Who Was Saint Nicholas?

Did you know that the legendary figure of Santa Claus is loosely based on a real person? Today, Stephen Nichols introduces us to Saint Nicholas, a bishop in the early church who attended the Council of Nicaea.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: Joining us this week is one of Ligonier's teaching fellows, Dr. Stephen Nichols. Dr. Nichols, who was St. Nicholas, and is it true that he punched a heretic?

DR. STEPHEN NICHOLS: Well, that's a great question. It's not a question you get every day. First of all, with St. Nicholas, he was an historical figure, and he was a bishop. He was a bishop of Myra, which was in Asia Minor. This would be modern day Turkey. He was likely born there. He suffered persecution. He would've been imprisoned under Diocletian. So this is right around 300. Of course, following Diocletian was Constantine, and this is the Christianizing of the Roman Empire. And so, he was freed from prison.

And then you mentioned the punching of a heretic. Well, this is a reference to the Nicene Council, out of which comes the Nicene Creed. And we do have early lists of the attendees, and there is Nicholas on the list. The legend is that in the lobby of the council, he either punched an Arian heretic, or he slapped across the face an Arian heretic. There's also legends that say it was not just any old Arian heretic, it was Arius himself. And we're not exactly sure where the truth is.

The other thing about St. Nicholas is he was probably from a wealthy family, and there are all these legends around him of giving gifts. And so, this is the kernel of the legend that would grow and grow and grow, and eventually become St. Nick, and eventually would become Santa Claus. But in the midst of all of this legend, there is an historical figure there who was a bishop in the early church, and likely did stand up for orthodox Christology at a moment when that was a true crisis in the church. So we can be thankful for Bishop Nicholas.