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JOY. There are two serious mistakes made pertaining to joy in the Christian life. Some make the mistake of thinking God wants the Christian to be continually dour. These condemn merriment in general. [We have dealt with this problem in the entries Happy and Merry.] The other mistake is to identify Christian joy and rejoicing solely with the emotional happiness so sought after by the world, but this is not an accurate definition of biblical joy. Cheerfulness and delight are plainly something that is a part of the Christian life, and one of the words translated "joy" in the N.T. (chara) could be so rendered. It is used to speak of the joy of the wise men when they saw the star (Mt. 2:10), the joy of Elisabeth and Zacharias at the birth of John (Lk. 1:14), the joy of the Millennial kingdom (Mt. 25:21), the joy of the disciples after the resurrection of Christ (Mt. 28:8), the joy of those who witnessed the 1st century miracles (Ac. 8:6-8).

There is great happiness in the Christian life, but it is an error to think that this is solely what the Bible means by joy and rejoicing. 2 Co. 6:10 says, "as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing." 1 Pe. 1:6 says, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." Jesus Christ, who was anointed with the oil of gladness (He. 1:9), was also "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Is. 53:3). From these Scriptures it is evident that one can be joyful even when emotionally sorrowful, even when the spirit is heavy, even when one is acquainted with grief. CHRISTIAN JOY AND REJOICING IS, ABOVE ALL ELSE, STEADFAST CONFIDENCE IN GOD REGARDLESS OF ONE'S CIRCUMSTANCES. This is evident in the use of the Greek words. The same Greek word translated "joy" in Ro. 5:11 (kauchaomai) is also translated "glory" (Ro. 5:3), "rejoice" (Ro. 5:2), and "boast" (Ro. 2:17,23; 3:27; 2 Co. 11:16). To boast or glory in Christ and the promises of God is rejoicing!

There is a great danger in identifying Christian joy solely with emotional pleasure, with a spiritual gaiety. Because of the fallen condition of this evil world and our own corrupted nature, it is impossible but that we will experience a great deal of grief and heaviness in this world. The great Apostle Paul said, "... even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Ro. 8:23). God does not promise to deliver the Christian from the pains of a fallen creation. There are those who would force the Christian to try to maintain an emotional exuberance, but this flies in the face of the Word of God. Jam. 5:13 says, "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms." Here the Word of God recognizes that there will be different emotional experiences among the members of a church at any given time, and it doesn't demand that all conform to a single euphoric standard. The afflicted one is not told to be merry; he is told to pray.

In fact, to the worldly Christian, the one who has become a friend to the world, who is rejoicing in fleshly merriment, the Apostle James says, "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness" (Jam. 4:4,9). This is apt instruction for our present generation of Christians.

The fullness and perfection of emotional happiness is something which belongs to the future when the believer will bask in the eternal glory of Christ in Heaven. We must not make it our chief aim in this present world to seek such joy, or we will be severely disappointed. Like Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross" (He. 12:2), the child of God must set his face like a flint to endure the manifold sufferings of this present life with his eyes focused on the unspeakable joy which is to come; he must refuse to be sidetracked by a vain search for emotional euphoria in the here and now. [See Dancing, Happy, Healing, Hope, Merry.]

JUDAISM. The corrupted religion presently followed by unbelieving Jews. It is a corrupt mixture of O.T. teaching and human tradition. There is a powerful move on the part of many professing Christians to accept unbelieving Jews as God's children, merely because of their Old Testament heritage and their natural standing as children of Abraham. This move is evidenced on every hand. Many local clergy associations now commonly include unsaved Jewish leaders as fully-accepted members.

The Roman Catholic Vatican II proclamations of the mid-1960s spoke of "the great spiritual heritage common to Christians and Jews" and said, "it is the wish of this sacred Council to foster and recommend a mutual knowledge and esteem" between Jews and Christians. Pope John Paul II has taken the historic step of speaking in a Jewish synagogue, and he has said that the mutual respect between Judaism and Catholicism should require that there be no attempt to proselyte the one to the other.

Judaism is one of the so-called "living faiths" with which the World Council of Churches (WCC) is having dialogue. The dialogue committee is called the "Sub-unit on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths." The very fact that the unbelieving Jews are called those of a "living faith" shows that the WCC believes these Jews are already saved without the necessity of a personal faith in the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. Something which is already alive and possessing faith has no need of receiving life and faith! Speaking to the World Council General Assembly in Vancouver, Canada, in 1983, Jewish Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum said, "Jews and Christians are bound together by the affirmation of the value of every human being as a child of God, deserving nurture and respect." The WCC represents more than 300 denominations and 500,000 professing Christians.

