The town of Myra in present day Turkey. The year? Around 320 or so A.D.

The year’s leading religious figure is a bishop named Nicholas.

Roman emperor Diocletian, in a fit of persecution, had exiled and imprisoned him. But now Emperor Constantine has come to the throne, embraced Christ, and freed Christians. So, there is joy in the village of Myra in Asia Minor. Nicholas is home.

To meet the bishop was immediately to like him. He wore a bright red bishop’s cloak with a tall miter hat, was especially fond of children, and relished gift-giving.

A man in his parish once fell into bankruptcy. His creditors demanded payment. And the man planned to sell his three daughters into slavery to raise the funds. Hearing of it, Bishop Nicholas tossed a bag of gold through the man’s window that night. The next morning, to everyone’s surprise and joy, the money was found to keep the family together.

Nicholas wasn’t just a minister with a soul for children and gift-giving. He also had a heart for theology. When the famed Church Council of Nicea met in 325, Nicholas was there to help canonize the Bible and write the Nicean Creed.

Lest you come to believe Nicholas as a generous child-loving theologian who could do no wrong, it is said that he once so violently disagreed with another pastor that he punched him in the jaw and spent the night in jail on assault charges.

Nicholas died much beloved in the year 350. Devotion to his memory was widespread, especially in Eastern Orthodox Church circles. In 1087 some Italian businessmen removed his remains from Myra to Bari, Italy, where his is today enshrined in the Church of San Nicola. [John Calvin pastored the church of Saint Nicholas in Strasbourg.]

During the Protestant Reformation, much was done to lessen St. Nicholas’s popularity. In some nations it was actually illegal to mention his name. So, a more secular figure took his place. In England he was known as Father Christmas. In France, Papa Noel. But in Holland, Christians refused to give up his memory. There St. Nicholas was pronounced "Sinterklaas," or Santa Claus.

When the Dutch lost control of New York to the British in the 17th century, St. Nicholas traditions gradually became secularized and his image merged with that of Father Christmas.

The Santa Claus we know today in pictures was first drawn during the American Civil War. In 1863, and artist named Thomas Nast drew the first Santa Claus in Harper’s Weekly. He portrayed him as fat, rosy-cheeked Santa dressed in red and sporting a long white beard with a stack of toys nearby.

Many Christians this time of year are given to Santa-bashing. The nativity of Christ seems to be eclipsed by the visit of old St. Nick. The celebration of God’s incarnation becomes a sale-a-bration of overindulgence. And I know how it is. And I am concerned. But let’s not overreact!

For ours is not the moan, "Look what the world has come to!"

But "Look who has come to the world!"

The world has done much to secularize Christmas. But Christmas has done more to redeem the world. The life and example of Bishop Nicholas of Myra is proof. For the world didn’t give us St. Nicholas. Jesus did. -- Stephen Crotts (WORLD, Asheville, N.C., December, 22, 1990, p. 21) --reprinted with permission)

A "symbol" is an outward sign of a concept or idea. Our Lord himself often used symbols to instruct his disciples, not only in the mysteries of the Kingdom, but even in practical Christian living. For example, the fowls of the air, the lilies of the field, the candle, the wind, salt, and the fishnet provided just a few of the object lessons or symbols which our Lord employed in His teaching.

The earliest Christians used symbolism quite freely, even on their household utensils, according to Clement of Alexandria. The ancient catacombs, however, preserve the oldest extant examples of Christian art. Throughout these underground burial chambers of ancient Rome, such primitive symbols as the fish, the ship, the anchor, the lamb, the Good Shepherd, the dove, and the lyre reflect a "blessed hope" which no power on earth could take away from those persecuted believers of the first three Christian centuries.

These Christians utilized pictorial teaching both to instruct believers and earnest inquirers and to baffle scoffers. Thus, a picture of the Good Shepherd with his musical lyre was a sermon to illiterate peasants, while the fish sign was a secret symbol unknown by persecuting pagans. Up to Constantine’s time, Christians often disguised even the sign of the cross. Most symbols, however, were simple object lessons to point men to God’s truth, and the earliest symbols reflect a wide range of Bible doctrine.

The Jews repugnance to any use of "images" accounts for the strong feeling among Hebrew Christians against making "pictures of God. This by no means, however, prevented pious Hebrew Christians various symbols, such as an eye a hand, or an arm to illustrate Jehovah’s omniscience and omnipotence. Even in the Old Testament, the rainbow symbolizes God’s faithfulness, and the tabernacle with all of its furnishings constitutes practically a whole course in theology.

In a tomb dated about A.D. 359 a "hand of God" represents the earliest known Christian symbol of the Father’s perfections. Suggestive of His creative power, possession and protection, the hand soon became the most commonly used symbol of the Father. Often it appears emerging from the clouds; sometimes a man’s figure appears sheltered in the hand, signifying God’s protection of the faithful. This picture reminded persecuted believer’s of such passages as Psalm 139:10, "Thy right hand shall hold me"; Isaiah 49:2, "In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me"; and Isaiah 49:16, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands."

The Lamb: The lamb symbol emphasizes Christ’s vicarious atonement (Is. 53:7). John the Baptist cried, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Depicting his deity, a nimbus often encircles the lamb’s head in the ancient Christian art of the catacombs.

