In a holy and honorable way is literally “in holiness” (the same word as in verse 3) “and honor” (so Revised Standard Version). The word translated “honor” means (a) “price” or “value,” as in 1 Corinthians 6.20 (“He bought you for a price”), and secondly “honor,” “respect,” or “esteem.” The meaning “honor” or “respect” is needed here, perhaps more specifically “the state of being held in honor” (“respectability” without the ironic overtones of this word in English). If the word “vessel” is translated wife, this phrase will be related to the verb “to get” (to live with). If Paul is referring to the body or a part of the body, the phrase will be related to the noun, as in Knox‘s translation “Each of you must learn to control his own body, as something holy and held in honour.” Holy indicates a relationship with God, and honorable, in this sense, usually a relationship with other human beings. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch brings this out by translating “as is pleasing to God and men,” and this is particularly natural if “vessel” is understood as “wife.”
In addition to the problems of interpretation of verse 4, there are certain difficulties inherent in the expression rendered in the Good News Translation should know how. A literal translation could imply that the people in Thessalonica should know how to be married to a woman in the proper manner, but apparently they did not know! In reality, however, it is not the knowledge which is so important, but the behavior. The focus of attention is not upon marrying a woman, but upon the way a man should behave toward his wife after marriage. Therefore, in some languages this verse is translated as “each of you men should behave toward your wife in a holy and honorable way.”
In some languages there is a problem in the use of the singular, when in reality a number of person are involved. Languages which have distributive plural present no difficulty at this point, but in some languages it may be necessary to say “all men should live with their wives in such a way….” With the use of the plural (“wives”), however, it is important to avoid the implication that each man may have more than one wife.
It may be particular difficult in some languages to speak of the relation of a man to a woman as being “holy.” The Greek term translated “holy” suggests the kind of behavior fitting for the person belonging to God or the kind of behavior which God prescribes. One may therefore translate “each man should behave toward his wife in a way which is right before God and before people,” or “… in the eyes of God and in the eyes of people.” This type of rendering can be employed since holy is seen to refer primarily to the divine relationship, and honorable to the manner in which people would view such behavior.
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .