I’ve been doing an in-depth study 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse 8 speaks of joy that is “inexpressible and filled with glory.”
Meditating on that phrase led me to do a deeper dive into the meaning of biblical joy. As you may already know, the Bible has much to say about joy.
Here are some thoughts on the joy that you and I can have today and forever.
1. God is the source of true joy.
It is a gift from our triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit). More specifically, joy is the joy of Jesus which God the Son gives to us through the work of the God the Spirit. Scripture also says that God the Father fills us with this joy.
Biblical joy is the joy of Jesus that he gives to us. Christ told the apostles: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:12). Jesus has infinite and perfect joy; note how He speaks of “my joy.” And he wants us to have that joy – his joy. His desire and will for us is that his joy be in us. He wants his joy to be our joy; he speaks of “my joy” and “your joy” in the same breath. His joy becomes our joy because he gives it to us.
He wants us to have his joy in abundance; the result of God’s gift of joy is that our joy “be full.” “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24), “But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves”(John 17:13).
2. Jesus gives us his joy through the work of the Holy Spirit.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Gal 5:22). “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 13:52). “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17). “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess 1:6).
3. God provides joy to believers in Jesus, to people with faith in Christ.
Like salvation, biblical joy is Christ’s gift and this gift is received by faith. In 1 Peter 1:8, we see the relationship between faith and joy. Peter tells his readers, “Though you do not see him (Jesus), you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” Our joy in Christ is the result of our faith in Christ.
Paul also wrote about the connection between faith and joy:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13). God fills us with joy because we are “believing” in him. “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” (2 Cor 1:24)
4. 1 Peter 1:8 teaches us two key characteristics of biblical joy: it is “inexpressible” and “filled with glory.”
“Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”
Biblical joy is “inexpressible.” The KJV translates this as “joy unspeakable.” Phillips renders this as “a joy that words cannot express.” The NET (New English Translation) uses the word “indescribable.” Yes, the Christian’s joy is indescribable, yet here I am trying to describe the indescribable – to define it and explain what it is with words that cannot do it justice. This is the wonder of God’s goodness to us!
The Greek word for “inexpressible” (aneklaletos) is only used two times in the New Testament, once by Peter here in 1 Peter 1:8, and once by Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” God is the great Giver of gifts. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). He gives us countless gifts, and Jesus is arguably the greatest of these gifts. God’s gift of Jesus to the world is truly inexpressible! We do our best to explain Jesus with words, but his infinite worth goes beyond words. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
Biblical joy is “filled with glory.” Philips expresses this thought well: our joy “has in it a hint of the glories of Heaven.” The joy we experience in this life is a foretaste of the perfect joy we will have in the next life, and therefore it is “glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy” (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition).
5. Biblical joy is a painful joy.
Peter knows that these believers are being persecuted for their faith and therefore “have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). God’s people have been oppressed by unbelievers for centuries. Jesus was brutally honest with his disciples in this regard, predicting that “In the world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). What kind of trouble? Christians can expect to be hated by the world. “Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19). The world’s hatred of believers will result in persecution. Jesus experienced rejection, slander, and physical abuse to the point of death. We will get the same treatment because “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).
In fact, like Jesus, some believers will be unjustly killed for their faith, ironically, in the name of God: “Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God” (John 16:2). This was Peter’s own experience; according to church history, he was crucified for following Jesus. Later in 1 Peter he writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13). Even though we suffer physical pain and deep sorrow from persecution, we are not to be startled by it or view it as “strange.” The path to glory is a journey of grief and suffering. Jesus walked this path, and we are following right behind him, all the way to heaven.
For many believers, the Christian life is hard, a “fiery trial” (1 Peter 4:12). Somehow, by the power of God’s Spirit who indwells us, we can rejoice in these fires because we are sharing the same paradoxical mixture of pain and joy that Jesus felt. This is why we are “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).
The simultaneous experience of suffering and joy is a recurring topic in the New Testament. Paul told the Corinthians, “In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy” (2 Cor 7:4). He described the Macedonians believers with these words: “For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part (2 Cor 8:2).
The writer of Hebrews reminded his readers that “you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one” (Heb 10:34).
And James, the brother of Jesus, told believers to “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:3-4).
So it is possible to have joy while suffering. This was the lot of Jesus and the early church. By the grace and power of God, this can be our experience, too. The apostles even rejoiced because of their suffering: “When they (the Sandredin) had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (Acts 5:40-41).
6. We rejoice even while suffering because our joy is in God and his salvation.
The first four words of 1 Peter 1:6 contain the key to biblical joy: “In this you rejoice.” What is “this”? God and his salvation.
In verses 3-5, Peter begins the letter with a doxology of praise to God for the mercy he demonstrated through his provision of salvation. He blesses (praises) God for . . .
** His incredible mercy – “According to his great mercy”
** The new birth – “he has caused us to be born again”
** A life of hope – “to a living hope”
** The resurrection of Christ – “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ”
** God’s promise of a rock-solid inheritance in heaven – “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you”
** God’s powerful protection – “who by God’s power are being guarded”
** God’s gift of faith to receive all the blessings of salvation – “through faith”
Peter is saying, that in light of who God is and what he has done for us, rejoice! His merciful character is magnificent. No matter what happens to us, God’s salvation is a sure thing, and therefore, “in this” God and “in this” salvation we can rejoice, even though we face sorrow and hardship during our sojourn on earth.
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