The positive human condition that is either a feeling or an action. The Bible uses “joy” in both senses.
Joy as a Feeling
Joy is a feeling brought about by well-being, success, or good fortune. A person automatically experiences it because of certain favorable circumstances. It cannot be commanded.
The shepherd felt experienced joy when he found his lost sheep (Matthew 18:13).
The crowd felt it when Jesus healed a Jewish woman who was bound by Satan for 18 years (Luke 13:17).
The disciples returned to Jerusalem rejoicing after Jesus’s ascension (return to heaven) (Luke 24:52)
The church in Antioch felt joy when its members heard the Jerusalem Council’s decision that they did not have to be circumcised to keep God’s law (Acts 15:31).
Paul mentioned his joy in hearing about how obedient Roman Christians were (Romans 16:19).
Paul wrote to the Corinthians that love does not rejoice in wrong but rejoices in the right (1 Corinthians 13:6; see also 1 Samuel 2:1; 11:9; 18:6; 2 Samuel 6:12; 1 Kings 1:40; Esther 9:17–22).
Psalms 137:1–6 shows that emotion cannot be commanded. The captors of the Jewish people wanted them to sing in the land of their exile, something they were unable to do because Jerusalem was the source of their joy.
Joy as an Action
There is a joy that Scripture commands. That joy is action that can be engaged in regardless of how the person feels. Proverbs 5:18 tells the reader to rejoice in the wife of his youth, without reference to what she may be like. Christ instructed his disciples to rejoice in persecution (Matthew 5:11–12). The apostle Paul commanded constant rejoicing (Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:16). James said Christians should view tests as joy because such tests develop endurance (James 1:2). Joy in difficult times is only possible because it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, who is present in every Christian (Galatians 5:22).