Skip to content ↓

Mind Your Christmas Imperatives

Christmas is coming and with it a special season for Christians. Or most Christians, anyway. As we get into the season and as so many people begin their month-long reflections on the birth of Jesus Christ, it’s probably a good time to consider our Christmas imperatives. What are Christians commanded to do in the Christmas season?

The Incarnation is nothing short of a miracle. As Christians, we believe that God took on flesh. Jesus Christ, who was and is and always will be God, became a man. The infinite and eternal God was, in the words of John Wesley, “contracted to a span” and “incomprehensibly made man.” An early theologian marveled, “Remaining what he was, he became what he was not.” He became what he was not so he could save the people he loved. Without the incarnation there could be no salvation. Little wonder, then, that God’s people celebrate it on this day and through this season we call “Christmas.”

But God’s people aren’t commanded to celebrate Christmas. In fact, God’s people aren’t commanded to celebrate any holidays (i.e., holy days). We most certainly have the freedom to do so, but we also have the freedom not to. “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike,” says Paul. “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). Throughout church history, Christians have stood in both camps. Mature Christians have treated Christmas as a Christian holiday; other mature Christians have treated it like any other day. The key is that both have been fully convinced before the Lord.

Despite this, it has long been my observation that we hear a lot of imperatives in this season—“shoulds” and “shouldn’ts,” “musts” and “mustn’ts.” We especially hear a lot of commands about how to make the most of the season—and making the most of the season inevitably involves focusing on December 25 as a day of special religious significance. We hear a lot of people implying that treating Christmas as a holy day is a mark of spiritual maturity while treating it as any other day is a mark of spiritual apathy or even disobedience. We hear subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, critiques of those who do not celebrate Christmas at all, or who choose to mark it as a family day rather than religious day. The messaging is clear: Good Christians celebrate Christmas. The best Christians celebrate Christmas the most.

Yet the Bible is clear that we are under no obligation to celebrate Christmas or any other holy day. There are no biblical imperatives commanding us to specially remember the birth of Jesus on December 25. Instead, the Bible commands a yearlong posture of remembering Jesus’ coming and longing for his return (1 Corinthians 5:8, 1 Peter 1:13). The problem isn’t that we celebrate; the problem is that we pass judgment on Christians who fail to celebrate in a particular way on a particular day (Colossians 2:16).

The sure path to ruining Christmas is to make it an obligatory holiday or a mark of Christian maturity.

In fact, the sure path to ruining Christmas is to make it an obligatory holiday or a mark of Christian maturity. Celebrating it because we believe we must or because we believe it merits some kind of favor with God is to replace gospel with law and freedom with captivity. We celebrate Christmas best when we celebrate it not because we have to, but because we freely choose to. This freedom, after all, is what Jesus gave us by his coming. Once we acknowledge there is no special command to be obeyed or grace to be earned, then we can celebrate in true gospel freedom.


  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…

  • Ask Pastor John

    Ask Pastor John

    I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. To be fair, I feel skeptical about most books that begin in one medium before making the leap to another. Books based on sermons, for example, can often be pretty disappointing—a powerful sermon at a conference can make a bland chapter in a…