1 Thess 4:4 TO hEAUTOU SKEUOS KTASQAI ...

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Jul 13 07:10:28 EDT 2002


Dear Carl,

Thanks for the compilation of thoughts on this verse. It is not absoslutely
clear to me what your conclusion is. My understanding is - and was - that it
refers to "acquiring in a holy an honorable way a woman to be one's wife"
which is how the vast majority of Bible translators have understood it. As
far as I can see you agree. What ways are honorable is a matter of culture,
religious convictions and personal ethics.

<snip>
> 	NRSV: ... to control your own body F13 ...
> 	F13: Or [how to take a wife for himself]

<snip>
> One won't find anything helpful on KTASQAI in LSJ. In Louw & Nida
> we find a discussion of this phrase...:

<snip>
> 10.55 SKEUOS, OUS n: (a figurative extension of meaning of SKEUOS b
> 'vessel,' 6.118) a woman married to a man, with focus upon the sexual
> relation - 'wife.' EIDENAI hEKASTON hUMWN TO hEAUTOU SKEUOS KTASQAI EN
> hAGIASMWi KAI TIMHi vØ 'that each one of you know how to take a wife for
> himself in holiness and honor' 1Th 4:4.

<snip>
 In ancient Jewish literature a wife was euphemistically
> called a 'vessel' in contexts relating to sexual relations, and
> 'vessel' is a very common meaning of SKEUOS in Greek. If, therefore, one
assumes a
> Semitic background for this Greek text, the statement in 1Th 4:4 would
> refer to the need for sexual life to be both holy and honorable
> (see 23.63). And this, I think, is the most reasonable accounting for the
expression we
> have in 1 Thess 4:4.

What does "this" refer to?
Sexual life with an already acquired wife or an honorable way of acquiring a
wife? If the verb means "acquire" the second seems more likely.
>
> What of BDAG?
>
> Here's the meat of the account:
>          - 1 Pt 3:7 woman is called ASQENESTERON SKEUOS (ASQENHS 2a). TO
> hEAUTOU SKEUOS 1 Th 4:4 from antiquity has been interpreted to mean one's
> own body (Theodoret, Calvin, Milligan, Schlantz, MDibelius, RKnox transl.
> '44; CCD transl. '41, mg.; NRSV) or one's own wife (Theodore of
> Mopsuestia, Schmiedel, vDobschütz, Frame, Oepke, WVogel, ThBl 13, '34,
83-85; RSV et
> al.) The former interpr. is supported by passages cited at the
> beg. of this section 3, and the latter is in accord w. rabb. usage
(Billerb. III 632f.
> S. also KTAOMAI 1).

Iver Larsen




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