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Bible Dictionaries
Happiness
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or HAPPINESS
i. Pagan and Christian Ideals compared.—Happiness was much discussed among the Greeks under the term ‘well-being’ (εὐδαιμονία). Aristotle said: ‘For on the subject of happiness and what conduces to it, and of its opposites, exhortation or discussion is always conversant, and this because we needs do the things which procure it or any of its constituents, and refrain from doing the things which destroy or impede it’ (Rhet. i. 5). The differences of the philosophic schools arose from the question wherein this well-being consisted. Was it in knowledge, pleasure, virtue, freedom from pain, wealth, or well-doing? The record of the answers to this forms the history of ancient Ethics. Jesus did not use the word ‘happiness’ (εὐδαιμονία), or propound any theory of the relation between duty and pleasure; but absence of the word is no proof that the subject was foreign to His mind. It is inconceivable that the ‘Son of Man: should neglect in His system so universal an instinct as the desire after happiness; for in the final summation joy must be a part of the perfect state. The comparison between ancient and Christian Ethics must not be made on verbal or literary lines, but the systems must be judged by their actual contribution to well-being or happiness.
(1) The failure of Paganism. The systems of Plato and Aristotle did not bring any large satisfaction with them, nor did they discover any permanent refuge for the race. Of all the products of Greek speculation, Stoicism survived longest, and had the largest influence upon the civilization of the world; but while, by its stern grandeur, it shaped a few noble characters which remained as a protest against the lax manners of the Empire, it failed to open up any fountain of joy for man. The Stoic sage was powerless to convert his theories into conduct, as he himself confessed; and the passionlessness of soul which he advocated was a poor match for the strong impulses of the human heart. Where reliance upon human reason was undermined, it was met with an impotent religiousness; and where reverence for the natural order was impaired, there was no message of a future life in which compensations would atone for present inequalities. Also the examples of the earlier leaders created a preference for suicide, which was a confession of failure to procure the well-being of life. Paganism withdrew from the struggle to provide happiness. It despaired, and was therefore defeated.
(2) The success of Christianity. The characteristic word of Christianity is Life; for while the moral code and example of Christ are superior to others, it is not on this that His supremacy rests. Christ’s Person is the vital force of the new religion. ‘As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26). This same blessing is bestowed upon all who believe in Christ; and so rich is this gift, that each believer becomes a constant source of life (John 6:57; John 7:38). Life is imparted to the believer in many ways, but chiefly through Christ’s words (John 6:63; John 6:68; John 15:3). This life is the realization of all human aspiration, enabling the Christian to hold on with courage and hope in the face of temptation and doubts; and the history of our civilization is the evidence that Jesus has succeeded where all others failed. To an age that was exhausted and desponding, that had failed to satisfy the deep desires of human nature, Christ came with convincing and converting power. When He spoke, men believed and lived again. Through Him rose
‘One common wave of thought and joy,
Lifting mankind again.’
Stoicism and Neo-Platonism produced thoughts of great beauty and purity. ‘Yet neither of them could enable artisans and old women to lead a truly philosophic life. Christianity could and did; the apologists point triumphantly to the realization of the moral ideal among Christians of every standing. That was due to the power which issued from Jesus Christ and actually transformed man. The certainty and confidence of faith based on Him, with reliance on God’s grace in Jesus Christ, begat in Christians a matchless delight in doing good’ (von Dobschütz, Christian Life in the Primitive Church, p. 329).
ii. The Teaching of Jesus.—The NT verbal equivalent for ‘happiness’ is ‘blessedness’ (which see), but it is not conceived in terms of pleasure. It is a religious idea, drawing its worth from the blessing which God imparts. The adjective ‘blessed’ occurs frequently in Matthew 5:3-12. This representative discourse may be entitled ‘Christ’s way to happiness.’ Here Jesus describes how people become happy, but refrains from all abstract definition. Each of these Beatitudes falls into two parts. In the first half those virtues are mentioned the possession of which constitutes people happy; in the second part the reward or result of each virtue is given. The following statements may be made as to Christ’s teaching on this way: (1) The joy begins immediately on the commencement of the journey, and is not reserved for the future. Thus, all who are pure in heart are happy. (2) More depends upon the traveller than upon the outward conditions. Happiness rests in dispositions, such as purity, meekness, righteousness, peace, and not in possessions, such as wealth, health, fame. The happy man makes his own scenery. Christian joy, like other Christian graces, is inward; and the OT conception of blessedness, in so far as it consisted in prosperity and length of days, yields to a more spiritual ideal. All who go Christ’s way are like the Happy Warrior,
‘Whose high endeavours are an inward light
That makes the path before him ever bright.’
(Wordsworth).
