THE CHRISTMAS QUESTION

Bill Dilks
Introduction:
1. “What to do about Christmas?” A problem that is facing New Testament Christians.
2. In beginning to study this problem, let’s realize what we need to do as far as our religious practice. For us to practice something relating to the spiritual:
a. The practice must be given as a command to be obeyed; a principle to be kept; or a precept to be practiced.
b. We must therefore be given enough information by the word of God to do the will of God, lest we practice tradition for tradition’s sake.
3. What follows is an attempt to show from scripture what our practice and attitude should be towards Christmas......

I. The Question Concerning the Date — December 25th.
A. Under the Jewish system, specific dates were given to observe special days along with instructions concerning what to do on those days. See Leviticus 23:4-44. In the New Testament the teaching and practice of Christians meeting on the first day of the week to worship together is documented in Acts 2:42; 20:7; I Corinthians 11 - 16:2.
B. Do we have enough information concerning the birth of Jesus to determine the date from Matthew 2 and Luke 2?
1. Dionysis Exiguss (6th century monk) gave us the B.C. - A.D. dating system. However, this system is at least 4 years off since according to Matthew 2:1 Jesus was born BEFORE Herod died. Herod died in 4 B.C. Also take into account the fact that there is no time reference to date the birth of Jesus from the death of Herod.
2. The census in Lk. 2:1
a. Recent discoveries have shown that there was a census taken every two years for a 14 yr. period for tax purposes.
b. It is however interesting to note that this action fulfilled the prophecy of Micah 5:2 concerning the location of Messiah’s birth.
3. The wise men - Matthew 2
a. The problem concerning Mary’s purification and the consecration of Jesus, see Luke 2:22-24.
• According to Lev. 12, Mary had to be purified and Jesus dedicated 40 days after his birth.
• Mary and Joseph offered the LESSER sacrifice of 2 doves (Luke 2:24) and not lamb, see Leviticus 12:6-8. They made the lesser sacrifice because they could not afford the lamb. How could they not afford a lamb if they had already received (according to tradition) gold, frankincense and myrrh?
• The conclusion is that they didn’t have the money to offer a lamb 40 days after the birth of Jesus because the wise men had not yet arrived.
b. The Killing of the Children by Herod - Matthew 2:16
• “Two years and under” - If Jesus was just an infant when the wise men came, why kill toddlers?
• “According to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men” - Why the time reference? Could it be that the star appeared and led the wise men to where Jesus was after His birth with the star appearing on the night when he was born? (An interesting sidelight on the star is that it lead them to Herod..only after they consulted God’s word in Micah 5:2 did the star lead them to Jesus.)
c. Where they met Jesus - “In the house” - Matthew 2:11
• Tradition says 3 wise men met Jesus, Mary and Joseph in a stable in Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born.
• Scripture points out: Mary and Joseph were too poor to afford a lamb as a sacrifice 40 days after Jesus was born (thus not having yet received the gifts of the wise men). The wise men cannot be numbered although they brought three types of gifts, see Matthew 2:11. They met Jesus with Mary and Joseph in a house.
• Conclusion: even if we could date when the wise men came to Bethlehem, the star appeared, the children killed by Herod, etc., it would not and could not give us the date of the birth of Jesus.
4. The shepherds - Luke 2:8
a. Shepherds came in from the hill region and corralled their flocks from around October 15th to around the middle of March.
b. An interesting note on this is that they may have been watching over lambs and sheep raised for sacrifice in the temple. If this is the case, what a parallel!
5. Conclusion: all material in scripture leads away from December 25th, even to the point of not even giving the exact month, let alone giving an exact date.
C. Where did December 25th come from?
1. The Roman Catholic church started celebration of the birth of Christ on December 25th in the 5th century.
2. The context of the date:
a. December 25th coincides with the winter solstice.
b. With this in mind, most pagan cultures calculated this as being the time when all gods related to the sun (Mithra, Osiris, Horus, Hercules, Bacchus, Adonis, Jupiter, Tammuz) were born.
c. In Rome this time was called the “Saturnalia” where a great feast was held and gifts were exchanged in celebration of the birth of the sun.
3. What happened in the 5th century was that the Roman church adopted a pagan practice and set a date from it.

