聖誕節（Xmas）中的X是什麽意思?WhatDoes the X in Xmas Mean?
作者: R.C. Sproul 翻譯: Maria
Marta
聖誕節（Xmas）這個名稱中的X就象R.C.中的R。盡管我出生時的名字是羅伯特查爾斯（Robert Charles），但甚至在我父母從醫院抱我回家之前, 他們就叫我名字的首字母R.C.，似乎沒有人對此表現出太大的驚訝。
Χ有很多不同的意思。例如，當我們要表示一個未知數，我們用符號X。 X也可以指電影的淫穢級別, 其中有X-rated級別
(禁止十六歲以下兒童觀看) 。看見基督的名字被抽出, 被代表未知數的X符號取代, 人們似乎感到很懊惱。每一年你看到海報和保險杠貼紙上寫著「把基督再放回聖誕節裏頭」, 作為基督的名字被字母X取代的回應。
聖誕節這詞裡沒有X字母
首先，你必須明白不是字母X被放進聖誕節這字裡。我們看到這詞裡有英文字母X，但實際上它涉及基督的希臘名字的第一個字母。基督（Christ）在新約希臘文中是基督（Christos）。這個希臘字Christos的第一個字母的音譯是我們的字母表中的X。X成為教會歷史上基督這名字的一個速記符號。
我們沒有看到人們抗議使用希臘字母theta，這字母代表一條橫跨在圓圈的中間線。我們把它用作上帝這詞的速記縮寫詞，因為它是Theos這詞,
上帝的希臘文的第一個字母。
X有著悠久的神聖歷史
X作為基督名字的縮寫的概念進入我們的文化當中，並沒有任何對上帝不敬的意圖。教會歷史上用魚符號, 因為它是一個首字母縮略詞。魚的希臘語（ichthus）涉及希臘片語「耶穌基督, 上帝的兒子，救世主」裡的單詞的第一個字母的使用。所以，早期的基督徒把這片語中的單詞的第一個字母抽出，放在一起拼成魚這希臘字。這就是魚符號成為基督教世界之普遍象徵的經過了。X用作基督名字的象征有著有悠久而神聖的歷史，從其起源來說，它並沒有不尊敬的意思。
在我們的【問題回答】部分可找到更多的問題。
What Does the X in Xmas Mean?
FROM
R.C. Sproul
The X
in Christmas is used like the R in R.C. My given name at birth was Robert
Charles, although before I was even taken home from the hospital my parents
called me by my initials, R.C., and nobody seems to be too scandalized by that.
X can
mean so many things. For example, when we want to denote an unknown quantity,
we use the symbol X. It can refer to an obscene level of films, something that
is X-rated. People seem to express chagrin about seeing Christ’s name dropped
and replaced by this symbol for an unknown quantity X. Every year you see the
signs and the bumper stickers saying, “Put Christ back into Christmas” as a
response to this substitution of the letter X for the name of Christ.
There’s
no X in Christmas
First
of all, you have to understand that it is not the letter X that is put into
Christmas. We see the English letter X there, but actually what it involves is
the first letter of the Greek name for Christ. Christos is the New Testament
Greek for Christ. The first letter of the Greek word Christos is transliterated
into our alphabet as an X. That X has come through church history to be a
shorthand symbol for the name of Christ.
We
don’t see people protesting the use of the Greek letter theta, which is an O
with a line across the middle. We use that as a shorthand abbreviation for God
because it is the first letter of the word Theos, the Greek word for God.
X has
a long and sacred history
The
idea of X as an abbreviation for the name of Christ came into use in our
culture with no intent to show any disrespect for Jesus. The church has used
the symbol of the fish historically because it is an acronym. Fish in Greek
(ichthus) involved the use of the first letters for the Greek phrase “Jesus
Christ, Son of God, Savior.” So the early Christians would take the first
letter of those words and put those letters together to spell the Greek word
for fish. That’s how the symbol of the fish became the universal symbol of
Christendom. There’s a long and sacred history of the use of X to symbolize the
name of Christ, and from its origin, it has meant no disrespect.
Find
other questions in our Questions Answered section.