by Jerry Senn
This question isn’t asked often these days, but it is good to deal with it to keep our thoughts in perspective.
That date should never be considered a biblical issue, since there is no indication from Scripture that the early church celebrated the Lord’s birth.
The earliest mention of some sort of observance on that date is in the Philaclian Calendar, representing Roman practice, of the year 336).
December 25th coincided with a pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice. The “church” thereby offered people a Christian alternative to the pagan festivities and eventually reinterpreted many of their symbols and actions in ways acceptable to Christian faith and practice.
It ultimately does not matter. We simply don’t know the exact date of our Savior’s birth. In fact, we don’t even know for sure the year in which he was born. Scholars believe it was somewhere between 6 BC and 4 BC.
One thing is clear, if God thought it was important for us to know the exact date of the Savior’s birth, He would have told us in His Word.
We know he was wearing “swaddling clothes” and that he slept “in a manger” (Luke 2:12). These details let us know he was a real baby, with real needs. The world’s creator entered our world in the form of a human being, like ourselves.
The most important thing is that he came to atone for our sins and that he was resurrected to life and lives today. Zechariah wrote: “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you, declares the Lord” (Zech 2:10).
Also, the angel that announced the birth to the shepherds brought, “good news of great joy that will be to all people” (Luke 2:10).
We have every reason to celebrate Jesus’ birth any and every day of the year !!!