Last Christmas someone asked if it is mandatory for Christians to celebrate Christmas. I couldn’t provide references in support of Christmas or against it. Consequently, it is one of those issues for which we must develop personal convictions. And, since there are no definitive Scripture verses either way, we must apply the principles of Romans 14. We must respect and accept one another with convictions different from ours, not condemn, remembering that “each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).
When I can’t find Bible verses about an issue, I then look for relevant principles and/or precedence.
Principles Related to the Celebration of Christmas:
What we can biblically support with certainty is that any celebration must not fall into the category of idolatry (Ex. 20:1-5; 1 Cor. 10:1-14; 1 Jn. 5:21) or lack of stewardship (Prov. 22:3; 1 Cor. 4:2; Eph. 5:15; 1 Tim. 6:7-9; Heb. 13:5).
Precedence Related to the Celebration of Christmas:
God instituted various feasts or holidays for Israel to celebrate important events in their history as ways of remembering what He did (i.e., Passover). Jesus’ coming to this earth is a very important event, so would it be out of line to celebrate it?
Problems Related to the Celebration of Christmas:
The problem many Christians through the ages have had with Christmas is its origins and some of the traditions that go with it. Some say the date we celebrate is not even when Jesus was born. And, it is believed that Christmas appears to have started as a pagan festival that was later claimed by the Christian church as a time to celebrate Jesus’ first coming to earth. They suggest that the original intent seems to have been to take something pagan and turn it to the glory of God. The question we must ask is if we are indeed doing that through our celebrations at Christmas.
Colossians 4:5 says, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” To be sure Christmas provides added opportunities to share Jesus, a time when people tend to be more open to go to church and hear about Jesus.
Yet, we must constantly re-focus on the Savior because all the glitz and glitter of the season can distract us from the real reason we have to celebrate. We need to work at keeping Jesus a priority during the Christmas season.
We need to be careful when trying to celebrate. Thanks for this.
All sincere believers should direct all celebrations with eyes lifted to Heaven to honor and glorify God and His only begotten Son, Jesus. There are divergent views on celebrating Christmas by various churches and their leaders. Some just outright avoid Christmas celebrations because of the uber-commericalization of it, while others say even having a Christmas Tree in your home is a form of idol worship. But, what it boils down to is what is in your heart in your personal, family, and church reasons of celebrating the generally accepted day of our Lord’s birth and his coming into this world to save us from our sins so that we would have a direct access to God’s throne through him – Jesus.
Yes, may we all guard our hearts this Christmas, regardless of how we celebrate. — “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23)
Thank you for the insightful article. I agree that it is important to honor each other’s convictions. However, for me, it was interesting to discover that many of the claims about Christmas’ pagan origins are unsubstantiated. Here are two of my articles on Crosswalk about the dating of Christmas (Dec 25), as well as Christmas trees:
Was Jesus Really Born on Dec. 25?
The Origin of the Christmas Tree
Yes, various conclusions are made in looking back through history depending on the lens through which you are looking. Because Scripture is silent about this, it is indeed important to honor each other’s convictions. The one thing all believers should be able to agree upon is that Jesus Christ did come to earth in fulfillment of Scripture to be our Savior. For that we should be thankful, worshiping Him and celebrating all year long, not just during what has come to be the Christmas season.