by: Pastor Mark Driscoll on Dec 23, 2011 in Current Events<\/p>\n
So Jesus was born on December 25, in the year AD 1, right? Or was it year 0?<\/p>\n
In fact, there is simply no clarity regarding the timing of Jesus\u2019 birth. The Scriptures do not speak directly to the issue, and the presence of flocks in the field has caused many to question the traditional December date of Christmas. This is because grazing in the field seemingly indicates a milder climate than that of winter, although there are reports of occasional breaks, for upwards of a few weeks, in the rainy winter season. <\/p>\n
Commentator William Hendriksen raises an interesting point as well: \u201cAt this season of the year many roads in that region are impassable. No government would have forced people to travel then to the places where they must be registered” (New Testament Commentary: Luke, vol. 11, 150).<\/p>\n
On the other hand, New Testament scholar Darrell Bock shows that while \u201csome Jewish traditions argue for grazing in the period from April to November,\u201d others note that \u201cthese restrictions are limited to sheep \u2018in the wilderness\u2019\u201d (Luke 1:1\u20149:50, 226\u2014227). <\/p>\n
Furthermore, a section of Talmudic literature (M. \u00c5\u00a0eqal. 7.4) \u201cimplies year-round grazing, because the Passover lambs graze in February, which has the harshest weather of the year. Thus, this reason for rejecting the tradition is not definitive” (Ibid., 227).
\nWhere Did December 25 Originate?<\/p>\n
The traditional December 25 date of Jesus\u2019 birth originated during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine (AD 306\u2014337). As Bock describes, the December 25 date coincided with a pagan feast of Saturnalia, or the rising of the sun from darkness. But the tradition for the date may go back even further, since it may be mentioned by Hippolytus (AD 165\u2014235) in his Commentary on Daniel. However, Hippolytus\u2019 meaning is disputed, as it is unclear whether he is referring to the date of the birth or the date of the conception. Alongside the possible third-century testimony for a December date stands Clement of Alexandria\u2019s testimony (ca. AD 200) for an April\/May date.<\/p>\n
Without a clear date for Jesus\u2019 birth, it seems the early church simply seized the opportunity that the pagan feast of Saturnalia provided. The feast celebrated the return of the sun after weeks of ever-increasing darkness, which parallels the biblical metaphor of Jesus illuminating our dark world. Furthermore, Saturnalia included the sharing of gifts, which corresponds to the gifts given to Jesus by the magi and the gift of salvation Jesus gives.<\/p>\n
In the West, the date of December 25 was established by the time of Augustine. Unlike the Western Church, the Eastern Church observes Christmas on January 6, as the day that both Jesus was born and the magi visited him. Additionally, determining the year of Jesus\u2019 birth with exact precision is incredibly complex. The two Gospels that speak in greatest detail about Jesus\u2019 birth (Matthew and Luke) are unclear on this point.<\/p>\n
Whatever the date, it\u2019s our joy as Christians to celebrate Jesus\u2019 coming and his rescue of us all year round.<\/p>\n
A version of this post originally appeared on theresurgence.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by: Pastor Mark Driscoll on Dec 23, 2011 in Current Events So Jesus was born on December 25, in the year AD 1, right? Or was it year 0? In fact, there is simply no clarity regarding the timing of Jesus\u2019 birth. The Scriptures do not speak directly to the issue, and the presence of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}