No "Christ" in Christmas

In less than two weeks’ time, most of “Christendom” will be celebrating the birth of Christ on Christmas Day, 25 December. During this period, we are constantly being bombarded with messages like “Christ is the reason for the season”. Various “churches” have organized Christmas events and put up Christmas banners. With all this in mind, it is worth asking – why do we not celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday? Really, it comes down to the fact that there is “No Christ in Christmas”.

#1 – The Bible Is Silent on the Date of Christ’s Birth

On your birth certificate, identity card, and passport, you will have a line stating your date of birth – the day, the month, and the year that you were born on. What about Jesus? Is there an equivalent line stating His date of birth in the Scriptures?

The Bible indicates the approximate year during which Jesus was born. Luke 2:1-2 states that there was a decree from Augustus Caesar requiring that the world (i.e. his empire) be registered for taxation purposes. This decree was issued while Cyrenius (Quirinius) was governor in Syria. As a result, Joseph and Mary had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born (Luke 2:3-7). Jesus was born before the death of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:13-15). When we cross reference this with secular historical sources, we can conclude that Jesus was born sometime between 8 B.C. (when Augustus ordered the census) and 4 B.C. (when Herod the Great died).

However, when it comes to the month and day, the Bible is silent on the matter. Nowhere in Scripture will you find a verse saying that Jesus was born on a specific month and day, let alone on 25 December. However, you will find the following passage in Scripture:

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (Luke 2:6-8)

On the night that Jesus was born, there were shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields around Bethlehem. This indicates to us that the time of year was almost certainly not December, when the temperature outdoors would be bitterly cold, with night-time lows around 6 degrees Celsius. Rather, the time of year would more likely be between April to September, when the weather was mild enough for the shepherds to be out in the fields by night with their flocks.

In summary, the Bible does not tell us the exact month and day that Jesus was born. But it gives us sufficient information to conclude that it was almost certainly not on 25 December.

#2 – Why Then Is Christmas Celebrated on 25 December?

To help us understand why Christmas came to be celebrated on 25 December, it helps to know that as the early church grew, it experienced severe persecution at the hands of the Roman Empire. The apostles Peter and Paul were both executed at the hands of the Romans (John 21:18-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8). However, the Roman Emperor Constantine I issued the “Edict of Milan” in A.D. 313, which changed the policy of the empire towards Christians from persecution to benevolent treatment. Subsequently, Christianity saw increased adoption throughout the empire, but it began to be intermingled and corrupted with Roman pagan practices.

One of these Roman pagan practices was the worship of Sol, the Roman god of the Sun. The worship of Sol involved a feast day on the winter solstice (the day with the shortest amount of daylight), which took place on or about 25 December yearly. It was a celebration of the “birthday of the Sun” or the “new Sun”, as the amount of daylight would increase daily after the winter solstice. Historians have suggested that one of the reasons why this eventually came to be appropriated as the day of Christ’s birth, despite its pagan origins, was so that Christians could keep the increased favour shown to them by the empire after the Edict of Milan. By A.D. 354, “church fathers” had settled on 25 December as the celebration of Christ’s birth.

#3 – Are We Authorized to Celebrate His Birth or Remember His Death?

We must be very clear that when it comes to worshipping God, there is no room for the opinions and traditions of men. As the apostle Paul said:  

"And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Colossians 3:17).

To “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” means to submit to His authority, not to add or subtract to God’s Word. Throughout the centuries, God has given explicit warnings about adding to or subtracting from His commandments:

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:1-2)

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)

Nowhere in the Scriptures are we commanded or authorized to celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December. Rather, we are commanded to remember the death of God’s only begotten Son every first day of the week, when we take the Lord’s Supper as a memorial feast.

For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7)

Conclusion

Why do we not celebrate Christmas as a religious observance? Because there is “no Christ in Christmas”. The Bible is silent on the exact date of His birth; the date 25 December was connected with Roman pagan practices; and we are not commanded or authorized to celebrate His birth, but rather, we are commanded to remember Jesus’ death every first day of the week during the Lord’s Supper.