Christ in context: The incarnation in the context of the Jerusalem Temple

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Christ in context: The incarnation in the context of the Jerusalem Temple

Posted on December 1, 2009 – 12:00 amNo Comments

Ancient texts outside of the gospels suggest how Christians in Jesus’ time would have seen the events of the incarnation in the context of the Jerusalem Temple and the early Scriptures – and how Jesus would have drawn on their traditions to explain his own ministry, says Margaret Barker

The story of Christmas is loved by all Christians, and its cultural influence is felt far and wide, not only in the art and literature of the Church but also in the Qur’an. Much of the story that was known to the first Christians, however, is not found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and so some of the detail in Christian art and literature is not always understood.

The Christmas story is set in the Jewish world, late in the period of their second Temple. That world was shaped by the external and internal politics of the day, but first and foremost by the Jerusalem Temple and everything it represented, and by the Scriptures. These were not yet the Old Testament we know today. Some of the Hebrew texts were different, as can be seen from the Dead Sea Scrolls, and there was no agreed list of holy books. All scripture was seen as prophecy, and so even the Psalms were believed to foretell the Messiah.

This is an extract from the December 2009 issue of Reform.

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