While American Christians tend to focus sentimentally on the human elements of the Christmas story, ancient Christianity traditionally focused more on Christ’s Nativity story being the incarnation of God the Word. Thus the story of the birth of Christ was read theologically as the literal way to read the Gospel lesson. Theodoret of Cyrus (d. 457AD) commented:
“St Paul writes, ‘With a view to recognizing the mystery of the God and Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:2-3).’ He brought out the mystery of the dispensation common to the Father and the Son; and he said all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, since through him will be revealed to all people in the future life the purpose of the dispensation.” (Hill, Robert Charles, Theodoret of Cyrus: Commentary on the Letters of St Paul, Vol 2, pg 91)
“Hidden” in the birth of Jesus Christ is the fact that He is God. Of course, the incarnation is a revelation of God, but it also reveals that God is so much more different than we commonly think. For the Christmas story reveals God as Trinity, and God who is able to become human in order to redeem His creation. In more recent times St. Nicholai Velimirovic (d. 1956 AD) wrote:
This means that man experiences and finds out about the fundamental eternal truth of life and the world only with the help of the God-man, in the God-man. And it means something else: man learns the complete truth about man, about the purpose and meaning of his existence only through the God-man. Only in him, in the all-merciful Lord Jesus, does man, tormented by earthly tragedies, find the God who can truly give meaning to suffering, the Comforter who can truly give comfort in every misfortune and sorrow, the Defender who can truly defend from every evil, the Saviour who can truly save from death and sin, the Teacher who can truly teach eternal Truth and Justice. The first truth of Orthodoxy is that man does not exist for the sake of man or, more fully, for the sake of the God-man. In Him alone is an understanding of man’s being possible; in Him alone is a justification for man’s existence possible. Everything that does not have that Person is not Orthodox. Everything that does not have the God-mans’ Justice, Truth, Love, and Eternity is not Orthodox. Everything that wants to carry out the God-man’s Gospel in this world through the methods of the kingdoms of this world, is not Orthodox, but implies enslavement to the third temptation of the devil.” (Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, The Struggle for Faith, pgs 96-100)