Phil. 4:4; Matt. 5:10-12, “Joy”

We acknowledge significant dependence on TDNT (The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament) in this study.  Joy in the New Testament is one those amazing Greek words that finds it’s true meaning in the NT and not in the normal Greek usage.  It helps to compare two Greek words: chara (joy) and hedone (pleasure, from which we get the word hedonism).

·        Hedone derives from the same root as hedus meaning sweet, pleasant, delightful, the original sense of what is pleasant to the senses, namely to the sense of taste.  It means sensual pleasure.

·        Chairo means to rejoice, to be merry.

What is interesting is the use of these words in ancient Greece.

·        In Plato the terms are barely distinguished; joy and sensual pleasure are the same.  Joy is joined with sensual pleasure.

·        In Aristotle, chara is almost completely replaced by hedone.  In other words, what really is important to a happy life is pleasing the senses.

·        For the Stoics chara is a special part of hedone, with hedone (sensuality) being one of the four basic affections of life.  All emotions are prone to be defective; thus chara, being an emotion, is viewed negatively.  The “good moods” of the soul (like joy) are distinct from the affections (such as sensual pleasure).  Thus again, what is important to our significance as humans is that we are sensual.  We may or may not be joyful, but that is not really important.

When you come to the Bible you find that joy is not an incidental; it is fundamental to the life of God’s people.  In the Old Testament joy is inward (can we say spiritual or soulish).  But it is not just inward; it has a cause and joy finds expression.  Consider this in two examples:

Psalm 5:11: But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.

 1 Samuel 2:1-2: And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD.  I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.

The cause of rejoicing is bound up in the LORD and how He defends and saves His people.  It is not only permissible; it is commanded that this joy be shouted or that it produce a confident smile in the face of one’s enemies.  It is good, it is a righteous thing, to be joyful.

God Himself is a God of joy and rejoicing: I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying (Isa. 65:19).  This is amazing and powerful.  The cause of God’s joy is that the people are His.  And His joy results in His acts of blessing on His people.

(We will pick this up tomorrow by considering joy in the NT.)