Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CRITICAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

CHAPTER FOUR (Lesson I)

4:1-2 Look at it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance to a child who is a minor, that child is in no better position to receive that inheritance than one of the servants. They too, must obey those appointed as guardians and caretakers until they reach whatever age their father designated.

 We see what Paul says here illustrated by Abraham, who had a long-serving servant named Eliezer.^[1] He took care of all that Abraham owned. Abraham made a vow to go back to Ur of the Chaldees where he once lived, and find a wife for Isaac. It became important that Isaac gets married and starts a family so that all the promises of God are passed on to his grandchildren. But the main point is that as long as Isaac remained single, he must obey his father’s wishes, as a son, just like Eliezer did as a servant.

From time to time, Paul speaks of what he feels is a well-known concept or standard of ethics among the Jews so that they need no further explanation. We find this same appointment as a tutor or overseer that occurred when they sold Joseph into Egypt. In one Hebrew paraphrase of Genesis, we read: “And it was from the time he [Potiphar] appointed him [Joseph] superintendent over his house, and over all that he possessed, the Lord prospered the house of the Mizraite [Egyptian] for the sake of the righteousness of Joseph.”^[2] And in the story of Esther, another Hebrew paraphrase tells how King Xenophon told his stewards to do as they pleased when it came to allowing the feast participants to drink as much as they desired in order to enhance their pleasure of being there.^[3] So we see that this position of manager, caretaker, superintendent, overseer, steward, etc., played a significant role in Jewish life.

This continued on up until the time of Paul, as we can see from the writings in the Babylonian Talmud, where we read an explanation of how the inheritance of an estate is handled. Rabbi Huna says that if a father dies while the son is still a minor, no next of kin is permitted to usurp authority over the estate. That’s because a minor cannot go to court and protest such an unwanted takeover of his inheritance. However, if a father is incapacitated and a next of kin is given full control of the estate, and that control continues uninterrupted for three years, then the next of kin may claim the estate as his own, and the minor cannot appeal that decision. But a senior Rabbi disputes Rabbi Huna’s dictum that any claim by a next of kin inheriting the estate based on being in charge for three years is faulty. This all goes to show that what Paul is talking about involved an established part of the Jewish manners and customs. So, the Jewish believers in Galatia knew exactly what Paul meant.^[4]

This concept of inherited acquisition examined by the renown Rebbie Moses Maimonides caused him to write that if a person dies and leaves behind a son who is a minor, the court must appoint a guardian to oversee the estate until the son becomes an adult.^[5] Before his death, if the dying person ordered: “Give the minor’s portion of my estate to the guardian. Let him do whatever he wants to do with it. Any license to deal with his estate in this manner belongs to him. The court is forbidden to appoint a woman, a servant, a minor, or an unlearned person who is suspect to violate the Torah’s prohibitions’ as a guardian. Instead, they should seek out a faithful and courageous person who knows how to advance the claims of the orphans and bring arguments on their behalf, one who is capable with regard to worldly matters to protect their property and secure a profit for them. Such a person is appointed a guardian over the minor whether or not he is related to them. If he is a relative, however, he should not take control of the property.^[6]

 Now that we’ve gained more clarity on why Paul employed this illustration; we may better comprehend how Paul applied this to the Law, and the Children of Israel made heirs of the Promised Land. But for Paul, the real inheritance involved the promises of Abraham now given through Jesus the Messiah. And until the Jews (still considered minors) finally accepted Him as their Lord and Savior, the Law served as a guardian until they grew up and became eligible to became joint-heirs with their Gentile brothers and sisters.

In 100 AD we read that the rebellious spirit of the Jewish Maccabæeans never burned more furiously than after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, which kindled the inferno that broke out during the Bar-Kochba revolt that blazed between the Jews and Romans in the insurrection during the reign of Roman emperor Trajan (98-117 AD) and continued under Roman Emperor Hadrian (177-138 AD). Rumors went around that the Jewish Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, and elsewhere proved unable to liberate themselves from their national spirit, and accordingly, the old Judaizing, which St. Paul cursed and refuted, asserted itself again. In his epistle Barnabas says, this should be accepted as credible and taken seriously. He backs this up by pointing out that it is being accepted by the older faithful in the church. This should help us better understand why the converted Jews in Galatia seemed so easy to persuade in going back to their old ways under the Law.

