The United Nations has published a report indexing the happiness levels of 155 countries in the world. This year the place to live is Norway. Denmark came in second, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, and Finland. was registered as the happiest country on the planet; Zimbabwe came in dead last. Just slightly above the average was the United States, coming in at 14th (up one rank from last year). Research has found “that happiness is partly inherited and that money doesn’t buy much of it.”[1] What reports like these only mention by implication is that happiness is rooted in circumstances.[2] The root word of “happy” is “hap” which is defined as one’s luck or accidental. Thus, when circumstances and situations are good, one is happy; when they are not, one is unhappy.
We can build the tension by identifying the present psycho-babble coming from pulpits and platforms across America. For example, one of the loudest voices at present in Christendom is Joel Osteen. In his book, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, he writes to promote a gospel which is about health, wealth, and happiness. In fact, his seven (7) steps lead one right to happiness: enlarge your vision, develop a healthy self-image, discover the power of your thoughts and words, let go of the past, find strength through adversity, live to give, and choose to be happy. Osteen says, “In each of these areas, you will find practical suggestions and simple choices that will help you to stay positive in your lifestyle and believe for a better future” (x). Clearly, Osteen’s theology is one of positive thinking and faith in the force of faith. Repeatedly Osteen says, “Happiness is a choice” (269). He is adamant, “Happiness is a decision you make, not an emotion you feel” (270).
The happiness principle does not just have to come from the pulpit. Osteen is just one voice among many. Take, for example, a book which is part of the larger for Dummies series, Happiness for Dummies. This book is over 300 pages and offers four (4) ingredients for happiness: feeling of safety, sense of satisfaction (i.e. being full), sense of perspective, and quietude (28). In addition, the author provides even more “ingredients”: satisfaction, pleasure, gratitude, serenity, and well-being all factor into happiness also. It should be immediately obvious the writer’s understanding of happiness is that it is based on circumstances and situations. But circumstances and situations change on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. What is even more interesting is that the author goes so far as to say that happiness is an innate ability in people! Hence, some can be born with the ability and others cannot.
Perhaps the writer who got closest to some kind of semblance of truth is John Chaffee in his book The Thinker’s Way: 8 Steps to a Richer Life. Right from the start he points out that homo sapiens is the “thinking man.” Therefore, any transformation must take place through our thinking. In fact, the opening chapter is entitled “Transform Yourself Through Thinking” (3). Certainly that is a principle rooted in Scripture (Romans 12.2), although that is not where Chaffee takes it. He argues that informed and enlightened thinking is “the key to living a life that is creative, professionally successful, and personally fulfilling” (9). “Nonthinking is dangerous,” Chaffee continues, “it endangers us, our lives, our welfare, our ability to become the people we have the potential to be” (16). While we are drowned by information in our society, we are starved for knowledge (20). One can go further: we are drowned in information, but starved for transformation. So the eight (8) steps Chaffee offers deal with our thinking: think critically, live creatively, choose freely (these initials steps must be established in order to successfully…), solve problems effectively, communicate effectively, analyze complex issues, develop enlightened values, and think through relationships.
However, before Chaffee penned his tome on thinking, M. Scott Peck was already on the scent. His book The Road Less Traveled exploded on the scene in 1978 with a simple thesis: Life is difficult. Later (1993), he followed up with his book Further Along the Road Less Traveled with yet another simple thesis: Life is complex. The four years later (and one year before Chaffee), he wrote The Road Less Traveled and Beyond which seeks to identify that the primary problem people face in a difficult and complex life both as individuals and as a society is the failure to think. He says that is “the problem.” Peck says:
Thinking is difficult. Thinking is complex. And thinking is – more than anything else – a process, with a course or direction, a lapse of time, and series of steps or stages that lead to some result. To think well is a laborious, often painstaking process until one becomes accustomed to being ‘thoughtful’…if we are to think well, we must be on guard against simplistic thinking [a la Joel Osteen] in our approach to analyzing crucial issues [a la Happiness for Dummies] and solving the problems of life (24).
