Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? What the Bible Says

We've spent this whole series looking at history: where December 25 came from, the Christmas tree, Santa, and how stores took over the season.

But for some Christians, the history isn't the real issue. Their question is simpler: Does God want us to celebrate Christmas at all?

These are sincere believers who love Jesus and want to obey him, and they usually point to a few Bible passages. They deserve a real answer, not an eye-roll. So let's open the Bible and look at those passages together.

"But Jeremiah 10 describes a Christmas tree!"

This is the big one. Here's the passage:

"For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move." (Jeremiah 10:3–4, ESV)

If you stop reading there, I get it. That really does sound like a Christmas tree.

But keep reading. The very next verse says: "Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk" (Jeremiah 10:5, ESV).

Jeremiah isn't describing a decoration. He's describing a craftsman carving a piece of wood into an idol, covering it in silver and gold, and nailing it down so the god doesn't tip over. A few verses later he says they dress it in violet and purple clothes (Jeremiah 10:9). Then people bow down to it.

And remember, Jeremiah wrote this around 600 years before Jesus was born, and about 2,100 years before anyone put up a Christmas tree.

The question Jeremiah 10 asks isn't "Is there a tree in your house?" It's "Are you worshiping it?" Nobody is praying to their Christmas tree. (If you are, we need to talk.)

"But Deuteronomy 12 says not to copy the pagans"

Another passage people point to is Deuteronomy 12. God warns Israel not to ask about the gods of the nations, "saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.' You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way" (Deuteronomy 12:30–31, ESV).

That's a serious command. But look at how the verse finishes: "for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods."

God is telling Israel not to borrow pagan worship, the rituals the Canaanites used to serve their gods, including child sacrifice. That's a world away from a family reading Luke 2 around the tree.

And as we've seen in this series, the core of Christmas didn't come from pagan worship anyway. The date came from Christians calculating from the cross. The tree came from a church play about Adam and Eve. Santa came from a bishop who gave in secret. Christmas isn't worshiping God the way pagans worshiped their gods. It's worshiping Jesus because he came.

"But the Bible never tells us to celebrate it"

This one is true. Nowhere does the Bible command Christians to celebrate Jesus' birth on December 25 or any other day.

Some Christians, including the Puritans, believed that if God didn't command something for worship, the church shouldn't add it. That's a thoughtful position, and it's why Christmas was actually banned in Puritan England and early Massachusetts.

But "not commanded" isn't the same as "forbidden." A few things to consider:

• Jesus was at the temple during a holiday God never commanded. John 10:22–23 says it was the Feast of Dedication (what we call Hanukkah), and Jesus was walking in the temple. That feast wasn't in the law of Moses. It was added later to remember God's faithfulness. Jesus didn't condemn it.
• Israel added a feast of its own. Purim, from the book of Esther, was set up by Mordecai and Esther, not commanded at Sinai, and Scripture records it with approval (Esther 9:20–32).
• The first Christmas was a celebration. An army of angels praised God (Luke 2:13–14). The shepherds went home glorifying God (Luke 2:20). The wise men "rejoiced exceedingly with great joy" (Matthew 2:10, ESV). Celebrating the birth of Jesus isn't foreign to the Bible. It's how the Bible tells the story.

"But some customs still have pagan connections"

Fair enough. As we've said throughout this series, some Christmas customs have mixed histories. So does a lot of everyday life.

Remember Thor, the god whose oak Boniface chopped down? You honor him every week. Thursday is literally "Thor's day." Wednesday is "Woden's day," named after the chief Norse god. Nobody thinks you're worshiping Thor when you show up for small group on Thursday night.

Paul dealt with a much more direct version of this. In Corinth, a lot of the meat in the market had been sacrificed to idols. Paul's answer: "Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For 'the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof'" (1 Corinthians 10:25–26, ESV).

An idol is nothing (1 Corinthians 8:4). What matters isn't where something might have come from centuries ago. It's what it means now, and who it's for. Paul's rule: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31, ESV).

Paul did add one caution: if eating would hurt a weaker believer's conscience, love that person more than your freedom (1 Corinthians 8:9–13). That applies here too.

Freedom goes both ways

So what does the Bible actually say about special days? Paul answers this directly in two places.

"One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord." (Romans 14:5–6, ESV)

"Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." (Colossians 2:16–17, ESV)

Notice that these verses cut both ways.

If you celebrate Christmas, you're free to do it in honor of the Lord. No one gets to judge you for that.

If you don't celebrate Christmas, you're free too. You're not less spiritual, and no one gets to look down on you for skipping the tree.

What Paul won't allow is turning a day into a test of who's a real Christian. The substance, he says, belongs to Christ. So whether your house is full of lights or completely plain on December 25, the point is the same: Jesus.

The bottom line

Should Christians celebrate Christmas? The Bible doesn't require it, and it doesn't forbid it. It leaves it in the hands of believers who want to honor the Lord.

For me, the answer is an easy yes. Not because of the gifts or the decorations, but because the angels didn't stay quiet that night in Bethlehem, and I don't think we should either.

God became a baby. The Light came into the darkness. The Savior showed up in a feeding trough to rescue people like us. If that isn't worth celebrating, nothing is.

So celebrate. Celebrate on purpose. And whatever you do this December, do it all to the glory of God.