χαρά

ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐν ὑμῖν ᾖ καὶ ἡ χαρὰ ῦμῶν πληρωθῇ. — κατὰ Ἰωάννην 15:11

tauta lelaleka hymin hina he chara he eme en hymin e kai he chara hymon plerothe. — kata Ioannen 15:11

These things I have spoken to you so that this joy of mine may be in you and that your joy may be completed. — John 15:11, translation mine

Christ's investment in His disciples cannot be overstated. Not only does He supply those who follow Him earnestly with love and the means and the will to love, He brings them joy. For just as Christ delights in the Father and His love, so also the disciple delights in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For we who have accepted Christ's sacrifice and truly seek Him, this single outpouring of perfect love from the Father washes away our repeated failures to hit the mark of His holy standard. As John writes in one of his epistles, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1 John 4:15-18, ESV).

As perfect love casts out fear, it fills the void that it drives out. It is this filling that makes us complete and able to conform to the image of and remain in the love of Christ, and we cannot help but to rejoice at God's graciousness. The Ancient Greek of the New Testament captures this relationship between grace and joy at the etymological level. Grace, or χάρις (charis), and joy, or χαρά (chara), both ultimately stem from the same root verb, χαίρω (chairo), “I rejoice, I delight”.

The key is God's delight in His creation and the favor of salvation with which He graces those who respond to His call. Those who respond and faithfully seek God progressively delight in His delight and love with thankful hearts as they mature in Him. If we consider that the word commonly translated as thanksgiving, εὐχαριστία (eucharistia), has its root in χάριτι (chariti), that is, grace, we may summarize it thus: God gives us grace whereupon we, gratified in His love, rejoice in gratitude. No longer under the punishment meted out to us for falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and His righteousness, we may confidently remain in God's love, letting it perfect us so that our own love and joy may become as complete as that of Christ.

If Christ be our foundation in this regard, we may be assured that our joy comes from love, not circumstance. Our happenstance does not dictate our joy. Therefore, we call it joy, not happiness, and we recognize that we are not fortunate, but blessed. In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul echoes Christ's call to remain in His love, admonishing them, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 2:1-2, ESV). It is the love that drives men to unity and community with one another and with God that completes them in joy.

John the Baptist exemplified this when asked if he begrudged Jesus the increase in following from John's disciples. John responded, “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30, ESV). True joy, like perfect love, does not seek the glory of self but pours out toward others. Rather than being incensed at Jesus' arrival, John rightly rejoiced in it, humbly serving the One for whom he had prepared the way. The Scripture translated here as “rejoices greatly,” χαρᾲ χαίρει (chara chairei), literally means “rejoices with joy.” The reduplication of the root underscores the pervasiveness and power of that joy which is shared among friends. Furthermore, the reflection of the construction from John 3:29, ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ πεπληρῶται (he chara he eme peplerotai, “this joy of mine is completed”), in John 15:11 cannot be denied. Christ's gain is John's gain is our gain.

By this, we know that the purest and most persistent joy wells up from the connection we have in the vine, remaining in the Father's love and sharing His love through Christ with one another. Paul reiterates this in his letter to the Philippians, saying, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4, ESV), and still again:

“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.”
Phillipians 4:10-14, ESV

Paul rejoices first in the Lord and again in the company of those who share not only his joy and his faith but his troubles and burdens as well. His joy is no random happy accident but a trust in Him who provides to those in need, and Paul's gratitude to both God and his brothers and sisters in Christ is evident. We who are in Christ should likewise cheerfully bear each other's burdens and gratefully accept each other's help that we may be completed by Christ in the joy that comes from serving the Father. This is the hallmark of true joy: the κοινωνία πνεύματος (koinonia pneumatos), or “participation in the Spirit” (Philippians 2:1c, ESV), which those grafted into the vine share in common as one body, one spirit in Christ. Abounding thus in the joy of Christ, which surpasses all circumstance, and rooted in “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7a, ESV), we may likewise abound in love, laying down our lives in service to God and one another.