Why was December 25 chosen for Christmas, and is it in the Bible or borrowed from pagan holidays?
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The Bible doesn't give a date for Jesus' birth, and it never mentions Christmas. December 25 first appears as a Christian date in Rome in the early-to-mid 300s. Historians still argue over whether it came from early Christian date calculations or was set against the Roman sun festival held that same day. It may have been a mix of both.
What the text says
The Bible gives no date. Two Gospels tell the birth story: Matthew 1:18–2:12 and Luke 2:1–20. Neither names a day, a month or a season. Luke ties the birth to a census under Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1–2), and Matthew sets it "in the days of Herod the king" (Matthew 2:1). That points to roughly a few years BC, but not to a calendar day. Luke 2:8 says shepherds were "living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night." Readers have argued from this both for and against a winter birth. The verse itself says nothing about the season.
The Bible never tells anyone to celebrate the birth. The New Testament never commands a festival for Jesus' birth, and it records none. What the earliest Christians did mark was the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10). On special days, Paul treats observing them as a matter of conscience: "One person regards one day above another, while another regards every day alike… He who observes a special day does so to the Lord" (Romans 14:5–6; compare Colossians 2:16–17).
Where the date comes from: history, not scripture. The earliest firm evidence is a Roman almanac, the Chronograph of 354. Its list of martyrs' feast days, which reflects Roman practice from about 336, opens with "25 December: Christ born in Bethlehem of Judea." Before that, Christians disagreed. Around 200, Clement of Alexandria reported several proposed dates, mostly in spring. Many Eastern churches kept January 6 for both the birth and the baptism, and the Armenian church still does. Two main explanations are offered for December 25 (see "views" below):
- Calculation. Some early Christians believed Jesus died on March 25; Tertullian gives that date for the crucifixion. A common belief held that great prophets died on the day they were conceived. Nine months after a March 25 conception is December 25. Augustine (On the Trinity 4.5) gives exactly these two dates. The East did the same sum from April 6 and reached January 6.
- Response to Roman festivals. The same Roman almanac lists December 25 as Natalis Solis Invicti, the birthday of the Unconquered Sun, around the winter solstice. Christians already called Christ "the sun of righteousness" (Malachi 4:2) and "the light of the world" (John 8:12). On this view the church placed Christ's birth there to claim the day or replace the pagan feast.
What about "pagan"? The candidate verses on "pagans" (Matthew 6:7; 1 Corinthians 10:20; Zephaniah 1:4) warn against praying like the nations and against taking part in sacrifices to idols. They don't address calendar dates. Paul draws a distinction elsewhere. Eating meat that had passed through a pagan temple is a matter of conscience (1 Corinthians 8; 10:25–31). Sitting at the idol's table and joining its worship is forbidden (1 Corinthians 10:20–21). Christians apply that distinction to Christmas in different ways.
Where readers differ
December 25 was calculated by Christians, not borrowed
Supporters point out that a link between conception and death on March 25 is found in Christian writers (Tertullian, Hippolytus, Augustine, and the 4th-century tract On the Solstices and Equinoxes). The parallel Eastern sum from April 6 to January 6 has nothing to do with any Roman sun festival. They also note that the sun feast on December 25 is not clearly attested before the Christian date. Major advocates of this view are Louis Duchesne and Thomas Talley. Some versions also use Luke's chronology: Zechariah's temple service, then Elizabeth's 'sixth month' at the Annunciation.
December 25 was chosen to replace or claim a Roman solar festival
The Chronograph of 354 lists both Christ's birth and the Unconquered Sun's birthday on December 25. Emperor Aurelian promoted Sol worship in 274. Later Christian preachers, Leo the Great among them, scolded believers who still bowed to the rising sun. A medieval Syriac note openly says the date was moved because of the pagan feast. Christian imagery of Christ as the true Sun made the timing natural. On this view the church took over the season rather than copying pagan belief.
The date is unknown but celebrating is a legitimate Christian freedom
Most Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians grant that the real date is unknown. They see December 25 as a church commemoration, not a historical claim. Scripture leaves special days to conscience. The angels themselves 'celebrated' the birth. On this view, what counts is whether Christ is the one honoured, not where the date came from.
Christmas should not be kept because scripture does not command it
Some Reformed believers (historically the Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians) hold that worship should include only what God commands. Some restorationist groups argue the same way. With no biblical command or date, and with a disputed link to pagan custom, they see Christmas as a human addition. They cite warnings against learning the ways of the nations.
The words it turns on
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ἐθνικός ethnikos (ἐθνικός)
'Belonging to the nations', meaning a Gentile, someone outside Israel and its covenant. Used in Matthew 6:7 and 18:17.
Drift: English 'pagan' comes from Latin paganus ('country-dweller'). Today it suggests deliberate idol worship, or a separate religion that Christianity supposedly copied from. The Greek word simply marks a person as non-Jewish, an outsider.
