![Adoration of the sheperds - Matthias Stomer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Adoration_of_the_sheperds_-_Matthias_Stomer.jpg)
The nativity of Jesus, nativity of Christ, birth of Jesus or birth of Christ is described in the biblical gospels of
Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
and
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
. The two accounts agree that
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
was born in
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
in
Judaea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous south ...
,
his mother Mary was engaged to a man named
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, who was
descended from King David and was not his biological father, and that his birth was
caused by divine intervention. Many modern scholars consider the birth narratives unhistorical because they are laced with theology and present two different accounts which cannot be harmonised into a single coherent narrative. But many others view the discussion of historicity as secondary, given that gospels were primarily written as theological documents rather than chronological timelines.
The nativity is the basis for the
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
holiday of
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
, and plays a major role in the Christian liturgical year. Many Christians traditionally display small
manger scene
In the Christian tradition, a nativity scene (also known as a manger scene, crib, crèche ( or ), or in Italian ''presepio'' or ''presepe'', or Bethlehem) is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christmas season, of art objects repr ...
s depicting the nativity in their homes, or attend
nativity play
A Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, obse ...
s or
Christmas pageant
A Christmas pageant is a public event conducted in celebration of the Christmas holiday, typically involving an entertainment in the form of a procession (such as a Santa Claus parade), or a Nativity play or other performance.
Nativity pageant ...
s focusing on the nativity cycle in the Bible. Elaborate nativity displays featuring life-sized statues are a tradition in many continental European countries during the
Christmas season
The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late Novembe ...
.
The
artistic depiction of the nativity has been an important subject for
Christian art
Christian art is sacred art which uses subjects, themes, and imagery from Christianity. Most Christian groups use or have used art to some extent, including early Christian art and architecture and Christian media.
Images of Jesus and narrative ...
ists since the 4th century. Artistic depictions of the
nativity scene
In the Christianity, Christian tradition, a nativity scene (also known as a manger scene, crib, crèche ( or ), or in Italian language, Italian ''presepio'' or ''presepe'', or Bethlehem) is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christ ...
since the 13th century have emphasized the
humility
Humility is the quality of being humble. Dictionary definitions accentuate humility as a low self-regard and sense of unworthiness. In a religious context humility can mean a recognition of self in relation to a deity (i.e. God), and subsequent ...
of Jesus and promoted a more tender image of him, a major change from the early "Lord and Master" image, mirroring changes in the common approaches taken by Christian pastoral ministry during the same era.
Gospel accounts
Only the Gospels of
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
and
Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
offer narratives regarding the birth of Jesus. Both rely heavily on the Hebrew scriptures, indicating that they both regard the story as part of Israel's salvation history, and both present the God of Israel as controlling events. Both agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the reign of King Herod, that his mother was named Mary and that her husband Joseph was descended from King
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
(although they disagree on details of the line of descent), and both deny Joseph's biological parenthood while treating the birth, or rather the conception, as divinely effected.
Beyond this, they agree on very little. Joseph dominates Matthew's and Mary dominates Luke's, although the suggestion that one derives from Joseph and the other from Mary is no more than a pious deduction.
Matthew implies that Joseph already has his home in Bethlehem, while Luke states that he lived in Nazareth.
In Matthew the angel speaks to Joseph, while Luke has
one speaking to Mary. Only Luke has the stories surrounding the birth of
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
, the
census of Quirinius
The Census of Quirinius is generally believed to be a census of Judea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Roman Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 CE. The Gospel of Luke uses it to date the birth of Jesus, w ...
, the
adoration of the shepherds and the
presentation in the Temple
A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...
on the eighth day; only Matthew has the
wise men, the
star of Bethlehem
The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 where "wise men from the East" (Magi) are inspired by the star to travel to Jerusalem. There, they meet King Herod of Judea, and ask him: ...
, Herod's plot, the
massacre of the innocents, and the
flight into Egypt
The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...
. The two itineraries are quite different, Matthew's Holy Family beginning in Bethlehem, moving to Egypt following the birth, and settling in Nazareth, while in Luke they begin in Nazareth, journey to Bethlehem for the birth, and an immediate return to Nazareth. The two accounts cannot be harmonised into a single coherent narrative or traced to the same
Q source
The Q source (also called Q document(s), Q Gospel, or Q; from german: Quelle, meaning "source") is a hypothetical written collection of primarily Jesus' sayings (λόγια : ). Q is part of the common material found in the Gospels of Matthew ...
, leading scholars to classify them as "special Matthew" (or simply the
M source
M source, which is sometimes referred to as M document, or simply M, comes from the M in "Matthean material". It is a hypothetical textual source for the Gospel of Matthew. M Source is defined as that 'special material' of the Gospel of Matthew t ...
) and "special Luke" (the
L source
In textual criticism of the New Testament, the L source is a hypothetical oral or textual tradition which the author of Luke–Acts may have used when composing the Gospel of Luke.
Composition
The question of how to explain the similarities a ...
).
Gospel of Matthew
Annunciation to Joseph
Mary the mother of Jesus was betrothed to Joseph, but was found to be pregnant through the
Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
. Joseph intended to divorce her quietly, but an angel told him in a
dream
A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...
that he should take her as his wife and name the child Jesus, "because it is he who will save his people from their sins". This would fulfil the prophecy that a virgin would give birth to a son, who would be known as
Emmanuel
Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the ...
, meaning "God is with us". Joseph awoke, took Mary for his wife, did not have intercourse with her until she had given birth to a son, and gave him the name Jesus (Matthew 1:18–25).
These verses present a problem, for in the preceding Matthean
genealogy of Jesus
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthew starts with Abraham, while Luke begins with Adam. The lists are identical between Abraham and David, but ...
, Joseph has been shown to be the descendant of
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
(the angel addresses him as "son of David") and heir to the kingdom of Judah, but Matthew 1:16 reveals that Jesus is not Joseph's son, and Matthew is careful never to refer to him in this way. The role of Joseph in naming the child indicates that he is being legally adopted, and thus becoming, like his now-legal father, "son of David."
Adoration of the magi
The birth took place in Bethlehem of Judea in the time of King Herod (
Herod the Great
Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renov ...
).
Wise men from the East (the Magi) came to Jerusalem, asking where they could find the child born
king of the Jews, for they had seen his
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
at its rising, and wished to pay him homage. Herod and all Jerusalem were afraid when they heard this, but Herod, learning from the chief priests and scribes that the messiah would be born in Bethlehem according to prophecy, sent the Magi there with instructions to return and tell him when they had found him. The Magi worshipped the child in Bethlehem and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but an angel warned them in a dream not to return to Herod, and they returned home by another way.
