--- title: Christmas Nativity Story: TIME Explores Differences Between Gospels description: As TIME explained ten years ago, there's more than one way to tell the story canonical: https://time.com/3636106/nativity-versions/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-24T20:00:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:54:28.337Z article:section: History og:title: Christmas Nativity Story: TIME Explores Differences Between Gospels og:description: As TIME explained ten years ago, there's more than one way to tell the story og:url: https://time.com/3636106/nativity-versions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta03b77f22da22334/69876f1c5f570f054db143e5/nativity.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Adoration of the Magi og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Christmas Nativity Story: TIME Explores Differences Between Gospels twitter:description: As TIME explained ten years ago, there's more than one way to tell the story twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta03b77f22da22334/69876f1c5f570f054db143e5/nativity.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Wait, How Exactly Does the Nativity Story Go?  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 24, 2014 8:00 PM UTC  Adoration of the Magi - after illustration by J James Tissot Adoration of the Magi - after illustration by J James TissotCulture Club / Lebrech / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 24, 2014 8:00 PM UTC Think you know what the New Testament says happened on the first Christmas? As TIME reported in a cover story in 2004, the answer — or lack thereof — may surprise you. The Christmas-pageant version of the nativity (wise men, manger, angels) seems straightforward, at least as far as a virgin-birth narrative can be. But different gospels, not to mention more recent scholars, differ on what supposedly happened that night. As TIME explained: --- > “” --- Each of the different tellings may have its own reasoning — for example, which audience the gospel-writer was trying to reach — and scholars may continue to debate, but there is, at least, one thing everyone seems to agree on: the [lobsters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9chdp8izEtk) are a recent invention. **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Behind the First Noel](http://time.com/vault/issue/2004-12-13/spread/76/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3636106/nativity-versions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3636106/nativity-versions/"},"headline":"Wait, How Exactly Does the Nativity Story Go?","datePublished":"2014-12-24T20:00:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:54:28.337Z","description":"There's more than one way to tell it","url":"https://time.com/3636106/nativity-versions/","keywords":["faith","Christianity","christmas","Jesus"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta03b77f22da22334/69876f1c5f570f054db143e5/nativity.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta03b77f22da22334/69876f1c5f570f054db143e5/nativity.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Adoration of the Magi","caption":"Adoration of the Magi","creditText":"Culture Club / Lebrech / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3636106/nativity-versions/","name":"Wait, How Exactly Does the Nativity Story Go?"}}]}] ```