About a year and a half ago, I befriended an unusual, non-denominational Christian family, who struck me as God-fearing, Spirit-led folks. I quickly found out that they did not celebrate Christmas, and in fact thought it was wrong or at least ignorant for any Christian to do so. My initial response was something to the effect of, “Umm, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Fast forward to the present (no pun intended), when I find myself wrestling through whether to continue to celebrate Christmas.  

Sometime in the late 2nd century or early 3rd, the esteemed church father Tertullian penned a book titled “De Idolatria,” which is Latin for “On Idolatry.” Therein, he lamented Christians’ celebration of “Saturnalia”—an ancient Roman festival honoring the god of Saturn in late-December.  (See Wikipedia’s “Saturnalia” page, which uses the word “Christmas” 25 times).

More specifically, Tertullian wrote:

By us [Christians], who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons, and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia, the feasts of January, the Brumalia, and Matronalia, are now frequented; . . . oh, how much more faithful are the heathen to their religion, who take special care to adopt no solemnity from the Christians.

In other words, rather than practicing the Sabbath or celebrating festivals designed for God’s people, Christians were taking part in pagan holidays to the chagrin of Tertullian.

The antipathy to Christmas has not been limited to the early church or the church fathers.

In fact, “[t]he contemporary war [over] Christmas”—which rails against the use of “Xmas” or “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas,” for example—“pales in comparison to the first—a war that was waged not by retailers but by Puritans who considered the destruction of Christmas necessary to the construction of their godly society.” (NYT, “Yuletide’s Outlaws”). In 1647, an English Puritan government canceled Christmas. In 1659, a Massachusetts Puritan government outright banned the holiday.

Why did they do this? “Puritans argued (not incorrectly) that Christmas represented nothing more than a thin Christian veneer slapped on a pagan celebration. Believing in the holiday was superstitious at best, heretical at worst.”  This was despite the fact that, “In the early 17^th century England, the Christmas season was not so different from what it is today: churches and other buildings were decorated with holly and ivy, gifts were exchanged and charity distributed among the poor.” Id.

Seventeenth century Massachusetts minister Increase Mather explained the Puritans’ rationale for not celebrating Christmas this way: “the early Christians who first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian one.”

While the Massachusetts ban on Christmas only lasted until 1681, the Puritans’ war on Christmas persisted throughout the 18th century and well into the 19th. In fact, the U.S. government did not recognize Christmas as a federal holiday until 1870.

Today, however, the vast majority of Christians, at least in America, consider Christmas to be a Christian holiday. Even the Wikipedia page for Christmas recognizes this, opening with, “Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.” Sure, maybe Santa Claus and consumerism tend to obscure or take away for the “reason for the season”—but the reason nonetheless remains. Heck, it’s even in the name—Christ-mas.

In deciding whether to celebrate Christmas as a Christian, I think a good starting point is to decide whether Jesus was in fact born on or near December 25. If he was, then any contemporaneous pagan holidays seem like coincidence at worst, or part of God’s providential plan to overshadow and ultimately stamp out these pagan holidays at best.

Unfortunately, it appears to be scholarly consensus that it is highly unlikely Jesus was born anywhere near December 25. First, it is improbable that Judean shepherds would have been “keeping watch over their flock by night” in late-December. (Lk. 2:8). In his 19th century book “The Two Babylons,” pastor and author Alexander Hislop explains:

Now, no doubt, the climate of Palestine is not so severe as the climate of this country; but even there, though the heat of the day be considerable, the cold of the night, from December to February, is very piercing, and it was not the custom of the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October.

Second, it is equally improbable that the Roman governor Quirinius would have ordered the Jewish people to submit to a census in the dead of winter. “At the birth of Christ every woman and child was to go to be taxed in the city whereto they belonged, whither some had long journeys; but the middle of winter was not fitting for such business, especially for women with child and children to travel in.” (17th century English scholar, Joseph Mede).

Mede then writes:

And if any shall think the winter wind was not so extreme in these parts, let him remember the words of Christ in the gospel, ‘Pray that your flight be not in the winter.’ If he winter was so bad a time to flee in, it seems no fit time for shepherds to lie in the fields in, and women and children to travel in.