The writer of this introduction to the Epistle by Barnabas in question goes on to say that it serves as an impressive specimen of their conflicts with a persistent Judaism which the Apostle Paul defeated and rejected to damnation, but which always seemed to be cropping up among Jewish believers in the church. Their own habits of interpreting Scripture as symbolic rather than literal, and their Oriental tastes, must be kept in mind if we find ourselves being disgusted by Barnabas’ fancies and refinements. Paul himself pays a practical tribute to Jewish modes of thought in his Epistle to the Galatians.^[7] This is the ad hominem form of rhetoric familiar to all Greek trained speakers, which made the Apostle Paul a target for slander by his enemies.^[8] accusing him of being “crafty” and confronting people with his cunningness. It is interesting, he says, to note the more Occidental spirit of Cyprian Bishop of Carthage (200-258 AD), as compared with Barnabas, when he also contends with Judaism. Doubtless, we have in this wannabe Barnabas, Paul’s friend, something of œconomy^[9] which is always capable of abuse, and which soon leaped over the bounds of moral limitations.^[10]

Origen (185-230 AD) gives his thoughts on this idea of a tutor by saying that every soul that reaches the stage of childhood on their way to full growth, needs a tutor and stewards and guardians, in order that, after all, is said and done, those once considered nothing more than bond-servants to the Law, once freed from a tutor and stewards and guardians, became master of their endowment, much like finding the pearl of great price,^[11] is rewarded because instead of holding on to something which only granted them this inheritance in part – the Law, they may now receive – by Grace, in full through the excellency of the knowledge of The Anointed One,^[12]

John Calvin believes that these two verses actually belong at the end of chapter three because it serves as the conclusion to that part of Paul’s presentation. Therefore, we can say that Brother Paul sees an opportunity to expand on the illustration he used in Galatians 3:24-25 to teach the Galatians how their status under Mosaic Law changed when the Anointed One came into the world to fulfill and complete the promise made by God to Abraham. For those of us in this modern world some of Paul’s wording may not strike a bell, because plantation slavery is no longer part of our society, praise the LORD, and even the role of household servants, common in the 1800s and 1900s in our country is no longer widespread.  However, since many of you are acquainted with it through reading and even watching films, it does not lose its impact.

I like the way one British commentator illustrates this section of Paul’s controversy with the Jews in Galatia. He tells how several nineteenth-century novelists faced the problem of their heroes and heroines getting into financial and family problems without any obvious solution. A preferred way out of the puzzle is to resolve matters by having someone previously unmentioned die and leave one of the characters a large inheritance. Near the end of the novel, a message arrives to say that a long-forgotten uncle or cousin, perhaps on the other side of the world, died and left them a fortune. Suddenly everything is resolved. We can breathe again. New hope is born, problems are forgotten, and everyone celebrates.^[13] The Apostle Paul needs no such fictional rescue by an unknown benefactor. Rather, he points out that this accompanied God’s plan all along.

Paul expounds on the status of the Jews and Gentiles under Mosaic Law. The Jews, who Paul refers to as “children,” and the Gentiles whom he identifies as “slaves,” continued in the same position when it came to Mosaic Law. The mortal descendants of Abraham, who spent their time trying to keep all the religious rituals and regulations issued through Moses, remained ineligible to inherit the promise God made to Abraham. They, too, are subject to God’s timetable of when the last will and testament will be put into effect. An heir may have a right to it, but is not yet in possession of it; therefore, the heir cannot demand or take control of what the will contains until the appointed time.

So, while the heir is growing up, the head of the household entrusts oversight to others and depends on them to carry out the instructions given concerning eligibility to the will. The NIV calls them “guardians, and “trustees.” In relationship to God’s estate, we might view these as the Law given by God to Moses and be carried out by the priesthood of Aaron. The guardians took charge of the child, and the trustees became responsible for the property. Paul wanted the Jewish Galatian believers to realize that they continued in the position of being under-aged children of God until Jesus came to elevate them to the status of qualified heirs. So why did they want to give up their sonship through the Anointed One, and go back to being unqualified children under guardians?  One wonderful thing about this new covenant proved to be that the non-Jewish slaves received an equal opportunity to become children of God through the Anointed One.