The next year, Chaffee would write, “Critical thinkers are people who have developed thoughtful and well-founded beliefs to guide their choices in every area of their lives” (24). It is thoughtfulness, not thoughtlessness, which is key to being a psychologically whole person.
Thus, one begins to see that even secular writers see the need for changing the thought patterns and thinking rightly. Joel Osteen would probably say “amen” and try to sell a book about positive thinking. However, what all of these writers fail to discover is that it is not positive thinking which will counter negative thinking; it is truth thinking which trumps both (all) thinking patterns. The Biblical paradigm is one which seeks to guide and shape people’s thoughts. God wants us to think His thoughts after Him. “We have the mind of Christ,” exclaims Paul. Very rarely is happiness used to describe the state of the saint. Instead, New Testament writers often speak of “joy.” While happiness is influenced and affected by circumstances, joy is not. That is why Paul can repeatedly write from a Roman prison cell, “Rejoice!” Thinking will only get one so far down the happiness trail since happiness is rooted in circumstances. But the psychological significance of truth thinking transcends circumstances and situations. Therefore, in this paper we will explore the Biblical and psychological significance of joy.
What, then, is the proper and right way to understand joy? Before we examine the Biblical text (Old and New Testament), it is beneficial to understand the secular usage of the Greek word for “joy” – chara. The Biblical writers often would take the words available to them in their time and place in order to communicate the divine mind. Thus, the Greco-Roman background helps us shade in some of the colorful backdrop into which the Biblical wrote. Therefore, we will trace just a brief history of chara.[3] First, chara had an aspect of fellowship which was often expressed in festal joy. That is, when there was atonement or peace between the gods and men, a feast of peace would be held bringing joy.[4] Then, the philosophers used the word to express certain Hellenistic ideas. Plato saw chara as being equal with hedone (from which we get our English words “hedonistic” and “hedonism”). Aristotle, though, saw hedone as being greater than chara. Then, the Stoics got the idea that hedone is nothing more than a special kind of chara but it, like other self-gratifying emotions, was bad. Through the philosophers and Hellenism, chara takes on an eschatological sense in expectation of the savior of the world. This led one writer to say, “Joy is not just a state or feeling but a way of making the world manifest. Joy is determined by the discovery of being in its joyousness.”[5] It should be evident that the only thing to change in the secular understanding of happiness and joy is the time and date.
The Biblical writers introduce a vastly different concept of joy. Beginning in the Old Testament, the most common word for joy is simha/samah which shows up 94 times in the Hebrew Bible. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC, this word group is also translated. What is interesting, though, is this word group is rarely translated as chara. The Septuagint prefers euphraino over chara, though 5 times simha is translated chara. Two of those occasions chara is connected with a feast: 1 Chronicles 29.22 in connection with a feast at the coronation of King Solomon and Esther 9.22 where Purim is instituted and sorrow is turned to chara (from simha). The other instances are Jonah when the gourd sprouts up and he is “exceedingly glad;” Proverbs where the “end of joy is grief;” and Psalms where God’s presence brings chara.[6] Only this last use seems to reflect the deeper significance of joy; the other translation places indicate that too much Hellenism has crept into the thinking of the translators. Indeed, much of rabbinical usage of chara bears this out where the word group is used in connection with festal joy. However, one usage is of particular interest where “perfect joy” is spoken of. This is increasingly interesting when compared with the Johannine usage of chara in his corpus.
These are not the only times chara is used in the Old Testament. Along with Psalm 21, several other instances of chara point to the deeper significance of joy. Several times, God’s work in salvation is a chief reason for joy (see Psalm 5.11; 9.2; 16.9). There is singing associated with the joy of salvation. Indeed, the whole being is summoned to rejoice. When people are faithful to God’s word there is joy (Isaiah 65.13-14) causing God Himself to rejoice (65.19). Perhaps Jeremiah is the most explicit when he writes, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy (chara) and the delight of my heart” (15.16). Here one finds a direct correlation between joy and the word of God. When people (especially God’s people) consume the word of God, are faithful to His law, and are thereby saved, joy is manifested. This joy is not merely internal and inward; it has a cause and finds expression, especially in singing.
