President Packard
Dear Elders and Sisters,When the angel appeared unto the shepherds, he announced that he brought “good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day, in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord.” (Luke 2: 10-11). The central message of Christmas is the good news that Jesus, the promised Messiah, was born to fulfill the merciful plan which had been laid from the foundation of the world. The word “gospel” is Greek for “good news.” Jesus, His life, His teachings, and His atonement are the good news for all of us. We are not trapped by death or our past mistakes. We can be transformed by Christ and receive redemption, peace and eternal life. For lost and fallen individuals and a lost and fallen world, this is good news indeed!
It is interesting to note that the word “gospel” was already being used by the Romans before that first Christmas in Bethlehem. After Julius Caesar was assassinated, his son Octavius took the name Augustus and became Emperor of Rome in approximately 31 BC. Augustus proclaimed that Julius Caesar was a god and that he was the "son of God." Thus, the Romans told their conquered people the good news (the “gospel”) that their benevolent and deified emperor, Augustus, would bring peace and wealth to the people and would heal the land. Roman officials carved engravings, still in existence today, that described Caesar Augustus as the good news, as a Savior, as God manifest, and divine. For example, an inscription dated 9 BC reads: “… since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance … since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good news for the world that came by reason of him…” (See, Stanley Porter, Hearing the Old Testament in the New Testament, p 93).
To the early Christians, who despised the oppression and brutality of Rome, all this talk about Augustus being the good news and even a god was blasphemy, and to help make their point, these early Christians took the words the Romans were using to describe Caesar Augustus, especially the word “gospel,” and applied them to Christ. They boldly proclaimed that the real gospel, or good news, was not in Caesar Augustus but in Jesus Christ. God truly did have a son, and his name was Jesus Christ. Only Jesus, whose kingdom was not of this world, could bring lasting peace and eternal life.
We echo the testimony of these early Christians. Jesus’ birth is the good news—good tidings of great joy! It is our great privilege to share the good news to all people, and in so doing, help bring peace on earth and good will towards all men.
Love,
President and Sister Packard
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