[1] Genesis 15:2

[2] Targum of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzzel on the Pentateuch, Translated by J. W. Etheridge, 1862, Genesis 39:4 – The newest Complete Jewish Bible translates the Hebrew abstract noun paqad as “manager.”

[3] An Explanatory Commentary on Esther by Paulus Cassel, translated by Aaron Bernstein, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1888, Genesis 1:8, p. 24

[4] Babylonian Talmud, Seder Nezikin, Masekhet Baba Mezi’s, folios 39a-b

[5] The Jewish Mishnah specifies that two guardians are to be appointed, perhaps, for one to watch the other so that nothing illegal is done. See Mo’ed, Pesachim, chapter 8, section 1

[6] Moses Maimonides. Mishneh Torah, Sefer Mishpatim, Nachalot, chapter 10, sections 5-6. See also chapter 11.

[7] Galatians 4:24

[8] 2 Corinthians 12:16

[9] This spelling of “œconomy” in ancient documents translated into English basically means “the rules for managing shared space.”

[10] The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, Eds. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson, Introductory Note to the Epistle of Barnabas, written by an Alexandrian Jew named Barnabas, pp. 249-250

[11] Matthew 13:45-46

[12] Origen, Commentary on Matthew, Book 10, Section 9

[13] Wright, Nicholas T., Paul for Everyone: Commentary on Galatians, loc. cit.

While everyone is remembering what happened in 2019, there are some who already believe they know what will happen in 2020. For instance.

Justin Wallin CEO of Real Clear Politics says that:

Quality of life issues, especially homelessness, will rise to the forefront in 2020.

San Francisco’s streets become Trump’s 2020 rallying cry.

Democrats lose congressional seats, even in California.

A serious independent third-party candidate enters the presidential race.

You can agree or disagree with what is predicted. But one thing is for sure, by the end of 2020, we will see if they were right or wrong.

Brian Heater predicts that in 2020:

Homes connected to home technology will become Smart Homes with everything from the front door lock to the refrigerator, air conditioning, etc., will be remotely controlled by the homeowner.

Foldable cell phones will be available.

New high-tech TV screens will have weird TV form factors.

Sleep technology will assist people in sleeping longer.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems will give rise to more and more autonomous driving.

 And Innovation on NBC News offers 12 reasons 2020 will be an awesome year:

1. Japan will build a robotic moon base.
2. China will connect Beijing to London via high-speed rail
3. Self-driving cars will be the norm.
4. Biofuels will be cost-competitive with fossil fuels.
5. More and more “flying cars” will be seen in the air.
6. We will control devices via microchips implanted in our brains.
7. New TV screens will be paper-thin and placed on the wall like a piece of cellophane.
8. Commercial space will take us to the moon and asteroids so we can begin mining them.
9. A $1,000 computer will have the processing power of the human brain.
10. Universal translation will be commonplace in mobile devices.
11. We will finally see some decent AR eyeglasses including GPS.
12. A Synthetic brain will be created that functions like the real thing.

But here’s the one from Carey Nieuwhof that should get your attention. What is predicted concerning the Church and Christianity in 2020:

The potential to gain membership is still greater than the potential to lose.

Churches that love their traditional model more than their mission will die.

Christian gatherings are here to stay.

Consumer Christianity that promotes what you can get from God will die and more selfless discipleship of what can I bring to God will emerge.

Sundays will become more about what we give than what we get.

Attendance will no longer drive engaging in ministry; engaging in ministry will drive attendance.

Simplified ministries, not complex ministries, will complement people’s lives, not compete with people’s time and attention.

The online church will supplement the journey in cases of sickness, distance, etc., but not become the Journey itself.

The online church will become more of a front door to welcome people into real, live fellowship rather than a back door used to bypass actual attendance.

Gatherings will be smaller as neighborhood groups continue to expand which will then produce larger attendance when they all get together.

 But the real question is: What do you see? What do you expect? What would you like to see? What would transform you into a more productive Christian? I know who has all the answers to these questions. It’s YOU> – Dr. Robert R Seyda

HOW ONE PICTURE PAINTED A THOUSAND WORDS

Years ago, a hardworking businessman finally retired and wanted to take up full-time his life-long dream of being an artist. But the years of heavy labor and arthritis had so crippled his hands and fingers he was unable to pursue his dream. Therefore, he decided to have a contest for up and coming artists and guarantee the winner his full financial support to paint the masterpieces he could now only dream of.

