By James R. Cope

            Since faithful Christians are ever anxious to learn anything they should know about their Lord and Master, they naturally become concerned when they see and hear so much ado about the birth of Jesus and its relationship to December 25.  This quest for knowledge leads one to ask the question: “Where is the only authentic record of the birth of Christ to be found?”  Universally the answer is returned, “Only in the New Testament.”  This being the case, a second logical question is: “Does the New Testament anywhere indicate any particular day of any week of any month of any year as the birthday of Jesus?”  The answer is as readily given as the question is asked: “No, there is no indication whatever in the New Testament as to the day, month or year that Jesus was born.”

            Are we correct, than, when we assert that December 25 is a date set by man, not by God?  Unquestionably this is true.  The evidence is overwhelming to the effect that Christmas was not even among the earliest festivals of the apostate Roman Church.  Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. V, p. 642, 1960 ed., declares, “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church, and before the 5^th century there was no general consensus of opinion as to when it should come in the calendar, whether on January 6, March 25 or December 25.”  This same authority states that “the exact day and year of Christ’s birth have never been satisfactorily settled” (p. 643).  In Queries and Answers, p. 80, David Lipscomb observes that “there has never been agreement as to the day or month of his birth; it has been fixed by different writers for every month of the year.”

            Is there evidence against the December 25 date?  Yes, both external and internal.  Outside the New Testament, evidence of uncertainty is found in the various dates already mentioned several centuries after the Lord’s first advent.  The “first certain mention” of December 25 as the birthday of Christ, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, was not till the year 354.

            Evidence from the text denies the December 25 date, as is set forth in the following observations:

            “When He was born, the shepherds were keeping watch by night over their flocks in the wilderness of Judea; and, since the flocks were taken out to pasture about Passover-time and kept until the middle of October when winter set in, His birth fell betwixt April and October” (David Smith, The Days of His Flesh, pp. 12, 13).

            “The climate was mild, and to keep their flocks from straying, they spent the night with them.  It is also a fact that the Jews sent out their flocks into the mountainous and desert regions during the summer months, and took them up in the latter part of October or the first of November, when the cold weather commenced.  While away in these deserts and mountainous regions, it was proper that there should be some one to attend them to keep them from straying, and from the ravages of wolves and other wild beasts.  It is probable from this that our savior was born before the 25^th of December or before what we call Christmas.  At that time it is cold, and especially in the high and mountainous regions about Bethlehem.  But the exact time of His birth is unknown; there is no way to ascertain it.  By different learned men it has been fixed at each month of the year.   Nor is it of consequence to know the time; if it were, God would have preserved the record of it.  Matters of moment are clearly revealed; those which HE regards as of no importance are concealed.” (Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament, Luke, pp. 18,19).

            The truth is that the keeping of December 25 as a “holy day” in celebration of Christ’s birth is a combination of Roman paganism and Roman Catholicism.

            In this same connection, World Book Encyclopedia (Vol. 3, p. 416, 1960 ed.) declares:

            “In A.D. 354, Bishop Liberius of Rome ordered the people to celebrate on December 25.  He probably chose this date because the people of Rome already observed it as the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birthday of the sun…For many years, people observed Christmas as a religious festival only, but they gradually adopted more and more customs unrelated to the church.  In England, during the Middle Ages, Christmas became the merriest day of the year.  Celebrations eventually became so rowdy that the Puritans in  England did away with the observance of Christmas by law in 1643.  Colonists in New England copied the English laws. The blue laws of the Massachusetts Bay and New Haven colonies even outlawed mince pies.  But immigrants brought with them Christmas customs from many lands.”       

            The following from Encyclopedia Britannica (Op. cit.) is both enlightening and interesting:

            “CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS – Christmas customs are an evolution from times that long antedated the Christian period – a descent from seasonal, pagan, religious and national practices, hedged about with legend and tradition.  Their seasonal connections with the pagan feasts of the winter solstice (when the sun reaches its point furthest south) relate them to the beginning of time and their legacy in the birthday of Christ makes them shareholders in the most significant event in the history of the world – an event that gave it a new date, anno Domini.

            “In the beginning many of the earth’s inhabitants were sun worshippers because the course of their lives depended on its yearly round in the heavens, and feasts were held to aid its return from distant wanderings.  In the south of Europe, in Egypt and Persia, the sun gods were worshipped with elaborate ceremonies at the season of the winter solstice, as a fitting time to pay tribute to the benign god of plenty, while in Rome the Saturnalia reigned for a week.  In northern lands mid-December was a critical time, for the days became shorter and shorter and the sun was weak and far away. Thus these ancient peoples held feasts at the same period that Christmas is now observed; they built great bonfires in order to give the winter sun god strength and to bring him back to life again.  When it because apparent that the days were growing longer, there was great rejoicing because of the promise of lengthening days to follow.  Thus, the central idea of the winter solstice -  the return of light – became the hope of the world in the birth of Christ, the light of the world.”

                                                To be continued…..