Massacre of the innocents, flight into Egypt, and return to Israel
When Herod learned that the Magi had tricked him he was infuriated, and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem under the age of two (the
Massacre of the Innocents). This was in fulfilment of the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." But an angel had appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him to take the child and his mother and
flee to Egypt, and the
Holy Family
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first ...
remained there until Herod died to fulfil the words of the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son." On the death of Herod an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to return with the child and its mother to Israel, but Herod's son was now ruler of Judea, and after being warned in a dream Joseph went instead to Galilee, where he made his home in Nazareth "so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean.""
In this chapter, the author of Matthew needs to establish that "Jesus of Nazareth" was in fact born in Bethlehem, the town where David was born, for the "son of David" born there will be "King of the Jews" (a designation that does not reappear in Matthew until the crucifixion). Herod's fear and the visit of the Magi underline the royal birth, as do the various prophetic texts quoted or referenced in this chapter.
Gospel of Luke
![Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo 023](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Perez_Murillo_023.jpg)
In the Gospel of Luke, when Herod was king of Judea, God sent the
angel Gabriel
In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
to Nazareth in Galilee to
announce to a virgin named Mary, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, that a child would be born to her. The angel Gabriel announced that she was to name him Jesus, for he would be the
son of God and rule over Israel forever. When the time of the birth drew near,
Caesar Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
commanded a census of Roman domains, and Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem, the ancient city of David, as he was of the
House of David. Jesus was born in Bethlehem; since there was nowhere for them to stay in the town, the infant was laid in a manger while
angels announced his birth to a group of shepherds who
worshipped him as Messiah and Lord.
In accordance with the
Jewish law
''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...
, his parents
presented the infant Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem, where two people in the temple,
Simeon
Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated as Shimon. In Greek it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Symeon.
Meaning
The name is derived from Simeon, son ...
and
Anna the Prophetess
Anna ( he, חַנָּה, grc, Ἄννα) or Anna the Prophetess is a woman mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. According to that Gospel, she was an elderly woman of the Tribe of Asher who prophesied about Jesus at the Temple of Jerusalem. She app ...
, gave thanks to God who had sent his salvation. Joseph and Mary then returned to Nazareth.
Date and place of birth
![Botticelli Nativity](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Botticelli_Nativity.jpg)
Matthew and Luke agree that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
during the reign of Herod the Great. In Luke the newborn baby is placed in a
manger
__NOTOC__
A manger or trough is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The word comes from the Old French ''mangier'' (meaning "to eat"), from Latin ''mandere'' (meaning "to chew").
Mangers are mostly used in ...
"because there was no place in the . might mean a private home (this has little support among scholars), or a room in a private home, or an inn, but it is impossible to be certain which is meant.
In the 2nd century,
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher.
Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...
stated that Jesus had been born in a cave outside the town, while the
Protoevangelium of James
The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, ...
described a legendary birth in a cave nearby. The
Church of the Nativity
The Church of the Nativity, or Basilica of the Nativity,; ar, كَنِيسَةُ ٱلْمَهْد; el, Βασιλική της Γεννήσεως; hy, Սուրբ Ծննդեան տաճար; la, Basilica Nativitatis is a basilica located in B ...
inside the town, built by
St. Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
, contains the cave-manger site traditionally venerated as the birthplace of Jesus, which may have originally been a site of the cult of the god
Tammuz
Dumuzid or Tammuz ( sux, , ''Dumuzid''; akk, Duʾūzu, Dûzu; he, תַּמּוּז, Tammûz),; ar, تمّوز ' known to the Sumerians as Dumuzid the Shepherd ( sux, , ''Dumuzid sipad''), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with shep ...
. In his (1.51),
Origen
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...
, who travelled throughout Palestine beginning in around 215, wrote of the "manger of Jesus".
The date of birth for Jesus of Nazareth is not stated in the gospels or in any secular text, but a majority of scholars assume a date between 6 BC and 4 BC.
The historical evidence is too ambiguous to allow a definitive date to be determined, but the date has been estimated through known historical events mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew
chapter 2 Chapter Two, Chapter 2, or Chapter II may refer to:
Film, television, and theatre
* ''Chapter Two'' (play), a 1977 play by Neil Simon
* ''Chapter Two'' (film), a 1979 adaptation of Neil Simon's play
Television episodes
* "Chapter 2" (''American H ...
and Luke
chapter 2 Chapter Two, Chapter 2, or Chapter II may refer to:
Film, television, and theatre
* ''Chapter Two'' (play), a 1977 play by Neil Simon
* ''Chapter Two'' (film), a 1979 adaptation of Neil Simon's play
Television episodes
* "Chapter 2" (''American H ...
or by working backwards from the estimated start of the
ministry of Jesus
The ministry of Jesus, in the canonical gospels, begins with his baptism in the countryside of Roman Judea and Transjordan, near the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem, following the Last Supper with his disciples.''Chri ...
.
Paul L. Maier
Paul L. Maier (born May 31, 1930) is a historian and novelist. He has written several works of scholarly and popular non-fiction about Christianity and novels about Christian historians. He is the former Russell H. Seibert Professor of Ancient H ...
"The Date of the Nativity and Chronology of Jesus And Virgin Mary." in ''Chronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies'' by Jerry Vardaman, Edwin M. Yamauchi 1989 pp. 113–129[''New Testament History'' by Richard L. Niswonger 1992 IBN 0-310-31201-9 pp. 121–124]
Themes and analogies
Thematic analysis
Helmut Koester
Helmut Heinrich Koester (December 18, 1926 – January 1, 2016) was an American scholar who specialized in the New Testament and early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School. His research was primarily in the areas of New Testament interpretati ...
writes that while Matthew's narrative was formed in a Jewish environment, Luke's was modeled to appeal to the
Greco-Roman world
The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...
.
[Helmut Köster, "Ancient Christian gospels: their history and development", Continuum International Publishing Group, (2004). pp. 307–308] In particular, while shepherds were regarded negatively by Jews in Jesus's time, they were seen in Greco-Roman culture as "symbols of a golden age when gods and humans lived in peace and nature was at harmony".