(3) This happiness is not a passivity, but an activity, coinciding with some function of the will or mind. It cannot rise of itself as a mere state of emotion, but accompanies an act of service either for God or man. Happiness is associated with piety (Matthew 5:3-6) and probity (Matthew 5:7-11). It follows upon doing the will of God, or upon seeking the well-being of others. Socrates also regarded happiness as εὐπραξία, well-doing. (4) This way, unlike the world’s way, is endless, for the joy that begins on earth is an anticipation of the full joy of heaven (Matthew 5:3 b, Matthew 5:10 b). (5) The pursuit of this way is a duty. All who walk with Christ not only will but ought to rejoice. Happiness is an imperative, ‘Rejoice and be exceeding glad’ (Matthew 5:12). The ethical ideal of Jesus differs from Hedonism, in which morality and happiness are synonymous terms, because with Him blessedness is the associate of virtue. Christ neither confuses nor separates these two. Happiness and virtue are twin stars. The further use of the Beatitude in Christ’s teaching continues to emphasize the spiritual ingredients of happiness. In Luke 11:28, John 13:17, blessedness and obedience are associated; in Matthew 16:17 blessedness and knowledge are united; in John 20:29 blessedness and faith are joined. In many places blessedness is reserved for the future (Luke 7:23; Luke 12:37-43; Luke 14:15). In the Fourth Gospel Jesus distinctly offers fulness of joy (John 16:24).
iii. Happiness as revealed in Christ’s Person.—The birth of Jesus was a proclamation of joy (Luke 2:10). Though called the ‘Man of sorrows,’ He was not unhappy. Sorrows never distorted His soul, nor left the faintest shadow of melancholy or accidie. He was ‘still cheerful and helpful and firm.’ His first miracle contributed to the innocent pleasure of social intercourse (John 2:1-11). The impression left by His address was pleasing; nor was His voice the voice of grief (Luke 4:22). His gospel was a joyous prize (Matthew 13:44-45). He delighted in healing pain (Luke 4:18). Instead of reflecting the sadness of households, Jesus removed it (John 11:23, Luke 8:52). He spoke of a joy that was His own peculiar and characteristic possession (John 15:11), and promised entrance into His own joy as a supreme reward (Matthew 25:21). This joy He offered all who followed Him (John 16:24), and He was anxious to complete the joy of His disciples (John 15:11; John 17:13). Christ shunned the moroseness of asceticism (Matthew 11:19), as He turned from the selfish happiness of the epicurean (Matthew 20:28). The joy of Christ arose from several causes—(1) He was free from sin, that root of sorrow and bitterness: ‘For by sinning we kept neither piety nor felicity’ (Augustine). (2) He had the intense joys of a Saviour (Luke 15:7). His was the happiness that comes from being the creator of another’s good (Luke 19:10). The keen pleasure of rescue work filled His soul (Luke 15:5; Luke 15:9; Luke 15:23). The thought of the countless hosts who would obtain eternal rest through His death was a secret potion to sweeten His bitter cup. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross. (3) The self-sacrifice of Jesus issued out of pure love (John 15:13). He was happy as a lover. (4) He rejoiced in the sense of Divine sonship. This was His earliest thought (Luke 2:49). To do the will of God was better than food (John 4:34). The knowledge of His Father was life (John 17:3). It was an incomparable ecstasy for Him to dwell upon the love of God (John 17). This relieved Him of fear (Luke 23:48, Matthew 6:34); also it freed Him from the distracting care of false ambition (John 18:36). Being thus free from many of the vexing thoughts and struggles that disturb our peace of mind, He was able to find comfort in Himself and His cause. He was the first citizen in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Though tempted in all points like as we are, and acquainted with grief, Christ was nevertheless a man of joy.
Christ gives happiness by giving Himself. ‘He that hath the Son hath life,’ and the causes which led to His peace act in measure in all those who turn to Jesus. The first and last Beatitude of the Gospels is to those who believe in Him (Luke 1:45, John 20:29). All life culminates in God, and man’s summum bonum is God as He is revealed in Christ. Partnership with Him, even when joined with personal suffering and sacrifice, is more valuable than all worldly prosperity (Matthew 10:39). Plato had climbed to a lofty place when he declared that man’s happiness was to be found in a supernatural good, in the knowledge of ideas, especially the idea of God. But Christianity rises higher. Jesus leads us up from imitation of God and acquaintance with Divine ideas to the sublime fact that we may know God personally. Not a resemblance, but a partnership; not a certainty that God is good, true, and wise, but a certainty that He loves us, and that we may love Him in return—this is the new faith (John 15:9). Jesus is the Christian’s joy. Into our restlessness of soul, due in part to imperfect ideas, Christ comes with a fellowship and an ambition grand enough to supply man with the peace after which he is ever struggling (Matthew 11:28). Through Christ our sins are forgiven, our anxieties removed, our sorrows softened, our hopes revived, while He alone imparts that supreme gift of fellowship with God which is our highest good. Thus purest happiness comes, which some will still prefer to call blessedness, as more appropriate to such intimate and spiritual relationships.
Literature.—Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, artt. ‘Beatitude,’ ‘Happiness,’ ‘Sermon on the Mount’; Hort, The Way, The Truth, The Life (Macmillan, 1894); Hilty, Glück (J. C. Hinrichs, Leipzig); PRE [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] , art. ‘Gluckseligkeit’; Coleridge, Aids to Reflection: ‘Prudential Aphorisms’; Shairp, Studies, 362; Seeley, Ecce Homo15 [Note: 5 designates the particular edition of the work referred] , 114, 195; Carlyle, Sartor, 112, 132, Heroes, 64.
James W. Falconer.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Happiness'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/h/happiness.html. 1906-1918.