The Good Shepherd: A favorite portrait of Christ in primitive Christian art was the Good Shepherd caring for his sheep and guiding them even through the valley of the shadow of death. The Shepherd is usually carrying a lamb in his arms, signifying his love and protection in the hour of persecution. In catacomb art this picture illustrated the earliest "funeral-text" of Christianity. For example, in John 10 Christ is the Good Shepherd of Isaiah 40:11; in Hebrews 13:20 He is the Great Shepherd of Psalm 23; and in I Peter 5:4 He is the Chief Shepherd of Ezekiel 34.

The Dove: In the catacombs, the most familiar symbol of the Holy Spirit is the white dove, often with a three-rayed nimbus--- symbolic of a member of the Trinity. The dove illustrated purity and appears in Genesis 8:8-12 and Matthew 10:16.

The Menorah: The seven-branch lamp stand, or Menorah, is Jewish in origin. Early Christians often used it to symbolize the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Isaiah 11:2.

The Ship or Ark: One of the earliest and most often-used symbols for the church is the ship or ark sailing in troubled waters (of persecution) and displaying cross-shaped mast. Many believe that the word nave, which designates the central aisle of a church, comes from the Greek word for ship, transliterated NAUS, which comes from NAO (or NEO) which means "to swim or float." The symbolism recalls the story of Christ’s calming the stormy Sea of Galilee and causing Peter to walk on the water. The ancient work called The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, which was not written by the apostles but which does date back to the fourth century, contains a long passage which likens the Church to a ship. Here the pastor (or bishop) is the steersman, the deacons are the seamen, and the congregation represent the passengers (2.7.57-59). Other ancient writers, including Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian of Carthage, discuss this popular symbol.

The Vine and Branches: The Old Testament often depicts God’s chosen people as a vine or vineyard (Is. 5:1-7; Jer. 2:21). Romans

11:16-25 describes Israel as branches broken off from the olive tree and the Church as branches grafted into the tree. In John 15:1-6 our Lord is the true vine and his followers are the branches, symbolizing the vital doctrine of the believer’s union with Christ. Such imagery provided a beautiful and especially meaningful object lesson for God’s people during times of persecution.

Although most of the symbols appeared in the ancient pagan worship, there is no reason to conclude that dedicated, persecuted Christians simply imitated heathen symbolism. Actually, heathen religious worship was a perversion of God’s original revelation of truth (Rom. 1:18-32). The passage says that "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God... but became vain in their imaginations... and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up...who changed the truth of God into a lie." The fact that something good has been abused does not mean that Christians cannot use it properly. Even the brazen serpent was abused and corrupted by idolatrous worship (II Kings 18:4).

The early Church rightly attempted to restore truth which existed in corrupted form in pagan legend, folklore, and mythology. It is true that Romanism is only another form of paganism, but there was no "Roman Catholic church" during the first four Christian centuries. The catacomb art of this period is distinctively Christian; it represents a Scriptural effort to restore truth that had been corrupted from its rightful use.

The Christian Church in history has often utilized even "pagan symbolism" to refocus attention on God’s absolute truth. For example, the phoenix of catacomb art speaks of Christ’s resurrection (from the pagan legend that the bird always rose from its own ashes); the peacock of Augustine’s day symbolized immortality (from the pagan belief that its flesh was incorruptible); and even the female pelican on the title page of the venerable King James Version of 1611 depicts Christ’s vicarious atonement (from the heathen tradition that whenever a serpent bit her young, the pelican tore open her breast to revive them with her own blood). So paganism, as a perversion and corruption of God’s original revelation, actually became in a sense a harbinger of the rediscovery of certain aspects of that truth.

Any use of symbolism today should be with moderation and with the specific purpose of teaching truth. Without that purpose, symbolism degenerates into modern fad and even back into paganism.

(from: Faith of our Fathers: Scenes from Church History. Copy right 1989 Bob Jones University Press; Reproduced by permission, all rights reserved.)

Dr. David Beale teaches in the Church History department at Bob Jones University and has authored several books which can be obtained through the Bob Jones University Press.

After the spending about eight weeks in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the Medical College of Georgia, Rev. Fellows is finally home. He underwent about five operations and suffered a stroke during his time there.

He is gradually getting better, but it may take some time before he recovers completely. He does have the right use of his mind - for which we are very grateful to the Lord.

We send our thanks and appreciation for all those who have prayed for us during this time; The Lord is good and has been very faithful. We also appreciate the gifts that have been sent. It is a testimony to the unbelievers and a condemnation of the ungodly when Christians take care of one another.

-Pennsylvania. The Congress of the United States has voted to remove to Baltimore on account of news having been received of British forces moving toward Philadelphia Samuel Adams addresses them, "I do not regret the part I have taken in a cause so just and interesting to mankind. The people of Pennsylvania and the jerseys seem determined to give it up, but I trust that my dear New England will maintain it at the expense of everything dear to them in this life; they know how to prize, their liberties. May Heaven bless them. If this city should be surrendered, I should by no means despair.... Britain will strain every nerve to subjugate America next year; she will call wicked men and devils to her aid. Our affairs abroad wear a promising aspect; but I conjure you not to depend too much upon foreign aid. Let America exert her own strength. Let her depend upon God’s blessing, and He who cannot be indifferent to her righteous cause will even work miracles, if necessary, to carry through this glorious conflict, and establish her feet upon a rock."

Of Whom the World was not Worthy - Timothy Fellows

________________________________________________

"To confess you were wrong yesterday, is only to acknowledge that you are a little wiser today; and instead of being a reflection on yourself, it is an honor to your judgment, and shows that you are improving in the knowledge of the truth."

-C.H. Spurgeon