Posted on 12/23/2016 7:45:30 AM PST by Salvation
In preparation for the coming of Christmas, we have been discussing some of St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings. In today’s last installment we’ll be looking at his commentary on the time and place of Jesus’ birth.
We live in a culture today that tends toward a kind of temporal pride. We think that we have come of age, that we are smarter and wiser than our forebears. Scientific, technical, and medical knowledge are more highly developed to be sure, but there is more to life than what falls into those realms.
The religious version of temporal pride is expressed in this utterance: “If Jesus lived in our times He would …” The sentence is then completed with any view we like or consider to be “enlightened” and “modern.” But Jesus did not choose to live in our time, and there may well be very good reasons for that. As God, He could have chosen any age—and He did not choose ours.
St. Thomas Aquinas, who lived in the 13th century, pondered the reasons for the time and place of Jesus’ birth in his Summa Theologica. In it he addressed some of the questions and objections raised during his era.
The time of the Lord’s birth – St. Thomas discussed this in his Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 35, Article 8. He used as his starting point, St. Paul’s attestation to the fittingness of the time of Christ’s birth: When the fullness of the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law (Gal 4:4). Here, the “fullness of time” is understood to mean “at the designated or determined time.” St. Thomas wrote,
Whereas [other men] are born subject to the restrictions of time, Christ, as Lord and Maker of all time, chose a time in which to be born, just as He chose a mother and a birthplace. And since “what is of God is well ordered” and becomingly arranged, it follows that Christ was born at a most fitting time.
St. Thomas responded as follows to objections raised in his day regarding the time of Christ’s birth:
Some objected that because Christ came to grant liberty to His people, it was not fitting that He came at a time when the Jewish people were subjected to Roman occupation and the Herodian dynasty (Herod was not a true Jew). St. Thomas answered that because Christ came in order to bring us back from a state of bondage to a state of liberty, it was fitting that He be born into bondage with us and then lead us out. We can grasp this logic in a wider sense when we consider that He assumed our mortal nature in order to give us an immortal nature; He died in order to restore us to life. St. Thomas, referencing Bede, wrote that Christ submitted Himself to bondage for the sake of our liberty. He also added that Christ wished to be born during the reign of a foreigner so that the prophecy of Jacob might be fulfilled (Genesis 49:10): The scepter shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till He come that is to be sent. The bondage was not to be ended before Christ’s coming, but after it and through it.
Others objected that the time of year, near the winter solstice, was not fitting for Christ’s birth. They argued that it was not fitting for Christ, the Light of the World, to be born during the darkest time of the year. But Thomas replied that Christ wished to be born at a time when the light of day begins to increase in length so as to show that He came to draw man back to the light, according to Luke 1:79: To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
The place of Christ’s birth (Bethlehem) – St. Thomas discussed this in the Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 35, Article 7.
Christ willed to be born in Bethlehem for two reasons. First, because “He was made … of the seed of David according to the flesh,” as it is written (Romans 1:3); … Therefore He willed to be born at Bethlehem, where David was born, in order that by the very birthplace the promise made to David might be shown to be fulfilled. The Evangelist points this out by saying: “Because He was of the house and of the family of David.” Secondly, because, as Gregory says (Hom. viii in Evang.): “Bethlehem is interpreted ‘the house of bread.’ It is Christ Himself who said, ‘I am the living Bread which came down from heaven.’”
St. Thomas responded to some objections to Bethlehem as the place of Jesus’ birth.
With St. Thomas to guide and teach us, we have pondered over the past few days some aspects of the incarnation and birth of our Lord. May you who have read and I who have presented be enriched by the teachings of the Lord through the great St. Thomas Aquinas.
Below is a link to an organ prelude on the hymn “Bethlehem of Noblest Cities,” also known as “Earth Hath Many a Noble City.” It is accompanied by beautiful art related to Bethlehem. Here are the words to the hymn:
Earth hath many a noble city;
Bethlehem, thou dost all excel:
out of thee the Lord from heaven
came to rule his Israel.
Fairer than the sun at morning
was the star that told his birth,
to the world its God announcing
seen in fleshly form on earth.
Eastern sages at his cradle
make oblations rich and rare;
see them give, in deep devotion,
gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
incense doth their God disclose,
gold the King of kings proclaimeth,
myrrh his sepulcher foreshows.
Jesus, whom the Gentiles worshiped
at thy glad epiphany,
unto thee, with God the Father
and the Spirit, glory be.
Do you mean why was Jesus born in the fall of the year and not near the Winter Solstice?
The PLAIN TRUTH about CHRISTMAS!
Herbert W Armstrong Click here to link to this booklet.
Download PDF:
The PLAIN TRUTH about CHRISTMAS!
In the original text published by the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W Armstrong.
View PDF:
The PLAIN TRUTH about CHRISTMAS!
In the original text published by the Worldwide Church of God under Herbert W Armstrong.
WHERE did we get Christmas?... from the Bible, or paganism? Here are astonishing FACTS which may shock you! Do you know the origin of the Christmas tree - of “Santa Claus,” - of the mistletoe, holly-wreath - custom of exchanging gifts? Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Jesus? Was He born on December 25th? Did Paul, the apostles, and the early Church of the New Testament celebrate Christmas? Do you know what the BIBLE says about the Christmas tree? Stop and think! Very few know WHY we do the things we do, or WHERE our customs came from! We were born into a world filled with customs. We grew up practicing them, taking them for granted, but NEVER QUESTIONING WHY!