C. T. Ruddick Jr. writes that Luke's birth narratives of Jesus and John were modeled on passages from
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
, chapters 27–43. Regardless, Luke's nativity depicts Jesus as a savior for all people, tracing a genealogy all the way back to Adam, demonstrating his common humanity, and likewise for the lowly circumstances of his birth. Luke, writing for a
gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...
audience, portrays the infant Jesus as a savior for gentiles as well as Jews.
[ Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "Luke" pp. 297–301] Matthew uses quotations from Jewish scripture, scenes reminiscent of
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
' life, and a numerical pattern in his genealogy to identify Jesus as a son of David, of Abraham, and of God. Luke's prelude is much longer, emphasizing the age of the
Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
and the arrival of a savior for all people, both Jew and gentile.
Mainstream scholars interpret Matthew's nativity as depicting Jesus as a new Moses with a genealogy going back to Abraham,
[ Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "Matthew" pp. 272–285] while
Ulrich Luz
Ulrich Luz (23 February 1938 – 13 October 2019) was a Swiss citizen, Swiss theologian and professor emeritus at the University of Bern.
Early life
He was born on 23 February 1938 in Männedorf. He studied Protestant theology in Zurich, Götting ...
views Matthew's depiction of Jesus at once as the new Moses and the inverse of Moses, and not simply a retelling of the Moses story.
Luz also points out that in the massacre narrative, once again, a fulfilment quotation is given:
Rachel
Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...
, the ancestral mother of Israel, weeping for her dead children (Matthew 2:18).
Scholars who interpret Matthew as casting Jesus in the role of being a second Moses argue that, like Moses, the infant Jesus is saved from a murderous tyrant; and he flees the country of his birth until his persecutor is dead and it is safe to return as the savior of his people.
In this view, the account in Matthew is based on an earlier narrative patterned on traditions about the birth of Moses. Moses's birth is announced to Pharaoh by Magi; the child is threatened and rescued; the male Israelite children are similarly put to death by an evil king.
According to Ulrich Luz, the beginning of the narrative of Matthew is similar to earlier biblical stories, e.g., the
Annunciation
The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
of Jesus' birth (Matthew 1:18–25) is reminiscent of the biblical accounts of the births of
Ishmael
Ishmael ''Ismaḗl''; Classical/Qur'anic Arabic: إِسْمَٰعِيْل; Modern Standard Arabic: إِسْمَاعِيْل ''ʾIsmāʿīl''; la, Ismael was the first son of Abraham, the common patriarch of the Abrahamic religions; and is cons ...
(Genesis 16:11, Genesis 17),
Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
(Genesis 21:1), Samson (Judges 13:3, 13:5), and recalls the
Haggadic
Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...
traditions of the birth of Moses. Yet in Luz's view, the contours appear, in part, strangely overlapped and inverted: "Egypt, formerly the land of suppression becomes a place of refuge and it is the King of Israel who now takes on the role of
Pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
. Yet Matthew is not simply retelling the Moses story. Instead, the story of Jesus really is a new story: Jesus is at once the new Moses and the inverse of Moses."
[Ulrich Luz, The Theology of the Gospel of Matthew, p. 24/25]
Old Testament parallels
![Codex of Sinay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Codex_of_Sinay.jpg)
Scholars have debated whether
Matthew 1:22 and
Matthew 2:23 refer to specific
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
passages. Fourth century documents such as the
Codex Sinaiticus
The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...
do not mention the prophet
Isaiah
Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named.
Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...
in the statement in
Matthew 1:22: "All this happened to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet", but some copies of Matthew from the 5th–6th centuries, such as the
Codex Bezae
The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, designated by siglum D or 05 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 5 (in the von Soden of New Testament manuscript), is a codex of the New Testament dating from the 5th century writ ...
, read "Isaiah the prophet". The statement in
Matthew 1:23, "Behold the virgin shall be with child", uses the Greek term ("virgin") as in the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
Isaiah, while the
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...
7:14 uses the Hebrew , which may mean "maiden," "young woman," or "virgin."
[ Brown, Raymond E.; Achtemeier, Paul J. (1978). ''Mary in the New Testament: A Collaborative Assessment by Protestant and Roman Catholic Scholars''. Paulist Press. p. 92. .] Raymond E. Brown
Raymond Edward Brown (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an American Sulpician priest and prominent biblical scholar. He was regarded as a specialist concerning the hypothetical "Johannine community", which he speculated contributed to the a ...
states that the 3rd century BCE translators of the Septuagint may have understood the Hebrew word to mean "virgin" in this context.
The statement in
Matthew 2:23 that "he will be called a Nazarene" does not mention a specific passage in the Old Testament, and there are multiple scholarly interpretations as to what it may refer to.
[''Matthew's Bible: the Old Testament text of the evangelist'' by M. J. J. Menken 2004 p. 161] Barbara Aland
Barbara Aland, née Ehlers (born 12 April 1937 in Hamburg, Germany) is a German theologian and was a Professor of New Testament Research and Church History at Westphalian Wilhelms-University of Münster until 2002.
Biography
After having c ...
and other scholars consider the Greek grc, Ναζωραίος, Nazoréos, label=none used for 'Nazarene' of uncertain etymology and meaning, but Menken states that it is a
demonym
A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...
that refers to an "inhabitant of Nazareth".
[''Matthew's Bible: the Old Testament text of the evangelist'' by M. J. J. Menken 2004 p. 164] Menken also states that it may be referring to Judges 13:5 and 13:7.
Gary Smith states that
Nazirite
In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or a nazarite ( he, נָזִיר ''Nāzīr'') is one who voluntarily took a vow which is described in . "Nazarite" comes from the Hebrew language, Hebrew word ''nazir'' meaning "consecrated" or "separated". Those w ...
may mean one consecrated to God, i.e. an ascetic; or may refer to
Isaiah 11:1. ''The Oxford Bible Commentary'' states that it may be word-play on the use of ''nazirite'', "Holy One of God," in Isaiah 4:3, meant to identify Jesus with the
Nazarenes, a Jewish sect who differed from the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs bec ...
only in that they regarded Jesus as the Messiah.
The Swiss theologian
Ulrich Luz
Ulrich Luz (23 February 1938 – 13 October 2019) was a Swiss citizen, Swiss theologian and professor emeritus at the University of Bern.
Early life
He was born on 23 February 1938 in Männedorf. He studied Protestant theology in Zurich, Götting ...
