Many believers have a question about whether or not they ought to celebrate Christmas. Is it scriptural to celebrate Christmas? Is it unscriptural, or anti-scriptural, to celebrate Christmas? First, we must understand that the celebration of Christmas is not scripturally mandated. Nowhere in the N.T. do we find the disciples celebrating the birth of Christ. It is more of a social holiday than a spiritual, or scriptural holy-day. We should not try to Christianize Christmas, or "put Christ back into Christmas," for He was never there, but there are some scriptures that will give us guidance in the matter. Paul tells us in Romans 14:5-6a, "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it...."
Secondly, we must realize that the celebration of Christmas is a stumbling block for many believers. The history of the religious observance of December 25th takes us to the celebration of false Roman gods that was transferred to Christ by the corrupt Roman Catholic religious system. "Christ's mass" may be especially a turn off to one raised within that corrupt religion, but has since been delivered. If our celebration of this day is a stumbling block to a weak believer, we should gladly set aside the observance. Or if one cannot "regard it unto the Lord," and do so in faith, he should not observe it. We are not in bondage to observe any holy-day, but are to observe every day unto the Lord, which takes us to our final point.
Lastly, if one is to celebrate Christmas, he must observe it scripturally. Paul plainly tells us that, "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it…" Romans 14:10-23 gives us many scriptural principles that apply to the observance of any day. We are not to "set at nought" our brother, for we will all have to answer for ourselves whether or not we observe Christmas, and how we do it (or don't do it). In all these things we are to "serve Christ" (v.18), and not be an offense, or offensive, to our brother in Christ. If we are to celebrate, it must be of faith, or it is sin (v.22-23).
There can be many dangers in the observance of Christmas. The materialism and covetousness that is so rampant in our society's celebration of the holiday are snares that few Christians can avoid without a close walk with God. It is very easy to get so caught up in the traditions, that it is not observed unto the Lord, and is not done so in faith. We can rejoice that our Saviour was born, but the Bible nowhere tells us the date, nor mandates our observance of it. We rejoice that He came to save His people from their sins, that He did die for us, but is risen again! We serve a risen Saviour who will soon return for His servants. Will He find us watching?
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