Philippians 4 · Passage · Joy
Rejoice in the Lord Always
Paul wrote this command to the church he had founded at Philippi while he was in chains for Christ.
Among the first believers at Philippi was a jailer who washed the wounds of two beaten prisoners after midnight and was baptized with his household the same hour.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
- The passage
- Philippians 4:4 to 5
- Book
- Philippians
- Hold in memory
- Philippians 4:4
Summary
Paul's command asks believers for gladness in the Lord Himself, kept up through every circumstance, and Paul repeats the command at once. The letter shows him keeping that gladness while rivals preached against him, while he faced death and while he was in need. The verse opens a short run of commands that ends in the peace of God, and Scripture keeps room beside it for grief.
- Both verbs of the verse are present imperatives in the Greek, a command to go on rejoicing.
- The joy is commanded in the Lord, so it rests on Him and can be kept in prison, under rivals and in want.
- Philippians uses its words for joy sixteen times in twelve verses, in all four chapters.
- Paul sets the command beside a quarrel between two women of the church and follows it with gentleness, prayer with thanksgiving and the peace of God.
- Paul also wrote of himself as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, and teachers from Chrysostom to Aquinas have explained how joy and grief stand together.
The Command, Word by Word
The verse gives one command twice, with the place of the joy and its scope.
In the fourth chapter of Philippians, Paul commands the believers to rejoice in the Lord always and gives the command a second time in the same verse. He wrote it while he was held in chains. The verse is one of the chief texts of joy, the gladness in God that Scripture commands of His people, because it asks for joy at all times and names the Lord as its ground.
The question the page answers is how a prisoner could command joy at all times, and what he meant by joy in the Lord. The page sets out the Greek of the verse and a table of the twelve verses of the letter that speak of joy. It follows the commands of verses 5 to 7 and the founding of the church in Acts 16. It closes with the teachers who have read the verse and the old question of how joy and grief stand together.
Both verbs in the Greek are chairete, a present imperative of chairo, which the store's interlinear glosses do rejoice. The present tense asks for rejoicing that goes on day after day.
The phrase en kurio, in the Lord, names where the joy is found, and the adverb pantote, always, sets no season in which the command lapses. Between the two commands stands ero, a future tense, so that Paul says "I will say it again" of a command he has just given.
The verb chairo was also the common word of greeting. The STEP Bible lexicon, based on Abbott-Smith, gives its use in salutations as a second sense, and readers have asked whether Paul meant farewell when he wrote it here and at Philippians 3:1.
Joy Through the Whole Letter
Twelve verses of Philippians speak of joy, and each stands in a hard circumstance or a plea to the church.
Paul writes of joy in all four chapters of Philippians, while he is in chains, opposed, facing death and in need.
| Verse | The words of joy in the Berean text | What Paul faced or asked |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | ||
| Philippians 1:4 | I always pray with joy | his chains, in which the church were partners in his defense of the gospel (Philippians 1:7) |
| Philippians 1:18 | And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice | rivals preaching Christ to add to the distress of his chains (Philippians 1:17) |
| Philippians 1:25 | for your progress and joy in the faith | the choice between life and death set before him (Philippians 1:20 to 24) |
| Chapter 2 | ||
| Philippians 2:2 | make my joy complete by being like-minded | his plea for one love and one purpose in the church |
| Philippians 2:17 | I am glad and rejoice with all of you | his life poured out like a drink offering |
| Philippians 2:18 | So you too should be glad and rejoice with me | the same offering, with the church called to share his gladness |
| Philippians 2:28 | when you see him again you may rejoice | Epaphroditus, sick nearly unto death and spared (Philippians 2:27) |
| Philippians 2:29 | Welcome him in the Lord with great joy | Epaphroditus, who nearly died for the work of Christ (Philippians 2:30) |
| Chapter 3 | ||
| Philippians 3:1 | rejoice in the Lord | writing the same things again as a safeguard for the church |
| Chapter 4 | ||
| Philippians 4:1 | my joy and crown | the church he loves and longs for |
| Philippians 4:4 | Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! | the quarrel of Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2) |
| Philippians 4:10 | Now I rejoice greatly in the Lord | the church's gift after a time of need (Philippians 4:11 to 12) |
Philippians 2:17, Philippians 2:18, Philippians 2:28, Philippians 2:29, Chapter 3, Philippians 3:1, Chapter 4, Philippians 4:1 and 2 more
In the Greek the twelve verses hold sixteen words of one family. Chara, joy, stands five times and chairo, to rejoice, nine times. Synchairo, to rejoice with, stands twice. Two verses often counted with them, Philippians 1:26 and 2:16, carry none of these words.