Many more examples could be given, but this should suffice to show the trend of which I speak. The modern Jewish religion, called Judaism, is being increasingly accepted as a "living faith" by many professing Christians. Thus, unsaved Jews are said to be God's children, and the sad fruit of such an idea is the destruction and opposition of biblical evangelism and missions.

Three Great Facts about Judaism

1. Judaism is a man-made religion which has rejected the Son of God, Jesus Christ. God created the Jewish nation to prepare for the coming of Christ. Israel was and is God's chosen nation, a special people above all the nations. Through Israel God gave the world the Scriptures (Ro. 3:1-2). Through Israel God sent the virgin-born Son of God, Jesus Christ (Ro. 9:4-5). The sad fact is that Israel rejected their God and crucified their own Messiah and King and Saviour. This is made abundantly clear in the Holy Scriptures, no matter what modernistic theologians are saying (Jn. 1:11; Mt. 26:59,65-67; 27:20-23). The writers of Holy Scripture certainly are more trustworthy as witnesses of the events of those days than a group of proud theologians who are 2,000 years removed from the events and who have witnessed nothing!

After Jesus rose from the dead, the guards who had been hired by the Jewish leaders to guard the tomb ran and told the Jews what had happened. The Bible tells us what they did then: "And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. ... So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day" (Mt. 29:12- 15).

The Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ later preached to the same Jews and proclaimed that they were indeed the ones responsible for Christ's crucifixion (Ac. 2:36). The Holy Spirit, who gave the words spoken here by the Apostle Peter, lays the blame for Christ's crucifixion upon ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. Of course, it was not only the Jews who crucified Christ, but the Gentile Roman government as well. The entire human race is responsible for Christ's death, because it is for the sins of of the world that He had to die. There is also the very real sense in which each individual person crucified Jesus Christ, for it was our individual sins which required that He pay the sacrifice upon Calvary. In the strictest sense, though, the Bible itself says that THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL crucified Jesus. That could not be plainer.

As in the first century, most Jews today continue in unbelief. Most are unsaved, and their religion of Judaism is a false religion created by their leaders in an attempt to hide their rebellion.

The passage we quoted from Mt. 28 about the Jewish leaders creating lies in an attempt to hide the fact of Jesus' resurrection actually shows the beginning of "Judaism"! It is a manmade attempt to cling to O.T. patterns which are passed away in Christ Jesus. It is a vain attempt, though, and God showed His rejection of Judaism by ripping the temple veil apart from top to bottom when Christ died (Mt. 27:51), thus signifying that the Atonement had been completed and the way into the Holiest, the very presence of God, was open for all who will come by faith in Christ, both Jews and Gentiles.

When the Roman armies leveled Jerusalem in 70 A.D., they destroyed the Jewish temple, and ever since, the Jews have not had a temple, nor have they had their required sacrifices. While great numbers of Jews today care nothing for any religion, even for Judaism, the orthodox Jews continue to keep a form of some of the O.T. law, largely obscured under a heavy blanket of man-made tradition. They have a form of the passover, for example, and circumcision, and some of the other rites; but it is without saving grace; it is without God. They have no high priest, no temple, no blood sacrifices, no Day of Atonement. By rejecting Christ Jesus, they have rejected the great High Priest and the great once-for-all Atonement which was made for sin.

2. Judaism is a Christ-rejecting, Christ-hating religion. We have seen from the Bible the origins of Judaism: The Jewish leaders of Christ's day, ignoring the fulfilled prophecies and His miraculous ministry, rejected the Messiah, hating Him with bitter, jealous, unquenchable hatred. They deceitfully arranged for his crucifixion and spread lies to hide His glorious resurrection. These Jewish leaders had a name; they were called Pharisees.

Even while Christ was walking among them, speaking the most glorious words ever heard by mortal ears and doing the most marvelous miracles ever witnessed on earth, they expressed their deep hatred toward Him. They slanderously referred to Him as an illegitimate child. They pointed to His lack of formal education, inferring that He was ignorant. They said He was demon possessed and called Him a blasphemer. They lied against Him; attempted to trick Him into doing or saying something wrong. And yet the Lord Jesus loved these men, as He loves all men, and He would have forgiven and saved them had they repented and turned to Him. Did He not say to them, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (Jn. 6:40)? He would; they would not. Lk. 19:41 says He beheld the rebellious city of Jews and wept over it. Yet God also is Holy, and the Son of God denounced these hardhearted men with great severity because of their apostasy and the fact that they were leading multitudes to Hell (Mt. 23:13,15,23-28,33).