II. A Possible Answer
Note: the following is from “Babylon Mystery Religion” pp.160-162 by Ralph Wilson. Although I can’t agree with everything he says, he does make some interesting points on when Jesus could have been born.
A. Dating Back
1. The ministry of Jesus lasted about 3½ years.
2. The ministry of Jesus ended in the spring during the Passover - John 18:39.
3. Jesus began His ministry shortly after He turned 30 - Luke 3:23.
4. If Jesus died in the spring, and had a ministry for 3½ years, and started that ministry shortly after He turned 30, then a more reasonable time for His birth would be in the early fall.
B. Contrast to the Birth of John the Baptizer
1. John was born about 6 months before Jesus.
2. Zacharias, John’s father, was serving as a priest in the course of Abia in Luke 1:5-13. According to 1 Chronicles 24:10 and the Jewish calendar, Zacharias would have been serving in the Temple (besides on the major feasts) from June 1-8. He would have been obligated to serve the following week which was Pentecost. Soon after this, he left to meet Elizabeth and she conceived John (Luke 1:23-24). If you add about 9 months to this you arrive with John’s birth sometime in the early spring. Add six more months to this and you have Jesus being born sometime in the early fall.
C. Other proof:
1. Taxation (see Luke 2:1-5), which was the reason for the census, took place in the fall after the harvest. Also, there would be no reason for Mary to go with Joseph except that she wanted to go and attend the Feast of Tabernacles with Joseph in Jerusalem.
2. “No room in the inn” (Luke 2:7). This phrase seems a little unusual if you realize that everyone had to report to their own city for the census, which would have meant a shifting of people, but not to the extent of overcrowding This phrase in Luke does however have meaning if one realizes that during the Jewish feasts Jerusalem (according to the Jewish historian Josephus) swelled from 120,000 to over 2 million. The overflow from this surge of people would have spilled over into Bethlehem. This would happen only in the fall and in the spring.
D. Conclusion: although this evidence is not what I would call conclusive, it does seem to logically point to Jesus being born in the early fall and not in December. Note that no specific month or date can be given.

III. A Definite Conclusion: since no exact date, even an exact month, can be arrived on as to the date of the birth of Jesus, then it would be pure speculation to arrive at a date, pure tradition to make religious practice of celebrating that date, and finally, it would be a definite addition of man’s will to God’s will in celebrating that date.

IV. Two Ways of Dealing with the Holiday Season...
A. The Ba-Humbug Complex - premise: it would be wrong to do anything remotely associated with Christmas.
1. Scriptural arguments
a. The keeping of days is mentioned in Galatians 4:8-11 and Colossians 2:16-23, but it needs to be stated that the days mentioned refer to those kept by the Jews under the law. If we wanted to assign religious practice to Christmas, then this argument would be valid.
b. Jeremiah 10:1-5 refers, as some have thought, to the Christmas tree. The context is, however, talking about making an idol. The background of the Christmas tree was in worship of the Scandinavian god Odin, but there is a great difference between an item of household decoration and an item of worship!
2. Contextual arguments
a. Since the word “Christmas” meant Christ’s Mass and “Holiday” meant Holy day, then we cannot have anything to do with them. There Is a problem with this line of reasoning. . . if we eliminate all words that come from such a background, then how will you rename the days of the week since just about every name came from a Roman god. What I’m trying to say is that in the course of time certain words denote something different from what the original intention denoted. One would do well in taking a close look at I Corinthians 8- 10 for the way we need to view matters of this sort.
b. Well, some may argue, if you say that you can’t observe this time in a religious context, then why have anything to do with it at all. This argument pivots on the concept that if people decide to put up a Christmas tree, decorate the house, send out cards, and exchange gifts, then I can’t do it because they do it. Some actions are wrong in themselves (sin), some actions could be called questionable, and others just fall into the realm of opinion. When we take a look at our actions, we need ask ourselves what is our attitude in doing that action. If we assign no religious importance to this season, but choose to celebrate it as a family holiday, then what would be wrong with December 25th as opposed to July 4th or the last Thursday in November?
B. An Alternative Complex — premise: we can use this as an opportunity to reach others and to encourage and build up the church and our families.
1. A principle in the book of Acts: Paul preached in the synagogues (see Acts 9:20) and related to the Greeks in Acts 17 from the point of their “unknown god”. In each case Paul took advantage of the situation and the inclination of the people for things spiritual. If anyone had an inclination to be spiritual in today’s world, it would be at this time when the world would be thinking of the birth of Christ. We need to be careful to be thinking about trying to fulfill the great commission more than filling a gift list!
2. We need to keep priorities right. Answer the following:
a. Do you spend more time trying to cultivate a “Christmas Spirit” over letting the Spirit bear fruit in your life?
b. Does your giving and attendance and work for the church drop because of other obligations?
c. Do you find yourself trapped into giving gifts under compulsion instead of giving freely with love?
d. Are you motivating your children to be good because Santa is watching or because Jesus wants them to be good?
3. Our motivation needs to be right in this. There is no reason why we can’t make this a time of togetherness and love, but the proper perspective needs to be in operation: we are servants of Christ who put the will of God and His kingdom FIRST (see Matthew 6:33).