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.Paul calls the repetition no trouble to him, so the doubled command of chapter 4 is deliberate.
Verses 4 to 7, from Joy to Peace
The command follows a plea for peace between two women of the church and opens a run of short commands that ends in the peace of God.
I urge Euodia and Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.Two verses before the command to rejoice, Paul asks two women who had labored with him to agree in the Lord.
Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near.Gentleness toward all and the nearness of the Lord follow the command at once, so the joy is meant to show in how believers treat others.
The Greek word for gentleness is epieikes. The clause The Lord is near has no verb in the Greek, which sets the Lord and the word near side by side.
Verses 6 and 7 answer anxiety with prayer and thanksgiving and promise God's peace as a guard. Their command of thanksgiving is the subject of In All Circumstances, a study of gratitude.
The Church at Philippi and Its Prison
Paul and Silas founded the church at Philippi, one of its first households was won on a night they spent in its prison, and Paul later wrote to it as a prisoner.
Acts 16 tells how Paul first preached at Philippi, where Lydia and her household were baptized by the river. Later the magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten with rods and fastened in the stocks of the inner cell.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.At midnight the two prisoners were worshiping God, and the whole prison could hear them.
Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.The jailer and his household rejoiced at their own table on the night of the earthquake, the first rejoicing Acts records at Philippi.
As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.Paul tells the church that the whole palace guard knows he is held for Christ, so his chains served the gospel.
What It Means to Rejoice in the Lord
The phrase in the Lord gives the joy an object that stays the same in a prison and in a quarrel, as the psalms and the prophets had taught.
Paul commands joy in the Lord, whose care stays the same whatever the church faces. Because the joy rests on Him, Paul can command it at all times.
The call to rejoice in the Lord was first given in Israel's psalms, and a prophet kept it when every harvest failed.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart.The psalm calls the righteous to be glad in the LORD, the same object of joy that Paul gives the church.
Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!Habakkuk names the loss of every crop and herd and then says he will rejoice in the God of his salvation.
Paul's command carries the psalm's words into the life of a church under pressure. The Lord who is near in verse 5 is the one in whom they rejoice.
How Teachers Have Read the Verse
Two commentaries and a preacher read the command as a duty that holds in affliction and in quarrels.
1662 to 1714 · Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710) calls joy in God "a duty of great consequence in the Christian life". He adds, "If good men have not a continual feast, it is their own fault" (on Philippians 4:4).
1871 · Jamieson
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, in their commentary (1871), take the word always to mean "even amidst the afflictions now distressing you". They note that "Joy is the predominant feature of the Epistle" (on Philippians 4:4).
Joy and Grief Together
Paul commands joy always and Scripture also keeps grief, and teachers have joined the two in two ways.
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.Paul calls himself sorrowful and always rejoicing in one line, so the always of his command leaves room for sorrow.
Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.The same apostle commands weeping with those who weep, so the command to rejoice keeps a place for tears.
