Examining the Origins of Christmas

There have been a lot of attacks on Christmas in recent decades, in various ways, hitting at various areas. The historicity of Christ, supposed pagan roots, and then of course just simply trying to shroud the fact that the Savior, the King of Glory, the Son of God came to the earth.

The Date of Jesus’ Birth and the December 25th Tradition

So I thought I might clear up a few things for us. Was Jesus even born on December 25th? There are two early documents from two church fathers, Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus of Rome, that speak to this.

Both of these men wrote around the year 200 AD. They both put the date for the birth of Christ at December 25th in our calendar. The other earliest known account associated with a December 25th birth date can be traced back to the church father Irenaeus, who lived from 130 to 202 AD.

He connected Mary's conception of Jesus with the Passion Week, which was also being celebrated early on. The same calculation of the date happened with another man. There was a Christian traveler and historian by the name of Sextus Julius Africanus, who lived from 160 to 240 AD.

Africanus wrote a volume titled Chronography, an early Christian treatise that attempted to chronologically cover world history from the point of creation to his own day. And he also recorded that the birth of Jesus Christ was on December 25th.

Many early Christians believe this put the conception of Jesus, that is when the Holy Spirit came to the Virgin named Mary, and the power of the Most High God overshadowed her and she conceived in her womb a son, around March 25th.

That is nine months prior to December 25th. Now is there any evidence for that? Well in Luke chapter 1, whose birth is foretold, John the Baptist, and what tribe was John.

Of?

Levi.

His mother was Elizabeth and his father was a priest named Zacharias. Luke chapter 1 verses 8 through 9 says,. Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

The amazing thing is, we have what is called the Courses of the Priests. This is an ancient Jewish record that describes the names of the priests who served at the temple and what order the priests went to do so.

And we know, when Zacharias was serving in the temple, the angel appeared to him and told him he and Elizabeth would have a son named John, who would be the forerunner for the Messiah. Now according to the Courses of the Priests, Zacharias was serving in the temple around September 23rd, which in that lunar year would have been around or on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

Just days after this, Elizabeth became pregnant. Well according to Luke chapter 1 verse 26, Luke says six months from that point, from the conception of John the Baptist with Zacharias and Elizabeth, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth to a woman named Mary engaged to a man named.

Joseph.

And then she conceived a son miraculously by the power of God. So what does that tell us? Around September 25th, John's conception, plus six months later is March 25th, the date in which Jesus was conceived.

And if you add nine months of carrying a baby, you have December 25th. And church tradition as early as 180 to 200 AD affirms that. Now one objection to this comes from Luke chapter 2 verse 8. It says in the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

The argument is people say it's impossible that shepherds were out in the fields with their flocks at night in the month of December, that this was more likely in September, right before Yom Kippur, that Jesus was born.

But what I say to that is the average temperature in Bethlehem in December is a high of 56 and a low of 47, meaning it is not unusual for the highs to be in the 60s and even sometimes in the 70s and the lows in the upper 50s.

In fact, the high in Bethlehem, Israel this past Sunday was 68 degrees. That is not too cold for these animals. Sheep can withstand even freezing temperatures. The shepherds undoubtedly had fires. Humans are capable of this sort of weather outside.

If there were autumn time rains that year, rain in October, which is very possible in Israel at that time, then the hills would have had fresh green grass covering them. And with feed being expensive for shepherds even back then, they would have driven the flocks out into the fields to capitalize on that.

So all in all, we have no biblical record of Jesus' exact birth date, but with the priestly courses and records of Zacharias' duty in the temple, the conception of John the Baptist and Luke recording six months later being the conception of Jesus, along with the Christian church fathers connected to the apostles, by a few generations, December 25th is a likely possibility.

And again, there is very little that gives us anything contrary to that. So that leads us to our next question. Does the holiday Christmas have pagan origins? I've already established early on it was believed Christ's birth was on December 25th, but let's not stop there.

Christmas and the Myth of Pagan Origins

It's been frequently stated that the Roman Saturnalia was on December 25th and the Christians adopted this day to celebrate Jesus' birth. Some say it was not necessarily to syncretize religions, but so that it wouldn't look suspicious that Christians were getting together to celebrate.

However, this is a myth. Saturnalia has never been on December 25th. Saturnalia took place from December 17th to December 23rd. And if Christmas was created to supplant Saturnalia, the Christians would have simply chosen December.

17th.

Saturnalia has no parallelomania. The Romans don't celebrate it to worship the birth of a god or any birth at all. It is for the worship of the god Saturn, the god of seed sowing, celebrating the promise of a bountiful spring.

Some say Sol Invictus, the festival commemorating the Roman sun god, fell on December 25th. However, our earliest inscriptions concerning this festival place it at the beginning of December, not at the end.

In his work, The Origins of the Liturgical Year, historian Thomas Talley argues, It is more likely that the Roman emperor Aurelian moved Sol Invictus to December 25th to compete with the growing rate of Christianity.

Talley makes the interesting observation that by the 3rd and 4th centuries, Christianity was on the clear rise and adherence to the traditional Roman paganism was in a freefall. But here's the kicker.

