In Defense of a Christian Christmas
Tinsel, Traditions and Truth: A Minister’s Meanderings on a Christian Christmas
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That magical, serene end-of-year season which is inevitably marked by resurfacing of archived articles and social-media threads with urgent warnings: “14 evidences that Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th!” “11 reasons Christmas isn’t really Christian!” “5 curses of Christmas trees, according to Jeremiah 10!” “Why Christmas is thinly veiled worship of Nimrod, Mithras, or the sun!”
This kind of pushback from inside (and outside) the Christian community has left many well-meaning Christians uneasy about Christmas. A quiet fear has arisen that by decking the halls we might be dishonoring the very Lord we long to honor. Is celebrating Christmas worth it? Is it really rooted in pagan traditions? Could it be harmful for my children to carry on these traditions to the next generation? With such lingering doubts, wouldn’t we be safer to cancel the whole thing and spend Advent wrapped in sackcloth, eating lentil soup (lukewarm, of course) by candlelight?
It seems as though every year, the dilemma is thrust back upon us -- just what, exactly, are Christians supposed to do with Christmas?
Of course, such perennial and long-lasting dilemmas can hardly be eradicated in a single article. My aim, then, is to help the people of New Song Bible Church think clearly about these issues by debunking a few common myths and making a brief defense for a Christian Christmas.
A BRIEF HISTORY…
Despite what has commonly been testified through facebook links, the earliest history of Christmas in the church is quite a bit clearer than eggnog. We do know that the 1st and 2nd century church did not have a formal celebration for Christ’s nativity. For the first two centuries the church’s calendar focused almost entirely on Easter. The birth of Jesus was remembered, of course, but no annual feast was attached to it.
Interestingly enough, the first link found between Christ’s birth and the date of December 25th is in the writings of an ancient historian named Sextus Julius Africanus, who made the connection as early as 196AD. What this means is that Christmas was correlated to December 25th before the Roman festival of Sol Invictus (the festival of the unconquered sun), which didn’t begin until the middle of the 4th century. So those who would try to tell you that Christians simply tacked on a bit of religion to the pagan Roman holiday should double-check their timeline. By the time we get to the well-known church father Chrysostom, he wrote in 386 AD that Christmas was celebrated on December 25th and described it as a “long-standing tradition.”
When the church finally formalized the observance of Christmas and attached an official feast to it, the Eastern church adopted the date January 6th, correlating it to the believed date of Jesus’ baptism. Meanwhile, the church in the West retained the date of December 25th, at least in part due to what would now be considered an unusual reason: Early Christian theologians (as far back as the second century) had developed a tradition that the world was created on March 25 and that Christ, the “second Adam,” was conceived on the same date. Counting nine months forward brought them to December 25.
This date coincided with the aforementioned Roman festival of Sol Invictus, “the festival of the unconquerable sun,” which had been moved to December 25th in 274 AD under Emperor Aurelian, according to historian Thomas Tayley, “to compete with the growing rate of Christianity.”
So no matter what you want to make of the early-church wrestling match between Christmas and Invictus, history is clear that Christmas won by a knockout. The west declared that the true unconquerable Son was none other than the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ. The rest - you could say - is history. Christmas endured, while Invictus lives only in school textbooks.
(If you are interested in further researching the history of Christmas, I commend Wes Huff’s youtube video “Christmas isn’t pagan and here’s why.”)
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE TRADITIONS??
What about the trees? The wreaths? The lights? The gifts? Yes, certainly many of these traditions have pre-Christmas roots in northern European winter practices. Evergreens traditionally symbolize life persisting through the winter. Fires and candles pushed back the long nights; gift-giving marked the turning of the year.
Yet when the Gospel moved north and west, missionaries and local churches did not forbid these customs. Instead, following the pattern of Paul in Athens, they heard the “unknown god” being groped toward in those ancient longings and declared, “Him you worship without knowing; let us tell you His name.” The symbols were redeemed, reoriented, filled with new meaning. In short, they were baptized. This was never seen as compromise, but conquest.
In the same way, when the Israelites plundered Egypt’s gold on the way out of slavery, God didn’t scold them for touching unclean treasure. He told them to melt it down and make lampstands for the tabernacle. The same principle can be applied to many traditions. Creation is stubbornly good, even when sinners have been using it wrong. Light in the darkness? Ours now. Our Savior is light. Feasting? Definitely ours. We have the most cause to celebrate. Trees that stay green when everything else dies? Certainly ours, by virtue of the resurrection hope that we’re actively celebrating.
EVEN CHRISTMAS TREES?!
There is no evidence that Germanic or Norse pagans ever decorated evergreen trees indoors as part of winter-solstice worship. The earliest clear Christmas-tree traditions are thoroughly Christian:
- The 8th-century legend of Boniface cutting down the sacred Oak of Thor, and after not being struck down by lightning, it’s said he pointed to the fir tree and dedicated it to Christ.
