John 10:23 tn Or “portico,” “colonnade”; Grk “stoa.” sn Solomon’ s Portico was a covered walkway formed by rows of columns supporting a roof and open on the inner side facing the center of the temple complex. The "Calculation hypothesis", suggests that Christmas was calculated as nine months after a date chosen as Christ's conception (the Annunciation): March 25, the Roman date of the spring equinox. The hypothesis was first proposed by French writer Louis Duchesne in 1889. [65] [60] [66] Susan Roll (1995) wrote that the calculation hypothesis is historically the "minority opinion" on the origin of Christmas, but was "taught in graduate liturgy programs as a thoroughly viable hypothesis". [67]

Genethliariko): This translates to “birthday present” and is often used to refer to a gift given on someone’s birthday.

When is Christmas?

Post-classical history The Nativity, from a 14th-century Missal; a liturgical book containing texts and music necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year In the third century, the Date of birth of Jesus was the subject of great interest, and early Christian writers suggested various dates. [51] Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote:

This Psalm could be seen as valuing the life that God has created, possibly giving indirect support to celebrating the gift of life on a birthday. John 10:38 tn Or “works.” sn Jesus says that in the final analysis, the deeds he did should indicate whether he was truly from the Father. If the authorities could not believe in him, it would be better to believe in the deeds he did than not to believe at all. Early in Jesus’s ministry, he identified himself as the new temple. In John 2:19, he told the religious leaders in Jerusalem, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” John tells us Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body (2:21). The temple which meant so much to the Jewish people, especially during the Feast of Dedication, was merely a temporary fixture until the coming of this true temple.A Christian treatise attributed to John Chrysostom and dating to the early fourth century AD associates Christ's birth with the birthday of Sol: Yom Yerushalayim – “Day of Jerusalem” – This phrase is often used to describe a birthday that is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem. Additionally, the oil miracle, central to the Hanukkah story, is a powerful reminder of God's provision and care for His people. By celebrating Hanukkah, the Jewish people remember their past and reaffirm their faith and commitment to God. John 10:22 tn That is, Hanukkah or the ‘Festival of Lights.’ The Greek name for the feast, τὰ ἐγκαίνια ( ta enkainia), literally means “renewal” and was used to translate Hanukkah which means “dedication.” The Greek noun, with its related verbs, was the standard term used in the LXX for the consecration of the altar of the Tabernacle ( Num 7:10-11), the altar of the temple of Solomon ( 1 Kgs 8:63; 2 Chr 7:5), and the altar of the second temple ( Ezra 6:16). The word is thus connected with the consecration of all the houses of God in the history of the nation of Israel. sn The feast of the Dedication (also known as Hanukkah) was a feast celebrating annually the Maccabean victories of 165-164 b.c.—when Judas Maccabeus drove out the Syrians, rebuilt the altar, and rededicated the temple on 25 Kislev ( 1 Macc 4:41-61). From a historical standpoint, it was the last great deliverance the Jewish people had experienced, and it came at a time when least expected. Josephus ends his account of the institution of the festival with the following statement: “And from that time to the present we observe this festival, which we call the festival of Lights, giving this name to it, I think, from the fact that the right to worship appeared to us at a time when we hardly dared hope for it” ( Ant. 12.7.6 [12.325]).

The Bible does not directly answer this question, but it does provide several passages that can help us to form an opinion. For example, James 4:13-14 states that “go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” This passage reminds us to live each day to the fullest and to not take our lives for granted. Bible Verses About Birthdays There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20] ... Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21]". [52] An image of the British royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle created a sensation when it was published in the Illustrated London News in 1848. A modified version of this image was published in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia in 1850. [142] [143] By the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become common in America. [142]

Christians Practice the Discipline of Celebration by Corporate Worship

John 10:24 tn Grk “How long will you take away our life?” (an idiom which meant to keep one from coming to a conclusion about something). The use of the phrase τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν αἴρεις ( tēn psuchēn hēmōn aireis) meaning “to keep in suspense” is not well attested, although it certainly fits the context here. In modern Greek the phrase means “to annoy, bother.”