That every one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor;
All Commentaries on 1 Thessalonians 4:4 Go To 1 Thessalonians 4
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
There are, then, many kinds of lusts for this or that, but when the word is used by itself without specification it suggests to most people the lust for sexual excitement. Such lust does not merely invade the whole body and outward members. It takes such complete and passionate possession of the whole man, both physically and emotionally, that what results is the keenest of all pleasures on the level of sensation. And at the crisis of excitement, it practically paralyzes all power of deliberate thought. This is so true that it creates a problem for every lover of wisdom and holy joys, who is both committed to a married life and also conscious of the apostolic ideal, that everyone should “learn how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.” Any such person would prefer, if this were possible, to beget his children without suffering disordered passion. He could wish that, just as all his other members obey his reason in the performance of their appointed tasks, so the genital organs, too, might function in obedience to the orders of will and not be inordinately excited by the ardors of lust.