- In the 15th-16th centuries, “paradise trees” in Germany and the Baltic were used in church plays on December 24 to represent the Tree of Life, later brought indoors and lighted.
- Famously, Martin Luther began setting up a candle-lit tree in his home, meaning to capture the beauty of starlight shining through evergreens.
By the time Christmas trees became widespread in the 19th century, European paganism had been extinct for nearly a thousand years. There simply is no direct link between pagan European practices and modern day Christmas trees. So no, the Christmas tree in your living room is not a druidic demon portal. Every bulb you hang is a tiny echo of “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” And if your Scandinavian ancestors once dragged a pine indoors to remind themselves that life would return in spring; well, they were more right than they knew. Life did return. His name is Jesus, and He showed up right on time, even if the calendar was approximate.
THE END OF THE MATTER, ALL HAS BEEN HEARD…
Ultimately, the manner and extent to which Christmas will be celebrated is up to each individual household. Two families rarely have identical convictions, and decisions about trees, presents, decorations, stockings, nativity scenes, wreaths, lights, etc. will have to be wrestled through in every home. Perhaps then, the most useful encouragement I can offer is this simple- celebrate Christmas. Whatever that might look like for you- find a way to express and celebrate God becoming flesh that suits both your conscience and the joyful gravity of the season.
So go ahead. String the lights. Bake the cookies shaped like stars and remember the faith of the wisemen. Teach your children of the real “St. Nicholas”, who punched a heretic in the face at the Council of Nicaea and spent years in prison for the faith. Sing “Joy to the World” at the top of your lungs, as if fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains were repeating the sounding joy. Let your house smell like cinnamon and pine and hope.
There is still much darkness in this world. The world is still broken. But for a few weeks every year, Christians across the globe unite to push back against the darkness with beauty, with laughter, and with children ripping open paper to find that someone thought of them. We get to practice the muscle memory of heaven: generous, joyful, light-filled, (and in some cases) slightly over-the-top celebration because our God is not stingy.
Remember, the angels didn’t show up to the shepherds with a seminar on historical dating controversies. They showed up with ““Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Fear not. Good news. Great joy. All peoples.
So, this Christmas, dear friends, whatever it may look like for you and yours- celebrate like people who have been forgiven much, loved first, and invited to the celebratory feast the universe will ever throw. Celebrate like the war is already won and we’re just waiting for the victory parade. Celebrate like redeemed pagans who know the real Light has come, and no amount of tinsel can outshine Him.
Merry Christmas!
Kevin
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That magical, serene end-of-year season which is inevitably marked by resurfacing of archived articles and social-media threads with urgent warnings: “14 evidences that Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th!” “11 reasons Christmas isn’t really Christian!” “5 curses of Christmas trees, according to Jeremiah 10!” “Why Christmas is thinly veiled worship of Nimrod, Mithras, or the sun!”
This kind of pushback from inside (and outside) the Christian community has left many well-meaning Christians uneasy about Christmas. A quiet fear has arisen that by decking the halls we might be dishonoring the very Lord we long to honor. Is celebrating Christmas worth it? Is it really rooted in pagan traditions? Could it be harmful for my children to carry on these traditions to the next generation? With such lingering doubts, wouldn’t we be safer to cancel the whole thing and spend Advent wrapped in sackcloth, eating lentil soup (lukewarm, of course) by candlelight?
It seems as though every year, the dilemma is thrust back upon us -- just what, exactly, are Christians supposed to do with Christmas?
Of course, such perennial and long-lasting dilemmas can hardly be eradicated in a single article. My aim, then, is to help the people of New Song Bible Church think clearly about these issues by debunking a few common myths and making a brief defense for a Christian Christmas.
A BRIEF HISTORY…
Despite what has commonly been testified through facebook links, the earliest history of Christmas in the church is quite a bit clearer than eggnog. We do know that the 1st and 2nd century church did not have a formal celebration for Christ’s nativity. For the first two centuries the church’s calendar focused almost entirely on Easter. The birth of Jesus was remembered, of course, but no annual feast was attached to it.
Interestingly enough, the first link found between Christ’s birth and the date of December 25th is in the writings of an ancient historian named Sextus Julius Africanus, who made the connection as early as 196AD. What this means is that Christmas was correlated to December 25th before the Roman festival of Sol Invictus (the festival of the unconquered sun), which didn’t begin until the middle of the 4th century. So those who would try to tell you that Christians simply tacked on a bit of religion to the pagan Roman holiday should double-check their timeline. By the time we get to the well-known church father Chrysostom, he wrote in 386 AD that Christmas was celebrated on December 25th and described it as a “long-standing tradition.”
When the church finally formalized the observance of Christmas and attached an official feast to it, the Eastern church adopted the date January 6th, correlating it to the believed date of Jesus’ baptism. Meanwhile, the church in the West retained the date of December 25th, at least in part due to what would now be considered an unusual reason: Early Christian theologians (as far back as the second century) had developed a tradition that the world was created on March 25 and that Christ, the “second Adam,” was conceived on the same date. Counting nine months forward brought them to December 25.
