Chalfont Blog

A Case for December

 Oftentimes our children ask us questions that leave us stumped.  Questions like, "Why is the grass green?"  We've all been there at some point.  Sunday School teachers in particular get questions regarding the Bible that can be difficult to tackle. Every year around this time, kids tend to ask the question, "Was Jesus really born on December 25th?"  It's easy to respond by saying, "sure," or "of course," but do we really know? If Christ wasn't born on the 25th of December, why do we celebrate on that day every year?

Those who would scrutinize the truth claims of Christianity often use the date of Christmas as a tool to delegitimize the faith altogether.  Skeptics of Christianity will claim that December 25th was picked by the early church in order to combat and compete with the pagan holiday Saturnalia which was celebrated by the Romans in the centuries after the death of Christ.  Saturnalia historically celebrated the agricultural God Saturn and took place from December 17th-23rd every year.  Others claim that the selection of December 25th was completely arbitrary.  A real historical figure needed a real birthday and so the church was left with a conundrum.  Perhaps some monks in a cave sat around a stone conference table and decided that December was perfect because the winter needed a Christian Holiday.

The truth is that December 25th can not be verified with full certainty but the selection of that date in particular was not merely capricious.  According to ancient Jewish beliefs, at least in the second century, important events occurred in the same month.  Thus the conception and the death of Christ would both have occurred around the same time.  It was widely accepted that Christ died on 14 Nisan in the Jewish lunar calendar.  One sanctioned belief is that the early church father Tertullian (125-220 AD) then converted that date to March 25th.  If Christ was conceived on March 25th, 9 months later would have been the date of his birth and would have fallen on December 25th.

Can we be certain that Christ was born on December 25th?  No.  What can we be certain about?  We can be certain that Christ was a real person who was incarnate deity.  We can be certain that through Him we have gained an unmerited salvation.  Finally, we can be certain that this year we'll have an answer for those inquisitive children who want to know why we celebrate Christmas in December.