, who locates the Matthean community in Syria, has noted that
Syrian Christians Syrian or Syriac Christians may refer to
* Adherents of Christianity in Syria
* Adherents of Syriac Christianity, various Christian bodies of Syriac traditions, especially:
** Syriac/Assyrian/Aramean people, Christian neo-Aramaic speakers througho ...
also called themselves Nazarenes.
Christian theology
The theological significance of the Nativity of Jesus has been a key element in Christian teachings, from the early
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...
to 20th century theologians.
The theological issues were addressed as early as
Apostle Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, but continued to be debated and eventually lead to both
Christological
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
and
Mariological differences among Christians that resulted in early
schisms
A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
within the Church by the 5th century.
Birth of the new man
Paul the Apostle
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
viewed the birth of Jesus as an event of cosmic significance which brought forth a "new man" who undid the damage caused by the fall of the first man,
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
. Just as the
Johannine
Johannine literature is the collection of New Testament works that are traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, or to the Johannine community. They are usually dated to the period , with a minority of scholars such as Jo ...
view of Jesus as the incarnate
Logos
''Logos'' (, ; grc, wikt:λόγος, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive ...
proclaims the universal relevance of his birth, the Pauline perspective emphasizes the birth of a new man and a new world in the birth of Jesus.
Paul's
eschatological
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negati ...
view of Jesus counter-positions him as a new man of morality and obedience, in contrast to
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
. Unlike Adam, the new man born in Jesus obeys God and ushers in a world of morality and salvation.
[''Systematic Theology, Volume 2'' by Wolfhart Pannenberg 2004 , pp. 297–303]
In the Pauline view, Adam is positioned as the first man and Jesus as the second: Adam, having corrupted himself by his disobedience, also infected humanity and left it with a curse as inheritance. The birth of Jesus, on the other hand, counterbalanced the fall of Adam, bringing forth redemption and repairing the damage done by Adam.
[''An exposition of the epistle of Saint Paul to the Philippians'' by Jean Daille 1995 pp. 194–195]
In
patristic
Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...
theology, Paul's contrasting of Jesus as the new man versus Adam provided a framework for discussing the uniqueness of the birth of Jesus and the ensuing events of his life. The nativity of Jesus thus began to serve as the starting point for "cosmic Christology" in which the birth, life and Resurrection of Jesus have universal implications.
The concept of Jesus as the "new man" repeats in the cycle of birth and rebirth of Jesus from his nativity to his
resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
: following his birth, through his morality and obedience to the Father, Jesus began a new harmony in the relationship between God the Father and man. The nativity and resurrection of Jesus thus created the author and exemplar of a new humanity.
[''Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi'' by Karl Rahner 2004 pp. 474 and 1434]
In the 2nd century Church Father
Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
writes:
Irenaeus was also one of the early theologians to use the analogy of "second Adam and second Eve". He suggested the Virgin Mary as the "second Eve" and wrote that the Mary had "untied the knot of sin bound up by the virgin Eve" and that just as Eve had tempted Adam to disobey God, Mary had set a path of obedience for the second Adam (i.e. Jesus) from the
Annunciation
The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
to
Calvary
Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...
so that Jesus could bring about salvation, undoing the damage of Adam.
In the 4th century, this uniqueness of the circumstances related to the nativity of Jesus, and their interplay with the mystery of the incarnation, became a central element in both the theology and hymnody of
Ephrem the Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...
. For him, the uniqueness of the nativity of Jesus was supplemented with the sign of the majesty of the Creator through the ability of a powerful God to enter the world as a small newborn.
In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
the birth of Jesus as the second Adam came to be seen in the context of Saint Augustine's ("happy fall") and was intertwined with the popular teachings on the fall from grace of Adam and Eve. Augustine was fond of a statement on the nativity by Gregory of Nyssa and he quoted it five times: "Venerate the Nativity, through which you are freed from the bonds of an earthly nativity".
[''Orthodox readings of Augustine'' by George E. Demacopoulos, Aristotle Papanikolaou 2008 pp. 92–96] He also liked to quote: "Just as in Adam all of us died, so too in Christ all of us will be brought to life".
The theology persisted into the Protestant Reformation, and second Adam was one of the six modes of atonement discussed by John Calvin. In the 20th century, leading theologian Karl Barth continued the same line of reasoning and viewed the nativity of Jesus as the birth of a new man who succeeded Adam. In Barth's theology, in contrast to Adam, Jesus acted as an Active obedience of Christ, obedient Son in the fulfilment of the divine will and was therefore free from sin and could hence reveal the righteousness of God the Father and bring about salvation.
[''Church dogmatics, Volume 4, Part 1'' by Karl Barth, Geoffrey William Bromiley, Thomas Forsyth Torrance 2004 pp. 256–259]
Christology
![SummaTheologiae](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/SummaTheologiae.jpg)
The nativity of Jesus impacted the
Christological
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
issues about the Person of Christ from the earliest days of Christianity. Luke's Christology centers on the dialectics of the dual natures of the earthly and heavenly manifestations of existence of the Christ, while Matthew's Christology focuses on the mission of Jesus and his role as the savior.
The belief in the divinity of Jesus leads to the question: "was Jesus a man to be born of a woman or was he God born of a woman?" A wide range of hypotheses and beliefs regarding the nature of the nativity of Jesus were presented in the first four centuries of Christianity. Some of the debates involved the title (God bearer) for the Virgin Mary and began to illustrate the impact of Mariology on Christology. Some of these viewpoints were eventually declared as heresy, heresies, others led to schisms and the formation of new branches of the Church.
[''Toward the origins of Christmas'' by Susan K. Roll 1995 pp. 208–211]
The Christian soteriology, salvific emphasis of s:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#1:21, Matthew 1:21 later impacted the theological issues and the devotions to the Holy Name of Jesus.
[''All the Doctrines of the Bible'' by Herbert Lockyer 1988 p. 159] s:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#1:23, Matthew 1:23 provides the only key to the ''Emmanuel Christology'' in the New Testament. Beginning with 1:23, Matthew shows a clear interest in identifying Jesus as "God with us" and in later developing the Emmanuel characterization of Jesus at key points throughout the rest of his Gospel.
[''Matthew's Emmanuel'' by David D. Kupp 1997 pp. 220–224] The name 'Emmanuel' does not appear elsewhere in the New Testament, but Matthew builds on it in s:Bible (American Standard)/Matthew#28:20, Matthew 28:20 ("I am with you always, even unto the end of the world") to indicate that Jesus will be with the faithful to the end of the age.