So he rented a large auditorium and sent out invitations to all aspiring artists in the country to enter the competition. He announced a common theme for all artists to try and interpret in their painting, and that was, “Peace.” On the day of judging, along with several well-known art curators, he began walking down between the many rows of canvasses to see who portrayed “Peace” the best.

At one point, he stopped at the easel of a young lady to study her work. It depicted a scene high up in the Alps with untouched snow filling the valley, and a small cloud seemingly snared by the apex of the highest peak; as the sun shining through the pure air glistened off the undisturbed mountain landscape. With a smile on his face, he asked the young lady, “What do you call this painting?”  “Peace on the Mountain,” she replied.

He walked on and after a while came to a portrait done by a young man. As his eyes examined the canvass, he saw a beautiful vale with knee-high grass, blossoming flowers, and trees full of fruit; several deer were drinking from a slow-moving brook flowing through the lush meadow.  In the background sat a beautiful vine-covered cottage with a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney.  “My, my, what do you call this piece?” he asked the young man.  “I call it, ‘Peace in the Valley,’” replied the young fellow with a gleam in his eyes.

As he finally approached the end of the last row in the exhibition, he spotted a watercolor created by an older artist that immediately caught his startled eye. He walked over to get a closer look at the canvass just to make sure of what he was seeing. There was a portrait of a wild rushing river white with foam, roaring through a mountain gorge carrying everything in its way. The sky was pitch dark and flashes of lightning emitted from the clouds with brilliant bursts, as rain pelted down with horrendous fury pounding everything it hit with ferocity.

The philanthropist was taken aback, and looking at the artist exclaimed with a frown, “The theme was ‘Peace,’ I don’t see any peace here!” The artist asked the gentleman to get nearer so he could see a scene portrayed up on the side of a sheer cliff. There he saw a limb sticking out underneath an overhang holding a nest on which a small bird sat chirping away as she calmly covered her eggs. “What in the world do you call this” the philanthropist exclaimed! The artist smiled and said softly, “Sir, I call it ‘Peace in the Time of Storm.’”

The peace of the world is to sign a truce between enemies who agree to stop shooting at one another. In other cases, it is separating warring parties to the degree they cannot reach one another with their blows. And in other cases, it is the silence that falls on a room after the arguing and name-calling have ceased. But the peace portrayed by this painting is the kind of peace that only Jesus can give. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW YEAR’S ALERT

This is a sweet reminder that on Monday, January 6. 2020 we will resume our study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians by examining Chapter 4. In its verses, we see what happens the moment a person receives Jesus into their hearts. You think about it, you don’t really know what changed but you can feel it. You’re not aware of what it all means, you just know that in desperation you cried out to God and there was an immediate change in your heart. But sometimes it takes a while for us to fathom what actually took place the moment we received the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior. How awesome it is to know that we learned in chapter three that at the very moment of receiving Him, we became a child of God through faith.

At that same moment when we receive Him into our hearts, we are spiritually baptized into union with the Anointed One. We are totally immersed into His power, His passion, His presence, everything about Him. He is in us; we are in Him. We are immediately clothed with the garment of His righteousness. That’s an amazing thing. If you didn’t know it from Scripture you would not perhaps understand that. Paul says in chapter three that those who are baptized into the Anointed One have been clothed with the Anointed One. This is what Peter tells us in his epistle. He says we have been given everything for life and for godliness. It’s all in the Anointed One. And it was all received the moment that we were saved.

Now in chapter four, Paul wants to illustrate the spiritual immaturity of people like the Galatians who go back up under the old performance mentality of religion, when they would rather live by a set of rules than they would walk in the relationship they could have with the Father. And it’s a beautiful thing he does here. You see, by going back under the law the Galatians not only did a stupid thing; remember the word “foolish” in the early part of chapter three, it is an interesting word. Foolish things are done when you don’t know any better; stupid things are done when you know better and you do it anyway.

And the Galatians did a stupid thing. Not only did they do a stupid thing by going back up under religion, they did an intensely immature thing. You see, we don’t think about it that way. We think religion is maturity. Oh, no! It’s gross! Immaturity is what it is, and Paul’s going to show us that right here. Think about this as you walk through this life, as you choose to do things your way, how immature and childish you may have become. When we can walk as the adult children of God when we can live in maturity if we will just simply learn to relate to Him and walk by faith. This is your contrast. This is what Paul is trying to show us.

