Two Christmas questions, unfolded.
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Is Christmas Pagan?
Outside
Is Christmas Pagan?
A Christmas question
Unfold the real story.
You’ve heard it every December.
It’s one of the most repeated claims about Christmas: the holiday is a pagan festival with a Christian coat of paint. Unfold each panel to test the claims against the historical record.
“Christians took the sun god’s birthday.”
The record
The Roman almanac of AD 354 records both Christ’s birth and a “Birthday of the Unconquered” on December 25. Earlier Christian evidence is debated; this record alone does not tell us who chose the date first.
Christmas celebrates Jesus. The claim that Christians simply copied a pagan holiday goes beyond the evidence.
“Christmas replaced Saturnalia.”
The record
Rome’s festival of Saturn began on December 17 and was over by the 23rd. It never fell on December 25.
Sharing a season isn’t the same as sharing a source.
“Jeremiah 10 condemns Christmas trees.”
The record
Jeremiah describes a craftsman carving a tree into an idol to worship. Early Christmas tree records come from Christian Alsace: a 1521 town account book in Sélestat, and a 1605 description of Strasbourg parlor trees hung with apples, wafers, and paper roses.
“‘Xmas’ takes Christ out of Christmas.”
The record
The X is the Greek letter chi, the first letter of Christos, “Christ.” English scribes were already abbreviating Christmas this way around AD 1100.
The X is Christ.
“Santa is a pagan god in disguise.”
The record
Santa Claus grew from Sinterklaas: St. Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop of Myra in today’s Türkiye, remembered for his quiet generosity to people in need. His feast day is December 6.
So where did the idea start?
A later explanation gains ground.
Medieval period
A marginal note on a manuscript of Dionysius bar-Salibi’s writings claims Christmas was moved to match a sun festival. It is a later explanation, not a contemporary account of the date’s origin.
1700s–1800s
Scholars caught up in the new study of comparative religion popularize the theory.
1853
Alexander Hislop’s The Two Babylons promotes the theory. Its comparisons do not establish a historical line of borrowing.
Today
It returns every December as a meme.
Sources & further reading
Ancient sources
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.21
Hippolytus of Rome, Commentary on Daniel 4.23.3*
Julius Africanus, Chronographiae (fragments)
Tertullian, Against the Jews 8
Augustine, On the Trinity 4.5.9
The Chronograph of 354 (Philocalian Calendar and Depositio martyrum). The Roman date VIII Kalendas Januarias means December 25.
Modern scholarship
Andrew McGowan, “How December 25 Became Christmas,” Bible Review (December 2002)
Steven E. Hijmans, Sol: The Sun in the Art and Religions of Rome (2009)
Thomas C. Schmidt, “Calculating December 25 as the Birth of Jesus,” Vigiliae Christianae (2015)
*Hippolytus’ December 25 passage is disputed. Thomas C. Schmidt also argues for the date from his chronological works; that reconstruction is not certain.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Inside
From the cross to Christmas.
The Christian history of Christmas
Why December 25? One Christian explanation starts at the cross: Jesus’ conception and crucifixion were placed on March 25. Count forward nine months and you reach Christmas. How the date first took hold remains debated.
What survives in the record?
The paper trail
Early Christian calculations and the later Roman calendar.
- c. AD 200, Clement of Alexandria (Christian source): Reports several proposed dates for Jesus’ birth, but not December 25.
- c. AD 204, Hippolytus of Rome (Christian source): Some manuscripts give December 25. Whether that wording is original is disputed.*
- c. AD 221, Julius Africanus (Christian source): His chronology may imply December 25; the surviving fragments do not settle it.
- AD 274, Emperor Aurelian (pagan Roman source): Promotes the cult of Sol. No surviving evidence securely dates his festival to December 25.
- AD 336, Rome’s church calendar (Christian source): A list generally dated to 336, preserved in 354, records Christ’s birth on December 25.
- AD 354, The same Roman almanac (pagan Roman source): Lists a “Birthday of the Unconquered” on December 25, usually understood as a solar feast.
March 25
Step 1 · The landmark
Around AD 200, Tertullian dated Jesus’ crucifixion to March 25. Augustine later described the belief that His conception fell on that same date.
In this calculation, the road to the manger begins at the cross.
Nine months, counted
March 25 + nine months = December 25
A calendar wheel traces nine months from March 25, marked with a cross, to December 25, marked with a star.
December 25
Step 2 · The count
Nine months from March 25 brings us to December 25. Augustine connects the two dates in On the Trinity:
“He is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also He suffered.”
—Augustine, On the Trinity 4.5.9
What about the sun?
Light in the darkness.
“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.”
—Malachi 4:2 (ESV)
For Christians, the light points to Jesus, the promised Sun of Righteousness. That imagery expresses their faith; it does not prove that Christmas was borrowed from a sun festival.
Explaining this to a child?
Tell it simply
Try this: “We don’t know Jesus’ birthday. One old Christian explanation starts with His conception on March 25. Nine months later is December 25. At Christmas, we celebrate that God sent His Son.”