[''Who do you say that I am?: essays on Christology'' by Jack Dean Kingsbury, Mark Allan Powell, David R. Bauer 1999 p. 17] According to
Ulrich Luz
Ulrich Luz (23 February 1938 – 13 October 2019) was a Swiss citizen, Swiss theologian and professor emeritus at the University of Bern.
Early life
He was born on 23 February 1938 in Männedorf. He studied Protestant theology in Zurich, Götting ...
, the Emmanuel motif brackets the entire Gospel of Matthew between 1:23 and 28:20, appearing explicitly and implicitly in several other passages.
A number of ecumenical councils were convened in the 4th and 5th centuries to deal with these issues. The First Council of Ephesus, Council of Ephesus debated Hypostatic union, hypostasis (co-existing natures) versus Monophysitism (only one nature) versus Miaphysitism (two natures united as one) versus Nestorianism (disunion of two natures). The 451 Council of Chalcedon was highly influential and marked a key turning point in the Christological debates that divided the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th century. In Chalcedon the hypostatic union was decreed, namely that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human, making this part of the creed of orthodox Christianity.
In the 5th century, leading Church Father Pope Leo I used the nativity as a key element of his theology. Leo gave 10 sermons on the nativity and 7 have survived. The one on December 25, 451, demonstrates his concern to increase the importance of the feast of nativity and along with it emphasize the two natures of Christ in defense of the Christological doctrine of hypostatic union.
[''Leo the Great'' by Pope Leo I, Bronwen Neil 2009 pp. 61–62] Leo often used his nativity sermons as an occasion to attack opposing viewpoints, without naming the opposition. Thus Leo used the occasion of the Nativity feast to establish boundaries for what could be considered a heresy regarding the birth and nature of Christ.
In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas addressed the Christologocal attribution of the nativity: if it should be attributed to the person (Logos (Christianity), the Word) or only to the assumed human nature of that person. Aquinas treated nativity in 8 separate articles in , each posing a separate question:
* "Does Nativity regard the nature rather than the Person?"
* "Should a temporal Nativity be attributed to Christ?"
* "Should the Blessed Virgin be called Christ's Mother?"
* "Should the Blessed Virgin be called the Mother of God?"
* "Are there two filiations in Christ?", etc.
To deal with this issue, Aquinas distinguishes between the person born and the nature in which the birth takes place.
[''Aquinas on doctrine: a critical introduction'' by Thomas Gerard Weinandy, John Yocum 2004 p. 98] Aquinas thus resolved the question by arguing that in the hypostatic union Christ has two natures, one received from the Father from eternity, the other from his mother in time. This approach also resolved the Mariology, Mariological problem of Mary receiving the title of Theotokos for under this scenario she is the "Mother of God".
During the Protestant Reformation, Reformation, John Calvin argued that Jesus was not sanctified to be "God manifested as Incarnate" () only due to his virgin birth, but through the action of the Holy Spirit at the instant of his birth. Thus Calvin argued that Jesus was exempt from original sin because he was sanctified at the moment of birth so that his generation was without blemish; as generation was blemishless before the fall of Adam.
Impact on Christianity
Christmas, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord
![Advent Wreath (Broadway United Methodist Church)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Advent_Wreath_%28Broadway_United_Methodist_Church%29.jpg)
Christian Churches celebrate the nativity of Jesus on
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
, which is marked on December 25 by the Western Christian Churches, while many Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Churches celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord on January 7. This is not a disagreement over the date of Christmas as such, but rather a preference of which calendar should be used to determine the day that is December 25. In the Council of Tours 567, Council of Tours of 567, the Church, with its desire to be universal, "declared the Twelve Days of Christmas, twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany to be one Christmastide, unified festal cycle", thus giving significance to both the Western and Eastern dates of Christmas.
The liturgical season of Advent precedes, and is used to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Customs of the Christmastide, Christmas season include completing an Advent daily devotional and Advent wreath,
Christmas carol, carol singing,
gift giving,
seeing Nativity plays,
attending church services,
and eating special food, such as Christmas cake.
In many countries, such as Sweden, people start to set up their Advent and Christmas decorations on the Advent Sunday, first day of Advent.
Christian liturgy, Liturgically, this is done in some parish church, parishes through a hanging of the greens ceremony.
History of feasts and liturgical elements
![Dorfkrippe Baumkirchen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Dorfkrippe_Baumkirchen.jpg)
In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Lord's Day (Sunday) was the earliest Christian celebration and included a number of theological themes. In the 2nd century, the Resurrection of Jesus became a separate feast as Easter and in the same century Epiphany (holiday), Epiphany began to be celebrated in the Churches of the East on January 6. The celebration of the feast of the biblical Magi, Magi on January 6 may relate to a pre-Christian celebration for the blessing of the Nile in Egypt on January 5, but this is not historically certain. The festival of the Nativity which later turned into Christmas was a 4th-century feast in the Western Church notably in Rome and North Africa, although it is uncertain exactly where and when it was first celebrated.
The earliest source stating December 25 as the date of birth of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
was Hippolytus of Rome (170–236), written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox (Northern Hemisphere), Spring equinox which he placed on March 25, and then added nine months. There is historical evidence that by the middle of the 4th century the Christian churches of the East celebrated the birth and Baptism of Jesus on the same day, on January 6, while those in the West celebrated a Nativity feast on December 25 (perhaps influenced by the Winter solstice); and that by the last quarter of the 4th century, the calendars of both churches included both feasts.
[''Aspects of the liturgical year in Cappadocia (325–430)'' by Jill Burnett Comings 2005 pp. 61–71] The earliest suggestions of a feast of the Baptism of Jesus on January 6 during the 2nd century comes from Clement of Alexandria, but there is no further mention of such a feast until 361 when Emperor Julian attended a feast on January 6 in the year 361.
![NativityofJesus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/NativityofJesus.jpg)
The Chronography of 354 illuminated manuscript compiled in Rome includes an early reference to the celebration of a Nativity feast. In a sermon delivered in Antioch on December 25, , John Chrysostom provides specific information about the feast there, stating that the feast had existed for about 10 years.
By around 385 the feast for the birth of Jesus was distinct from that of the Baptism and was held on December 25 in Constantinople, Nyssa and Amaseia. In a sermon in 386, Gregory of Nyssa specifically related the feast of Nativity with that of the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, celebrated a day later. By 390 the feast was also held in Iconium on that day.