So I hope you will join me as we walk slowing through chapter four slowly but methodically to discover any and all other jewels and gems of spiritual insight from this chapter. I praise God over your commitment to know more about Him as you learn more about His Word. You are a treasure to God and a valuable part of the body of the Anointed One.

See you on Monday!!!

Dr. Robert R Seyda

Here are ten New Year’s Resolutions to consider for 2020.

1. Exercise more by getting up and changing the channel on TV instead of using the remote, and drinking more water and coffee and going to the upstairs bathroom instead of the one on the ground floor.

2. Lose more weight by fasting between meals and while sleeping.

3. Become more organized with time management as soon as you can spare the time to do it.

4. Learn a new skill or hobby that does not require getting too involved or takes you away from your favorite Soap Operas on TV.

5. Live life to the fullest by making sure you don’t leave anything on your plate, and getting rid of potato chips and tortilla chips before they get two days old.

6. Save more money by spending less money on ways to save more money. Remember, money is like time, once you spend it you can’t get it back so make sure you buy everything on sale before it goes back up again.

7. Quit some of your harmful habits like walking with your mouth open, eating while talking on the phone, falling asleep while watching so much television, and picking your nose while sitting in church.

8. Spend more time with family and friends by promising them to do so. Besides, the Council on Time Management has approved texting as a substitute for talking face to face.

9. Travel more like shopping three times a week instead of one, parking your car at the end of the driveway, instead of in the garage, and taking the escalator or elevator so you don’t waste so much time on the stairs.

10. Read more by surfing the web and looking for coupons in newspapers and magazines. And there are apps for your phone where you can listen to the Bible being read to you instead of hunting for hours trying to find the right book, chapter, and verse.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

YOU MUST HAVE GREAT FAITH TO BE AN EVOLUTIONIST –

For those still enthralled and mesmerized by the fairy tale named Evolution, here is something to offer them for contemplation.  David Limbaugh in his book Jesus on Trial, states that new scientific advancements have lent additional credibility to intelligent design theory.  Take human DNA for instance.  Professor Walter Bradley, Ph.D., at the University of Texas at Austin, and Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Baylor University suggests that the discovery of DNA is perhaps the most impressive scientific achievement of the 20^th century.

DNA is a tiny molecule that contains genetic codes with instructions for building and replicating all life forms.  Says, Dr. Bradley, “That such a remarkable information storage system exits, and that the DNA molecules have somehow come to be encoded with the precise information needed to sustain life is the climax to an amazing testimony from the science of God’s providential care of us in His creation.”

Imaginary evolution theory is like walking into a large auto parts store with hundreds of thousands of individual parts made up of thousands of thousands of smaller parts, and believe that over enough time and with enough earthquakes they could all somehow be thrown on the floor to accidentally form a smooth-running automobile.  Intelligent design simply says it takes someone with the knowledge to put those parts together in the right order in order for that car to exist and operate.  Bradley notes that for the origin of the cytochrome-C molecule to have accidentally acquired the required sequencing of the various amino acids has a probability of just one in ten.⁶⁰

Stuart Burgess, a reader in engineering design at Bristol University, England, in his book, Hallmarks of Design: Evidence of Purposeful Design and Beauty in Nature, notes that DNA contains information in a long sequence of four different chemicals “letters” that produces information somewhat analogous to Morse Code.  The characteristics of living organisms, such as eye color, are specified by information in this code contained in the DNA.  The code has also been compared to a complete set of engineering drawings with a copy found in the nucleus of every cell in the body.  Adult humans have trillions of cells and thus trillions of copies of the genetic code in their bodies.

Dr. Norman L. Geisler, Ph.D., and Dr. Frank Turek in their work “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist,” say that “The incredible specified complexity of life becomes obvious when one considers the message found in the DNA of a one-celled amoeba.  They note that even world-renown British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author, Richard Dawkins admits, “that the message found in just the cell nucleus of a tiny amoeba is more than all thirty volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica combined, and the entire amoeba has as much information in its DNA as 1,000 complete sets of an encyclopedia.”  And these “encyclopedias” are not composed of “random letters but of letters in a very specific order-just like real encyclopedias.

