📖 Biblical Definition
To rejoice is to be glad, to celebrate with the soul actively engaged. In the New Testament it is given as explicit command: "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand" (Philippians 4:4-5). Crucially, the rejoicing is tied not to circumstances but to union with Christ — "in the Lord". Paul writes from a Roman prison and commands it. Christian rejoicing is therefore a discipline, not a feeling — willed gladness in a present Lord, independent of what the day brings. "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep" (Romans 12:15); "Rejoice evermore" (1 Thessalonians 5:16).
📜 KJV Continual Tense
In KJV: rejoiceth — sustained, not seasonal joy.
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1 Corinthians 13:6: "Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." Love's rejoicing is not bursts but a settled disposition. Continuous tense.
Philippians 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice." The "alway" interprets the verb's aspect — continuous, sustained, not contingent on circumstance.
KJV's -eth recovers the disposition: a Christian is not someone who has rejoiced; a Christian is someone who is rejoicing.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
REJOICE, v.i.
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To experience joy and gladness in a high degree; to be exhilarated with lively and pleasurable sensations; to exult.
📖 Key Scripture
Philippians 4:4 — "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice."
1 Thessalonians 5:16 — "Rejoice evermore."
Habakkuk 3:18 — "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
Psalm 118:24 — "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity treats rejoicing as a feeling that comes; Paul commanded it as a discipline that obeys.
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Philippians 4:4 is a command, not a description. Paul wrote it from prison. He could have observed: I do not feel like rejoicing — and most modern believers would have said the same. He instead obeyed. The verb is imperative, repeated, addressed to the will. Joy is partly a fruit of the Spirit; rejoicing is partly a discipline of obedience. Both are biblical; both can be pursued.
Habakkuk 3:18 is even sharper: the prophet has just listed catastrophic loss — no figs, no grapes, no olives, no flock, no herd — and immediately says yet I will rejoice in the Lord. The yet is the hinge of the verse. The man who can put a yet between his circumstances and his joy is a free man. Practice the yet. Tomorrow morning, rejoice in the Lord; do it again at noon; do it again at sundown. The feeling will follow. The Lord is always reason enough.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew samach (H8055); Greek chairo (G5463).
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H8055 — samach — to rejoice, be glad
H1523 — gil — to spin around in joy
G5463 — chairo — to rejoice, be glad
Usage
"Joy is fruit; rejoicing is also a discipline — both are commanded."
"Practice the “yet” of Habakkuk 3:18 — the man who can wedge it between his loss and his joy is free."
"Paul wrote “rejoice always” from a prison cell — the bar is high and the help is sufficient."