Christmas

But when the fulness of the time was come, 

God sent forth His Son, made of a woman...

Galatians 4:4

-- Mission of the First Advent

-- First Recorded "Christmas"

-- Fables of St. Augustine for December 25

-- The Genealogies of Jesus

-- Spurgeon on "Christmas"

-- E.G.W. on "Christmas"

-- Luther on "Christmas"

-- E.J. Waggoner on "Christmas"

-- John Calvin on "Christmas"

-- Luther on Mary & "Christmas"

-- Money on "Christmas"

Mission of the 1st Advent

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:

they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,

upon them has the light shined.

Isaiah 9:2

"Yet God came to man
--in his lost condition,
--to dwell with him in the darkness,
--to lead them in the light and back to dwell with God in the light of God."
A.T. Jones

First Recorded "Christmas"

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field... Luke 2:8 [not likely Dec. 25th]

"Today is Christmas day (Christ's mass). But for the first 300 years of Christianity, it wasn't so.
Q: When was Christmas first celebrated?
A: In an old list of Roman bishops, compiled in A. D. 354 these

words appear for A.D. 336: "25 Dec.: natus Christus in Betleem Judeae." (December 25th, Christ born in Bethlehem, Judea.)

This day, December 25, 336, is the first recorded celebration of Christmas.
For the first three hundred years of the church's existence, birthdays were not given much emphasis--not even the birth of Christ.
Q: How did Christmas come to be celebrated on December 25th?
A: Cultures around the Mediterranean and across Europe observed feasts on or around December 25th, marking the winter solstice. " 

Christianity.com

Fables of St. Augustine for December 25

Neither give heed to fables .... 1 Timothy1:4

"According to Catholic tradition, the rejoicing of Christ’s coming lasts considerably longer than one great day. Rather, it stretches from the Christmas vigil Mass until the Feast of the Epiphany, sometimes called Three Kings’ Day.
Q: Why did the Church choose to celebrate Christ’s birth on

December 25?
A: The most direct answer is that according to the Roman calendar, this day marked the winter solstice.
Saint Augustine explained the significance of this day in remembering Christ’s coming, writing, “on the day which is the shortest in our earthly reckoning and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length. He, therefore, who bent low and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet the one whence light begins to increase.” 

CatholicMedia

The Genealogies of Jesus
"Adam - the son of God - That is, whatever the sons of Adam receive from their human parents, Adam received immediately from God, except sin and misery.
It is worthy of being remarked that
---Matthew, who wrote principally for the Jews, extends his

genealogy to Abraham through whom the promise of the Messiah was given to the Jews;
---Luke, who wrote his history for the instruction of the Gentiles, extends his genealogy to Adam, to whom the promise of the Redeemer was given in behalf of himself and of all his posterity.

*Thus, as Matthew gives us the regal line of Christ, showing Him to be heir to the throne of His father David, Luke gives the natural line of Christ;

---and as Matthew traces His genealogy down from Abraham, in a descending line, to Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, ---Luke traces it upwards, in an ascending line, from Mary by Joseph, even up to Adam; to whom the Messiah was first promised, and who was a type of the second Adam."
Adam Clarke/Matthew Henry

Spurgeon on "Christmas"

"We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons.
Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement

called Christmas because we do not believe in any mass at all, but abhor it whether it be sung in Latin or in English.......

*We venture to assert that if there be any day in the year of which we may be pretty sure that it was not the day on which our Savior was born, it is the 25th of December.

*Regarding not the day, let us give God thanks for the gift of His dear Son."

Charles Spurgeon

E.G.W. on "Christmas"
"The 25th of December has long been commemorated as the day of Jesus' birth, and in this article it is not my purpose to affirm or question the propriety of celebrating this event on this day, but to dwell upon the childhood and life of our Savior. 

All heaven was interested in 

the great event of Christ's advent to earth. 

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them,

Fear not:

for, behold,

I bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, 

which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you:

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,

lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Q: Dear children, shall not these precious words, coming from the lips of heavenly angels, find a response in our hearts? 

Q: Shall they not awaken gladness and melody in the soul because Jesus has come to our world to bring back to God those who through sin were estranged from Him? 

The angels were amazed at the great love of Christ that led Him to suffer and die on Calvary to rescue man from the power of Satan. The work of redemption is a marvel to the angels of heaven. 

Q: Why, then, are we, for whom so great a salvation has been provided, so indifferent, so cold and unloving?

Let the hearts of all respond with exceeding joy for the priceless gift of the Son of God." 

Review & Herald 1889 E.G.W.

Luther on "Christmas"

"You have heard today the story from the Gospel of St. Luke of how

it came to pass that our Lord Christ was born and then also the message of the angel, who announced who the boy was who was born.

Therefore it is a high article to believe that this infant, born of Mary, is true God; for nobody's reason can ever accept the fact that

---He who created heaven and earth

---and is adored by angels

---was born of a virgin.

That is the article. 

*Nobody believes it except he who also knows this faith, namely, that this child is the Lord and Savior." 

Martin Luther

E.J. Waggoner on "Christmas"
"What Is Christmas?”
Possibly ninety-nine out of every hundred people who give the
matter any thought at all, would answer that it is the anniversary of the birth of Christ.

