Christmas Day is is the most celebrated holiday around the world and especially in the USA. It seems that attitude and demeanor of people improve during this time each year. As universal as the celebration of Christmas is, there are radical and opposite views about it. On the one hand some are saying “We need to put Christ back into Christmas” while others say, “Christ was never in Christmas.” What does God want us to do with Christmas? What does the Bible say about Christmas?
Biblical Thoughts
First, the word “Christmas” is not found in the Bible. Second, the Bible tells us that Christ was born, but it doesn’t say when that great event happened. Neither does the Bible command us to observe Christ’s birth as a special religious holiday.
During the time when the Law of Moses was the authority for the Jews, God demanded that all males participate in three special feast each year (Leviticus 23). But, when Christ established His law, He removed that Old Law and forbade men and women to bind the observance of special religious holidays. “Now that you have come to know God or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years, I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain” (Galatians 4:9-11). Later the Holy Spirit guided Paul to explain further, “Therefore no one is to act as your judge (that is to bind these activities) in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day” (Colossians 2:16).
Since God removed those special days no one, nor the church as a whole has the right to bind the observance of special days like Christmas. The church is not the authority; the church is under the authority of the Word of God. For the church to promote a public observance of religious holidays, is to bind where God has not bound. It is just as sinful to make a law that God has not made as it is to break a law that God has bound.
Two Major Churches Developed
(The information below comes from Church History Vol. I – Christ to Pre-Reformation by Everett Ferguson, pp. 252-253 and A History of the Christian Church revised edition, by Williston Walker, pp. 154-155).
For the first three centuries the church Jesus establish in Jerusalem (Acts 2), did not observe Christmas as a religious holiday. Beginning in the second century, the Roman government began a severe persecution against the church, but the church was still growing in number and commitment. Finally, in 313 A.D., Constantine, the Emperor, declared, what is called “The Edict of Milan” which, stated that Christianity was accepted and basically became the religion for the Roman Empire. That may sound like a blessing, but it really was a curse. God’s high standard of doctrine and morality were lowered to the point that the “church” accepted almost everything. They compromised on almost every doctrine which God and the Bible demanded.
One of the events that began to change Christianity was that the Emperor Constantine moved his capitol from Rome to a city he built called Constantinople (Now known as Istanbul). This was much farther to the east than was Rome. As time went on geographically, there came to be a church in the west called “The Western Church” and a church developed in the east which came to be called “The Eastern Church.” The Western Church was in the western part of the world and became the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Church was farther east and came to be called the “Orthodox Church.” Today we know these churches by the fact that a country’s name is used before the word “Orthodox.” Thus we have the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, etc. These two “churches” began to teach different doctrines which led to their official split in 1054 A.D.
Difference on When Did Jesus Appear?
One of the differences between these two churches is “When did Jesus appear and what does the word “appear” mean?’ Even as early as the second century, some taught that Jesus’ appearance was His baptism, and they celebrated that on January 6th. The Orthodox Church said that Jesus’ appearance was His physical birth, not His baptism and they believed that occurred on January 5th.
The Western Church – the Ronan Catholic Church, began celebrating Christmas on December 25th as early as about 325 – 350 A.D. They came to believe that the birth of the world was on March 25th, the vernal equinox. Therefore, they believed that the conception of the bright Son (Sun of Righteousness, Malachi 4:2), the Savior of the world was on that day also. Therefore, Jesus would have been born nine months later, which would have been December 25th.
The date of December 25th was also influenced by the sun cult, who honored that date with the feast called Sol Invictus, which celebrated the victory of light over darkness and the lengthening of the sun’s rays at the winter solstice. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church set the date of December 25th to incorporate pagans into “Christianity.”
These two man-made denominations continued celebrating different days and it was not until the sixth century (the 500s) that each of these churches began to accept the other’s date, but for different reasons. Because of the great influence of these two religions, especially the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, that even when men broke away from them in the Reformation Movement, they carried with them the traditions related to special religious days. Thus, Protestant churches continued emphasizing honoring Christ’s birth.
What Is the Individual Christian
To Do About Christmas?
There are some Christians who are adamant that Christians should have nothing to do with Christmas. They go beyond just saying the church should not promote it and say that individual Christians should not participate in any way. They will quote I Thessalonians 5:22, “abstain from all appearance of evil” and say it appears to be evil therefore we should not participate in its observance in any way. This verse doesn’t mean that if something looks like it might be evil, one must abstain. It means that something has to be evil then to be avoided.
Many of them will quote Jeremiah 10:3-4 and say it forbids decorating a Christmas tree. “For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers so that it will not totter.” God is not condemning Christmas trees. The context is God’s condemnation of idolatry. Just because one puts silver or gold trinkets on a tree doesn’t mean that one is worshiping that tree. We cannot take passages out of context to prove a point.
Others are just about as radical in their promotion of putting Christ back into Christmas. They look down on those who observe it as a holiday, without putting religious emphasis in the activities. One extreme is just as bad as the other.
It seems there can be a moderate view to this question. First, one can just accept the fact that it is a great holiday time in which love and joy are spread. Isn’t it possible to just celebrate the Christmas season as one would any other national holiday?
Is It Possible to Honor It as a Religious Holiday?
Romans 14 Paul gives instructions about practices that are one’s own personal opinion (v. 1). He said that those who want to participate in non-sinful practices can do so, but cannot require others to do so. At the same time, those who are opposed to doing those activities cannot forbid others from doing them.
One of the illustrations Paul gave is the person who wants to set aside a day in which he honors God in some special way (v. 5). He has the liberty to do that, but he cannot bind that practice on others. The conclusion one can draw from this is that if someone wants to honor Christ in a Christmas activity, he has the right to do that. All that is discussed in Romans 14 are matters of opinion, not matters of faith where God has legislated.
Conclusion
The church cannot bind the observance of Christmas with a religious reason because God has not authorized the church to do that. The individual can do as he or she wishes, even observing it as a special day or way to give God honor. What do you want to do with Christmas? It is your choice and does not have to be accepted by others.
May we all promote the love and joy and generosity that this season motivates people to do. But, may those great attributes not just be manifested during the Christmas season, but all year long!
Wayne Burger
