That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
Ver. 4. To possess his vessel] That is, his body, wherein the soul is, Tota in toto, et tota in qualibet parte. If any ask, why so glorious a soul should be in this corruptible body? Besides God's will, and for the order of the universe, Lombard gives this reason, that by the conjunction of the soul with the body (so far its inferior) man might learn a possibility of the union of man with God in glory, notwithstanding the vast distance of nature and excellence, the infiniteness of both in God, the finiteness of both in man.
In sanctification and honour] Chastity is a man's honour; incontinence sets on an indelible blot, Proverbs 6:33. Castus, quasi καστος, ornatus. Sic αγνος ab αγος, veneratio.