 10:1,
Revelation 19:10.
