Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?

The question of whether Christians should celebrate Christmas has been debated for centuries. Some believers embrace the holiday as a time to honor the birth of Christ, while others reject it due to its historical associations with paganism and Roman Catholic traditions. Scripture provides guidance on matters of conscience:

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; [a]and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died [b]and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (Romans 14:5-10)

Arguments Against Celebrating Christmas

• Pagans celebrate the winter solstice around this time of year. December 25 is not Jesus’ birthday.
• Christmas is a Roman Catholic Holiday and Catholicism is evil.
• The term Christmas is a Roman Catholic term.
• Christmas celebrations are the result of Roman Catholic syncretism.
• Mother/Child worship is at the heart of the Satanic counterfeit religion.

Arguments for it Celebrating Christmas

The birth of Christ is one of the most significant events in human history. These would be the Creation, the Fall, the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the events surrounding the Return of Christ.

The pattern of the Old Testament is to commemorate important events. We are commanded to communicate the great things that God has done to our children and children’s children (Deuteronomy 6:7 and following).

Celebrations and feasts were the biblical way of commemorating these important events. This tradition is carried on with mandatory celebrations/commemorations such as baptism and the Lord’s table.

We are not limited to celebrations that prescribed by scripture. Jesus observed Hanukkah (John 10:22-42) which celebrated the retaking of the Temple by the Maccabees in the Intertestamental period and is not prescribed by scripture. We commemorate important times of God’s blessing with thanksgiving events such as the Thanksgiving holiday, anniversaries, even birthdays are a time to thank God for one another and for the life He has given to us.

Answers to Common Objections

Christmas is about the winter solstice, not Jesus’ birth.

December 25 is not the actual solstice and therefore it is not a celebration of it. We do not know the actual day that Jesus was born. The Bible does not preserve that record for us. But we do know that it was a time of great spiritual darkness. Celebrating the incarnation during the darkest time of the year makes sense since Jesus is the light that shined in the darkness (John 1:1-9). It is not the actual day of Jesus birth, but it is a good day to commemorate the fact that God took on flesh for us.

Pagans celebrate this time of year.

While it is certainly true that pagans also celebrated at this time of the year, that should not preclude us from celebrating what is precious to us during this time.

Christmas was a Catholic holiday, and Protestants did not celebrate it.

Christmas was a Catholic Holiday, but not only a Catholic holiday. It is not known today in any way as isolated to Roman Catholicism. Some argue that the Protestants did not celebrate Christmas, but this is not true of all. They were divided on the subject. Martin Luther celebrated Christmas and made lots of suggestions about particulars of the celebration. The origins of the Christian use of the Christmas tree go back to Martin Luther.

We can use history to argue against anything and everything. We can find connections, real or imagined everywhere. The associational difficulties with a particular celebration are confined to a particular time and place. What Christmas meant then is not what it means to us now. What it means to others is not what it means to us. The most important thing is what we mean by what we do and what we communicate to others in doing it. Refusing to celebrate it today would be seen by almost no one as a reaction to Catholicism. In fact, it would be seen by the world as an odd rejection of the Christ-Child by the ones who claim to believe in Him.

Christmas is a Catholic term.

I think we can all agree with that. Separatists and Protestants do not believe in the Mass and what the Roman Catholic Church teaches. However, names and terms become generic over time and such is the case with Christmas. We understand the origin of the term, but that is not what we mean by it today.

Christmas is syncretism with paganism.

It is true that the Roman Catholic Church developed worship practices–but more significantly theology–that was syncretistic with paganism. We should make sure that all the theology that we teach and the stories we tell about Christmas about the Christmas story do not conflict with the plain teaching of scripture in any way. This is why Santa Claus, elves and such are problematic for conscientious believers.

This holiday is similar to the Babylonic Mother/Child worship of old.

We do not worship Mary. Those who do are in grave error.

However, Mary was greatly blessed, and she is part of the incarnation story told in scripture. In fact, she is an important and commendable part of the biblical story, and it would not be faithful to the word to leave her out of the story. We just do not worship her, and we do not claim attributes for her that are not stated in scripture like the Catholics do.

Warnings About Celebrating Christmas

The issues of greatest concern would be how we are violating biblical principles in our celebrations today and how we might be doing damage rather than help during this time.

There is danger in mixing make-believe with truth.

The Santa Claus celebrations are problematic for believers. It is a celebration of make-believe characters like elves and talking reindeer that fly around the world. While people think this is innocent fun to make children believe this is true, at the same time we tell them about Jesus’ birth. This mixing of make-believe and reality should be considered at best confusing to the primary purpose of the Christmas celebration—to communicate the wonder of the incarnation to generations to come.

No one should participate in sinful behavior in the name of Christ’s birth.

Partying, drunkenness, gluttony, greed, materialism and more.  These things are wicked in themselves, how much more when we participate in these things in the name of a holiday commemorating the Lord’s birth. Isaiah 1 gives us a picture of what God thinks about this.

We should take the criticisms of Christmas celebration seriously. While we might continue to celebrate the birth of our Lord, we should do it with a sense of purpose and discipline that focuses on the truth and purposefully avoids the excesses of the season.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

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Audio version of this article is here: Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?