Christmas

The Christmas Celebration

Christmas is, undoubtedly, the most revered time of year among Christians–both Catholics and Protestants–around the world. Evidence of this is found in attendance at Christmas church services: it characteristically doubles and triples. This is the only time of year many adherents will darken the doorway of a church building.

Why? What makes this day so important?

“Well, it’s Jesus’ birthday,” is the standard reply. “Jesus is the reason for the season,” the popular evangelical slogan says.

Jews (who practice the Jewish religion), Muslims, and Atheists, of course, don’t believe this to be true. And you know what? They’re right! It’s true that they don’t believe Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, resurrected from the dead, either, but this is beside the point. The point is the Bible–whatever the translation–does not substantiate December 25th as Jesus’ date of birth.

The Virgin Birth of the Christ, the Son of the living God

The Biblical account of the Lord’s birth is found, exclusively, in the gospel of Luke. The story begins in chapter 1, with the story of a man named Zacharias, a Levite priest of the “course of Abia”(verse 5).¹ He and his wife, Elisabeth, had no children (she was barren), and she was well past her childbearing age (verse 7). While Zacharias was serving his course in the temple, the angel Gabriel appears to him (verse 11) and tells him he and his wife are going to have a child, a son, who they shall call John (verse 13). Zacharias, knowing how old they both are, disbelieves and the angel strikes him dumb (verse 20). He finishes his course (two weeks), goes home to his wife and she, miraculously, conceives.

In the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel is sent to her cousin, Mary (verses 26, 27). He tells her that she is going to divinely conceive in her womb, “and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS….And he shall reign over the house of Jacob (Israel), for ever and ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”² (verses 31,33, 35). Mary conceives in Elisabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy with John (verse 36), which would make that January. If she bears Jesus nine months later, that would be October. In other words, going by the Biblical record, there is no way the Lord’s birth date could have been December 25th.

Although by this record, we can ascertain the month he was born, there is nothing there that could give us a specific day. Could it be possible that God withheld this information from the world for a reason? That perhaps he didn’t want us celebrating his Son’s birthday?

The True Establishment of December 25th as the Lord’s Birthday in 325 AD, at the Council of Nicea. 

If the Bible doesn’t establish December 25th as this day, how was it established?

In the fourth century, AD, Christianity (Catholicism) became the official religion of the Roman Empire, thus supplanting centuries of pagan religious practices among Roman pagans. This, however, did not stop the Romans from practicing their paganism, so the Roman Church adapted. The most important pagan celebration of the year was the winter solstice–a time of reveling and drunkenness– the climax of which was (wouldn’t you know it!) December 25th. This celebration (Saturnalia) can be traced all the way back to the Babylonian Empire and the year-end nature ritual of the death of the old year (the burning of the “Yule” log on the 24th), and the birth of the new year (the miraculous appearing of the green tree³ in its place on the following morning, which symbolized the Babylonian God, Nimrod).⁴ The Roman church simply put Jesus in Nimrod’s place, claimed his birthday as the 25th, and, in effect, “Christianized” the pagan celebration of the Saturnalia.

The Reformers were split on allowing or disallowing the celebration; Luther allowed it, Calvin denounced it. ((http://www.eldrbarry.net/heidel/grinch.htm))  It was actually outlawed in the American Colonies and did not become popular among Protestants until the latter part of the 19th century.  ((file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Cmputer%20user/My%20Documents/Religion/When%20Americans%20banned%20Christmas%20-%20The%20Week.htm))  Out of all the “holy” feast days the Roman Catholic Church requires of its adherents, Christmas (“Christ-Mass”), or “Advent,” is one of two of these days (the other being “Easter”) that Catholics are absolutely obligated to attend mass on to remain in right standing. Protestant religions don’t make church attendance on the day a legal obligation but nonetheless holds up the day as a special celebration in the church calendar year.

By now you have probably ascertained that I don’t celebrate Christmas as Jesus’ birthday, or hold it up as a special day of observation. You are right, I don’t. But neither do I hold up any other day of the year, month, or week as holy. I don’t do this because in the part of the Bible that is written exclusively to me (as a member of the body of Christ) for my direct obedience (see Romans 16:25,26)–Romans through Philemon–it condemns this practice. In the letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul says:

“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” (Gal 4:9-11)

In other words, according to this, observing “days,” i.e., holding them up to be holy, is “vain,” or worthless.

Am I saying that Christians who celebrate Christmas are condemned? No! I’m saying that the practice is condemned, not the practitioner. Romans 8:1 says, “there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus…” If you are in Christ, i.e., you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, trusting that his sacrifice at Calvary paid for your sins,⁵ then you cannot be condemned.

Most Christians think because they don’t murder, steal, fornicate, get drunk, lie, or cheat, that this is all God requires of them. What God requires is obedience.⁶ “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful…..to obey is better than sacrifice”(1 Corinthians 4:2; 1 Sam. 15:22)

Having said all this, I don’t doubt that some will contend that we’re under grace and therefore are at liberty to do as we wish.

True. It says “for ye are not under the law, but under grace…” and therefore, “all things are lawful unto us..”. But it qualifies these declarations with, “….What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid….“ because “…all things are not expedient”⁷

The acid test of whether we are “sinning” by celebrating Christmas is “why” are we celebrating it. Are we celebrating it as the Lord‘s birthday, and giving it a spiritual significance the Bible plainly doesn’t assign to it? Is it because we love “the feeling” of it so much that we are willing to ignore the plain Biblical fact that it isn’t the Lord’s birthday and that the entire event emanates from a pagan religious celebration and worship of a pagan god?

I’m not speaking here about the innocuous year-end practice of exchanging gifts with family and friends, decorating your house with some lights, or attending a “Christmas” party. I have no problem with any of this. What I have a problem with is Bible-believing Christians who claim “the day” as something “holy” when it is just the opposite.

If God, in the Bible, does not ordain something, why would anyone think it’s expedient (profitable) to do it? Are we to follow after the “tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world” (Colossians 2:8), or after the inspired word (2 Tim. 3:16) and “the man (not the baby), Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:6)?

What do you desire? To please God or men? A lot of Christians think they can do both. The fact is, when we seek the approval of men, it is most often at the expense of obedience to the word of God.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”⁸

Mike Schroeder

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Bible.

References on the history of the Christmas celebration by the Christian church:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/the-origin-and-history-of-americas-christmas-traditions.html

Notes