FREEDOM TO CELEBRATE OR NOT: CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTMAS WITHOUT LEGALISM
There are always voices—well-meaning, sincere, and often burdened—who insist that Christmas must be handled with surgical precision. Some say, “Celebrate it if you want, but keep Jesus out of it,” as if we can somehow divide our lives into tidy boxes marked secular and sacred and stand comfortably in both.
But the Bible never paints such a divided life. Paul said, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). We do not go to a temple, light a candle, and then step back into ordinary life; we are the temple, and the worship does not shut off—not at midnight, not when we clock in for work, not when December rolls around. To tell a Christian to celebrate a day without Jesus is like telling a singer to breathe without air—it is an impossible request.
Then there are others who insist that celebrating Christmas is wrong because of its historical associations. They fear that if the day once touched pagan hands, it must be poisoned for all time. But if that standard is true, then we must toss out our months, our days of the week, and half the words we use.
God has never trembled because something used to be misused; He is the One who redeems, reclaims, and sanctifies. Paul reminded Corinth that “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness” (1 Corinthians 10:26). If God owns everything, then nothing is beyond His ability to purify. The Christian who quietly leaves the day alone is consistent and should be respected; but the Christian who celebrates the day with joy, gratitude, and honor to Christ is just as consistent—and just as free.
Would it not be strange for believers to gush over Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, sing about Frosty’s melting fate, decorate a tree, exchange gifts, sip cocoa, and then say, “But let’s not speak of Jesus—that would be going too far”? That is not conviction; that is confusion. It is the kind of thinking that comes only when someone has been taught to fear joy instead of receive it.
If we are free to enjoy lights, songs, and the warmth of family, then we are certainly free to let our hearts rise in praise to the One who stepped into our world, born of a woman, born under the law, so He might redeem us (Galatians 4:4–5). Legalism builds walls where the Bible has built doors. It whispers “unauthorized” where the Bible whispers “rejoice.”
The truth is simple enough for the youngest child and deep enough for the oldest saint: a Christian can leave Christmas alone with a clean conscience, and a Christian can celebrate Christmas with a clean conscience. It is not the date on the calendar that sanctifies the heart; it is the heart that sanctifies the day. If Jesus is honored, if gratitude rises, if kindness is shared, if generosity flows, then the day is well spent.
If one chooses instead to treat December 25 as any other day, that too can be done to the glory of God. What we must not do is bind one another, burden one another, or accuse one another of sin where the Bible has given freedom.
So let each believer walk in the liberty Christ purchased for them, knowing that “to the Lord we live, and to the Lord we die” (Romans 14:8). The Savior who was born into our world has freed us from fear-based religion, from the endless counting of authorized and unauthorized, from the heavy chains of tradition masquerading as holiness. Whether we hang lights or hang nothing, whether we sing carols or remain silent, we belong to Jesus—and wherever He is, freedom is.
BDD