Much of these ideas get carried over into the New Testament and are amplified at the realization and fulfillment of God’s plan of redemption. This begins in the gospels where the word group is used 22 times, Luke using it the most. In Matthew, chara carries an eschatological emphasis (see especially 25.21, 23). Mark only uses the word once but it is significant because chara comes because of the reception of the word of God (4.16, parable of the soils). John uses the word at least twice in connection with feasts (due to a predominately Hellenistic audience?) – 3.29; 4.36. However, chara shows up the most in the final discourse of Jesus recorded by John; it is used 6 times in the span of three chapters (15.11; 16.20, 21, 22, 24; 17.13). It is Luke, though, who uses chara the most (8 times). It is joy which is a theme running through his gospel narrative from Jesus’ arrival (2.10) to His ascension (24.52). The overarching connection seems to be with the coming of the King into His kingdom.
This usage is carried over into Luke’s sequel, Acts. Though only used half as many times, three occasions are of particular interest. First, when Philip preaches Messiah and performs miracles in Samaria, “much joy” enters the city as people obey the gospel (8.8). Next, in Antioch of Pisidia, when the word of the Lord spreads in that district, the disciples are “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (13.52). Finally, when the account of the conversion of the Gentiles is told the brethren in Jerusalem, it brings “great joy” to them (15.3). Thus, a clear connection is made between reception of the word, conversion of lost people, and the filling of the Holy Spirit: each of these events brings joy (chara).
No New Testament writer used the word chara more than Paul. It is never used in a secular sense but is usually connected with his work as an apostle. In other words, Paul never uses the word group in a mundane way, but in a majestic way. Thus, we read that Paul worked with the Corinthian Christians for “their joy” (2 Corinthians 1.24). Part of his apostolic work was letter writing. Referencing his previous correspondence he explains that he wrote like he did so that his brethren, who should be a source for joy, would not cause him pain when he comes and finds great division and other pervasive sin in the church (2.3). Thus, while his work was corrective and disciplinary, the immediate obedience of the Corinthians brought him joy.
Philippians is no doubt Paul’s treatise on joy. This book is riddled through with chara. Early in the epistle Paul sets the stage for the entire letter by explaining that he is a joyful servant (Philippians 1.1, 4). The joy Paul has is reciprocal in nature, from him to his brethren in Philippi through his fellow worker Timothy (2.28-29). Indeed, the Christians at Philippi are the embodiment of Paul’s joy (4.1). Over and over, Paul exhorts his brethren through command to “rejoice in the Lord” (3.1; 4.4). This kind of rejoicing should be the Christian’s disposition at all times (or “always” see 4.4). Even when confronted by a situation in which Christ is preached out of envy and rivalry with the intent of somehow harming Paul, so long as Christ is preached Paul has joy (1.18). The source of this kind of supernatural joy is faith in Christ (1.25). So Paul presents the Biblical and psychological significance facets of joy in this short epistle.
Other New Testament writers help to shed light on the phenomenon of joy. For James joy can be and even must be experienced in the midst of trials (i.e. persecution, James 1.2). Herein lays the paradox of persecution: in circumstances which have bad written all over them one is still joyful. In similar fashion, the writer of Hebrews points Christians to the supreme example of this paradox when he calls Christians to look to Jesus “who for the joy (chara) set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12.2). Crucifixion was and arguably still is the most excruciatingly painful death ever devised by the mind of man and yet Jesus endured it for joy beyond it.
It is essential to revisit the Johannine corpus. As mentioned above, in his gospel, chara is used repeatedly by Jesus in His final discourse to His disciples as recorded by John. An interesting element concerning joy is that Jesus is the giver of His joy which produces a joy which is full (John 15.11). The sorrow of the crucifixion event would be turned into joy for the disciples. This is graphically illustrated by Jesus Who uses the imagery of a mother giving birth to a child. She has pain which gives way to joy once the birth is over (16.20-21). This joy cannot be taken away (16.22), still another demonstration of the contrast between happiness and joy. Remove the favorable circumstances and happiness flees; joy is not dependent upon favorable circumstances. It is Jesus’ prayer for His disciples’ joy to be full and fulfilled (17.13). This idea of “full-joy” is carried over into John’s three epistles. Twice (1 John 1.4; 2 John 12) John speaks of completing or perfecting the joy of both his readers and him. This “perfect joy” occurs in reading what John wrote and also in a face-to-face visit from John himself. Thus, the joy of John and his audience is brought about by the medium of the word, be it spoken or written. Further, John experiences joy so great that there is nothing greater at hearing that his “children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4).