The Pharisees are still alive today. They are leading the religion of Judaism! Consider the following facts:

... all leading Jewish authorities agree that modern-day Judaism is undiluted Pharisaism. This is clearly set forth in the most authoritative writings on the subject, The Pharisees: The Sociological Background of Their Faith. The author is the distinguished Jewish scholar and religious leader, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, Chancellor and Professor of Theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and president of the American Academy for Jewish Research. In his Foreword, in tracing the background of `the unchanged faith in Rabbinic Judaism,' Dr. Finkelstein writes:

`Pharisaism became Talmudism: Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, which became Modern Rabbinism, but throughout these changes of name, inevitable adaptation of custom, and adjustment of Law, THE SPIRIT OF THE ANCIENT PHARISEE SURVIVES UNALTERED.'...

The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia says under `Pharisees': `The Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries from the Pharisees. ... The Talmud is the largest and most important single piece of (their) literature ... and the study of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism' (Joseph P. Kamp, American Mercury, 1970, winter edition, reprinted in The Rock, Feb. 1987).

Finkelstein says, "[In Judaism] the spirit of the Ancient Pharisee survives unaltered." How true this statement is! In modern Judaism we find the same bitter hatred toward Jesus Christ and His followers as that which dwelt in the bosom of the Pharisees who 2,000 years ago stood among the crowds watching Jesus' trial before Pilate, stirring them up to cry, "Crucify him; crucify him; let him be crucified! ... persuading the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus." One of the statements in the Jewish Talmud teaches that Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, was a whore and an adulteress who bore Jesus by a Roman soldier named Pandera (Ibid.). Indeed, Judaism is a Christ-hating religion.

In this light we see how wicked it is for those who profess to be Christians to fellowship with, have joint meetings with and in other ways join together with Christ-rejecting Jews. The Christian's responsibility today toward the unbelieving Jew is the same as that of the first-century Christians: Preach to them Christ crucified and risen and glorified as Lord and Saviour and proclaim that God now commands all men everywhere to repent. Read the book of Acts and see how the Apostles and early Christians preached to the unsaved Jews. You will find there no idea of Christ-rejecting Judaism being a living faith!

3. Judaism is a temporary religion. Modern Judaism is the man- made religion of a nation of hard-hearted, unbelieving people, a people who have rebelled against their God and rejected their promised Messiah. This will change one day. The Bible prophesies that there will come a day when the nation Israel will receive Jesus Christ when He returns from Heaven in power and glory (Zec. 12:9-10; 13:1,6).

The day prophesied in this and many similar passages of Holy Scripture will come. It will come! Before then there will come a period of the most terrible torment this world has ever experienced. It is called the "time of Jacob's trouble" because the Great Tribulation (Mt. 24) will be the time when God will complete the punishments of Israel for their unbelief and will thereafter reveal Himself to them in Christ and pour out upon them the grace we read of in Zechariah. Christ will return; His feet will stand upon the mount of Olives; and He will establish His kingdom on earth with its capital in Jerusalem and a converted Israel at its heart.

Christians, do not be deceived into thinking that unbelieving Jews are God's children, or that they have a living faith. They are dead, lost in trespasses and sin; they are in unbelief. This is what the Bible says, and this is what we must believe. Judaism is a dark error and deep rebellion. Let us not fail them, but proclaim to them Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, "for both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin" and "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him" (Ro. 3:9; 10:12).

JUSTIFICATION. Justification means "to declare righteous." Justification is God's declaration that those who trust Jesus Christ are perfectly righteous before Him. It is a legal concept, as when a judge gives a verdict. God is the great Judge. It is His law we have broken. Before I am saved, God declares that I am a condemned sinner. After I come to Christ, God declares that I am righteous because of what Christ did for me on Calvary. Justification is being brought into a new spiritual position before God (Ro. 5:1-2). The believer is no longer a part of the cursed household of Adam, but has entered the blessed household of Christ.

How is a person justified? (1) Justification is free (Ro. 3:24). We do not become righteous before God through good works, religious rituals, morality, law-keeping. It is a free gift. (2) Justification is because of Christ's redemption (Ro. 3:24). Justification is free because Jesus Christ paid the price with His own blood and death. (3) Justification is through faith in Christ (Ro. 3:25-28; 4:3-6; 5:1). Man's part in justification is to repent of his sin and to trust Jesus Christ.

