Yesterday Katherine Clark, a Congresswoman from Massachusetts and Minority Whip of the US House, spoke in a televised session of Congress on the subject of transgenderism. She said she intended to honor the “trans community” ahead of what is known as the “International Transgender Day of Visibility,” which is scheduled for Friday, March 31. She spoke of “trans voices that need to be heard,” of her “trans daughter,” for whom she expressed unconditional love, and of her solidarity with “every trans American.” While there were many things in her remarks that I found troubling, the term that caught my attention was “trans joy.” Let me quote the entire sentence: “I rise in honor of trans joy that deserves to be celebrated, not eradicated.”
What does it mean to speak of “trans joy”? Is this joy of a different kind or quality than another kind of joy? If she means the experience of finding ones body at odds with his internal gender experience, it is difficult to imagine how that could be described as joyful. Rep. Clark implied that transgender individuals are at risk of being driven out of existence, their voices silenced and even criminalized, and their inalienable rights opposed by what she called “MAGA extremists” across the county. With transgender individuals facing such a dire situation in the United States today according to Clark, the term “trans joy” seems to be very much out of place.
The Bible speaks a great deal about the subject of joy, although it does not attach any descriptors such as “trans” to the term, so far as I know. The word joy denotes being glad or experiencing delight in one’s well-being or the prospect of possessing what one desires. This is why joy is often spoken of in relation to a man’s heart (Exodus 4:14; Psalm 19:8; 105:3), his soul (Psalm 86:4), and his eyes (Proverbs 15:30).
There are many things that bring joy, according to the Bible. Psalm 104:15 says that wine causes a man’s heart to rejoice, while Proverbs 27:9 credits oil and incense. “A wise son brings joy to his father,” according to Proverbs 10:1, “but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.” A kind word can bring joy to an anxious heart (Prov. 12:25), as does meeting a loved one (Exodus 4:14). God’s law, read and understood, was a source of rejoicing to the children of Israel (Nehemiah 8:8-10), as were God’s feasts (12:43; cf. Deut. 12:7; 16:11; 2 Chron. 30:21).
But more than anything, God’s people find joy in the Lord and his salvation. Here are just a few examples:
- “But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them shout for joy forever. May you shelter them, and may those who love your name boast about you.” (Psalm 5:11)
- “Therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices; my body also rests securely.” (Psalm 16:9)
- “You will joyfully draw water from the springs of salvation.” (Isaiah 12:3)
- “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)
- “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)
When his disciples returned from a mission excited that they had been given power over demons, Jesus told them, “don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Knowing that your name has been recorded in the book of life (cf. Phil. 4:3; Rev. 20:12-15) and you have been declared righteous by the Judge of all the earth (Rom. 8:33) is sure to bring joy to your heart and soul.
Foolishness brings joy to one without sense, but a person with understanding walks a straight path.
King Solomon
But there is another kind of joy of which the Bible speaks. Judges 16:23 records the reaction of the Philistine leaders when they had successfully capture Samson, the Jewish hero who had troubled them for several years. “They rejoiced and said: Our god has handed over our enemy Samson to us.” The people saw Samson next and “they praised their god and said: Our god has handed over to us our enemy who destroyed our land and who multiplied our dead” (v.24). Little did they know that their rejoicing would be short-lived. During the ensuing celebration, Samson prayed to the Lord who restored his great strength and enabled him to topple the pillars holding up the pagan temple of the Philistines. Those men and women who had been rejoicing over Samson’s capture and defeat only moments before died in a heap of rubble.
This would seem to be a prime example of the principle found in Proverbs 15:21, “Foolishness brings joy to one without sense, but a person with understanding walks a straight path.” The Philistines’ joy, their sense of gladness and delight at the prospect of possessing what they most desired, was seriously misplaced. They believed that it was their god who had given over Samson into their hands, and did not realize that the Israelite hero had been captured because he had finally severed the vow by which he had been specially dedicated to Yahweh’s service for life. His circumstance was the result of divine judgment, not the conquest of their god over the God of Israel.
In short, the Philistines were joyful because they were ignorant, and although this kind of joy is common, it is always short-lived. This is the kind of joy Rep. Clark calls “trans joy,” the exhilaration that accompanies the defiance of nature as created by God. Solomon advises his son to let wisdom enter his heart to guard him from “those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious” (Prov. 2:14). He says the end of such people, those who take joy in living contrary to God’s good design and purpose, is destruction: “the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous ripped out of it” (v.22).
If there is such a thing as “trans joy,” it is this kind of self-destructive exultation in man’s defiance against his Creator, and it leads only to pain and loss, sorrow and death. This is precisely the warning given by James, pastor of the first church of Jerusalem. He says, “each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). What may initially appear to bring joy, always ends up in the realm of death. “It is a sign of prodigious folly,” says George Lawson, “for a man to take pleasure in sin, which gives mortal wounds to the soul, provokes the displeasure of the Almighty, and could not be expiated but in the groans and blood of a Redeemer; and yet all wicked men take pleasure in it.” Indeed.
True joy, lasting joy, is a fruit of God’s Holy Spirit, not the product of man’s self-realization or self-actualization. It is not by being our most authentic selves that we receive the fullness of joy; that is found only in God’s presence (Ps. 16:11). Joy is found in the realization that “our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3, cf. v.4). Joy comes when we are reunited with fellow Christians who have invested in us spiritually (2 John 12), and when we learn that our spiritual investments have begun accruing interest (3 John 4).
While there may be a kind of joy experienced by transgender persons, it is not a joy we should pursue or celebrate. Rather, we must seek to know the Lord Jesus Christ and be assured of the living hope to which we have been born again. As the apostle Peter reminded 1st century believers who were living as exiles across the Roman world: “You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:6-9).