Why No One Celebrated Christmas for Almost 300 Years

For about 300 years after Jesus was born, no one celebrated his birth.

Why not?

Because the Jews and early Christians believed that birthday celebrations were a pagan custom forbidden by God.

The Jewish historian Josephus, who was born a few years after Jesus died, wrote, “the law does not permit us to make festivals at the births of our children” (Against Apion, 2.26). He was probably referring to Leviticus 18:3-4, which says:

“According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God.” (NKJV)

Since the Jews did not celebrate birthdays, no one celebrated Jesus’s birth when He was born. If you read the Bible carefully, you will see that the wise men who came and gave gifts to Jesus did not arrive until many months after Jesus was born. They gave gifts to Him as a king, not to celebrate His birth.

More than 200 years after Christ died, Christians still avoided birthday celebrations. For example, the theologian Origen wrote this about birthdays:

“not one from all the saints is found to have celebrated a festive day or a great feast on the day of his birth. No one is found to have had joy on the day of the birth of his son or daughter. Only sinners rejoice over this kind of birthday. For indeed we find in the Old Testament Pharaoh, king of Egypt, celebrating the day of his birth with a festival, and in the New Testament, Herod. However, both of them stained the festival of his birth by shedding human blood. For the Pharaoh killed ‘the chief baker,’ Herod, the holy prophet John ‘in prison.’ But the saints not only do not celebrate a festival on their birthdays, but, filled with the Holy Spirit, they curse that day.” (Homily 8 on Leviticus, 3.2).

But as Christianity grew and became the religion of the Roman empire, things changed. Many Romans celebrated the birth of the god Sol Invictus on December 25, so the Catholic Church adopted that day as a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. And so Christmas began, about 300 years after Christ.

If you want to know what God says about Christmas and birthdays, I encourage you to read and think about Deuteronomy 12:29-32 and Jeremiah 10:2-5, and read When Was Jesus Born?

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