The fact that Christmas has pagan origins should be familiar enough to readers of this Magazine. However, it is still important to remind ourselves of the true nature of this ungodly festival lest we cease to contend against it as earnestly as previous generations did. The festival of the winter solstice has been widely practised in Asia and Europe over thousands of years. It has been closely associated with giving and receiving gifts, partaking of special food and drink and, often, with excess in fleshly indulgence. But behind all of this a religious aspect lurks. December 25 was celebrated in the ancient world to mark the passing of the old life, symbolised by the winter, and the beginning of new life. In ancient Roman religion, this feast was celebrated to mark the birth of the unconquered god of the sun.
These widespread, popular festivities were easily adopted by the Christian Church when it began its rapid course of declension in the period from the fourth century AD, when many former heathen idolaters were admitted to the Church through baptism. It was obvious that many of these people had not forsaken their strong attachment to many aspects of heathenism. As a result, the Christian Church became more and more conformed to the practices and superstitions of the ungodly world. The development of apostate Popery – Satan’s great masterpiece – was greatly aided by this policy of accommodating pagan practices within the pale of the Christian Church.
Sadly, the celebration of Christmas is now almost universal in Reformed and Evangelical Churches. As the pure light of the truth has been obscured or lost, so the false light of Christmas has appeared more and more prominently. This stands in stark contrast to the complete repudiation of it which was practised by the Scottish Presbyterians and the English Puritans in the period after the Reformation. They rightly concluded that it had no place in the Church and should have no place in our lives.
We must be careful that we do not give place to the culture of the unbelieving world all around us, nor to the downgrade in practice which has infiltrated the Churches in our day. Let us not give way to the blandishments which would soften our opposition to observing Christmas by treating it as a family day or a special day for children. Such an outlook only encourages others to observe a festival which is highly displeasing in the eyes of the Lord. “What communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? Or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor 6:14-16).
Rev Allan W MacColl
[From the December 2022 edition of the Free Presbyterian Magazine]