Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CHRISTMAS

From OE Cristes Mæsse. Not knowing the date of Christ’s birth, the early Church sought one by combining calendrical speculations with the exegesis of biblical numbers. Several dates were suggested, including Mar. 25, , Apr. 2, May 20, Nov. 8, Dec. 25, and Jan. 6. The earliest evidence, the Depositio martyrum, has the Feast of the Nativity being celebrated on Dec. 25 by the year 336 in Rome. Within a century this date was almost universally accepted.

Dec. 25 marked, in the Julian calendar, the winter solstice (the beginning of the victory of light over darkness after the year’s longest night) and, after 274, the feast of the birthday of Sol Invictus (the “invincible sun”), patron deity of the emperor. The association between Jesus and the sun occurred early and naturally; Jesus rose on Sunday (the “Lord’s Day”). As early as Clement of Alexandria (d. 216) Jesus was being identified with the “Sun of Righteousness” (Vulg. Sol Iustitiae) of Mal. 4:2(MT 3:20) (Exhort. 11). A related early tradition identified Mar. 25, , the “Sunday” of creation week, as the date of Christ’s conception (nine months before Dec. 25!). It was only natural that after Constantine had abandoned the patronage of Sol Invictus in 324, Sol Iustitiae, the light of the world, should supersede him.

Bibliography. O. Cullmann, “The Origin of Christmas,” The Early Church (Philadelphia, 1956), 17-36; A. T. Kraabel, “The Roots of Christmas,” Dialog 21 (1982): 274-80; K. Lake, “Christmas,” ERE 3 (New York, 1958): 601-8.

Ronald V. Huggins

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CHRISTMAS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)