What about Christmas?

We have entered the holiday season, the month of Advent, that crazy time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day when our culture is immersed in Christmas activity. For many Messianic believers, this can be a very difficult season to navigate. Likely you have had to grapple to some extent what role Christmas has in your lives and faith.

If you came from a mainstream Christian background and have been celebrating the Biblical holidays for any length of time, you have probably questioned whether or not to celebrate Christmas. Christmas is not just any holiday, but by far the most celebrated day in our culture’s calendar. To not celebrate it is so counter-cultural that it can be very offensive – especially if you have family that does celebrate. It is not just a commemoration of our Messiah’s birth, but a day of family gathering, good food, gift exchanges, and often a whole month of parties!

But you have likely also heard or read a lot of interesting (and less than spotless) history behind the holiday. It’s easy to find articles online comparing modern Christmas rituals to ancient pagan ones. How much of this is legitimate and how much is urban legend? What should our response be? What about our families whose faith practices look different than our own?

The History of Christmas

It can be hard to find an objective history about the holiday of Christmas that isn’t strongly influenced by an agenda. Here are a couple of articles we found that seemed to do a good job of laying out the details without much fluff:

The earliest record of the celebration of Yeshua’s birth is around 200 CE. In early Christianity, the date of the celebration of Yeshua’s birth was believed to be related to Passover. The belief at the time was that Yeshua was conceived on the same day He died – Passover – placing his birth around the time of the winter solstice.  Augustine wrote, “For he [Yeshua] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.” (On the Trinity, c. 399–419). 

We know that there are many resources available that teach that Christmas is rooted in paganism. This is important to look into because the Bible is very clear that, as God’s people, we are to have nothing to do with pagan worship. Deuteronomy 12 lays out God’s instructions to his people about eliminating all idol worship in His land. And we should consider the way we worship and always be sure we are worshipping God in a way that truly honors Him. 

However, upon deeper research, it is argued effectively that Christmas doesn’t actually have pagan roots. Rather than try to restate research that has already been done, we want to point you to some of the apologists who have done the research and presented it. Here are a couple:

And for those of you who prefer to learn in video format, here’s a breakdown of the biggest points from Wes Huff:

So… It’s NOT Pagan??

We know this may be unsettling for some of us. We know that many of our congregants have walked away from Christmas celebrations, and some have sacrificed a lot to do so. You may even have a desire to maintain your feelings that Christmas is pagan, even without the evidence, because you don’t want to feel like you made the wrong decision in abstaining from it. We have wrestled with those feelings as well, so we get it. But we also want to do our best to walk in truth regardless of how comfortable it is for us.

However, just because it isn’t pagan doesn’t mean you need to feel pressure to jump back into it. There are still valid reasons to avoid it, such as the fact that it developed in part out of the separation of the church from greater Judaism (and the antisemitism involved), and the extreme materialism often associated with it. We encourage you to walk in freedom in this area of your life and do what you are convicted of for you and your family.

If you choose to still celebrate Christmas, you are not alone. There are many in the Messianic world – intermarried couples especially – who embrace both Christmas and Hanukkah this season. (Rachel @hellomrsrachel and SarahRuth @kindle_togetherness come to mind.) Keep your celebration focused on God and family, and you can’t go wrong!

If you choose not to celebrate Christmas, that’s fine too! Christmas isn’t a Jewish holiday, and in Messianic Judaism most consider it just outside their purview. Many choose to celebrate Yeshua’s birth during Sukkot (or even Passover). If you come from a Jewish family, you likely already “celebrate” Christmas with Chinese food and a movie! If you come from a Christian family, and your extended family still celebrates Christmas, you can honor them by gathering with them for some of their celebration. Who knows? Maybe they will come celebrate Hanukkah with you too!

Love One Another

No matter what you choose to do in your home regarding your approach to Christmas, the most critical aspect is that we walk in love.

If you are not part of a Jewish family, you will likely encounter a fair amount of resistance if you decide not to celebrate Christmas. By not judging others around us for their convictions, and just walking peacefully in your own convictions, we can minimize the angst.

In Yeshua’s farewell address to his disciples in John, He exhorted his disciples to love their brethren more than they loved themselves. He was taking the Torah to the next level, as Yeshua did many times. Loving one another is one of the strongest commands in the Torah, and Yeshua emphasized it frequently and strongly. Whatever you decide to do in your holiday gatherings and celebrations, we encourage you to take the approach of love. 

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