Christmas Myths SERIES: 4: December 25

"Atheists will claim that Christians borrowed the idea of Jesus being born on December 25 from leading figures in pagan religions. Known as the “Christ myth,” these ideas were invented in the nineteenth century and have no historical support. Some Christians are concerned that Christians might be inadvertently celebrating or worshipping pagan deities instead of Jesus by celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25.

At the outset, it should be stated that Jesus probably was not born on December 25. 

Since the Bible does not tell us the date on which he was born, we essentially have a 1 in 365 chance of it being on December 25. 

Date of Jesus’ Birth:
Some Christians are adamant that Jesus could not have been born on this day for a variety of reasons. Alexander Hislop argued that it was just way too cold in Bethlehem at that time of year.

"How comes it that that festival was connected with the 25th of December? There is not a word in the Scriptures about the precise day of His birth, or the time of the year when He was born. What is

recorded there, implies that at what time soever His birth took place, it could not have been on the 25th of December. At the time that the angel announced His birth to the shepherds of Bethlehem, they were feeding their flocks by night in the open fields. Now, no doubt, the climate of Palestine is not so severe as the climate of this country [Scotland]; but even there, though the heat of the day be considerable, the cold of the night, from December to February, is very piercing, and it was not the custom for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October."

It would have been helpful if Hislop left his native Scotland to visit Bethlehem in December. He would have learned that the average low temperature there in December is 47.3 degrees Fahrenheit (8.5 degrees Celsius).

While this is by no means balmy, it is not too cold for shepherds to spend the night in the field with their flocks. In fact, Jacob lived in a cooler region while keeping Laban’s flocks, and he said that he kept watch over them during the frost at night (Genesis 31:40).

A more sophisticated argument has been lodged against the traditional date. 

Since Zacharias (father of John the Baptist) was of the division of Abijah (Luke 1:5), it is assumed that we can determine when he would have served in the temple. From there, it is assumed that Elizabeth conceived immediately after Zacharias came home from Jerusalem. We know that Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Gabriel informed Mary of her virginal conception (Luke 1:36). However, we do not know if Mary conceived immediately after this meeting, and we do not know if her pregnancy lasted precisely 40 weeks. Even more difficult for this view is that we do not know when the order of Abijah served in the temple. They were listed as the eighth order in 1 Chronicles 24:10, but that was prior to the exile when the temple was out of service for approximately 70 years. Upon their return from exile, the order of Abijah is listed as the 11th, 12th, and 17th in the lists given in Nehemiah, and they are not even mentioned in the list found in Ezra 2. As such, there is just far too much speculation in this argument to rule out or pinpoint any date, including December 25.

Finally, some Christians have argued that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles. Since Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection corresponded to Passover and Firstfruits, respectively, they assume that each of the national feasts described in Leviticus 23 must correspond to major events in Jesus’ life and ministry. 

And since Tabernacles has to do with dwellings and since Jesus is the Word who became flesh and “dwelt among us” (John 1:14), then Tabernacles must be the time of Jesus’ birth. This festival is celebrated in late September or early October. While this is an interesting argument, there is nothing in Scripture that tells us that major events in Jesus’ life and ministry had to occur at the times of these other festivals. And even if he were born at Tabernacles, it would mean that the Word actually became flesh about nine months earlier, which would have been in late December." 

AIG