Fruits of the Spirit 2: Joy

Joy seems a lot to expect as a steady diet. I've had arguments over exhorting the congregation to smile all the time, and poked fun at the Christian stereotype that's always grinning. But I'm beginning to think the problem is with the English word rather than the Bible writers in their choices of Greek and Hebrew. I must also admit, though, that the English options suggested in the origins of the biblical words all fall a little short, weighed down with their own baggage to the other side of suitable.

Paul's word, khara (Strong's 5479), translated "joy" in the NRSV for all but 2 uses (Hebrews 10:34 "cheerfully" and 12:11 "pleasant"), is rooted in a verb used about as often for greetings and farewells as it is for "rejoicing" or being glad. The Hebrew word most often translated "joy" in the KJV seems similarly a little too mild in its English form of "cheer up." Some of the Hebrew alternatives refer to light - "brighten," "gleam" - but a few of them seem indeed to be about the kind of sudden, strong happiness that we associate with "joy" - "clamor" (though this can also be a terrible clamor, as of war), "shout," "jump," and "spin" (also about the passage of an era). The one rooted in "shout" is the one in Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." There's at least one very active alternative in Greek, too, the one in Luke 1:44, where Elizabeth's unborn child, who will grow up to be John the Baptist, "leap[s] for joy," though the joy is inferred in a word tied etymologically to "much jumping" and elsewhere in the NRSV translated about "gladness." Maybe we need to keep looking for the middle ground, the sustainable level of happiness that is the fruit of the Spirit, or just leave it unspoken.

[Read the New Revised Standard Version at http://bible.oremus.org/bible.cgi?ql=126285373. From there you can also check the other passages referenced here.]

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, available in various hard-copy and electronic editions.