Sol Invictus, whether in early December or on December 25th, Aurelian did not reintroduce the worship of Sol Invictus, which had died out a century prior, until 274 AD. But we saw the records of Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Clement, and Africanus indicate Christ's birth as December 25th around 200 AD or earlier, before Sol Invictus.

And there was record of Christians celebrating the advent before Sol Invictus was reinstituted in Rome as well. There was even a Christmas carol from 129 AD. Egyptians apparently presented an infant as a representation of the newborn sun on the winter solstice.

But this evidence also dates from the 4th and 5th centuries, not even close to 200 AD. Besides the potential that Sol Invictus was on December 25th, which again, it came after Christians started celebrating Christ's birth that day, there is no ancient pagan holiday or festival or feast that fall on December 25th.

The Brumalia and Bacchus feasts were likewise celebrated earlier in the season, in late.

November.

In reality, the Christians had been recognizing and celebrating the incarnation of Jesus' birth for decades before we start to see firm designations for other pagan celebrations in December or on December 25th.

In AD 386, John Chrysostom says that Christmas was being celebrated on December 25th and describes it as a long-time tradition. The Philokalian calendar, a document produced in AD 354 for a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus, has Christmas listed as a holiday on December 25th.

We don't have much time, but Christmas trees started in the Alsace region in the 16th century in Europe. Pagans didn't worship pine trees or use them to ward off spirits, they used oaks, and often only oak logs.

There is evidence later that German Christians had Christmas trees to decorate. The tree pointed to where Jesus went, to heaven. The leaves evergreen, like everlasting life. The lights or candles represented Jesus being the light of the world.

The scriptures say Jesus died on a tree which was synonymous for Peter as the wooden cross. So where did all these pagan accusations come from? It seems mostly from neo-pagans, atheists, those seeking to discredit Christianity.

Also surprisingly, some of the Scottish Covenanters wrote against Christmas because they started to see pagans turn it into a partying and drinking day. But just because the culture sins on that day doesn't mean it is inherently bad.

All in all, Christmas does not have pagan origins. I can tell you there are a plethora of records that show Christians being killed for refusing paganism and its false worship. They would rather lose their lives than show any infidelity to their savior.

When Christians agree with this conspiracy stuff, we dishonor our Christian brothers and sisters who suffered at the hands of pagans so many centuries ago. Now this leads me to my next question. Can we celebrate Christmas according to the Bible?

Celebrating Christmas as Christian Liberty

The answer is yes. There is nothing that prohibits the celebration of the birth of Christ. In fact, if anything, we are called to celebrate it. Like the multitude of angels in the sky singing above the shepherds and the hosts of the magi that traveled from the east, we are to celebrate the birth of the King, the Lord, the Savior of the world.

Like the Jews, we are encouraged to remember these important moments in salvation history, to make monuments. God wants us to constantly remember what He did for us. Plus we have what is called liberty.

Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 -17 states,. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Romans chapter 4, verses 5 -6,. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it for the Lord, and he who eats does so for the Lord.

For he gives thanks to God, and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. According to these texts, as Christians, we have the liberty to set apart a special day that is devoted to the Lord.

We can set aside any day for this, even Christmas Day. We ought to remember Jesus, worship Him, and while the world is thinking about Christmas, be a faithful witness of Him. In fact, I will show you an example of Jesus doing this Himself.

John chapter 10, it says in verses 22 -23,. At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. The Feast of Dedication was another name for Hanukkah.

Jesus was in Jerusalem for this event, and not only that, He was in the temple, joining in the festivities in some capacity. Why is this important? Hanukkah was not instituted until 164 BC, when the Jews led a successful revolt against the Seleucid Empire, and the temple was cleansed and rededicated to God.

Meaning, this is not a feast, or festival, or holy day that was commanded by God in sacred scripture, like the Passover, or the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Day of Atonement. And yet, here is Jesus celebrating it.

In fact, He makes it about Himself. He says, I and the Father are one. He said, I give eternal life to my sheep, they will never perish. The Jews were celebrating a holiday about temporal deliverance from their enemies, but Jesus was telling them He is the solution to eternal deliverance from their greatest enemy, death.

Jesus made Hanukkah about Himself. And that's really what Christmas should be about. It should be more about Christ and His coming than anything else. He is the heart of this season that has spread over the entire globe.

And so make many family traditions. Enjoy this time of year. Feast, celebrate, spend time with family, make your house look and smell different, make it special. Make sure you go to a church that holds the Most Holy Day, the Lord's Day, on Sunday as supreme, even over Christmas.

Don't go to a church that closes on Christmas. Learn more about giving than receiving. Consider the poor. And if your liberty puts more focus on the fictional aspects of this season, repent. Remember Jesus Christ.

And don't forget, don't legislate your liberty and conviction. Don't make others celebrate or not celebrate like you. Do what you are convicted to do. The scripture passages I stated give Christians allowance to not observe as well as to observe.

And now you know, Christmas does not have any pagan origins despite what bizarre discernment bloggers say. So whether you like Elf on a Shelf or Paul Washer on a Dishwasher, keep Christ supreme. Thanks guys.