Is Christmas a Pagan Holiday? Should we Celebrate Christmas?

December 25 was often used for Roman feasting and celebration. In the beginning, of course, Christians and Romans had little in common. But by the time of Constantine, those two designations became almost synonymous. In the West, Christianity was the “Roman Church.” It was inevitable that, just as Christian influences spread into Roman lands, Roman influences found their way into Christianity.

In the end, December 25 became just what it is today: a holiday that mixes the sacred and the secular.

In the end, December 25 became just what it is today: a holiday that mixes the sacred and the secular. In Constantine’s time, there was celebration of the Roman god Mithras occurring as the birthday of Christ was observed; today, worship is in competition with the modern “gods” of sports and materialism. There is an undying tension between the Christian and the non-Christian elements that compete for our attention during the last month of the year.

On the other hand, we need not worry about Mithras; the worship of that god barely outlived the emperor Constantine. The old Roman and pagan festivals all passed away too. In time, the Name of Christ stamped itself upon the holiday: Christmas. Christian leaders decided to use this period of the annual calendar to emphasize that Christ was fully human and fully divine.

By A.D. 336, there were Christmas celebrations in Rome itself. The Child, who had come so quietly into a stable in the Middle East, had conquered the capital of the world’s greatest empire in only three centuries. As each Christmas came and went, He would continue to move throughout the world, healing, teaching, and changing hearts. His voice would be heard, and His ministry felt wherever His followers traveled. And indeed they traveled!

Today, on the twenty-fifth of December each year, you can hear Christmas carols being sung on every populated continent as the sun works its way from east to west. You will hear the carols in a thousand languages and dialects, and the same beloved Nativity story will be recounted over and over with children dressed up as shepherds and Wise Men. Television specials and magazine covers will ask again, “Who was the Man from Nazareth who lived two thousand years ago, and who still inspires such love and obedience?”

Just as those Early Church leaders desired, we will set aside this time to reason together about how God became human and how humans came back to God. It’s a “together day” when we can feel all the world bowing as one before the King. But all the other days of the year are Christmas, too. That’s the measure of His great gift to us.

Discover the answer to more questions like these in Dr. Jeremiah’s book, Why the Nativity?