““But if we see happiness in our Bibles, isn’t it self-evident that it’s a God-centered and God-honoring happiness, not a general, secular one? Don’t all Bible readers know that when Scripture speaks of peace, hope, justice, and love, it routinely attaches deeper and more Christ-centered meanings to those words than our culture does? One commentator says that makarios “is a deeper word than ‘happy,’ implying that deep and lasting joy that comes only as a gift from God.”[30] How does using blessed instead of happy convey a deep and lasting joy to readers? Arguably, to the great majority of people, it conveys no joy or happiness at all.””