Please click the above PDF icon(s) to view or download the full Booklet in PDF format.
http://www.hwalibrary.com/cgi-bin/get/hwa.cgi?action=getbklet&InfoID=1407943251
You got it. Merry Christmas.
Why are you yelling at me?
All Cap Letters signify yelling.
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>> “The internal Scripture evidence implies a fall birth. Augustus ordered a census for tax purposes and the best time to tax an agriculture population is just after the Harvest.” <<
Close!
Yeshua was born literally in the sheepfold of the Passover Lambs.
He was born on the day of Tabernacles, a day that all the men of the Earth were commanded to come to Jerusalem, which was by the Roman calendar of record, September 27, 3 BC.
An ideal time to collect a tax!
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Herbert W Armstrong is not the best source of information!
He mixed the truth with much of his own foolishness.
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I am as much a saint as that guy. He doesn’t speak for God any more than I do. His points are interesting and may be correct, but they carry no more weight than any other learned person on these matters.
“.... the heck with the actual history of what happened, and who was there and witnessed it,.....”
“St. Thomas Aquinas, who lived in the 13th century”
He wasn’t there.
It will be the same day on the Hebrew Calendar?
Thanks. I’m sorry about the length of my post, but I like to keep the big picture out there to waylay the poor souls who enjoy arguing about very minor details and sidetracking the issue.
Merry Christmas! Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Wasn’t there a prophecy about Bethlehem in Micah?
Jesus seems to point to the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.
Luk 24:44 Then He said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Luk 24:45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
Yup, 9/11 on the Roman calendar, strangely enough.
Many do not want to leave Babylon, the Roman empire.
He will return on the Hebrew calendar, Yom Teruah. The Roman calendar like most man works will pass away.
The real answer is actually very simple.
Jesus was born in the flesh that he might be put to death for the sins of the world. To be resurrected on the third day. He had to be born at that time, because the Jews at that time were the only people on the earth ever, that would crucify their God.
Book of Mormon
2 Nephi 10:
3 Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must needs be expedient that Christ—for in the last night the angel spake unto me that this should be his name—should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the world; and they shall crucify him—for thus it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God.
4 For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations they would repent, and know that he be their God.
This is why Jesus didn’t perform any miracles in front of the Romans or to Pilat. They would have been converted and would not have allowed Jesus to be crucified. Which leads to why Jesus called out to His Father to forgive the Romans; “they know not what they do.” But if they did know they would have repented.
Where is less important to me than why. This story has provided me with much comfort regarding why.
Each Christmas day at 12:00 noon where ever Paul Harvey's Program is played on the radio, Paul tells this story in such a dynamic way that it is sure to touch the heart of any person who listens to it.
Unable to trace its proper parentage, I have designated this as My Christmas Story, of “The Man and the Birds”.
You know, “The” Christmas story, “God born a man in a manger”, and all that, escapes some moderns. Mostly I think because they seek complex answers to their questions, and this one is so utterly simple. So for the cynics and the skeptics and the unconvinced, I submit a modern parable.
Now the man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind, decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men, but he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn’t make sense, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus story about God coming to earth as a man.
“I’m truly sorry to distress you”, he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas eve”, he said he’d feel like a hypocrite, that he’d much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. So he stayed and they went to the midnight service.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another. And then another; sort of a thump or a thud. At first, he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.
Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter if he could direct the birds to it. Quickly, he put on a coat and goulashes, tramped through the deepening snow to the barn.
He opened the doors wide and turned on a light. But the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow making a trail the yellow lighted, wide open door to the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them. He tried “shooing” them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction except into the warm lighted barn.
Then he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could let them know that they can trust me. That I’m not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led, or “shooed” because they feared him.
“If only I could be a bird”, he thought to himself “and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe warm ----------(Sudden recognition) ---- to the safe warm barn, but I would have to be one of them so they could see and hear, and understand.”
At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. He stood there listening to the bells, Adeste Fidelis. Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.
I highly recommend you seek the Paul Harvey audio for a better reading and perhaps a better understanding.
Merry Christmas!
Do you know the origin of the Christmas tree
One thing I do know is that we do not worship the tree.
If all caps mean yelling, then you yelled SAINT in post #16.
Do I detect a double standard in post #23? Or maybe some spin, trying to make someone else look bad, or that they are (in your opinion) a ‘hater’?
That’s good. For it cannot do good; neither can it do evil.
It’s just vanity. And makes people feel good for spell. Then it has to be stored (fake ones), or disposed of.
Tragically they sometimes become fire hazards.
For all that has been written [and argued, debated, and searched for in the prophets] regarding the "Nazarene prophecy" of Matthew 2, you'd think someone would have read it through and noticed that the antecendent is Joseph. Joseph, dreams, Egypt, going down into, coming up out of... the Joseph who is a mashal (ruler, parable) over all the land of Egypt. What the prophets Jacob and Moses stated:
The blessings upon Joseph
Genesis 49:26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate [nazir] from his brethren.
Deuteronomy 33:16 And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated [nazir] from his brethren.
This line runs through Joseph haTzaddik. Joseph the Righteous, separated intrinsically from the brothers because he was soaring over their heads. It would explain why he was Jacob's favorite. Jacob saw Rachel. Same eyes (perception). Rachel died on the way to Ephrata (fruitfulness, fruition), which is Bethlehem, where David was born.
Another false prophet preaching lies.
Thank-you and a good and blessed Merry Christmas!
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