The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1965

ay w su,s orn? oes it matter? ' 'And the angel said unto them, fear not : For, behold I bring you good tidings of great ioy, which sha ll be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2 By J. Irvi ng Reese \\ ,l lt',tl t t .l7arct}1 11<.)rn 011 Dccc n1l1cr 2') th '' \\ 11 , tl11 \t. 1c •" n~-''' <.1t11tc g~ncrall\. accCJ)tC<.i, ot1t~i<.Jc l 1t: l .1 tern \.'ht1rcl1c". tht·" \\,1 not a lway lrt1c. he ,, \'' lf "( l1r1"tn1 . .1, ••• <.)r ··( l1ri t'~ ta. :· fron1 the ea rl ).' 1~ng1,l1...<..' l1rt ' tc.::·'\ 111,1csc". tiicl n t c n1e int tt~e. ac- .. C()rti1ng t) 1lltL'f. Fn } l pedia. ttntil the n1iddl e o f the 'c11tt1ry l I ch~ t 'hr1 t1an era. I n the earl y centt1r1e '-1t ' ht,r h h1 t r\ ,e\·eral diff ren t day ~ \.\ ere oh crvcd a "':1n1n1cn1 rating the Birth . That the e, ent ciid n t tand ut a of prin1ary in1- pl1rtan e I indicated b} the fact. reported by the En– \ Cl peJtJ Britannica. that it wa celebrated along with hr1 t. fir t n1iracle and the feeding of the 4000 on J anuar, 6th. In fact thi date eem to have heen in • qt1ite genert1l u e in that period and, a~ we have men- tioned . r· . till honored by the Ea tern Orthodox churche . In l tal) 1t i till celebrated a. a ort of econdary date t1pon \\ihich an old Lady with a pack pa e.. 0L1t gift to de- er\' ing children. ~ Tract claims correct date nother trong contender for the honor of being b er\ ed a· Je u ' birthda)' wa March 25th. An anony– mou author in a tr a~ t written in Latin "De Pasha Com– pu tu :· about 243 A .D . claim•' thi a the correct date on the ba i of a uppo ed pecial revelation. It wa ,pre– \·iott 11 ~ept a -- the anniver ary of the creation of the un. therefore thought to be fitting as the birthday of ··the Sun of R ighteou ne .,. Polycarp by the same ym– bolical rea oning located the Birth on Sunday analogou to the creation of the world and hi bapti m on Wedne - day. corrc·--ponding to the appearance of the un. There i . however, an earl} mention of the birthday of the Lord in the a lendar of Philocatu . where it i tated that He wa born on Friday. December 25th in the fir t ) ear of the Chri tian er a. The weakne. of that tate– ment i that hi torian tell u th at that date came on unda) and not Friday. Another writing. thought to be a forger)f. commenting on Daniel 4: 23 places the event on Wedne day. December 25th in the 42nd year of Augu tu December 25th was the date upon which the i\1ithratc fea t of the Per ian god of light was celebrated and gradually it became identified with Him Whom John deolare to be ..the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world' '. The We tern Church placed it, apprO\' al upon th1 date after the triumph of Con- tantine. The ob er\.'ance of a birthday of J e u in Britain traditional]~ began with K ing Arthur. he i aid to have begun the cu tom in the 6th century probably about 521. The date of December 25th wa cho en becau e it had been a holy da 1 1 long before Chri tianity came to the I land . It marked the beginning of the new year and, ac– cording to the hi· torian Bede \.\ta called .. the Mother' - DECEMBER, 1965 PAGE 6 ight." Th e fc\ t1vit1c<; Ja tctl \CVcral clays an,I t)lenclc< ( ' hri 1 )lian an<.I non-Chri tian tratlition\. The pt1rpo c of th(' n1ingling J the two Wa\ that a \ lrongcr appeal woul thtt~ he n1aLlc t the populace. There was an immediate acceptance and the ce lebration grew in popttlarily - churc he ~ ere <lecorate<l, play5 dramatizing the Nativit were given, anll there wa general merry-making. There ha. however, alway5 been considerable op– po ition to the ob<iervance of any date a the Lord Je u . l n 200 A.O. lement of Alexandria condemned all spectt· la tion on the tin1e of H i birth a pure . uper tition. Origen, al o, repLttiated the idea of ce]ebrating any <la, a· · degrading to the Son of God Ha if He were King Pharaoh' ' . l n Britain the Puritan trongly opposed the ob ervance of "day , and month and year ." Under their influence there wa enacted an Act of Parliament in l 644 which prohibited the keeping of the Chri tma fe tival. The Puritan,3 who settled ew England held the ame view a tho e of the Mother Country and rigidly forbade all celebranion of a day as Christ birth– day. It was not until the influence of the German and Iri h ·"ettler began ,to be felt that Chri tmas became popular i 11 the colon ie . December is coldest month Many cholar feel that the Birth could not have occurred in December becau·--e the cold then would have made unlikely the keeping of flock in the field at .night. The Worldmark Encyclopedia of the ations states re– garding the Bethlehem area HThe coldest month is January . . . (when) . . . the temperatures normally fluotuate between 40 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit." Jame Orr in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia ay ' 'The ea on one would infer, could hardly have been winter though it i tated that there j,, frequently an in– terval of dry weather in Judea between the middle of December and the middle of February when uch a keeping of flock would be po ible:' For the Christian, who de ire to recognize some date on which to e.--peci ally remember the Incarnation, all thi di cu ion of day matter little. He know that Je u wa born of Mary in the Bethlehem table. He knom, too, tha t that wa one of the climactic events of human hi tory. He i con ciou that hi forgetful human heart need time of ""' pecial empha i upon the great truths of hi· .. Faith. While he know that the Birth was only the beginning of a divinely ordered life and that the Babe mu t never over hadow the Man, he i ure that the Bethlehem event hould not be forgotten. Therefore, cou nting the actual date of little con equence he joyfull}· celebrates an hi torical event that ha la ting ignificance to him, a at Chri tma he again remember that "the Word wa made fle h and dwelt among u ... full of gr ace and truth.' THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST