Is Christmas Scriptural?
What do you think?
Is
Christmas Scriptural?
by
G. I. Williamson
I
want to thank the Committee on Christian Education for remaining
faithful to the Orthodox Presbyterian tradition of respecting minority
views that are firmly rooted in Presbyterian and Reformed history. I
therefore gladly avail myself of the privilege to express myself on the
subject of Christmas.
It
is seldom understood today that there was a time when such days as
Christmas were generally regarded as lacking any warrant from Scripture.
But listen to the careful statement of Idzerd Van Dellen and Martin
Monsma in The Church Order Commentary (Zondervan, 1941). Under
the heading of "The Original Position of the Reformed Churches
regarding Special Days," they say this on page 273:
"During
the early days of the Reformation some Reformed localities observed only
Sunday. All special days sanctioned and revered by Rome were set aside.
Zwingli and Calvin both encouraged the rejection of all ecclesiastical
festive days. In Geneva all special days were discontinued as soon as
the Reformation took a firm hold in that city. Already before the
arrival of Calvin in Geneva this had been accomplished under the
leadership of Farel and Viret. But Calvin agreed heartily. And Knox, the
Reformer of Scotland, shared these same convictions, he being a disciple
of Calvin in Geneva. Consequently the Scottish Churches also banned the
Roman sacred days."
Christ
on Christmas
It
is my conviction that this view alone is fully consistent with Scripture
and the Reformed Confessions. I say this for the following reasons:
1.
When Jesus sent his apostles forth, he commanded them to teach converts
to observe all things that he had commanded (Matt. 28:20). He did
not authorize them to add to—or to take from—what he had commanded.
And I believe that they faithfully did what Jesus told them to do.
2.
It is quite evident from the apostolic writings that there was no such
day as Christmas in the apostolic churches. They did not have it for the
simple reason that this was not one of the things that Jesus had
commanded.
3.
The question, therefore, comes down to this: were the teachings and
practices of the apostles sufficient to establish the practices that
Christ himself authorized for his churches? The modern church quite
obviously says no. But men such as Zwingli, Knox, and Calvin said yes. I
believe these men were right.
The
Detriments of Christmas
It
is also my conviction that the widespread return of the Reformed
churches to what is, after all, a Romish invention and tradition, is not
in any way truly beneficial to the church. People think it is. But that
does not make it so. And here I only want to mention one important
consideration. Sunday school material—even such as is produced by our
own Great Commission Publications—suffers under the dominion of what
is commonly called "the church calendar." This means that
every year, in the cycle of materials, an inordinate amount of time is
spent repeating the story of Christ’s birth. I hope no reader thinks
for one moment that I discount the importance of the virgin birth of
Christ. No, not at all. I certainly want the scriptural accounts in
Matthew and Luke to receive due emphasis. But it is not due emphasis
when a small portion of the history of salvation is magnified all out of
proportion to the emphasis it receives in the Bible itself. Yet that is
what has happened.
It
is my hope, though I will probably not live to see it, that the Lord
will send a new and even greater Reformation than the one he sent in the
sixteenth century. When that happens, I believe, the church will again
be emancipated from what is, after all, nothing more than a man-made
tradition.
Private
Celebrations
And
now let me add one important caveat. I do not think that the strictest
Reformer ever questioned the right of an individual to celebrate the
birth of Christ at a time—and in a godly manner—of his own choosing.
I certainly do not question this right. If you want to exchange gifts,
or read Luke 2, or sing "Silent Night" on December 25, then I
have no quarrel with you at all. What I ask in return is that you will
not quarrel with me when I stand with the great Reformers mentioned
above. What I question is not your personal right of Christian liberty,
but the right of the church in its corporate capacity—whether on a
denominational or congregational level—to designate an annual date to
commemorate the birth of Christ.
Since
no one knows the day of the year on which Christ was born, and God has
deliberately not told us the day, no one has the right to invent a date
to substitute for what God has not given. The popes of Rome, of course,
have claimed this authority—that’s how it came about that December
25 was set aside. But as for me and my house, we cannot in good
conscience submit to such man-made impositions. |
