Did St Paul need Christmas?

David Hunter

QUESTION - Was Christmas Necessary for the Apostle Paul?

ANSWER ONE - "Of course! Without a birth there would be no death"

The obvious answer is that without the birth of Jesus there could be no death of Jesus on the cross and therefore no salvation in Paul's understanding. Paul speaks of the centrality of the crucifixion in the beginning of his first letter to the church in Corinth: Awe proclaim Christ crucified, ... to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength" (I Cor 1:23-25). (See also Roman 3:21-26; I Cor 15:3; II Cor 5:14-15.)

ANSWER TWO - "But perhaps it's not so clear?"

We know that the letters of Paul are very different from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Paul doesn't write a biography of Jesus, neither does he refer often to Jesus' teaching, and he speaks indirectly about Jesus' birth.

Paul uses a hymn in Philippians 2 which speaks of "being born in human likeness" (verse 7) and in different language "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich" (11 Cor 8:9). At another point Paul makes clear that Jesus is a Jew (Romans 9:5).

But Paul has also been acclaimed as the figure who took the account of Jesus and, as missionary to the Gentiles, spread it all around the Mediterranean sea. When Paul speaks of formerly regarding "Christ from a human point of view (RSV, 11 Cor 5:16) he is then able to speak of the 'new creation', the person in Christ as seen from the overall purpose of God at work in Christ (that is, 'reconciling the world to [God]self - 11 Cor 5:19). This powerful missionary message was not dependent on detailed sharing of Jesus life story or teaching.

ANSWER THREE - "There are many reasons to think that Paul knew about Jesus' life but just didn't talk about it in his letters."

However, surely Paul who became a Christian within a year or two of Jesus' death, who spent some time in Jerusalem before and after his conversion, and quotes or alludes to Jesus' teaching on occasion knew more of Jesus' life and teaching than he said.

Paul went to visit Cephas (Peter), for example, after he had been a Christian for some years (Galatians 1: 18-19). Peter had been a leading disciple of Jesus. It has been suggested that they did not talk about the weather (C. H. Dodd).

Paul clearly refers to Jesus teaching on three occasions (1 Cor. 7: 1 0-1 1; 9:14-5 11:23-25). Another important time when Paul uses a teaching of Jesus (Matthew 22:39; Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31) and the Hebrew Bible (Leviticus 19:18) is in summing up the law as love for neighbour, a repeat of the 'Golden Rule': 'For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself."' (Galatians 5:14; also Romans 13:8-10).

In other words, Paul lived in a milieu similar to Jesus (steeped in Judaism) and had many opportunities to hear of Jesus' ministry. One way of assessing this information is to say that Paul and his churches assumed this knowledge in each other.

A SUGGESTION

An overall suggestion for holding together Christmas and Paul's lack of mentioning it is to say that 'Christmas is necessary for Paul in that it is the beginning of the story of the Cross of Christ'. Without the birth and life of Jesus there could be no death. Perhaps we could use Paul to challenge our question and ask, "Is remembering the cross necessary for a proper understanding of Christmas?"