Joy and grief held at different depthsJohn Chrysostom; Thomas Aquinas
“‘Blessed they that mourn,’ and ‘woe unto them that laugh’ (Matt. v. 4; Luke vi. 25), saith Christ. How then saith Paul, ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway’? ‘Woe to them that laugh,’ said Christ, the laughter of this world which ariseth from the things which are present He blessed also those that mourn, not simply for the loss of relatives, but those who are pricked at heart, who mourn their own faults, and take count of their own sins, or even those of others. This joy is not contrary to that grief, but from that grief it too is born. For he who grieveth for his own faults, and confesseth them, rejoiceth. Moreover, it is possible to grieve for our own sins, and yet to rejoice in Christ. Since then they were afflicted by their sufferings, ‘for to you it is given not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him’ (Phil. i. 29), therefore he saith, ‘Rejoice in the Lord.’ For this can but mean, If you exhibit such a life that you may rejoice. Or when your communion with God is not hindered, rejoice. Or else the word ‘in’ may stand for ‘with’: as if he had said, with the Lord. ‘Alway; again I will say, Rejoice.’ These are the words of one who brings comfort; as, for example, he who is in God rejoiceth alway. Yea though he be afflicted, yea whatever he may suffer, such a man alway rejoiceth. Hear what Luke saith, that ‘they returned from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be scourged for His name.’ (Acts v. 41.) If scourging and bonds, which seem to be the most grievous of all things, bring forth joy, what else will be able to produce grief in us? ‘Again I will say, Rejoice.’ Well hath he repeated. For since the nature of the things brought forth grief, he shows by repeating, that they should by all means rejoice.”
John Chrysostom · Homily on Philippians 14 · on Philippians 4:4Patristic
Thomas Aquinas cites Philippians 4:4 in the Summa Theologiae, II-II question 28, article 2 (English Dominican translation, 1920). He holds that joy "in the Divine good considered in itself" "is incompatible with an admixture of sorrow", while joy in "the Divine good as participated by us" "is compatible with an admixture of sorrow".
The objection: Acts 5:41 shows the apostles rejoicing because of the disgrace they suffered, which makes the suffering itself a ground of joy.
Suffering itself as the occasion of joyJohn Chrysostom; the Little Flowers of St Francis
“‘Rejoice alway.’ This is said with respect to the temptations that bring in affliction. Hear ye, as many as have fallen into poverty, or into distressing circumstances. For from these joy is engendered. For when we possess such a soul that we take revenge on no one, but do good to all, whence, tell me, will the sting of grief be able to enter into us? For he who so rejoices in suffering evil, as to requite even with benefits him that has done him evil, whence can he afterwards suffer grief? And how, you say, is this possible? It is possible, if we will. Then also he shows the way.”
John Chrysostom · Homily on 1 Thessalonians 10 · on 1 Thessalonians 5:16Patristic
The Little Flowers of St Francis is a fourteenth-century collection. It tells a story of Francis in which perfect joy is to bear injury "with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord".
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.Luke counts the disgrace itself as the reason for the apostles' joy, which makes this verse the strongest text for the reading.
The objection: in Philippians 2:27 Paul says that God spared him sorrow upon sorrow when Epaphroditus recovered, so he did not count every trial a joy.
Neither reading tells a believer to deny grief, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13 distinguishes grief with hope from grief without it. Two further questions on this verse, whether chairete means rejoice or farewell and whether Paul wrote from Rome or from Ephesus, are argued with their holders on Joy in Suffering.
Joy Kept in Every Season
Paul asked the church to keep rejoicing because the Lord in whom they rejoiced did not change with their circumstances. He had given the same command to the church at Thessalonica.
Rejoice at all times.Paul's earlier letter gives the command with the scope at all times, which matches the always of the command to Philippi.
Sources
Scripture is the Berean Standard Bible.
- The tagged Greek text of Philippians 4:4 and 4:5, with Strong's numbers and morphology.
- STEP Bible TBESG, the brief lexicon based on Abbott-Smith (1922), entries g5463, g5479 and g4796 (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0)
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710), on Philippians 4:4.
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on Philippians 4:4.
- C. H. Spurgeon, Joy, a Duty, Sermon No. 2405, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (published 1895)
- John Chrysostom, Homily 14 on Philippians, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, volume 13.
- John Chrysostom, Homily 10 on 1 Thessalonians, in the same volume as Homily 14 on Philippians.
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II question 28, article 2, English Dominican translation, second edition (1920)
- The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, chapter 8, translated by Lady Georgina Fullerton (1864), revised by Dom Roger Hudleston.
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