Pope Leo I established a feast of the "Mystery of Incarnation" in the 5th century, in effect as the first formal feast for the Nativity of Jesus. Pope Sixtus III then instituted the practice of Midnight Mass just before that feast.
[''Sacred Christmas Music'' by Ronald M. Clancy 2008 pp. 15–19] In the 6th century, Emperor Justinian declared Christmas to be a legal holiday.
[''The Feast of Christmas'' by Joseph F. Kelly 2010 pp. 331–391]
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the theological importance of the nativity of Jesus was coupled with an emphasis on the loving nature of the child Jesus in sermons by figures such as Jean Gerson. In his sermons Gerson emphasized the loving nature of Jesus at his nativity, as well as his cosmic plan for the salvation of mankind.
By the early part of the 20th century, Christmas had become a "cultural signature" of Christianity and indeed of the Western culture even in countries such as the United States which are officially non-religious. By the beginning of the 21st century these countries began to pay more attention to the sensitivities of non-Christians during the festivities at the end of the calendar year.
Transforming the image of Jesus
![8452 - Milano - S](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/8452_-_Milano_-_S._Marco_-_Londonio_-_Presepe_%28ca_1750%29_-_Foto_G._Dall%27Orto_-_14-Apr-2007.jpg)
Early Christians viewed Jesus as "the Lord" and the word appears over 700 times in the New Testament, referring to him as such.
[''Mercer dictionary of the Bible'' by Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard 1998 pp. 520–525] The use of the word in the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
Bible also assigned to Jesus the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
attributes of an omnipotent God.
The use of the term , and hence the Lordship of Jesus, pre-dated the Pauline epistles, but Paul expanded and elaborated on the topic.
Pauline writings established among early Christians the image, and attributes of Jesus as not only referring to his eschatological victory, but to him as the "divine image" (Greek language, Greek grc, εἰκών, eikōn, label=none) in whose face the glory of God shines forth. This image persisted among Christians as the predominant perception of Jesus for a number of centuries. More than any other title, defined the relationship between Jesus and those who believed in him as Christ: Jesus was their Lord and Master who was to be served with all their hearts and who would one day judge their actions throughout their lives.
The lordship attributes associated with the image of Jesus also implied his power over all creation.
Paul then looked back and reasoned that the final lordship of Jesus was prepared from the very beginning, starting with Pre-existence of Christ, pre-existence and the nativity, based on his obedience as the image of God.
[''Christology: Biblical And Historical'' by Mini S. Johnson ISBN p. 211] Over time, based on the influence of Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux and others, the image of Jesus began to be supplemented with a more "tender image of Jesus", and the Franciscan approach to popular piety was instrumental in establishing this image.
[''Christology: Biblical And Historical'' by Mini S. Johnson, 2005 pp. 74–76]
The 13th century witnessed a major turning point in the development of a new "tender image of Jesus" within Christianity, as the Order of Saint Francis, Franciscans began to emphasize the humility of Jesus both at his birth and his death. The construction of the nativity scene by Francis of Assisi was instrumental in portraying a softer image of Jesus that contrasted with the powerful and radiant image at the Transfiguration of Jesus, Transfiguration, and emphasized how God had taken a humble path to his own birth.
[''The image of St Francis'' by Rosalind B. Brooke 2006 pp. 183–184] As the Black Death raged in Medieval Europe, the two mendicant orders of Order of Saint Francis, Franciscans and Dominican Order, Dominicans helped the faithful cope with tragedies. One element of the Franciscan approach was the emphasis on the humility of Jesus and the poverty of his birth: the image of God was the image of Jesus, not a severe and punishing God, but himself humble at birth and sacrificed at death.
[''The tradition of Catholic prayer'' by Christian Raab, Harry Hagan, St. Meinrad Archabbey 2007 pp. 86–87] The concept that the omnipotent Creator would set aside all power in order to conquer the hearts of men by love and that he would have been helplessly placed in a manger was as marvelous and as touching to the believers as the sacrifice of dying on the cross in Calvary.
[''The vitality of the Christian tradition'' by George Finger Thomas 1944 pp. 110–112]
Thus by the 13th century the tender joys of the nativity of Jesus were added to the agony of his Crucifixion of Jesus, Crucifixion and a whole new range of approved religious emotions was ushered in, with wide-ranging cultural impacts for centuries thereafter.
The Franciscans approached both ends of this spectrum of emotions. On one hand the introduction of the nativity scene encouraged the tender image of Jesus, while on the other hand Francis of Assisi himself had a deep attachment to the sufferings of Jesus on the Cross and was said to have received the stigmata as an expression of that love. The dual nature of Franciscan piety based both on joy of nativity and the sacrifice at Crucifixion of Jesus, Calvary had a deep appeal among city dwellers and as the Franciscan Friars travelled these emotions spread across the world, transforming the image of Jesus to a more tender, loving, and compassionate image.
These traditions did not remain limited to Europe and soon spread to the other parts of the world such as Latin America, the Philippines and the United States.
According to Archbishop Rowan Williams, this transformation, accompanied by the proliferation of the tender image of Jesus in Madonna and Child paintings, made an important impact within the Christian ministry by allowing Christians to feel the living presence of Jesus as a loving figure "who is always there to harbor and nurture those who turn to him for help".
[''Christology: Key Readings in Christian Thought'' by Jeff Astley, David Brown, Ann Loades 2009 p. 106]
Hymns, art and music
Canticles appearing in Luke
Luke's nativity text has given rise to four well-known canticles: the and the in the first chapter, and the and the in the second chapter.
[''An Introduction to the Bible'' by Robert Kugler, Patrick Hartin p. 394] These "Gospel canticles" are now an integral part of the liturgical tradition. The parallel structure in Luke regarding the births of
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
and Jesus, extends to the three canticles (Song of Zechariah), the and the .
The , in Luke 1:46–55, is spoken by Mary and is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns, perhaps the earliest Marian hymn.
[''The History and Use of Hymns and Hymn-Tunes'' by David R Breed 2009 p. 17] The , in Luke 1:68–79, is spoken by Zechariah (priest), Zechariah, while the , in Luke 2:29–32, is spoken by
Simeon
Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated as Shimon. In Greek it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Symeon.
Meaning
The name is derived from Simeon, son ...
.
[''Favourite Hymns'' by Marjorie Reeves 2006 pp. 3–5] The traditional is longer than the opening line presented in Luke 2:14, and is often called the "Song of the Angels" given that it was uttered by the angels in the Annunciation to the Shepherds.
