rejoice always;
The letter ends with a run of short commands. The first asks for joy that never stops. Where does a believer find a supply of joy that lasts?
Joy, prayer and thanksgiving stand side by side here. One writer treats all three as ordinary Christian life, not rare heights, and then asks the reader how much of it he really knows.
In these verses we have the normal state of the Christian: perpetual joy, perpetual prayer, and perpetual thanksgiving. What do we know of perpetual joy, of a joy that never wanes? If these three things marked us more, what a different people we should be!
A command needs a source. The same writer notes the order — joy before prayer — and points to Paul in prison and to the way the Lord Himself lived.
In the order in Thessalonians, joy comes before prayer. So where does true Christian joy come from? The joy of the Lord is our strength — how do we keep it up? Paul had this joy in prison, and he told the Philippians to rejoice always. We find it only where the Lord Himself found it. He found it through obedience, and as we obey we shall prove it too… Only conscious communion with the Lord can keep a person happy. If you meditate on the Lord, even through a heavy day's work, you will find joy.
The command does not ask believers to pretend that sorrow is not real. One writer puts the deepest grief and unbroken joy side by side in the same Person.
The world is full of sorrow. In such a world the Lord was the Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Yet His joy in the Father, and in the prospect before Him, was unbroken. So in the darkest hour of His rejection we read that He "rejoiced in the Holy Spirit" (Luke 10:21). In the same way the believer is called to "rejoice always."
(Older translations render Luke 10:21 "Jesus rejoiced in spirit.")
Why should this joy last? One writer asks what has changed since Christ went to heaven. He also warns that a gloomy believer gives a false picture of God.
Nor should the Christian give a bad impression of his God and Father, or of the portion he already has in His grace, any more than of his prospects. With what joy the disciples came back even as their Master was leaving for heaven! And the Holy Spirit came in due time to make the joy unfailing (John 4:14). What has happened since to dry up the spring? "Rejoice always."
This is not advanced ground for mature Christians only. The first readers had believed only a short time before, and they still get the whole call.
Even the Thessalonians, young believers as they were, get this call: rejoice always. And the call goes further — not only pray without ceasing, but in everything give thanks, for that is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning them.
The three commands are not separate items on a list. One writer sees them feeding each other.
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances." These three are more closely linked than our souls usually admit. Joy will always rise in proportion to prayer and thanksgiving.
There is a public side to this. Good news carried by miserable messengers argues against itself. The world watches and draws its own conclusion.
Rejoice at the news: glad tidings and sad hearts do not go well together. When we see someone heavy and sorrowful, we ask what bad news he has heard. Christian, what bad news has Christ brought from heaven with Him, that makes you walk about with folded arms and a gloomy face?… Christians, let the world see that you are no losers in your joy since you came to know the gospel. Do not let your unhappy walk make them think that becoming a Christian means saying goodbye to all joy.
- Source. We find joy only where the Lord Himself found it — in obedience and conscious communion with Him.
- Pattern. The Man of sorrows kept unbroken joy in the Father, even in the darkest hour of His rejection. The same call comes to every believer.
- Supply. The Spirit came to make the joy unfailing, and nothing since has dried up that spring.
- Company. Joy, prayer and thanksgiving belong together. Joy rises in proportion to the other two.
- Witness. Glad tidings and sad hearts do not match. A gloomy believer tells the world that faith means the end of joy.
pray unceasingly;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
in everything give thanks, for this is [the] will of God in Christ Jesus towards you;
This short command sits inside a run of three: rejoice, pray, give thanks. Together they describe how a believer is to meet whatever life brings. The last of the three comes with a reason that leaves no room for argument.
One writer takes verses 16–18 as a set. They are not heroic extras, but everyday Christian living.
In these verses we have the normal state of the Christian — perpetual joy, perpetual prayer, and perpetual thanksgiving. What do we know of perpetual joy, of a joy that never fades? If we were marked more by these three things, what a different people we should be!
William Kelly sees thanksgiving here as a counterweight to what comes naturally when life goes wrong.
A settled spirit of thanksgiving is the exact opposite of what comes naturally. By nature we complain about every kind of suffering, frustration and disappointment. So the apostle backs this call with a reason: "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Without that reason, as the church declined, people would soon have dismissed such thanksgiving as light-hearted and arrogant.
Writers stress the small preposition. Edward Dennett draws the line, then turns the duty into something warmer:
It is not, as the reader will notice, for everything, but in everything, give thanks. Almost every Christian would admit this. It is not so much a duty as a privilege: to give thanks to God in all their circumstances and trials. They may be going through deep sorrow or severe suffering. Yet if they see it in the presence of God, they will find plenty of reason for praise.
The distinction protects the verse from becoming absurd. Leslie Grant marks the one limit:
Of course we cannot give thanks for what is sinful. But whatever comes, evil or good, this thankful spirit is to be ours.
Christian living leaves many things to our own judgment. Scripture names this one outright as God's will, and Grant turns it into a test of sincerity.
This matters because it is "the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." If we are honest when we say we want the will of God, then here it is. No excuse will do for a failure to give thanks.
H. J. Vine sets this beside two other places where Scripture names God's will. Thanksgiving lands in the same class as holiness and eternal life:
Scripture says three things about God's will. First: "this is the will of God, your sanctification." Second: it is His will that we "should have eternal life," and be raised up on the last day, as we have seen. Third: "this is the will of God in Christ Jesus" for us — "give thanks in all circumstances."
The command is not obeyed by staring harder at the trouble. J. N. Darby uses Paul's thorn to show where the eye must move:
How is this to be done? Did Paul give thanks for the thorn — the very thing he thought would hinder his usefulness? Not while looking at the thing itself. It was only when his eye was fixed on the heart and the hand that had done it. There are many things we cannot give thanks for in themselves. Losing the person closest to our heart, or watching what we love be torn to pieces — we cannot thank God for the thing itself. We must see the love that has ordered it, and the hand that has appointed it; and then we can give thanks.
G. V. Wigram shows the failure from the other side, in Job's collapse when he lost everything:
He was taken up with circumstances, not with the God of circumstances. So when God touched his circumstances, he turned to cursing.
Christ Himself gave the pattern. H. A. Ironside points to the hour when He had the least natural reason to:
"At that time" — note it well. At that time, when everything was darkest and He had unspeakable anguish ahead of Him, "Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit" and said, "I thank you, Father."
The opposite habit is no small thing. J. T. Mawson names what murmuring says about God:
Don't murmur, Christian, for it is a most unchristian, a most ungodly thing to do. Nothing dishonours God more, nothing does greater damage to the soul. It was the chief sin of all the sins that Israel committed in the wilderness, for it meant that they did not believe their God was fit to be trusted.
- In, not for. Give thanks in every circumstance, never for what is sinful. The setting changes; the thanksgiving does not.
- Willed, not suggested. Scripture names this as God's will, beside sanctification and eternal life. That removes every excuse.
- Look past the thing. Thanks becomes possible when the eye leaves the trouble and rests on the love that ordered it.
- Job's warning. A heart taken up with circumstances, not with the God of circumstances, breaks when they break.
- Christ's pattern. At His darkest hour He thanked the Father — the alternative, murmuring, says God is not fit to be trusted.