As we wind down the year, still in the glow of the Christmas celebration while looking ahead to the New Year, it might be useful to look at In Hoc Anno Domini by Vermont Royster, an editorial written in 1949 for the Wall Street Journal, and published by the Journal every year thereafter. I confess, this is the first year I’ve seen it in the five years or so I’ve been reading the Journal.

The main message is that Jesus’ coming made a difference. That Jesus came to offer light in a dark world.

It’s not very long and worth the read in its entirety. Here are a few excerpts:

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so. But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression…

…

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.

…

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

…

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

…

Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. – Vermont Royster, 1949, the last paragraph quoting Galatians 5.1

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (John 3.19, 20, KJV)

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8.31, 32, NKJV)

P.S. I believe the editorial has something to say to us today. I also agree with WSJ subscriber Collin Hobbs who cautioned about politicizing Jesus’ message. Here is his comment:

I appreciate that WSJ continues to publish this piece each year, but Royster’s mashup of Christianity and American political ideals is just as poor theologically today as it was in 1949. Jesus didn’t come to save us from earthly tyrants, nor was Paul writing about freedom from oppressive governments in Galatians. Jesus came to save us from the tyranny of our own personal sins. Galatians is Paul’s plea to Christians to not fall back into the bondage of a works-based salvation.  The great enemy was not Rome or other oppressive governments, it was, and still is today, the darkness and oppression that comes [from] our own sins against God. 

Faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior has, throughout the centuries, led in fits and starts to systems of government that value individual freedoms. But that never was, nor ever can be, the central focus of Christianity. It is a happy by-product of Christianity, not its goal.