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LUKE 2:7 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Luke 2:6Luke 2:8
“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”
And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them — the firstborn (prōtotokon) son communicates the legal position of the child in the Mosaic system (Exodus 13:2) and the theological significance of pre-eminence. Wrapped in cloths is the ordinary infant care of the period. The manger (phatnē, feeding trough for animals) is the detail that places the birth in a context without normal domestic provision — not a sign of poverty so much as the absence of appropriate birthing space in the overcrowded town.

Church Fathers on Luke 2:7

St. Luke has briefly explained the manner, time, and also the place in which Christ was born in the flesh; the manner, that is, in which the espoused has conceived, a virgin has born offspring.

Ambrose · 4th century

Though coming in the form of man, yet not in every thing is He subject to the laws of man’s nature; for while His being born of a woman, tells of human nature; virginity becoming capable of childbirth betokens something above man. Of Him then His mother’s burden was light, the birth immaculate, the delivery without pain, the nativity without defilement, neither beginning from wanton desire, nor brought to pass with sorrow. For as she who by her guilt engrafted death into our…

Gregory of Nyssa · 4th century

He condescended to become incarnate at that time, that after His birth He might be enrolled in Caesar’s taxing, and in order to bring liberty to us might Himself become subject to slavery. It was well also that our Lord was born at Bethlehem, not only as a mark of the royal crown, but on account of the sacrament of the name.

Bede · 8th century
Read all 16 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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