Pastor Mark Schwarzbauer PhDFamily Worship Center Sturgeon Bay WIDecember 4, 2016

Matthew 1:20-23 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Part One: The Cozenage I. A cozenage is a deception or scam.

II. There is a popular cozenage (deception) when it comes to Jesus’ Birth concerning the date of Christmas. A. Christmas” is from old English word Cristesmæsse

“Christ mass” or “Christ festival”.B. You have heard the following popular myth about

Christmas… “The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated.”1

C. Have you heard that the date of Christmas is based 1 http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/how-december-25-became-christmas/ The author of this scholarly article is Andrew Brian McGowan is an Australian scholar of early Christianity and an Anglican priest. He is McFaddin Professor of Anglican Studies at Yale Divinity School and Dean and President of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale (The bio is from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_McGowan )

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on a pagan holiday? FACEBOOK MEMEIII. What do you think is the motivation to demean

Christmas?IV. The “War on Christmas” is NOT new. It is essentially a

“War on Christ” and has been going on since Herod sent out his soldiers to kill the Christ child. To deny it shows both an ignorance of history and a lack of spiritual perception.

V. The cozenage (deception) about the date of Christmas being stolen is based on a 12th century errant commentary. 2 The lie has been repeated ever since.

A. Fools logic- Sol Invictus is on Dec. 25. Christmas is on Dec 25th. Therefore Christmas is Sol Invictus. An elephant has ears. My Brother has ears. Therefore my brother is an elephant.

B. Rome adopted Sol Invictus in the year 274 A.D. BUT a group called the “Donatists” appears to have celebrated the birth of Christ on Dec. 25th as it was long before based on a North African Christian tradition.

C. So why aren’t there more writings from the early church on “December 25th being the date of the birth of Christ? 1. It certainly isn’t because December 25th wasn’t the date of the birth of Christ.

2 “It’s not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus’ birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.5 In the 18th and 19th centuries, Bible scholars spurred on by the new study of comparative religions latched on to this idea.6 They claimed that because the early Christians didn’t know when Jesus was born, they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiah’s birth and celebrating it accordingly.” Excerpt from http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/how-december-25-became-christmas/ Footnotes sources from the above excerpt 5. A gloss on a manuscript of Dionysius Bar Salibi, d. 1171; see Talley, Origins, pp. 101–102. 6. Prominent among these was Paul Ernst Jablonski; on the history of scholarship, see especially Roll, “The Origins of Christmas,” pp. 277–283.

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2. The reason is found in our errant ethno centric interpretation.

Part Two: The ConceptionI. The Conception.

A. The problem is people have wrongly “westernized” the issue. In Africa as in the West it is common to celebrate the BIRTH of a child. That would account for the Donatists picking up an earlier North African tradition celebrating Christmas on the 25th of December. However, in Asia it is much more common to celebrate the CONCEPTION of a child. 1. Even today many Asian cultures celebrate conception instead of birth.2. Dating birth as age of 1.

B. There are two important factors we need to know 1. The early church focused on “CONCEPTION” not birth.2. The early church didn’t see the birth as the starting point because Jesus was the pre-existent Eternal Word of God. Birth was not even the transition point, much less the starting point. The conception was the transition of God becoming man.

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II. The conception is prominent in Scripture.A. Matthew 1:20-23 20 But while he thought about these things,

behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

B. Luke 1:30-31 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.

C. In Luke 1, Elizabeth recognizes and honors Jesus in the womb BEFORE birth.

D. In our pro-abortion pro-choice culture, America shuns the celebration of conception. It doesn’t mean we can’t rightly celebrate birth. But it may contribute to why conception is not our focal point.

III. John doesn’t even mention the birth as he emphasizes the PRE-EXISTENCE of Christ.

A. The early church honored the deity of Christ.B. He was Immanuel, God with us.

IV. So where do we get the date December 25th? A. The date of December 25th for Christmas has

absolutely nothing to do with Sol Invictus. The date is based on the understanding that Jesus was conceived and died on the Passover.

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B. Tertullian of Carthage around 200 A.D. (74 years before Sol Invictus was popularized) shared that according to the Gospel of John Jesus died on the 14th of Nisan. Tertullian shared his calculation that this date on the lunar calendar was March 25th on the solar calendar. 3 9 months later to the day is December 25th.

C. So the December 25th date of Christmas is based on Jesus being conceived on Passover, March 25th. This was established 74 years BEFORE Sol Invictus, and was based on Messianic expectation from BEFORE the Roman Empire even existed!

D. A Christian treatise entitled “On Solstices and Equinoxes”4 from the 4th century states “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.”

E.St. Augustine wrote in On the Trinity (c. 399–419) “For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.”5

3 Tertullian, Adversus Iudaeos 8.4 De solstitia et aequinoctia conceptionis et nativitatis domini nostri iesu christi et iohannis baptistae.5 Augustine, Sermon 202.

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F.In cultural and literary context, Jewish tradition links creation (conception) and redemption together. In the Babylonian Talmud there is dispute shared between two rabbis of the early 2nd century. Rabbi Eliezer states: “In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; on Passover Isaac was born … and in Nisan they will be redeemed in time to come.”6

1. The Jewish people expected Messiah in Nisan and the Passover redemption.2. Just decades after Jesus did so they reflected this expectation not realizing it was fully fulfilled. They missed it, just like a lot of people miss Jesus today.

V. There is no doubt the church has been touched by pagan influence through the years. That’s not surprising. The church brings in people as they are. The church never has been perfect because it is composed of imperfect people. That’s why we need a savior. But, the date of Christmas wasn’t based on a pagan holiday. The pagan holiday came later; I think in a vain attempt to detract from the truly epic event of God becoming a man.

VI. Now you know where we arrived at the date. You also now understand why there wasn’t a big deal made about December 25th. So how do we apply this in our lives and celebration of Christmas today?Part Three: The Celebration6 The Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Rosh Hashanah 10b–11a

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I. Don’t let the false philosophy of a stolen date steal your celebration.

A. Colossians 2:8 “Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”

B. Don’t let them capture your joy, your time or your attention. If you feel led to correct them, then study these notes and repost the video of the message.

II. We relate to “birth” days in our culture. God wants to relate to you! What do you think He wants you to do with Christmas? Honor the Christ. Celebrate Jesus.

III. Don’t lose the true meaning of Christmas in the commercialism. John 3:16.

IV. Like the Wise men who later followed, bring your gifts… bring your heart. Receive the joy.

Closing: The truth shall set you free. What will you do with your freedom?Discussion Items and Questions for Home and Small Group1. Share about your experience of people claiming the date of Christmas is based on a pagan holiday. Did it frustrate you? If so, why do you think it bothered you?2. Why do you think the early church and the Jewish people were more focused on conception than birth?3. In your own words, explain how the dating of Christmas is based on the Passover and the date of Jesus’ conception.4. What will you do to keep Christ as the focal point of your Christmas celebration?5. Pray for each other (and perhaps sing a Christmas Carol or two).These more extensive notes have been furnished to provide you with reference material. Please let me know if you have found them helpful.Pastor Mark drmark920@gmail.com

A special thanks to the The Very Reverend Andrew McGowan for source materials.

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