Other important truths about justification: (1) Justification is by imputation, not impartation. Justification is not God making a sinner righteous, but God declaring him righteous. It is true that God gives the believer a righteous nature, which remains in him and causes him to love and serve God, but this is not justification; this is regeneration (2 Co. 5:17). Justification is God imputing to the believing sinner the very righteousness of Jesus Christ (2 Co. 5:21; Ro. 4:4-6). (2) Justification is in Jesus Christ. To have Christ is to have justification (1 Co. 1:30; 2 Co. 5:21). (3) Justification is a present possession, not a process and a possibility (Ro. 5:9). Justification is not a gradual thing whereby a person grows in righteousness. The believer is as fully justified the day he is converted as he is after forty years of spiritual growth. Believers do grow in obedience, but this is not justification; it is sanctification (1 Pe. 2:1-2). (4) Justification promises eternal safety from wrath (Ro. 5:9-11). Since the believer possesses justification through Christ's blood, he does not have to fear ever suffering God's wrath. It is God who declares the believer righteous. Thus the danger of wrath and condemnation are forever past for those who are justified by Christ's blood.

Position and Practice. The Bible makes a plain distinction between the Christian's position and his practice. Other terms for this are standing and state, relationship and fellowship, union and communion. The believer's position in Christ is unchanging, secure, and eternal the moment he is born again into God's family. His practice, on the other hand, depends upon his day by day fellowship with Christ and is a fluid condition. Justification has to do with the believer's position before God.

THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS. The book of Ephesians lays out this distinction plainly. Chapters one through three present the believer's position and standing; chapters four through six deal with his practice and state, his walk. In Ep. 1-3 the believer is repeatedly said to be "in Christ" (1:1,3,4,6,7,10,11,12,13; 2:6,10,13,22; 3:6,12). This is the theme of this section of the epistle. The key word in Ep. 1-3 is "grace" (1:2,6; 2:5,7,8; 3:2,7). In Ep. 4-6 the subject changes to the believer's walk in this world. The key words in Ep. 4-6 are "walk" (4:1,17; 5:2,8,15), "conversation" (4:22), "put on" (4:24; 6:11), and "obey" (6:1). The pivotal verse is Ep. 4:1--"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." Here we are told the believer is to bring his daily walk into line with his eternal calling. He does not live right in order TO BE called or in order to perfect his calling, but because he HAS BEEN called. There is a world of difference. To serve God because you have been saved is the Gospel; to serve God in an attempt to attain salvation or to perfect one's salvation is a perversion of the Gospel. Ep. 5:8 says, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but NOW are ye light in the Lord: WALK as children of light." The believer's position in Christ is that he is "light in the Lord." This is a present, eternal reality. He is instructed to live up to that position in his daily life.

JOHN'S FIRST EPISTLE. The difference between position and practice is also seen in 1 John. Here the Lord makes a plain distinction between relationship and fellowship. The theme of 1 John is "... that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ." The theme is fellowship, not relationship. It is written to those who have already established a relationship with God as children through faith in Christ. The Scriptures teach that a person is placed positionally into the family of God the moment he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. God once for all imputes the righteousness of Christ to the sinner's account, and is forever satisfied (propitiated) in relation to that believer's sin because of the blood and death of Christ. This is where confession of sins enters into the Christian life. Obedience and confession of sins is essential in order to remain in fellowship with the Savior, but our walk in no way affects our position in Christ, or our relationship with God as our Father. If we sin He still remains our Father and Christ remains our Advocate (1 Jn. 2:1). How can this be? It is because He paid the full price demanded by God's law for sin (1 Jn. 2:2), and eternal life is a free gift, totally undeserved and unmerited by man, received by simple faith in Christ alone, and secure upon receipt.

JOHN'S GOSPEL. The Gospel of John also shows this distinction plainly. In John 1-12 the focus is on the unsaved, and the message is "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Jn. 1:7,12; 3:15- 16,18; 4:39; 5:24; 6:35,47; 7:38; 8:24; 9:35; 10:38; 11:26). When the unsaved asked about doing the works of God, Christ replied, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (Jn. 6:29). That is the only work God will accept from the unsaved. In chapter thirteen, though, Christ turns His attention to His own little flock and the theme changes from faith to obedience. "If a man love me, he will keep my words" (Jn. 14:23). This change in the theme of John's Gospel illustrates the difference between relationship and fellowship. Faith is the prerequisite for relationship; obedience is the requirement for fellowship. Faith is the way to become a child of God; obedience is the way to walk in fellowship with the Father. [See Eternal Security, Footwashing, Gospel, Grace, Holy, Hope, Integrity, Mercy, Propitiation, Repentance, Reconciliation, Redemption, Righteousness, Sanctification, Seventh-day Adventism.]