Thus, we can be reasonably assured on this basis alone that Jesus was not born in December. But does Scripture shed any light on the subject?

Many scholars attempt to ascertain Jesus’s birth date by turning to the conception of John the Baptist. This is because the Gospel of Luke indicates that Mary conceived Jesus about six months after Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist. (See Lk. 1:23-26). Thus, if we can figure out when John the Baptist was conceived, we can skip ahead fifteen months to get an idea of Jesus’s birth date.

Luke tells us that that Zechariah (John the Baptist’s father) “belonged to the priestly division of Abijah.” (Lk. 1:5). Abijah was one of 24 divisions of priests. Each division was to perform priestly duties for one week, twice per year. King David enacted these divisions, as reflected in 1 Chronicles 24. While the priestly divisions collapsed during the period of Babylonian captivity, they were restored thereafter. Even first century Jewish historian Josephus indicates they were restored with their original names of the 24 divisions from the Davidic period.

Zechariah’s division, Abijah, was the 8th division. (1 Chr. 24:10). In Luke 1:8-11, we read that, “Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, . . . . an angel of the Lord appeared to him” and told him that his wife would “bear a son.”

Several verses later, Luke then writes, “When [Zechariah’s] time of service was completed he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.” (Lk. 1:23-24). Two verses later, Luke writes, “In the six month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth” to tell Mary that she “will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.” (Lk. 1:26-31).

After factoring in that all the priestly divisions served during the major festivals (rather than one at a time as typical) and that the Jewish calendar started in what is our March, scholars suspect that Zechariah was serving in late May or early June if it was Abijah’s first service of the year, or December if it was his division’s second service of the year. Fifteen months from May or June is August or September. Fifteen months from December is March. Thus, there is good reason to believe that Jesus was born in either the spring or the late-summer or early fall, not winter.

If Jesus was not born anywhere near December 25, then how did his birthday come to be affiliated with this date? My earlier paragraphs have already made this clear, but it bears repeating: the holiday appears to be born out of a co-opting of the Roman Empire’s celebration of the winter solstice.

The Romans celebrated Saturnalia, “a festival of light leading to the winter solstice, with the abundant presence of candles.” (Wikipedia’s “Saturnalia” page). “During the Roman mid-winter festival of Saturnalia, houses were decorated with wreaths of evergreen plants, along with other antecedent customs now associated with Christmas.” (Wikipedia’s “Christmas tree” page) “People visited and feasted with one another, giving presents, and decorating their homes with candles and evergreen branches.” (“Ancient Origins of Christmas”).

Saturnalia was generally celebrated on December 17 or 23. It paved the way for “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti,” another Roman festival—this one in recognition of the “Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun” on December 25.

In Egypt, which was a subdivision of the Roman empire, they celebrated that “the Goddess Isis bore the Holy Child Horus on December 25th.” (“Isis & the Holiday Tree”). Apparently, the Egyptians, like the western part of the Roman empire, decorated their homes with trees. They used palm trees, whereas the west used firs.  

Moreover, the Romans in Arabia are believed to have celebrated the birth of their God on December 24th—the birth of the moon, who they took to be their god. And the inhabitants of modern-day Scotland had a similar practice.

In other words, the practice of the winter solstice was widespread throughout the vast Roman Empire. In 313, Constantine, under the banner of Christianity, then came into power as the new Roman emperor.

Shortly thereafter, in 336 A.D., the church in Rome recognized Christmas as a holiday. In his book “The Two Babylons,” Scottish pastor Alexander Hislop explains:

Why, thus: Long before the fourth century and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at the precise time of the year, in honor of the birth of the son of he Babylonian queen of heaven; an it may fairly be presumed that, in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman church, giving it only the name of Christ.

Hislop continues, “Upright men strove to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts, the apostacy went on, till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under Pagan superstition.”

Is this a fringe, Christian conspiracy theory, or based in truth? For that, let us turn to some secular sources.