The three canticles , and the , if not originating in the Gospel of Luke, may have their roots in the earliest Christian liturgical services in Jerusalem, but their exact origins remain unknown.
Visual arts
![Annunciation nesterov](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Annunciation_nesterov.jpg)
One of the most visible traditions during the Christmas season is the display of manger scenes depicting the nativity, usually in the form of statues or figurines, in private homes, businesses and churches, either inside or outside the building. This tradition is usually attributed to Francis of Assisi
[Thomas, George F.. ''Vitality of the Christian Tradition''. Ayer Co. Publishing, 1944.] who was described as creating such a display at Greccio, Italy, in 1223
[Johnson, Kevin Orlin. ''Why Do Catholics Do That?'' Random House, Inc., 1994.][Mazar, Peter and Evelyn Grala. ''To Crown the Year: Decorating the Church Through the Year''. Liturgy Training, 1995. ] as related by St. Bonaventure in his ''Life of Saint Francis of Assisi'' written around 1260.
Before the manger scene tradition developed, there were paintings depicting the subject. The earliest artistic depictions of the nativity were in the catacombs and on sarcophagi in Rome. As
gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...
visitors, the Magi were popular in these scenes, representing the significance of the arrival of the Messiah to all peoples. The ox and ass were also taken to symbolize the Jews and the gentiles, and have remained a constant since the earliest depictions. Mary was soon seated on a throne as the Magi visited.
[''The Feast of Christmas'' by Joseph F. Kelly 2010 pp. 22–31]
Depictions of the nativity soon became a normal component of cycles in art illustrating both the Life of Christ in art, Life of Christ and the Life of the Virgin. Nativity images also carry the message of redemption: God's unification with matter forms the mystery of the Incarnation, a turning point in the Christian perspective on Christian soteriology, Salvation.
In the Eastern Church painted icons of the nativity often correspond to specific hymns to Mary, e.g. to the : "The Virgin today bringeth forth the Transubstantial, and the eart offereth a cave to the Unapproachable."
[''The meaning of icons'' by Leonide Ouspensky, Vladimir Lossky 1999 p. 157] In many Eastern icons of nativity (often accompanied by matching hymnody) two basic elements are emphasized. First the event portrays the mystery of incarnation as a foundation for the Christian faith, and the combined nature of Christ as divine and human. Secondly, it relates the event to the natural life of the world, and its consequences for humanity.
Hymns, music and performances
![1880 Christmas Osgood](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/1880_Christmas_Osgood.png)
Like 1st-century Jews, early Christians rejected the use of musical instruments in religious ceremonies and instead relied on chants and plainsong leading to the use of the term ''a cappella'' (in the chapel) for these chants.
One of the earliest nativity hymns was composed by Ambrose of Milan in the 4th century. By the beginning of the 5th century, the Spanish poet Prudentius had written "From the Heart of the Father" where the ninth stanza focused on the nativity and portrayed Jesus as the creator of the universe. In the 5th century the Gallic poet Coelius Sedulius, Sedulius composed "From the lands that see the Sun arise" in which the humility of the birth of Jesus was portrayed.
The , one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Hymns to Mary, Marian hymn, is based on the
Annunciation
The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
.
Romanus the Melodist had a dream of the Virgin Mary the night before the feast of the nativity, and when he woke up the next morning, composed his first hymn "On the Nativity" and continued composing hymns (perhaps several hundred) to the end of his life. Re-enactments of nativity, which are now called
nativity play
A Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, obse ...
s, were part of the ''troparion'' hymns in the Christian liturgy, liturgy of Byzantine Rite churches, from Sophronius of Jerusalem in the 7th century. By the 13th century, the Franciscans had encouraged a strong tradition of popular Christmas songs in the native languages.
[Miles, Clement, ''Christmas customs and traditions'', Dover 1976, , pp. 31–37] Christmas carols in English first appear in a 1426 work of John Audelay, John Awdlay, a Shropshire chaplain, who lists twenty-five "caroles of Cristemas".
[Miles, Clement, ''Christmas customs and traditions'', Dover 1976, , pp. 47–48]
The largest body of musical works about Christ in which he does not speak are about the nativity. A large body of liturgical music, as well as a great deal of para-liturgical texts, carols and folk music exist about the nativity of Jesus. Christmas carols have
come to be viewed as a cultural-signature of the nativity of Jesus.
[''Jesus in history, thought, and culture: an encyclopedia, Volume 1'' by James Leslie Houlden 2003 pp. 631–635]
Most musical nativity narrations are not biblical and did not come about until church music assimilated opera in the 17th century. However, thereafter there was a torrent of new music, such as Heinrich Schütz's 1660, Marc-Antoine Charpentier ''(Midnight Mass, Pastorals, Oratorio, instrumental music'', 11 settings), ''The Christmas Story'' and Bach's ''Christmas Oratorio'' in the 18th century, as well as ''Christus (Liszt), Lisz's Christus'', Hector Berlioz, Berlioz's (1850), List of compositions by Camille Saint-Saëns, Camille Saint-Saëns's Christmas Oratorio (1858), etc.
John Milton's classic 1629 poem ''Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity'' was used by John McEwan in 1901.
Historical analysis
Traditional views
![Byzantinischer Maler um 1020 003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Byzantinischer_Maler_um_1020_003.jpg)
According to some scholars, the two Gospel accounts of the nativity are historically accurate and do not contradict each other,
[Mark D. Roberts ''Can We Trust the Gospels?: Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John '' Good News Publishers, 2007 p. 102] with similarities such as the birthplace of Bethlehem and the Virgin birth of Jesus, virgin birth. George Kilpatrick and Michael Patella state that a comparison of the nativity accounts of Luke and Matthew show common elements in terms of the virgin birth, the birth at Bethlehem, and the upbringing at Nazareth, and that although there are differences in the accounts of the nativity in Luke and Matthew, a general narrative may be constructed by combining the two. A number of biblical scholars have attempted to show how the text from both narratives can be interwoven as a gospel harmony to create one account that begins with a trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born, followed by the flight to Egypt, and ending with a return to Nazareth.
[Steven L. Cox, Kendell H. Easley, 2007 ''Harmony of the Gospels'' pp. 289–290]
Neither Luke nor Matthew claims their birth narratives are based on direct testimony.
