Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Thessalonians 5:16

"Rejoice always;" — 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (ASV)

Compliance with the social regulations of vv.12–15 is impossible apart from personal communion with God. So Paul turns to the believer’s inner life. In the exhortation “Be joyful always,” he voices a theme that is characteristic of the NT writings, beginning with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5: 11–12; 16:25; 4:4). The uniqueness of Christian joy lies in its emergence under adverse circumstances. Paul states the paradox succinctly in 2 Corinthians 6:10: “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:10). The Thessalonian Christians had already suffered with joy as had Paul himself (3:9). The challenge is for this joyful outlook to become constant. From a human perspective they had every reason not to be joyful—persecution from outsiders and friction among themselves. Yet in Christ they are to be more and more joyful.