2. Joy as a general characteristic of the Chris- tian life. — Joy appears in the NT writings as an outstanding characteristic of the Christian life in the Apostolic Age. In the Pauline Epistles especially it figures prominently. It is one of the three great ingredients of the Kingdom of God (Ro W) • it receives the second place in the enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 522 ; cf. 1 Th 1^) ; the descriptions of the Christian life frequently refer to it (Ac 2*' 83" 1352 1634, Ro 12^2, 2 Co P* 6i» 82, Pii 125, 1 P 18). That this joy is not a mere by- product of the Christian state without inherent religious significance appears from the further fact that the constant cultivation of it is enjoined upon believers (2 Co 13", Ph 3^ 4* ['rejoice always'], 1 Th 516, Ja P, 1 P 413). The Apostle even makes it an object of prayer (Ro 15'3), and represents its attainment as the goal of his apostolic activity for the churches (2 Co 1-4, Ph \-^). The prevalence of a joyful state of mind in the early Church may also be inferred from the numerous references to thanksgiving as a regular Christian occupation (Ro P'l, 2 Co 82, Eph 54- 20, Ph 48, Col p2 oi 317 42^ 1 Til 3^ 5'*). In view of all this, it may be surmised that the conventional formula of salutation by means of x'^'Pf" has perhaps, when used among believers, acquired a deeper meaning (cf. Mt 28^ Lk 128, Ac 1523, 2 Co 13", Ja P, 2 Jn i"- ").
When we come to inquire into the causes of the facts just reviewed, the first place must be given to (a) the vivid consciousness of salvation which is present in the Apostolic Age. Through the re- stored fellowship with God and the forgiveness of sin a joy streams into the heart whicli is coloured by the contrast of the opposite experience belong-
ing to the state of estrangement from God. The Christian joj' is specifically a joy in God (Ro 5", Ph 3^ 4'"). Joy appears associated with faith, as well as with hope (Ac 83^ 1634, Ro 15^3, 2 Co 124, Ph 12', 1 P P). It likewise accompanies the ethical renewal of the mind as a new-born delight in all that is good (1 Co 13").
A second cause may be found in (6) the highly pneumatic character of the religious experience in the Apostolic Age. The Spirit as the gift of the Ascended and Glorified Christ to His followers, manifested His presence and power in these early days after a most uplifting fashion, and among other things produced in believers an exalted state of feeling in which the note of joyousness pre- dominated. The conjunction of joy and the Spirit, however, does not merely mean that the Spirit produces tliis joy : it is due to the inherent char- acter of the Spirit, so that to be in the Spirit and to be fiHed with joy become synonymous (Ac 24^ 13'2, Ro 14"). The Spirit possesses this inherent character as a Spirit of joy becau.se He is essenti- ally the element of the life to come. This leads to the observation that in the third place (c) the joy- fulness of the early Christian consciousness must be explained in the light of the fact that the Christian state is felt to be semi-eschatological, i.e. in many important respects an anticipation of the consummated life of the Kingdom of God. Through the entrance of the Messiah into glory, tlirough His pneumatic presence and activity in the Church, and through the prospect of His speedy return, believers have been brought into real contact with the world to come. The specific character of the world to come is that of blessedness and joy, and to the same degree as this Avorld projects itself through experience or hope into the present life, the latter also comes to partake of tiiis joyful complexion. Especially in St. Paul and the Epistle to the Hebrews can we trace this connexion, though it is not absent from any of the NT writings (Ro 12^2 1417 1513^ He 1034 12", "l P P- « 4^3, Jude -4, Rev 19'). Jesus Himself had already represented the spiritual coming of the Kingdom, the time of His presence with the disciples as a period of joy, resembling a wedding-feast (Mk 2'^), and had pointed forward to the dispensation of the Spirit as a period of joy (Jn I428 15" 162o- 22. 24 jyis), Qn this principle is to be explained the paradoxical character which the Christian joy assumes through entering into contrast with the tribulation and affliction of this present life. It even makes out of the latter a cause for rejoicing, inasmuch as the believer, from the power of faith which sustains him, receives the assurance of his ' approvedness ' (BoKi/jLTq) with God, and thus the strongest con- ceivable hope in the eschatological salvation. Ro 53^' is the classical passage for this, but the same train of thought meets us in a number of other Pauline passages, and occasionally elsewhere, sometimes in pointedly paradoxical formulation (Ac 5", Col pi, 1 Th P, He 1034, j^ p^ 1 p 413), Most frequently this specific kind of joy is expressed in connexion with the idea of Kavxaa-Oai, ' to glory ' (cf. above ; Ro 52- 3, 2 Co Ipo 12^, Ja P).