Ask together
Why do you think God sent Jesus as a tiny baby?
Then read Luke 2:1–20 together.
The wonder of Christmas is that God came near.
The heart of it
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.”
—John 1:14 (ESV)
This Christmas, come and see the Light who came for you.
Merry Christmas from your friends at Inspire.
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Who Was Really at the Manger?
Outside
Who Was Really at the Manger?
Another Christmas question
Unfold a closer look.
Check your nativity set.
As you unfold, sort each detail. Is it straight from the Gospels, or from centuries of carols, art, and pageants? Tradition isn’t wrong. It just isn’t Scripture.
In Scripture
Tradition
“Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem.”
Tradition
Neither Gospel says how Mary and Joseph made the trip from Nazareth. The donkey first appears in the Protoevangelium of James, a second-century story outside the Bible.
Luke 2:4–5
“An innkeeper turned them away.”
Tradition
Luke never mentions an innkeeper. His word kataluma can mean a lodging place or guest room. The verse does not identify a commercial inn.
Luke 2:7
“Shepherds came to the manger.”
In Scripture
The angel told them they would find a baby lying in a manger. They hurried to Bethlehem and found Him there, just as they had been told.
Luke 2:12, 16
“A star led the magi.”
In Scripture
They saw His star when it rose, and it went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
Matthew 2:2, 9
“Three kings came that night.”
Tradition
Matthew calls them magi, not kings, and never says how many came. They visit Jesus in a house; Matthew does not tell us exactly how long after His birth.
Matthew 2:1, 11
“The Bible says Jesus was born on December 25.”
Tradition
Neither Gospel gives a date. December 25 is attested in Rome’s fourth-century church calendar; earlier evidence is debated. The companion guide, Is Christmas Pagan?, explores the record.
Luke 2; Matthew 2
Sources & further reading
Scripture
Luke 2:1–39 · Matthew 2:1–18
Ancient sources
Protoevangelium of James 17
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 78
Modern scholarship
Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (2008)
Andrew McGowan, “How December 25 Became Christmas,” Bible Review (2002)
Wesley Huff, “Donkeys, Inns, and Other Christmas Misconceptions” (2019)
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Inside
Two scenes, one shelf.
A closer look at the nativity
Most nativity sets gather everyone around the manger on one night. Luke describes shepherds at the manger; Matthew describes magi at a house. Matthew does not give the interval between the birth and their visit.
Your nativity set is a highlight reel, not a snapshot.
Who came when?
Two Gospels, two scenes
Luke follows the shepherds, naming, and temple visit. Matthew follows the magi and flight to Egypt. Herod’s age limit does not tell us Jesus’ exact age or how the two accounts line up.
- The first night (Luke’s account): Shepherds find the baby lying in a manger. (Luke 2:8–16)
- Day 8: Named Jesus just as the angel had said. (Luke 2:21)
- Day 40: At the temple Simeon and Anna welcome Him. (Luke 2:22–38; Leviticus 12)
- After the birth (Matthew’s account): Magi in Jerusalem ask where the King of the Jews has been born. (Matthew 2:1–2)
- In Bethlehem: At a house they worship the child with Mary. (Matthew 2:11)
- Afterward: Flight to Egypt. Herod’s order targets boys two and under. (Matthew 2:13–16)
What does “inn” mean?
The “inn”
Luke uses kataluma for the Last Supper’s guest room (Luke 22:11) and a different word for a commercial inn (Luke 10:34). Jesus was born “while they were there” (Luke 2:6). Luke doesn’t tell us how long they had been in Bethlehem.
The manger is in the text. The innkeeper is in the retelling.
A first-century village home
One possible reconstruction
A cross-section drawing shows four parts of the house:
- Guest room (kataluma)
- Family level
- Animal stall, with manger
- Cave
After Kenneth E. Bailey. A home and adjoining cave could fit together.
Where was the manger?
A home, a cave, or both.
Luke names a manger without describing the building. By the second century, Justin Martyr places Jesus’ birth in a cave; Origen records the same tradition in the third. This early tradition goes beyond the Gospel accounts.
The Church of the Nativity stands over the cave traditionally identified as Jesus’ birthplace.
Magi, not kings.
The magi
Three gifts do not mean three magi.
Matthew calls them magi, learned men from the east who watched the stars, and never says how many came. Counting three from the gifts is usually traced to Origen in the 200s; Syriac Christians often counted twelve. The names Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar appear some five centuries after Jesus.
Christmas in January?
Same day, different calendar.
Currently, December 25 on the old Julian calendar falls on January 7 on the Gregorian calendar, 13 days later.
Russian, Serbian, Georgian, and Jerusalem Orthodox churches keep the old Julian calendar, now 13 days behind ours. Their December 25 falls on our January 7.
In Bethlehem, Christmas comes three times: December 25, January 7, and January 19 for Armenian Christians.
The details change the picture. They never change the point.
The heart of it
“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.”
—Matthew 2:11 (ESV)
This Christmas, come and worship Him too.
Merry Christmas from your friends at Inspire.
inspire.org
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