The Truth About Santa

Editor’s Note: I found this information fascinating.  Dr. James Goodman was the pastor of Stillwell Bible Baptist Church in Clarksville for more than 40 years. We share granddaughters who live in Costa Rica. Jim loves to dig into research and when I saw his presentation on the truth about Santa —  I wanted to share it with our readers. Enjoy!

Nicholas the man

It all began in 250 A.D. in a little town called Mira, which is located in modern day Turkey. A man named Nicholas was born. He was raised by Christian parents who taught him about the Savior Jesus Christ.

When Nicholas was a teenager his parents died of the plague and as a result of his spiritual interest given him by his parents, he entered the ministry.

(One of the lessons that can be learned from Santa is that parents have a great impact on the lives of their children).

Nicholas the believer

During his lifetime Nicholas was deeply involved in a great debate concerning the subject of who Jesus Christ really is. It’s known in theological studies of church history as, “The Arian Controversy.”

There was a religious leader living during that time whose name was Arias. He called into question the deity of Christ.

Arias claimed that Jesus Christ did not exist throughout all of eternity, but rather, though divine, He was a created being who did not have the same essence of God. He said that Jesus was not co-equal, or co-eternal with the Father. He taught that though Jesus was divine, He was not deity.

That was heresy then, and still remains a heresy that is presented by some religious groups even to this very day. 

Now, Nicholas being a true Bible believer was one of those who rose up to dispute and to put down these false teachings of Arias.

For if Jesus Christ were not God come in the flesh, then how could He die for the sins of the world? How could He save us?

And basically, that’s what Christmas is all about.

The Bible teaches, as Nicholas asserted, that Jesus Christ was God who came to Bethlehem in the form of flesh, the child of Mary, the Son of God.

Nicholas, as a believer, took a strong stand on the true meaning of Christmas. The fact that Jesus was both divine and deity. God in flesh. So we see both Nicholas the man, and Nicholas the believer.

Nicholas the legend

Nicholas’ favorite verses were Matthew 6:1-4.

He was very active in putting them into practice. Nicolas was a very generous man but felt his giving should be done in secret. His parents left him a great deal of money. Throughout the area where he lived there were those in need. He would often leave money, food, or clothing on their doorsteps in the middle of the night.

Tradition tells us there was one particular, very poor family in the city with three daughters.

In that day if you had a daughter about to be married you gave a dowry, or a sum of money, to the man she married to help them get started. The father had no money for his oldest daughter to get married so, the youngest daughter decided she would sell herself into slavery so her oldest sister could be married.

Nicholas heard about it and decided he would do something.

One night he took a bag of gold and crept up to the family’s house and tossed it through the open  window.  

It was with great rejoicing that the eldest daughter was able to marry.

The story continues when it was time for the second daughter to marry. Nicholas was so pleased with the joy it brought the family the first time he stepped in again.

In the middle of the night, through the open window, the bag of gold went. Once again there was great rejoicing.

When it came time for the third daughter to be married the father’s curiosity was driving him crazy. He was so thankful for their benefactor but couldn't stand not knowing who it was. It was driving him crazy.

The father tied a string around his house and hung little bells all along it. In the middle of the night when Nicholas came sneaking up for the third time he tripped over the string, the bells sounded the alarm and he was caught red-handed.

Now, of course the embarrassed father promised he would never tell a soul … but the word began to spread. The news was out.

People had wondered for years who the towns’ anonymous benefactor was. Now everyone knew, it was Nicholas.

Over the years the story began to grow. It was said by many that Nicholas threw money down the chimney. In those days, women would hang their stockings at night by the fireplace to dry. So the story was told that Nicholas threw the gold down the chimney and it landed in their stockings.

Whatever happened, history says that Nicholas continued his practice of generosity until the day he died. When he died, it didn’t cease. His example inspired others to do the same. When someone would get a gift anonymously, they would say, “Must have been Saint Nicholas.”

Exactly how much of that story is true or not that’s where the story began. But it was only the beginning.

Italian sailors came to town and heard the story of Nicholas and liked the idea. They carried it back to their hometowns. From there it spread to Germany and Holland. From Holland it spread to a place called, New Amsterdam, whose modern name is, New York. As the story spread from Europe to America. It was changed and embellished.

From what we know of history, the original Nicholas was a slim man with a dark beard and serious personality.

In Holland his name became Sinter Clausen, which in English became Santa Claus.

In the 1300s an artist pictured Nicholas with a white beard instead of a dark one, and by the 1800s he was being pictured as a merry little fat man with black boots, a red cape, and a bag of toys flung over his shoulder.

There were other changes too. The original Nicholas traveled everywhere on a donkey. By the 1700s they had him in a wagon behind a horse. In the 1800s the horse was exchanged for reindeer and the wagon became a sleigh.

It wasn’t until 1931 that the ninth reindeer, Rudolf with the glowing red nose, was added to the sleigh.

The incident that probably had the most bearing on all of our conceptions of Santa Claus took place in 1822. 

At that time there lived a man named Dr. C.C. Moore. He was a Greek and Hebrew professor who taught at the General Theological Seminary in New York.

Dr. Moore had a very famous father who was a preacher and had administered the oath of office to George Washington when he became the first President of the U.S.

On Christmas Eve in 1822, Dr. Moore was at home where his wife was packing Christmas baskets to be taken to the poor when she realized she was one turkey short. So she asked her husband to go to town and purchase one more.

As he headed to town there was a light snow that covered the ground with a blanket of white and upon arriving there he struck up a conversation with a Dutchman who also happened to be at the store.

He was a short stubby man with a red nose and two perfectly placed dimples, with a pipe clutched between his teeth.

While Dr. Moore waited for his turkey the Dutchman began to tell him how they practiced Christmas in Holland. He explained how they took a sleigh and they placed a statue of Saint Nicholas in it and someone dressed in red and white would walk alongside the sleigh and give out candy to all the children of the town.

So after picking up his turkey Dr. Moore went home, sat down at his desk, and in the next hour wrote, “T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there.”

In that poem, when Dr. Moore decided to describe St. Nicholas, he used the Dutchman he had talked to at the store, as a model.

“His eyes how they twinkled, his dimples so merry, his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. His dole little mouth was drawn like a bow, and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of his pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face, and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.”

So our present day picture of Santa Claus comes from a jolly Dutchman and a poem by Dr. C.C. Moore.

Here’s the truth about Santa Claus. There was a man named Nicholas, who knew Jesus Christ was the Son of God, who came to earth in flesh, to be the Savior of the world. Nicholas was an anonymous giver who loved to share with others the blessing that his wonderful Savior had bestowed upon His life.

Now, along with that, there’s all kinds of myths, stories and legends. If you trace back to where it all started and why, you’ll find a man of God, a lover of Jesus Christ, who simply wanted to live in such a way to be a blessing to others because of all the blessings God had bestowed upon His life.

Two final points. 

First, Nicolas, the original Santa, loved Jesus Christ.

The Bible states in John 1:1 and verse 14 that Jesus Christ is God who became a man to die on a cross and pay for our sins. The best gift of all is the gift of Christmas — eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Second — Nicholas loved to give. That’s a basic premise of Christmas and Jesus Christ. 

“For God so loved that He gave.”

And if you know Jesus as Savior and have received forgiveness of your sins, that’s salvation.

And if you practice giving — that’s Christlikeness.

Christmas is all about giving.