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ἔθνος ethnos (ἔθνος)
A nation or people. In the plural it often means the Gentile nations. Some manuscripts have it in 1 Corinthians 10:20, where Paul speaks of sacrifices offered to demons.
Drift: It is translated 'nations', 'Gentiles' or 'pagans' depending on the version. Paul's concern in 1 Corinthians 10:20 is joining in actual sacrificial worship, not sharing a date or a custom.
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גּוֹי goy (גּוֹי)
A nation or people. In the plural (goyim) it often means the nations other than Israel, as in 'Do not learn the way of the nations' (Jeremiah 10:2).
Drift: It is sometimes quoted as if it banned any custom that non-Israelites also practised. In context it targets idol worship and the fear of astral omens.
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כֹּ֫מֶר kemarim (כְּמָרִים)
Idolatrous priests: officials of foreign or illicit cults (Zephaniah 1:4; 2 Kings 23:5).
Drift: Translated 'pagan priests' in some versions. It names a specific group of cult officials, not festivals in general.
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γεννάω gennaō (γεννάω)
To beget or give birth. Used of Jesus' birth in Matthew 1:16, 2:1 and 2:4.
Drift: The Gospels attach it to a place (Bethlehem) and a reign (Herod's), never to a calendar date. The idea of a 'birthday' feast comes later.
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ἑορτή heortē (ἑορτή)
A feast or festival, used in the New Testament for the Jewish appointed feasts such as Passover and Tabernacles (Luke 2:41; John 7:2).
Drift: The New Testament never uses it for a feast of Christ's birth. 'Christmas' ('Christ's Mass') is a medieval English word with no Hebrew or Greek counterpart.
What the Bible doesn't say
The Bible says nothing about the day, month or season of Jesus' birth. It never mentions a birthday festival, and it neither commands nor forbids one. Everything about December 25 comes from church history after the New Testament. Churches still differ today. Most Western churches keep December 25. Several Orthodox churches keep December 25 on the old Julian calendar, which currently falls on January 7. The Armenian church keeps January 6. Some Protestant groups observe no birth feast at all.
Key verses
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Luke 2:1
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the whole empire.
The fullest birth account. It gives a census and a reign but no date.
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Matthew 2:1
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
Places the birth 'in the days of Herod the king', a span of years, not a day.
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Luke 2:8
And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
The shepherds in the fields: the verse most often used to argue about the season, though it doesn't settle it.
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Romans 14:5
One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Paul treats observing special days as a matter of conscience before the Lord.
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Colossians 2:16
Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
No one is to judge believers over festivals or holy days.
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1 Corinthians 10:20
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.
Forbids joining in pagan sacrifice, which sets the limit Christians argue over for borrowed customs.
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Luke 1:26
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
The Annunciation in Elizabeth's 'sixth month', used in some early calculations of the date.
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Malachi 4:2
“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
The 'sun of righteousness', the image that linked Christ's birth with the winter solstice.
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Jeremiah 10:2
This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by the signs in the heavens, though the nations themselves are terrified by them.
Often cited against Christmas customs, though it describes carved idols.
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Galatians 4:10
You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
Paul's warning about observing days, cited by those who reject church festivals.
Common points of confusion
- The Bible says Jesus was born on December 25.
- No verse gives a date. The first firm evidence for December 25 is a Roman almanac reflecting practice around 336, three centuries after Jesus.
- Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees.
- Jeremiah 10:3–5 describes a tree cut down and carved into an idol, overlaid with silver and gold, which cannot speak or walk. The passage is about idol-making, not decorating a tree.
- Christmas was simply the Saturnalia renamed.
- Saturnalia began on December 17 and ran for several days. It did not fall on December 25. Some festive customs may have carried over, but the date itself does not come from Saturnalia.
- Mithras, Tammuz or Nimrod were born on December 25, and Christmas copies them.
- No ancient source gives December 25 as the birthday of any of these figures. The claim comes mainly from nineteenth-century polemical writing, not from ancient evidence.
- Shepherds in the fields prove Jesus could not have been born in winter.
- Luke 2:8 doesn't mention a season. Flocks could be kept out in parts of Judea in winter, so the verse cannot settle the date either way.
- The Emperor Constantine invented Christmas.
- No ancient text records Constantine setting the date. The Roman evidence dates from near the end of his reign but names no founder.
Sources: Berean Standard Bible (verse texts) · Chronograph of 354 (Philocalian Calendar): Depositio Martyrum and civil calendar · Tertullian, Against the Jews 8 · Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.21 · Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 4.23 · Augustine, On the Trinity 4.5 · Anonymous, On the Solstices and Equinoxes (4th century) · Leo the Great, Sermon 27 · Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (1986) · Susan K. Roll, Toward the Origins of Christmas (1995) · Andrew McGowan, 'How December 25 Became Christmas', Bible Review (2002) · Steven Hijmans, Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome (2009) · Louis Duchesne, Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution · Strong's Exhaustive Concordance; BDAG Greek-English Lexicon; HALOT Hebrew lexicon
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