Merry Christmas from PBC!
The true meaning of Christmas has been buried by layers of traditions—most of which have little or nothing to do with the original intent of the holiday. Have you ever stopped to consider the strangeness of what we do in the name of Christmas? We set up trees in our living rooms, and then cover them in lights and adorn the branches with shiny objects. We spend countless hours walking through crowded stores and fighting with other shoppers for the perfect gift, yet those same gifts end up being forgotten a few days later. We cook more than we can eat and eat more than we should. This is what many people in our culture consider Christmas.
While I have nothing against the many Christmas traditions, I periodically ask myself, “Is this what Christmas is really about?” Have we, as believers, become lost in the bright lights and pretty packages of the world’s Christmas traditions? So far lost, that we have completely forgotten the true meaning of the season? Paul manages, in Galatians 4:4-5, to perfectly encapsulate the meaning of Christmas. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Let us begin by looking at verse four, “But when the fullness of time had come…” In Greek, this phrase means, “When the time had been filled up.” In other words, before God breathed anything into existence, Christmas was part of God’s sovereign plan. So many times, people view God as if He is up in heaven reacting to the events that unfold down on the earth. Nothing could be further from the truth. God does not respond to history; He has already written it. The Heavenly Father had already set the “date” of the first Christmas before the first day of history. Jesus’ birth happened right when it needed to happen. Paul continues in verse four, “…God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” Those first few words, “God sent forth,” in Greek, translates to “God sent out from Himself.” That infant, born in a stable, wrapped in pieces of cloth, and cradled in a feeding trough, was not the son of the wide-eyed carpenter looking on in awe. He was the Son of the Most High, the offspring of the Almighty – God in the flesh! Christmas is the time when God made Himself known to us by becoming one of us.
The celebration of Christmas is not just about the time God humbled himself on this Earth as a human. It is also about why He did it. Verse five says, “to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Here in this verse, Paul lays out for us two purposes God had for Christmas. The Father’s first purpose is found in the word “redeem.” This word means to “buy back.” While this is an accurate statement, there is a far deeper— more emotional and powerful — meaning to this statement. In Greek, “redeem” would have been used when a person went into the slave market and bought a slave to set them free. When this happened, they were said to have “redeemed” that slave. Similarly, Christmas is about God sending His Son into this world, to buy us out of our slavery to sin and set us free. God’s second purpose for Christmas is found in the word “adopt.” When parents adopt a child, they choose to bring a child into their family and raise them as their own child. The Father did this at Christmas. He gave up His only Son so that He could adopt a multitude of children as His own.
This Christmas, as we hurriedly decorate, shop, and celebrate with family, may we stop and remember the meaning behind the holiday. Christmas is a reminder of the Heavenly Father’s love for us and His wonderful gift of salvation through the gift of His Son, Jesus.