Joy,
Emotion, Inner Happiness; 1 John 1:4
Everything
from 1 John 1:1 to the last verse of 1 John 5 is “what we are communicating to
you.” That is the message. It is called the message of life in 1 John 1:2 which
relates to the fact that this is necessary to experience the abundant life, the
Christian life, of the believer. The purpose is “that you may have fellowship
with us,” verse 3. In other words, if you want to have fellowship with us you
have to understand and apply the doctrine that is in this epistle or there is
no fellowship. That means that fellowship in the Bible is something profound.
This is not an advanced understanding of doctrine, this basically related to
understanding the person and work of Jesus Christ and the importance of staying
in fellowship with Him as part of advancing in the spiritual life. John is
saying: “If you agree with us on this and you believe this and are applying in
your life the things explained in this epistle then you have fellowship with us
(editorial “we”: to him primarily, and secondarily the apostles).”
1 John 1:4 NASB “These things
we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” The “these things” relate to
the doctrine contained in this epistle, the propositions he communicates. In
order to understand that he assumes there is some level of commonality between
himself and the readers and that by investigating vocabulary, syntax, sentence
structure and thought organization we can come to a correct understanding of
what he says. The purpose clause: “that our joy may be made complete.” This is
a first person plural here. The purpose for the readers is “that they may have
fellowship with us and with the Father,” and the purpose of John’s writing is
“that his joy might be made complete.”
What
does he mean by this? There are two categories of joy in the Scripture. One is
emotional and has emotional dimensions and one does not. We should not confuse
the two. There is a subtle criterion that spirituality is evaluated by how we feel,
and so emotion becomes that criterion. But there is a right and proper place
for emotion. Emotion is the response or reaction to positive or negative things
that go on around us and often they are glued to what we are thinking and what
we believe, and many other factors, but they are not a criterion or evaluation
system and we should not make decisions in life based on emotions, that is
where we get into trouble. But there is nothing wrong with emotion per se.
Emotions change because of the mentality of the soul; they are not the
autonomous leader of the soul. So when John I writing here he is not just
taking about that inner happiness Jesus promised us, he is also talking about
the fact that he is going to be downright happy if these folks he is writing to
get with the program and go forward in the spiritual life. There is nothing
wrong with that.
There
are some examples in Scripture is the absolute of inner happiness. This is an
inner happiness that is based on doctrine and it gives us stability no matter
what the circumstances are. This is a product of the fruit of the Spirit,
Galatians 5:22. This is not a joy that is based upon circumstances, upon the
presence or absence of friendships, upon monetary prosperity or any other human
factor; it is based exclusively and totally on the work of God and orientation
to His plan, and orientation to grace. This is joy that we can have that no
matter what is going on in our life we can experience this kind of
tranquillity, contentment and stability, and we are not knocked off our feet by
negative circumstances. But at the same time that we have that kind of joy we
can also be sad. There is a legitimacy to emotional
sadness, as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter four over the loss of a loved
one: “We grieve but not like those who have no hope.” But at the same time we
have the fruit of the Spirit which is joy. At the core of our being there is
tranquillity, contentment and joy but there is also a sadness and sorrow over
loss, but it is not like the unbeliever.
Jesus
talks about this unchangeable joy that is ours as believers. John 15:11 NASB
“These things [doctrine] I have spoken to you so that My
joy may be in you, and {that} your joy may be made full.” Jesus’ joy never
increases or diminishes, it is immutable and perfectly stable no matter what
creatures do or don’t do.
John
16:20 NASB “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and
lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be
turned into joy…. [22] Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you
again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one {will} take your joy away from
you.” The point here is that no circumstances, no people, no event, no
adversity, can take that joy away from us as believers. It is immutable; it is that
“My joy” that Jesus gave us. [24] “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be
made full.” John 17:13 NASB “But now I come to You;
and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in
themselves.” Romans 14:17 NASB “for the kingdom of God is not eating
and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Then
we come to those passages which talk about inner
happiness as relative to circumstances. Acts 15:3 NASB “Therefore,
being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia
and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were
bringing great joy to all the brethren.” That is not the “My joy” that Jesus is
talking about, it is the enthusiastic excitement that is produced when
believers hear that somebody has been led to the Lord. It is a positive
emotional joy.
1
Thessalonians 2:19 NASB “For who is our hope or joy or crown of
exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His
coming?” Something to be excited about is to see believers who are advancing in
spiritual maturity. Paul already had inner happiness but he was going to be
pleased and excited when he got to be with his friends and his protégé,
Timothy. This is what John is talking about in 1 John 1:4. He is not talking
about inner happiness, he is talking about the fact that these false teachers
had been a problem to this congregation, that some of them had been seduced by
the false teachers, and he is writing these things so we can believe them,
apply them, and that it will change our lives, and to see that brings him
pleasure. That is a legitimate role of emotion. It is not the basis for life
and it is not a criterion for life and we have to guard against that because we
live in a society and a culture that is motivated by experientialism and
emotion, and people play to emotions—especially politicians.