By TC Lo (盧天賜)
The core of the Christmas story can be summarized in five verses as far as its meaning is concerned. They are recorded in Luke chapter 2 as:
- 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
- 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
- 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
- 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
- 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
Verse 10 states that there is a message to be announced. The message is good, joyful, and has the power to remove people’s fear, fear in the negative sense. It is a message for ALL peoples.
Verse 11 is the content of the message: “A Savior has been born unto you.” This is a short-hand version of the Gospel.
Verse 12 alludes to the very fact of Incarnation. Christ’s coming is physical, not spiritual as Docetism suggests.
Verse 13 is a beatified vision suggesting that the birth of Christ is utterly supernatural in addition to the virgin birth.
All above are agreed upon by Christians. Even though not explicitly spelled out by verse 11, it is also agreed upon that this message is the Gospel. Throughout the Bible, we know that the Gospel is all about PEACE. If you are not peaceful with yourself, it is because you are not peaceful with God. Gospel is related to our reconciliation (have peace) toward God. So, verse 10 can be paraphrased as “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of PEACE that will be for ALL the people.”
Verse 14 says, when the angels praise God in the highest, God responds with “peace among men.” But the verse continues to read concerning the scope of the peace, saying, this peace is “with whom He is pleased.”
How are we going to harmonize “the peace is for ALL people in verse 10” and “peace is JUST for God’s favorite in verse 14”?
First, God is love. “For God so loved the world.” He loves EVERY one even His enemies. Second, God’s revelations always have two aspects: The general revelation by the Elohim God. The special revelation by the Jehovah God, two different names but the same God. So, God indeed bestows upon mankind the peace in the general sense. However, God is all the more willing to bestow covenantal peace to the elect. Then the question becomes “what kind of peace that God gives without discrimination to humankind? There are plentiful.
A book written by D. James Kennedy entitled “What If Jesus Had Never Been Born”, 276 pages, gives ample of examples concerning the impact of Jesus’ birth, each of these examples do have rich elements of peace concerning mankind. Just mentioning not exhaustively here:
- Hospitals, which essentially began during the Middle Ages.
- Universities, which also began during the Middle Ages. In addition, most of the world’s greatest universities were started by Christians for Christian purposes.
- Literacy and education for masses.
- Capitalism and free enterprise.
- Representative government, particularly as it has been seen in the American experiment.
- The separation of political powers,
- Civil liberties.
- The abolition of slavery, both in antiquity, and a more modern time.
- Modern science.
- The discovery of the new world by Columbus.
- The elevation of women.
- The abolition of foot binding in China
- Benevolence and charity; the good Samaritan ethic.
- Higher standards of justice.
- The elevation of the common man.
- The condemnation of adultery, homosexuality, and other sexual perversion. This has helped to preserve the human race, and it has spared many from heartache.
- The civilizing of many Barbarian and primitive cultures.
- The codifying, and setting to writing of many of the world’s languages.
If these are not the peace that the Christ-child brought about to mankind, I don’t know what they are. Antony Flew (1923-2010), a man who had preached atheism for as long as Billy Graham had preached the Gospel, remarked that when he saw the suffering of the Africans, having explored many approaches, finally admitted that the only solution to these Africans is the Gospel of peace. He later became a deist, if not Christion.
Therefore, we must join the angels to sing the doxology, “Glory to God in the highest and peace among all humanity in general and believers in particular.”