The most frightening thing to an unrepentant evolutionist is that more and more is being discovered to repute their shaky theory, while more and more is being uncovered to support the divine design of the universe. And the two things that evolution cannot explain is what did God mean when He said, “Let us make man in our image,” and how Jesus was born of a woman through the fertilization of the Holy without going through the evolutionary process. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

Here’s the latest news out of Washington, D.C., that you won’t read anywhere else. In a news conference at an undisclosed location, four House Representatives were asked questions about their vote to impeach the sitting president. Their main goal was to charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors and then go look for evidence to convict him. They did not want their true identities to be revealed, so we gave them aliases so they would talk.

Representative Everybody was behind this effort, and so Representative Anybody was given the opportunity to say what they suspected or thought happened. Representative Somebody even claimed to have overheard incriminating evidence on a phone call, even they were not present when the call was made. But Representative Nobody was willing to stop making the charges even though no evidence of a crime could be found. There was an important job to be done and Representative Everybody was waiting for Representative Somebody to do it because Representative Everybody was too confused to do it.

They all agreed that Representative Anybody could have done it, but Representative Nobody actually tried to do it. Then, Representative Somebody got angry that no evidence could be found because that was really Representative Everybody’s mission to find it. However, Representative Everybody thought that Representative Anybody should have done it, but Representative Nobody realized that was because Representative Everybody couldn’t get it done.

Consequently, it ended up that Representative Nobody told Representative Anybody there was no “there,” there, so Representative Everybody blamed Representative Somebody for messing up the whole affair. Now, they don’t know what to do with the nothing they have. So, Representative Everybody is waiting for Representative Somebody to come up with a plan. – Dr. Robert R Seyda, Inspired by an article in The American Legion Magazine.

Here are ten New Year’s Resolutions to consider for 2020.

1. Exercise more by getting up and changing the channel on TV instead of using the remote, and drinking more water and coffee and going to the upstairs bathroom instead of the one on the ground floor.

2. Lose more weight by fasting between meals and while sleeping.

3. Become more organized with time management as soon as you can find time to do it.

4. Learn a new skill or hobby that does not require getting too involved or takes you away from your favorite Soap Operas on TV.

5. Live life to the fullest by making sure you don’t leave anything on your plate, and getting rid of potato chips and tortilla chips before they get two days old.

6. Save more money by spending less money on ways to save more money. Remember, money is like time, once you spend it you can’t get it back so make sure you buy everything on sale before it goes back up again.

7. Quit some of your harmful habits like walking with your mouth open, eating while talking on the phone, falling asleep while watching so much television, and picking your nose while sitting in church.

8. Spend more time with family and friends by promising them to do so. Besides, the Council on Time Management has approved texting as a substitute for talking face to face.

9. Travel more like shopping three times a week instead of one, parking your car at the end of the driveway, instead of in the garage, and taking the escalator or elevator so you don’t waste so much time on the stairs.

10. Read more by surfing the web and looking for coupons in newspapers and magazines. And there are apps for your phone where you can listen to the Bible being read to you instead of hunting for hours trying to find the right book, chapter, and verse.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT THE CHRISTMAS SEASON

When you’re searching for non-controversial conversation starters for the office holiday get-together, your family’s annual potluck, or that company Christmas party your significant other drags you to every season, these Christmas facts will come to your rescue. They also make great trivia fodder for a fun holiday game night. We all probably already know there’s a lot more to Christmas than unwrapping gifts, putting on those adorable (or hideous, depending on your perspective) Christmas sweaters and decorating the house like a real-life gingerbread construction come to life. It’s an age-old celebration with centuries of tradition and meaning behind virtually every aspect of the holiday that will have even the holly jolliest of us going, “Huh! I never knew that.”

From the religious observations, you may already undertake every year to pagan origins that even Christmas scholars might find surprising (and some facts that are just plain entertaining), we guarantee you’ll learn something from this list. So, take a breather from the craziness this holiday season and learn some of these fun Christmas facts. Maybe you’ll even get inspired to write some of them in your family’s annual Christmas letter or card, to share some of your newfound smarts with the crew.

Though Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, there is no mention of December 25^th in the Bible. Most historians actually believe Jesus was born in the spring, not the winter. And his birthday itself didn’t become the official holiday until the third century. Some historian proposes that the date was actually chosen because it coincided with the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which honored the agricultural god Saturn with celebrating and gift-giving. It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? And what about the shepherds watching their sheep by night. Shepherds in that part of the world did not take their sheep out to pasture in the wintertime when there was little grass to graze on.

