After spending a couple of years wrestling with the arguments against celebrating Christmas put forth by some in the Reformed world, I have come to a better appreciation and a clean conscience for celebrating Christmas. I believe we can celebrate Christmas (and other Christian feasts) for the following reasons:
1. The Church‘s Responsibility
The Church has been given the responsibility to teach all that Christ commands. The Church must teach the whole counsel of God. Seeing how this is impossible to do all at one time, the Church also has the authority to decide what parts of scripture and when those parts may be taught. Reformed Christians practice this weekly as elders decide what will be preached. There is no biblical reason why the Church would be forbidden to teach a certain truth at the same time each year. This falls clearly within the authority and liberty of the church to do. Those who would forbid the Church from teaching the nativity once a year have created an unbiblical rule that binds Christian liberty.
2. Freedom to Gather
While the Lord’s Day is the only day set aside by Christ’s mandate for worship, the Church may still gather to worship and to have instruction on other days. The early church met together daily. Reformed churches often set aside Wednesdays weekly for some kind of religious gathering, be it bible study or prayer meeting. If these churches have the authority to set apart a Wednesday evening for worship then surely they could set apart a time once a year to teach the incarnation of Christ.
3. Times of Thanksgiving and Fasting
The Bible has several examples of God’s people responding to God’s work with times of thanksgiving and times of fasting. The Westminster confession of faith says that days of fasting or of thanksgiving are permitted. One of the prooftexts was the celebration of Purim; a feast created by Mordecai after the Jews were delivered from their enemies in the Book of Esther. This was not a part of the feasts and festivals given in the law through Moses. There is no description of Mordecai being told directly by God to establish this feast. Some might say that since this is found in scripture, Mordecai was inspired by the Holy Spirit to create this feast. This would beg the question. When asked to provide an example of a non-inspired celebration found in scripture, no matter what one would point to, the same argument could be made. But we do have even an example of a non-law yearly celebration that finds its origin not in scripture but was celebrated in the time of Christ.
At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. – John 10:22-23
The scriptures make it clear that Jesus was in the temple during Hanukkah. Hanukkah was created in response to events that happened during the intertestamental period. Its creation is extra-biblicaland yet Christ is found in the temple during it. Surely if the Jews could celebrate God’s deliverance during the time of Maccabees then the Church can praise God and give thanks for his act of deliverance of all mankind in sending Christ.
4. Holidays versus Holy Days
Part of the argument against celebrating Christmas is that only the Lord can make a day Holy. Another part is against the Roman Catholic system of merit. As a reformed Christian, I wholeheartedly agree. God has established the Lord’s Day, the Christian sabbath, as the Holy day for the Church. I oppose any idea of meriting righteousness by keeping a certain day created by the Church I don’t know of any Protestant Christian who celebrates Christmas that holds to a Roman Catholic view Francis Turretin, a reformed scholastic, pointed out how those charging their reformed brothers who celebrate the evangelical feast days by using attacks against Holy Days were out of line and were attacking a straw man. A reformed church can teach and praise God for the incarnation of Christ without creating a system of merit.
5. Our Highest Standard is Scripture
he truth of Christmas, that is the truth of Christ’s birth in a manger to the Virgin Mary, is from scripture. It is integral to our Christian faith. The great creeds of the faith which summarize biblical teaching all highlight Christ’s conception by the Holy Spirit and birth to the virgin Mary. The Scriptures command the church to teach these truths.
6. The Practice of the Early Church
The history of the church shows that celebrating Christmas and Easter go way back to the early days of the church. While scripture is our highest authority, the history of the Church should not be easily tossed aside. The Church throughout all its branches has had those who celebrate Christmas. This includes the Protestant reformers. Yes, there were those protestants who reacted to the abuses of the Church and therefore did not keep Christmas. We would do good to heed their warnings about abuses but many of their reasons for opposition to Christmas are best limited to their context. Furthermore, there were faithful reformed brethren who kept the evangelical feast days. Calvin’s Geneva was one such place.
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. – Colossians 2:16:
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. -Romans 14:5
7. Christian Charity
We ought to have Christian charity for those who differ from us in these respects. This also means that the Church that has a gathering for Christmas should be sure to leave this voluntary. Our reformed brothers whose conscience will not allow them to celebrate Christmas should not be shamed by those who do, and vice versa. This does not mean that the one with the weaker conscience can exercise tyranny over the Church and demand that it not teach on biblical truths at certain times of the year. Nor should they demand that their church cancel Christmas singalongs or other events they may schedule. But the church also should be careful not to treat as second-class citizens those who do not participate.
8. Our Culture Celebrates Christmas
I don’t believe that the church should pass up the opportunity afforded us by God to preach the gospel during these times. Christians should use this time of year to be beacons of light.
Pushback: “But Christmas has the word ‘mass’ in it so surely it is an antichrist, popish thing.”
9. “Mass” is a Historic Term
9. The word mass was used to describe the Lord’s supper from an early time in Church history. The word itself comes from the words used to dismiss the congregation. In Latin, it was ite missa est (“Go, it is the sending”). The people are sent out after gathering for worship to be salt and light. The word came to take on the meaning of missions. The people gather, receive from the Lord, and go on mission. Eventually, it became the name for the entire service and is most associated with the Roman Catholic service, though the Lutherans use the name as well. The point I am making is that to say Christmas does not necessitate that one is speaking of the Roman Catholic abuses. The use of the word mass goes back to the 6th century or earlier. There is no need for Christians to immediately give to the Papists the history of the church. Nor should we let the etymology of the word Christmas be used to dismiss what protestant reformed Christians do when they celebrate Christmas. We are not papists and when I say Merry Christmas I do not have the false teaching of Roman Mass in mind.
Merry Christmas.