So general has this idea become, that many people regard Christmas as a sacred day...
--As a matter of fact, nobody knows the month nor the day of the month on which Jesus of Nazareth was born.
--The only place where we could hope to find any definite information on the subject, namely, the Bible, is utterly silent regarding the matter.
--The fact that the Bible gives no sanction whatever to the celebration of the birth of Christ, not even mentioning when it occurred, is sufficient evidence that the Lord did not wish to have it celebrated.
--There is only one thing that we can know with any certainty about the birth of Christ, and that is that it did not take place on the twenty-fifth of December, nor in the month of December.
Dr. Schaff tells us that we first find Christmas in Rome, “in the time of the Bishop Liberius, who on the twenty-fifth of December, 360, consecrated Marcella, the sister of St. Ambrose, nun or bride of Christ, and addressed her with the words, ‘Thou seest what multitudes are come to the birth festival of thy bridegroom.’ This passage implies that the festival was already existing, and familiar. Christmas was introduced in Antioch about the year 380; in Alexandria, where the feast of the Epiphany was celebrated as the nativity of Christ, not till about 430.”
As Dr. Schaff says, Christmas was adopted after the close of persecution, when abhorrence of everything heathen had ceased.
Mosheim tells us that even in the second century, a large part of the Christian observances and institutions had the aspect of the pagan mysteries. This was because “the Christian bishops purposely multiplied sacred rites” for the purpose of conciliating the pagans. 

As illustrating the spirit of compromise he quotes the following from Gregory Nyssen’s life of Gregory Thaumaturgus: “When Gregory perceived that the ignorant and simple multitude persisted in their

idolatry, on account of the sensitive pleasures and delights it afforded, he allowed them in celebrating the memory of the holy martyrs, to indulge themselves, and give a loose to pleasure (i.e., as the thing itself, and both what precedes and follows, placed beyond all controversy, he allowed them at the sepulchres of the martyrs on their feast days, to dance, use sports, to indulge conviviality, and to do all things that the worshippers of idols were accustomed to do in their temples on their festival days), hoping that in process of time they would spontaneously come over to a more becoming and more correct manner of life." ....says that “the heathen calendar still regulated the amusements of the people.” 

These amusements, be it remembered, where the festival days of the church; so that the “church year” is but little else than the old heathen round of festivals.

E.J. Waggoner

John Calvin on "Christmas"
"Now, I see here today more people that I am accustomed to having at the sermon.
Q: Why is that?
A: It is Christmas day.
Q: And who told you this?
That is a fitting euphemism for all of you who have come here today to honor Noel.
Q: Did you think you would be honoring God?
Consider what sort of obedience to God your coming displays.
---In your mind, you are celebrating a holiday for God, or turning

today into one but so much for that.
---In truth, as you have often been admonished, it is good to set aside one day out of the year in which we are reminded of all the good that has occurred because of Christ’s birth in the world, and in which we hear the story of His birth retold, ....
---But if you think that Jesus Christ was born today, you are as crazed as wild beasts.
---For when you elevate one day alone for the purpose of worshiping God, you have just turned it into an idol.
True, you insist that you have done so for the honor of God, but it is more for the honor of the devil.
Let us consider what our Lord has to say on the matter.
Q: Was it not Saul’s intention to worship God when he spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, along with the best spoils and cattle?
He says as much: ‘I want to worship God.’
Saul’s tongue was full of devotion and good intention. but what was the response he received? ‘You soothsayer! You heretic! You apostate! You claim to be honoring God, but God rejects you and disavows all that you have done.’
Consequently, the same is true of our actions.
It matters not whether we recall our Lord’s nativity on a Wednesday, Thursday, or some other day.
But when we insist on establishing a service of worship based on our whim, we blaspheme God, and create an idol, though we have done it all in the name of God.
*And when you worship God in the idleness of a holiday spirit, that is a heavy sin to bear, and one which attracts others about it, until we reach the height of iniquity.

They came here in anticipation of celebrating a wrong intention, but will leave with it wholly unfulfilled."

John Calvin

Luther on Mary & "Christmas"
"This is our theology...Mary bore the child, took it to her breast and nursed it, and the Father in heaven has His Son, lying in the manger and the mother's lap.... And yet the text does not sound forth the honor of the mother, for the angel says, I bring to you good news of great joy; for to you is born this day the Savior [Luke 2:10-11]. 

I am to accept the child and His birth and forget the mother, as far as this is possible, although her part cannot be forgotten, for where there is a birth there must also be a mother. 

Nevertheless, we dare not put our faith in the mother but only in the fact that the child was born. 

*And the angel desired that we should see nothing but the child which is born, just as the angels themselves, as though they were blind, saw nothing but the child born of the virgin. 

No, sun, moon, stars, all creatures, physicians, emperors, kings, wise men and potentates cannot help me. To you is born this day the Savior [Luke 2:11], remains in my eyes and fills all heaven and earth." 

Martin Luther

Money on "Christmas"

"Thousands of dollars will be worse than thrown away upon the
coming Christmas and New Year’s in needless indulgences.
--But it is our privilege to depart from the customs and practices of this degenerate age; 

--and instead of expending means merely for the gratification of the appetite or for needless ornaments or articles of clothing, we may make the coming holidays an occasion in which to honor and glorify God.
Christ should be the supreme object;
----but as Christmas has been observed,

the glory is turned from Him

to mortal man, whose sinful,

defective character made it necessary

for Him to come to our world.

Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, the royal King of heaven, laid aside His

royalty, left His throne of glory, His high command, and came into our world to bring to fallen man, weakened in moral power and corrupted by sin, aid divine. …
Parents should keep these things before their children and instruct them, line upon line, precept upon precept, in their obligation to God..." E.G.W.