You might want to brew a cup o’ tea when decking your halls with holly this year. The origin of Christmas trees goes all the way back to ancient Egyptians and Romans, who marked the winter solstice with evergreens as a reminder that spring would return soon. But it wasn’t until Prince Albert of Germany introduced the tree to his new wife, Queen Victoria of England, that the tradition really took off. A drawing of the couple in front of a Christmas tree appeared in Illustrated London News way back in 1848 and as we say today, the idea went viral. Besides, such trees do not grow on the hillsides just our side Jerusalem. Only the cedars up in Lebanon would fit the description of a Christmas tree.

You probably already knew that the idea of Santa Claus came from St. Nicholas, but the real saint wasn’t a bearded man who wore a red suit and had a long, white beard. That all came much later. According to legend, the fourth-century Christian bishop gave away his abundant inheritance to help the needy and rescued women from servitude. As the tale made the rounds, his name became Sinter Klaas in Dutch. That later morphed into Santa Claus, and the rest of the trappings followed. But Sinter Klaas did not share his gifts just on Christmas Day, but throughout the year.

According to legend, we hang out stockings by the chimney with care thanks to a poor man who didn’t have the money for his three daughters’ upcoming weddings. Generous old St. Nick (remember, that’s his trademark!) dropped a bag of gold down their chimney one night, where the girls had hung their stockings to dry by the fire. That’s where the gold ended up, and allegedly how the tradition began. When I lived in Germany as a boy when you hung you stocking by the chimney, if you were good, you’d get a small present or some candy, but if you had been bad, you’d only get a clump of coal.

Turns out, we didn’t originally go dashing through the snow for just Christmas. James Lord Pierpont wrote a song called, “One Horse Open Sleigh” and originally performed it at his church’s Thanksgiving Day concert. Then in 1857, the song was re-published under the title it still holds today, and it eventually became one of the most popular English Christmas sons ever.  It must be hard for the Christians in the Sahara Desert or in Ecuador to sing this song.

By the time the Puritans settled Boston, celebrating Christmas was outlawed. Talk about missing the Christmas spirit! From 1659 to 1681, anyone caught making merry would face a fine for celebrating the once-pagan day. And after the Revolutionary War, the new Congress found the day so unimportant that they even held the first session on December 25, 1789. Christmas wasn’t proclaimed a federal holiday for nearly another century, proving that the Grinch’s notorious hatred of the holiday was alive and well long before he was.

So, the question is, why are all these songs sung and traditions observed at Christmas time? It’s because the secular idea of Christmas as a holiday has invaded the true story of Christ’s birth as a Holy Day. But both can be practiced without condemnation. However, without the Holy Day, there would be no Holiday. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CRITICAL COMMENTARY

 by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

 PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

 Special Announcement

Praise God for all of you faithful students of God’s Word. I’m so proud of each one of you who, by your faithfulness, have shown the Lord that you do want to know more about Him. Therefore, you are getting to know more about what He gave the Apostle Paul to say about what really constitutes a born again, sanctified, child of God.

As any good seminary or Bible School would do, it’s time for a Christmas break and welcoming the New Year. So, we will begin studying Chapter Four of Galatians when we get back into class on Monday, January 6, 2020. In the interim, I wish all of you a very, very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years.

In the meantime, I would appreciate any comments, observations, or questions you may have on the first three chapters of Galatians. Post them on the Called to Live in Freedom Group page so others can read them and add what you have discovered to what they have learned. Not only will they receive a blessing from you, but you will be a blessing from their responses.

Chapter 4 of Galatians is an interesting part of Paul’s letter. He uses two women to illustrate the children of the Law and those of Faith. He wants the Galatians to know that being a child of the Law is a rigorous lifestyle and has no real benefit when it comes to forgiveness of sin and salvation. On the other hand, being a child of Faith was designed by God to not only provide forgiveness of sin and salvation but give eternal life as well. It is an interesting metaphor with all kinds of intricate details that I believe you will love to study and learn what they mean.

So, God bless you, and I will see you back here in class on Monday, January 6, 2020. And you are permitted to wear whatever ugly Christmas sweater you received as a gift to class. – Dr. Robert R Seyda