Of course, this opened the door for me to rant about how much I hate the teaching that "joy and happiness are not the same thing." We ran out of time and I didn't get to explain it (which I intend to do here), so I opened a can of worms that we didn't get to explore. I only got to explain that I can't stand this oft repeated Christian phraseology because it doesn't mean anything. These two words are in fact synonymous and our separation of "joy" and "happiness" into separate concepts is a semantic trick. Here's why I think so.
In popular Christianity, we have developed and taught the idea that joy and happiness are separate things. We base this on the [well grounded] assumption that "happiness" is an emotion and thus contingent upon circumstance. This is true, as far as I can tell. The issue, then, is what we do with the concept of joy. What is our working definition of this concept? The answer to the question "what is joy?" is always much more nebulous. It's apparently something more permanent, based on our relationship with God, and much deeper than fickle emotions. Thus, we can have "joy" even when we are not "happy." I am not at all satisfied with this definition. It's meaningless. And so, in my opinion, is a realistic distinction between these words. So where does such a distinction come from?
Our problem with equating "joy" with "happiness," and our subsequent desire to invent a distinction between the terms comes from our cognitive dissonance regarding versus like James 1:2. Here, James writes to the Jewish Christians scattered throughout the empire and tells them, "consider is pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance." Paul writes some similar things in his letters. We look at versus like this one, where we are being told to be joyful about trials, mistreatment, and suffering, and such commandments don't make sense to us. How could God expect us to be "happy" about suffering? So, rather than acknowledge that God asks us to do things which are hard, we invent this dichotomy. He tells us, not to be "happy," but to have "joy," and these are different things--even if we can't quite really describe how they're different.
In fact, this dichotomous understanding of these two concepts does not extend into any other context. That is to say, in none of our conversations, save for this topic alone, do we use these two words as if they are different things. When we refer to a joyous occasion, we are always talking about a happy occasion. We mean a wedding, not a funeral. When we think of "making a joyful noise," no one thinks about Barber's Adagio for Strings. Even scripture does not bear out this separation of concepts. John compares his feelings about the beginning of Jesus's ministry to a friend who is "full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice" (John 3.29). When the pregnant Mary enters Elizabeth's house, an unborn John "leaps for joy" (Luke 1.44). The Book of Acts describes Samaria as being full of "great joy" (8.8) at the healing of paralytics and cripples. All of these examples describe happiness. Such examples go on and on. So, even within the New Testament, happiness and joy are usually synonymous.
In fact, if we think about the people who we think of as being "filled with joy," we think of the people who always have a smile or encouraging word--in other words, people who appear to be happy, even when bad things are going on in their lives. So, happiness may not be joy, necessarily, but happiness is indeed the mark of joy.
The explanation for James's teaching, to me, is that indeed Christians can be happy, even in the midst of tribulation. Certainly, this seems unnatural and maybe even unfair. But remember that everything about Christianity asks us to behave differently than how the world would expect us to. But how can such a thing be possible? Emotions are natural reactions, and cannot therefore be inherently wrong. How can we be commanded to be "happy" about terrible things?
I think the answer, perhaps, lies in the person of Paul, a person who often talks about joy in hardship. In the Second Letter to the Corinthian church, Paul says to the church:
I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged: in all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds. For when we came into Macedonia, this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn--conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. (2 Cor 7.4-7)When Paul tells them that "in all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds," I do not think he intends to say that he is happy about his troubles, But I do think he intends to say that even during these troubles he remains happy. He is indeed referring to his emotional state. He goes on to explain how such a thing can be possible. Certainly, nothing about being harassed, being involved in conflicts, and being afraid makes one "happy." But, when the church at Corinth heard about this problems, their love for him spurred them into action. First they loved Titus. Then they sent Titus with ovations of love for Paul. Paul learned that they hurt for him, longed for him, loved him. And their expressions of love made his "joy greater than ever." I do believe that when Paul refers to "joy" here, he is expressing a feeling of happiness--the emotional stuff that's supposed to be separate and different than "joy." See, the trials themselves did not make Paul happy, but in the midst of these trials, Paul found something to be happy about.
The reason we as Christian should be able to find happiness even during struggles is that we are to see the world in fundamentally different ways than does the world. So we can indeed be "happy" when James tells us to be joyful of our trials. Because these trials means that God is planning to use us for something. And that's pretty cool--something to be actually emotionally moved by. Something to be happy about. And the love that our brothers and sisters show for us in our struggles is something to be happy about. Certainly, responding to trials with happiness is unnatural. Such responses take training. And I don't think this training comes from giving ourselves permission to be unhappy even while giving ourselves credit for being joyful. Instead, such training comes through intentionally looking at our trials and searching for what God is doing through them.
Inasmuch as we often use the word "joy" to mean something more like "peace" when we espouse the teaching I'm critiquing here, I am comfortable in saying that there may indeed be a slight difference in these concepts of "happiness" and "joy." When I say that I hate this teaching and that I think it's nonsense, I am admittedly being a bit hyperbolical. But it is true, and vitally important to understand, that if these are different things, than one is necessarily the fruit of the other. Those who possess joy will be happy, and they will often show happiness when the world would not expect them to, when they would in fact have permission to be unhappy. So, if joy and happiness are different, they nevertheless belong together.
