Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

1 Thessalonians 5:16

1 Thessalonians 5:16. Rejoice evermore. ‘It is a scandalous misprision, vulgarly admitted, concerning religion, that it is altogether sullen and sour, requiring a dull, lumpish, morose kind of life, barring all delight, all mirth, all good humour; whereas, on the contrary, it alone is the never-failing source of true, pure, steady joy; such as is deeply rooted in the heart, immoveably founded in the reason of things, permanent like the immortal spirit wherein it dwelleth, and like the eternal objects whereon it is fixed' (Barrow). This precept supposes that it is possible for us to obey it. To know that it is God's will that we should always rejoice, that we should resemble Himself in this as in all that inward purity which causes joy, goes far to fill us with the happiness here enjoined. It is a profound remark of Leigh ton's, and worthy of note here, that ‘all spiritual sorrows, of what nature soever, are turned into spiritual joy: that is the proper end of them; they have a natural tendency that way.'

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

1 Thessalonians 5:16

Old Testament

New Testament