Questions often arise regarding how Christians should view religious holidays whose origins are not from the Bible.

A great deal of information about the origins of Christmas is available in The Encyclopaedia Britannica, the 11th edition in particular. Also James Hastings’ Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels is helpful. The section titled “The Christian Calendar” has a sizeable section about Christmas.

Hastings wrote on page 261 of volume 1: “We do not read of either of these days (Christmas or Epiphany) being observed as festivals in the 3rd century [after Christ]. The first mention of such a commemoration on 25th of December is the Philocalian Calendar, which was copied in A.D. 354, but represents the official observances at Rome in A.D. 336.”

Here we see that the observance of Christmas first appeared over 300 years after the death and resurrection of Christ. The first-century Church certainly did not observe it. It is completely foreign to the New Testament.

We can also approach the subject by simply reading what Jesus said (or did not say) about it. Nowhere in the Scriptures did Christ or His apostles command humankind to observe the day of His birth. By way of contrast, there is much information in the New Testament about observing the death of Christ. Jesus Himself stated that we were to commemorate His death in remembrance of Him (Luke 22:19). It is to be an annual memorial.

Two decades later the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth reminding them that by observing the annual Christian Passover, they were proclaiming “the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Following these biblical instructions, we observe the occasion of His death annually through the Passover ceremony. Nowhere are we told either by Jesus or His disciples to remember or celebrate His birth.

Jesus Christ set an example in observing the weekly Sabbath day (Luke 4:16) and the annual festivals of God (see our free booklets Sunset to Sunset: God’s Sabbath Rest and God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind and Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Really Matter Which Days We Keep? ). 

Each of these Holy Days is filled with meaning about God’s plan and purpose for mankind. Christmas and other “Christianized” secular holidays cannot compare to the days Jesus observed while He walked the earth.

We seek to follow His example as the apostle Paul did. Paul said to follow him as He followed Christ (Corinthians 11:1). Similarly, John wrote, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6, New International Version). There’s a vast difference between following the example and instruction of Paul and John and creating our own religious holidays out of a hodgepodge of pagan practices—and on the very same days as ancient pagan festivals!

God gives instructions about which days He wants us to observe and also tells us the specific day and month in which to keep them (see Leviticus 23). No such biblical instruction is ever given concerning Christmas.