Encyclopedia Britannica’s “Christmas” page provides:

In ancient Rome, December 25 was a celebration of the Unconquered Sun, marking the return of longer days. It followed Saturnalia, a festival where people feasted and exchanged gifts. The church in Rome began celebrating Christmas on December 25 in the 4th century during the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, possibly to weaken pagan traditions. . . . None of the contemporary Christmas customs have their origin in theological or liturgical affirmations, and most are of fairly recent date.

The History Channel’s “History of Christmas” page provides:

The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. . . .

In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, the winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers and sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. . . .

In Germany, people honored the pagan god Oden during the mid-winter holiday. . . .

In Rome, where winters were not as harsh as those in the far north, Saturnalia—a holiday in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture—was celebrated. . . .

In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25.

A 2018 Newsweek article titled “The Origins of Christmas: Pagan Rites, Drunken Revels and More” provides:

Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, Romans exchanged gifts, sang songs and decorated their homes with evergreens. Instead of Jesus Christ, though, Saturnalia celebrated the Roman god Saturn. In fact, December 25 was the winter solstice on the Roman calendar, the shortest day of the year. We can still see the pagan origins of Christmas in many holiday traditions, including mistletoe, which symbolized fertility to pre-Christians and new life even in the depths of winter.

Also worth considering is whether the Christianization of the winter solstice may have been a veiled means of antisemitism, further distancing Jesus from his Jewish identity. A Messianic Jewish website named the Jewish Voice writes:

The Church, in 325 C.E. under Constantine, went to great lengths to separate faith in Yeshua from its natural and biblical Jewish identity. . . . As a result, the Jewish community views Christmas and Easter as holidays of a different religion that are not for Jewish people. Many Messianic Jews believe that celebrating Christmas could easily contribute to their Jewish families and friends believing that they have “stopped being Jewish” and “converted” to a different religion.

If I was a Christian in the Roman Empire in the 3rd or 4th century when Constantine formally Christianized the winter solstice, I highly doubt I would felt okay celebrating Christmas. In fact, I might have found it to be anathema. I think to Paul’s admonition to the church at Corinth: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14). Or consider all the verses in the OT commanding the Israelites to abstain from having anything to do with foreign gods. The winter solstice historically was all about other gods—not just one, but perhaps a plethora. According to Michael Heiser’s recent landmark book “The Unseen Realm,” these gods could have been or represented actual fallen elohim, i.e., demonic entities.

The question, at least for me, then becomes whether the significant passage of time from the demise of these pagan origins alters the analysis. Are the roots adequately buried or severed so as to make the current practice of Christmas acceptable or glorifying to God? And while “man looks at the outward appearance,” does not “the Lord look[] at the heart”? (1 Sam. 16:7). Is not the heart of many Christians to worship God during Christmas?

And what is the fruit of Christmas? Millions of folks will have occasion to reflect on Jesus’s birth and “the reason for the season.” Undoubtedly, many have come to know Him through Christmas services, books, songs, or conversations.   

On the flip side, Americans purchased 32.8 million real Christmas trees last holiday season. Tens of millions of others erected fake trees. From a 30,000 foot view, might God find it highly offensive that so many residents of a “Christian nation” excitedly put something in their home that has no connection to Him or Jesus, and very much appears to be rooted in the worship of pagan deities?

Then, the consumerism. “In 2021, total holiday retail sales were projected to have reached new highs of almost 850 billion U.S. dollars.” (Statista) Is this consumerism not a grave hindrance to the “reason for this season”? When I think to Christmas, I might very well first think to gifts, family time, trees, lights, etc.? Are these things not what is and will always be most powerful about the holiday in our culture, perhaps even in Christian culture? Would not God have told us to celebrate Christmas had he wanted that?

At present, I am seriously entertaining a tapered version of the Puritan view that “Christmas represent[s] nothing more than a thin Christian veneer slapped on a pagan celebration. Believing in the holiday was superstitious at best, heretical at worst.” It is difficult for me to imagine Jesus or the apostles sanctioning the celebration of Christmas on December 25th in the first few centuries. And if they would not have done it then, would they lend credence to it now? They would certainly understand current Christians’ widespread celebration of it in light of the buried history. But would they support it? I don’t know. I tend to think not.