Raymond E. Brown
Raymond Edward Brown (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an American Sulpician priest and prominent biblical scholar. He was regarded as a specialist concerning the hypothetical "Johannine community", which he speculated contributed to the a ...
suggested in 1973 that Joseph was the source of Matthew's account and Mary of Luke's, but modern scholars consider this "highly unlikely", given that the story emerged so late.
Roman Catholic scholars, such as John L. McKenzie,
Raymond E. Brown
Raymond Edward Brown (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an American Sulpician priest and prominent biblical scholar. He was regarded as a specialist concerning the hypothetical "Johannine community", which he speculated contributed to the a ...
, and Daniel J. Harrington express the view that due to the scarcity of ancient records, a number of issues regarding the historicity of some nativity episodes can never be fully determined, and that the more important task is deciding what the nativity narratives meant to the early Christian communities.
Critical analysis
Many scholars do not see the Luke and Matthew nativity stories as historically factual,
[Marcus Borg, 'The Meaning of the Birth Stories' in Marcus Borg, N T Wright, ''The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions'' (Harper One, 1999) page 179: "I (and most mainline scholars) do not see these stories as historically factual."] regarding them as laced with theology and presenting two different accounts and Genealogy of Jesus, genealogies.
[''The New Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible: Volume 3'' Abingdon Press, 2008. pp. 42, 269–70.] For instance, they point to Matthew's account of the appearance of an angel to Joseph in a dream; the wise men from the East; the massacre of the innocents; and the flight to Egypt, which do not appear in Luke, which instead describes the appearance of an angel to Mary; the Roman census; the birth in a manger; and the choir of angels appearing to the shepherds in the fields.[Sanders, E. P. The historical figure of Jesus. Penguin, 1993. Sanders discusses both birth narratives in detail, contrasts them, and judges them not historical on pp. 85–88.] Sanders considers Luke's census, for which everyone returned to their ancestral home, not historically credible, as this was contrary to Roman practice; they would not have uprooted everyone from their homes and farms in the Empire by forcing them to return to their ancestral cities. Moreover, people were not able to trace their own lineages back 42 generations. More generally, according to Karl Rahner the evangelists show little interest in synchronizing the episodes of the birth or subsequent life of Jesus with the secular history of the age.[''Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi'' by Karl Rahner 2004 p. 731] As a result, modern scholars do not use much of the birth narratives for historical information.[Jeremy Corley ''New Perspectives on the Nativity'' Continuum International Publishing Group, 2009 p. 22.] Nevertheless, they are considered to contain some useful biographical information: Jesus being born near the end of the reign of Herod, during the reign of Emperor Augustus and his father being named St Joseph, Joseph are considered historically plausible.
Most modern scholars accept the Marcan priority hypothesis, that the Luke and Matthew accounts are based on the Gospel of Mark, but that the birth narratives come from the evangelists' independent sources, known as the M-Source, M source for Matthew and the L source
In textual criticism of the New Testament, the L source is a hypothetical oral or textual tradition which the author of Luke–Acts may have used when composing the Gospel of Luke.
Composition
The question of how to explain the similarities a ...
for Luke, which were added later.[Robert W. Funk, Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar. ''The acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus.'' HarperSanFrancisco. 1998. "Birth & Infancy Stories" pp. 497–526.]
While Géza Vermes and E. P. Sanders dismiss the accounts as pious fiction, Raymond E. Brown
Raymond Edward Brown (May 22, 1928 – August 8, 1998) was an American Sulpician priest and prominent biblical scholar. He was regarded as a specialist concerning the hypothetical "Johannine community", which he speculated contributed to the a ...
sees them as having been constructed from historical traditions which predate the Gospels. According to Brown, there is no uniform agreement among scholars on the historicity of the accounts, e.g., most of those scholars who reject the historicity of the birth at Bethlehem argue for a birth at Nazareth, a few suggest Capernaum, and other have hypothesized locations as far away as Chorazin. Bruce Chilton and archaeologist Aviram Oshri have proposed a birth at Bethlehem of Galilee, a site located from Nazareth at which remains dating to the time of Herod the Great have been excavated. Armand P. Tarrech states that Chilton's hypothesis has no support in either the Jewish or Christian sources, although Chilton seems to take seriously the statement in s:Bible (American Standard)/Luke#2:4, Luke 2:4 that Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.[''Handbook for the Study of the Historical Jesus'' edited by Tom Holmen and Stanley E. Porter (Jan 12, 2011) pages 3411–3412]
Many view the discussion of historicity as secondary, given that gospels were primarily written as theological documents rather than chronological timelines.[''Interpreting Gospel Narratives: Scenes, ''People'', and Theology'' by Timothy Wiarda 2010 pp. 75–78][''Jesus, the Christ: Contemporary Perspectives'' by Brennan R. Hill 2004 p. 89][''The Gospel of Luke'' by Timothy Johnson 1992 p. 72][''Recovering Jesus: the witness of the New Testament'' Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld 2007 p. 111] For instance, Matthew pays far more attention to the name of the child and its theological implications than the actual birth event itself.[''Matthew'' by Thomas G. Long 1997 pp. 14–15]
See also
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Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
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* Berghorn, Matthias, ''Die Genesis Jesu Christi aber war so ...''. Die Herkunft Jesu Christi nah dem matthäischen Prolog (Mt 1,1-4,16), Göttingen 2019.
* Brown, Raymond E. ''The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke''. London: G. Chapman, 1977.
* Calkins, Robert G. ''Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages''. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983.
* Carter, Warren. ''Matthew and Empire.'' Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2001.
* France, R.T. ''The Gospel According to Matthew: an Introduction and Commentary.'' Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
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* Robert H. Gundry, Gundry, Robert H. ''Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art.'' Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
* Gundry, Robert H. "Salvation in Matthew." ''Society of Biblical Literature – 2000 Seminar Papers.'' Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000.
* Hill, David. ''The Gospel of Matthew''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
* Jones, Alexander. ''The Gospel According to St. Matthew.'' London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1965.
* Levine, Amy-Jill. "Matthew." ''Women's Bible Commentary.'' Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998.
* Schaberg, Jane. ''Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives (Biblical Seminar Series, No 28)'' Sheffield Academic Press (March 1995)
* Eduard Schweizer, Schweizer, Eduard. ''The Good News According to Matthew.'' Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975
* Géza Vermes, Vermes, Géza ''The Nativity: History and Legend''. Penguin (2006)
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External links
Icons of the Nativity (mostly Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nativity Of Jesus
Nativity of Jesus,
Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Matthew
Joyful Mysteries
Christmas