The Date Is Debatable. The Incarnation Is Not.: Why the Church Celebrates Christmas Anyway

The calendar may be uncertain—but the miracle is not. The Light entered the darkness, and that’s worth celebrating.

Every December, right on cue, the same claim resurfaces:

“Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25.” 

“Christmas is just a pagan holiday.” 

“Christians stole it from Rome.”

And inevitably, a few self-appointed theological party crashers feel obligated to inform everyone that celebrating Christmas is historically ignorant at best—and spiritually compromised at worst.

Let’s slow that down.

Yes—Jesus probably wasn’t born on December 25. And yes—Christians should celebrate His birth anyway.

Both things can be true.

What Are the Actual Theories About Jesus’ Birth Date?

Scripture never gives us a calendar date for the birth of Jesus Christ—and that omission is intentional. The Gospels care far more about who was born than when.

Still, historians and theologians have proposed a few reasonable windows:

1. Spring (March–April)

Luke tells us shepherds were watching their flocks at night (Luke 2:8). That detail matters because shepherds typically didn’t stay in open fields during the cold winter months.

Spring fits well.

2. Early Fall (September–October)

Some connect Jesus’ birth to Jewish feast cycles—especially the Feast of Tabernacles, when God “dwelt” among His people.

That symbolism is hard to miss. Fall also fits.

3. December 25

This is the least likely historically, but the most misunderstood theologically.

December 25 wasn’t chosen because early Christians were bad at math or secretly pagan. It was chosen centuries later based on theological symbolism: many early believers believed Jesus was conceived around the same time He would later be crucified around March 25. Add nine months, and you land at December 25.

That’s not paganism. That’s theology.

“But Christmas Is a Pagan Holiday!”

This is where the conversation usually goes off the rails.

Yes, ancient cultures celebrated festivals around the winter solstice. Yes, Rome had pagan holidays. No, that does not mean Christmas is pagan.

Here’s the key distinction:

Sharing a calendar date does not mean sharing a worldview.

Christians didn’t worship the sun. They proclaimed the Light of the World.

They didn’t celebrate fertility gods. They celebrated the Incarnation—God taking on flesh.

If anything, early Christians did what they always did: they redeemed what already existed and reoriented it toward Christ.

That’s not compromise. That’s mission.

The Real Question Isn’t When—It’s Who

The New Testament never commands us to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. But it also never forbids it.

What it does command is this:

• Rejoice that God entered human history

• Proclaim that the Word became flesh

• Remember that salvation came not through power, but humility

The obsession with dismantling Christmas often says more about modern cynicism than ancient faithfulness.

If celebrating the birth of Christ leads people to:

• Read Scripture

• Sing truth

• Gather families

• Give generously

• Talk about Jesus

Then that’s not paganism.

That’s fruit.

A Word to the Debbie Downers

There’s a difference between loving truth and loving correction.

Correcting someone’s calendar without pointing them to Christ isn’t discipleship—it’s distraction.

No one stands before the throne of God and is asked, “Did you get the date right?”

They’ll be asked what they did with the Savior who came.

So celebrate. With lights. With music. With Scripture. With joy.

Because whether Jesus was born in spring, fall, or winter—

He was born.

And that changes everything.