Based upon this sketch of the usage of chara one can reason to several conclusions about joy. There are several wellsprings from which joy flows. First, joy comes to those who have fellowship with God. As already seen, this was an aspect of chara which was present in the secular sources. However, the Biblical writers are able to bring out the full meaning of the word when they attach it to the experience of redeemed men. In line with this, another source of joy is the understanding of God’s abiding presence among His people. Now that fellowship has been established on the basis of atonement wrought by the sacrifice of Jesus, Christians have access to the King. This knowledge births joy. Yet another source of joy is God’s Word (spoken or written). “Faith comes by hearing” the Word of God. Thus, when one receives the Word of God (or eats it, as in Jeremiah), faith flourishes and joy abounds not only in the new convert but in the one who lead the soul to salvation in Christ (see Philippians 1.25). This obedient person receives the Holy Spirit at immersion who is Himself a source of joy (cf. Acts 13.52; Romans 14.17). Still another source of joy is connected with eschatological salvation. Again, this was an aspect of chara the pagan sources already had but it is the inspired Biblical writers who bring out the fullest meaning of this. The Savior of world has come; much more He is coming again! The certainty of this assertion is the basis of joy. These objective truths are unchanging and therefore joy is abiding even in the midst of ever changing circumstances.
Without a theological perspective of joy rooted in the supreme example of Jesus of Nazareth on the cross, one will always be one down when it comes to the psychology of joy. The paradoxical nature of joy demands theological presuppositions too great outside of the realm of faith, the Holy Spirit, and God. Therein lays the distinctive difference between happiness and joy: happiness is rooted in the subjective and joy in the objective. The subjective nature of situations and the interpretation of those incidents either produce happiness or sadness. However, the objective and unchanging nature of the Christian faith, the Holy Spirit, and God Himself (James 1.17) produces in the Christian a sense of joy which is unaffected by the fickleness of circumstances.
Thinking is difficult and nonthinking is dangerous. Even secular psychologists understand this. Thinking is all the more important for the joyful Christian. To be joyful even in the midst of circumstances in flux demands truth thinking. Since truth is objective and rooted in the supernatural reality, the Christian can have joy no matter what this complex and difficult life brings. Developing thinking patterns and thought processes which keep ever in the mind the objective truths of Scripture should promote good psychological and mental health.
[1] Article accessed online at http://www.livescience.com/4999-study-world-happier.html June 7, 2012. See also Time’s online article at http://time.com/4706411/country-happiest-united-nations-sustainable-development/ March 21, 2107.
[2] One parenthetical statement in one article explained why Zimbabwe’s Happiness Index was so low: “Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term Sunday after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate. Observers said the runoff was marred by violence and intimidation.”
[3] Most of the following information is taken from the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament under the entry for chara.
[4] This is how Aristophanes in the 4th-5th century BC used it.
[5] Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley and Gerhard Friedrich, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964-).
[6] References are Jonah 4.6; Proverbs 14.13; Psalm 21.6 respectively. All Scripture references are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chaffee, John. The Thinker’s Way: 8 Steps to a Richer Life. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1998. Print.
Gentry, W. Doyle. Happiness for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008. Print.
Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001. Print.
Kittle, Gerhard, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964. Electronic.
Osteen, Joel. Your Best Life Now. Nashville, TN: Warner Faith, 2004. Print.
Peck, M. Scott. The Road Less Traveled and Beyond. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Print.
Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Being Grimm’s Wilke’s Clavis Novi Testamenti. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1889. Electronic.
Study: World Gets Happier. Associated Press, 30 June 2008. Web. 7 June 2012. < http://www.livescience.com/4999-study-world-happier.html>
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