This date coincided with the aforementioned Roman festival of Sol Invictus, “the festival of the unconquerable sun,” which had been moved to December 25th in 274 AD under Emperor Aurelian, according to historian Thomas Tayley, “to compete with the growing rate of Christianity.”
So no matter what you want to make of the early-church wrestling match between Christmas and Invictus, history is clear that Christmas won by a knockout. The west declared that the true unconquerable Son was none other than the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ. The rest - you could say - is history. Christmas endured, while Invictus lives only in school textbooks.
(If you are interested in further researching the history of Christmas, I commend Wes Huff’s youtube video “Christmas isn’t pagan and here’s why.”)
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE TRADITIONS??
What about the trees? The wreaths? The lights? The gifts? Yes, certainly many of these traditions have pre-Christmas roots in northern European winter practices. Evergreens traditionally symbolize life persisting through the winter. Fires and candles pushed back the long nights; gift-giving marked the turning of the year.
Yet when the Gospel moved north and west, missionaries and local churches did not forbid these customs. Instead, following the pattern of Paul in Athens, they heard the “unknown god” being groped toward in those ancient longings and declared, “Him you worship without knowing; let us tell you His name.” The symbols were redeemed, reoriented, filled with new meaning. In short, they were baptized. This was never seen as compromise, but conquest.
In the same way, when the Israelites plundered Egypt’s gold on the way out of slavery, God didn’t scold them for touching unclean treasure. He told them to melt it down and make lampstands for the tabernacle. The same principle can be applied to many traditions. Creation is stubbornly good, even when sinners have been using it wrong. Light in the darkness? Ours now. Our Savior is light. Feasting? Definitely ours. We have the most cause to celebrate. Trees that stay green when everything else dies? Certainly ours, by virtue of the resurrection hope that we’re actively celebrating.
EVEN CHRISTMAS TREES?!
There is no evidence that Germanic or Norse pagans ever decorated evergreen trees indoors as part of winter-solstice worship. The earliest clear Christmas-tree traditions are thoroughly Christian:
- The 8th-century legend of Boniface cutting down the sacred Oak of Thor, and after not being struck down by lightning, it’s said he pointed to the fir tree and dedicated it to Christ.
- In the 15th-16th centuries, “paradise trees” in Germany and the Baltic were used in church plays on December 24 to represent the Tree of Life, later brought indoors and lighted.
- Famously, Martin Luther began setting up a candle-lit tree in his home, meaning to capture the beauty of starlight shining through evergreens.
By the time Christmas trees became widespread in the 19th century, European paganism had been extinct for nearly a thousand years. There simply is no direct link between pagan European practices and modern day Christmas trees. So no, the Christmas tree in your living room is not a druidic demon portal. Every bulb you hang is a tiny echo of “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” And if your Scandinavian ancestors once dragged a pine indoors to remind themselves that life would return in spring; well, they were more right than they knew. Life did return. His name is Jesus, and He showed up right on time, even if the calendar was approximate.
THE END OF THE MATTER, ALL HAS BEEN HEARD…
Ultimately, the manner and extent to which Christmas will be celebrated is up to each individual household. Two families rarely have identical convictions, and decisions about trees, presents, decorations, stockings, nativity scenes, wreaths, lights, etc. will have to be wrestled through in every home. Perhaps then, the most useful encouragement I can offer is this simple- celebrate Christmas. Whatever that might look like for you- find a way to express and celebrate God becoming flesh that suits both your conscience and the joyful gravity of the season.
So go ahead. String the lights. Bake the cookies shaped like stars and remember the faith of the wisemen. Teach your children of the real “St. Nicholas”, who punched a heretic in the face at the Council of Nicaea and spent years in prison for the faith. Sing “Joy to the World” at the top of your lungs, as if fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains were repeating the sounding joy. Let your house smell like cinnamon and pine and hope.
There is still much darkness in this world. The world is still broken. But for a few weeks every year, Christians across the globe unite to push back against the darkness with beauty, with laughter, and with children ripping open paper to find that someone thought of them. We get to practice the muscle memory of heaven: generous, joyful, light-filled, (and in some cases) slightly over-the-top celebration because our God is not stingy.
Remember, the angels didn’t show up to the shepherds with a seminar on historical dating controversies. They showed up with ““Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Fear not. Good news. Great joy. All peoples.
So, this Christmas, dear friends, whatever it may look like for you and yours- celebrate like people who have been forgiven much, loved first, and invited to the celebratory feast the universe will ever throw. Celebrate like the war is already won and we’re just waiting for the victory parade. Celebrate like redeemed pagans who know the real Light has come, and no amount of tinsel can outshine Him.
Merry Christmas!
Kevin
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