Born Under the Law, to Set Us Free

Every December we sing about a baby. Shepherds, a stable, a star. It is a sweet picture. But Paul tells us something about that baby we almost never hear at Christmas. He was “born under the law.”

Why does that matter?

Jesus was born a Jewish boy, in a Jewish town, under the Law of Moses. On the eighth day He was circumcised. His parents brought the offering the Law required. He grew up keeping the Sabbath and the feasts. He kept every command, every day, all the way to the cross.

He did not do that to show us how hard we should try. He did it because we could not. Paul says why He came: “to redeem those who were under the law.” To redeem means to buy back, to pay the price and set someone free.

The name says it all

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21

The angel did not say He would help people save themselves. He did not say He would give them a better list. He said Jesus would save them. The name Jesus means “the Lord saves.” The whole plan was packed into a name before He was even born.

Good news for all the people

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Luke 2:10

Notice who heard it first. Not priests in the temple. Shepherds, out in a field at night. Working men who could not keep every rule of the temple even if they tried. God sent the news to them first. The good news was never for people who had it all together. It was for everyone.

A gift, not a wage

We spend a lot of December thinking about gifts. Here is the thing about a gift: you do not pay for it. If you hand someone money for it, it is not a gift anymore. It is a sale.

That is how God’s love works. It is χάρις charis, grace, a gift you did not earn and cannot pay back. Jesus kept the Law in your place so that you could receive God’s love as a gift.

The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

This Christmas

So this year, when you see a manger scene, remember what that baby came to do. He came to carry what you could not carry. He came to finish what you could not finish. About thirty years later, on a cross, He would say, “It is finished.”

You do not have to earn Christmas. You only have to receive it.