Do we have to argue about keeping Christ in Christmas? | GARY COSBY JR.
Here is a real shocker for most of us Christians. The “X” in Christmas isn’t actually disrespectful, nor does it take Christ out of Christmas.
As often happens, someone got a bee in his or her bonnet when they saw the Xmas abbreviation and thought it was an insult to Jesus Christ. In actuality, it is nothing of the sort and has a long and ancient tradition in the church as an abbreviated form of the name of Christ.
One of the first uses of “X” as a stand in for the name of Jesus Christ dates back to Constantine, the Roman emperor. He had a vision before going into battle and created a new banner bearing what is known as the Chi-Rho symbol. It is essentially the letter X and the letter P superimposed on each other and represents Christ. The symbol, and others like it, are known as Christograms, symbols designed to represent the name of Jesus Christ.
The letter “X” – Chi in the Greek language – is the first three letters of Christ in the roman alphabet that we use today. The XP together are the first two letters of the name of Christ in the Greek language. It is spelled in Greek, ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, Christos in English.
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Most Christians are familiar with the famous sign of the fish that was used by early Christians to identify themselves to one another. It is often seen today with the Greek letters ΙΧΘΥΣ, which were used to represent the Christian creed; Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.
There is a very real question, and I’m sure you know the answer already, if most Americans who used the X to stand for Christ did so out of ignorance and were not actually using it as a tribute or an abbreviation for Christ. Most folks did it to save space on store windows or in ad copy because Christmas is a longer word and takes up more space than Xmas. So, we can’t really credit the masses for knowing about this Greek history.
However, we who adore the name of Jesus should not have been ignorant of these things. We should have known better, but even prominent Christian leaders have made a big deal about the “X” in Xmas. Every single year you will see someone on social media posting about keeping Christ in Christmas. Maybe you have done it yourself.
That is great and noble. Christmas is a celebration of Christ. I know that many of you will want to point out that the western celebration of Christmas originated as a pagan event that had nothing to do with Christianity. You are correct. Christians, and I really don’t know why this happened, adopted December 25th as the day set aside to celebrate the birth of Christ.
We have all come to know that isn’t even remotely accurate as most scholars believe Christ was born at some other time of the year. The truth is, no one really knows when Jesus was born. There is even some debate that it wasn’t in the year we suppose it to have been based upon events in the life of Herod the Great and the fact that he might have died before what we now assume to have been 1 A.D.
I think we have made a pretty serious mistake by fussing over the X. If you remove yourself from the Christian perspective for a moment and look at things as one might who is not of the faith, the entire thing looks petty. Would Jesus argue over this? Unlikely. When Christians do argue about things like this, and there are other issues that also draw us into pointless debates, we are actually failing to represent the one we love in the way that best portrays him to the world.
If we are truly believers in Christ, our first and most prominent attribute, the one thing that should come to mind any time someone thinks of Christians, is love. Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35.)
Love, not debates and anger, should be the defining characteristic of Christians. I believe that for people to truly be drawn to Christ, it is the absolute mission of Christians to display the love of Christ to the whole world. The more we fuss over things like “X” in Xmas the more we actually miss the point of our faith.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that if we truly want to keep Christ in Christmas we must first and foremost display Christ in our own lives. Out of that wellspring of life will flow the love that truly marks not only the season of Christmas but also the true Christian lifestyle.
Gary Cosby Jr. is the photo editor of The Tuscaloosa News. Readers can email him at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Do we have to argue about keeping Christ in Christmas? | GARY COSBY JR.
