Don’t Rejoice In Sin

[Love] does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.

1 Corinthians 13:6

In Greek, the phrase, “Love does not rejoice in iniquity,” literally means, “Love does not take satisfaction from sin.” To rejoice in unrighteousness is to justify sin. It is making wrong appear to be right. This is what Isaiah said in Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”

There is much of that going on in our world today. Men and women in the media have come to understand that bad news is good news in the sense that it makes the headlines and provides more readership and listenership, but God’s love is saddened when it hears of the defeats and tragedies in other people’s lives. It is easy to be glad at another person’s misfortune, but God says that as Christian people we are never to rejoice in sin. When you love somebody, you cover their sins; you don’t broadcast them. John puts it this way: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John v. 4).