Here is how Alfred Edersheim introduced the Christmas story in 1883:
"He alone exhibited a life, in which absolutely no fault could be found; and promulgated a teaching, to which absolutely not exception can be taken. Admittedly, He was the One perfect Man- the ideal of humanity, His doctrine the one absolute teaching. The world has known none other, none equal. And the world has owned it, if not by the testimony of words, yet be the evidence of facts. Springing from such a people; born, living, and dying in circumstances, and using means, the most unlikely of such results- the Man of Nazareth has, by universal consent, been the mightiest Factor in our world's history: alike politically, socially, intellectually, and morally. If He be not the Messiah, He has at least thus far done the Messiah's work. If He be not the Messiah, there has at least been none other, before or after Him. If He be no the Messiah, the world has not, and never can have, a Messiah."
– Edersheim, Alfred. The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Hendrickson, 1993, p.127.