Why Doesn’t the Pagan Roots of Christmas and Easter Hinder the Christian Observance of Them?

Every December and every spring, questions arise about whether Christians should celebrate days whose calendars intersect with old pagan festivals. The Bible’s counsel meets this concern directly, not by pretending history is neat, but by confessing that time itself belongs to the risen Lord. Scripture teaches that believers may regard a day “as special” or regard “every day alike,” provided each one acts “to the Lord” and with thanksgiving (Romans 14:5–6). It forbids idolatry in all forms, yet it frees consciences from fear that created things are permanently contaminated by prior misuse, since “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (1 Corinthians 10:26; cf. 10:28–31).

At the center of the matter stands Christ, who fulfills the story signaled by Israel’s festivals and brings His people into a new way of keeping time. The shadows give way to substance: “These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17). When churches mark the Lord’s birth and resurrection, they are not reenacting pagan worship but remembering the gospel with prayer, praise, and teaching, sanctifying the day by God’s word and thankful hearts (1 Timothy 4:4–5). The question is not whether a date once hosted rival meanings, but whether the church now fills it with the truth of Jesus, love for neighbor, and worship of the only God (Romans 14:6; John 4:24).

Words: 2725 / Time to read: 14 minutes

---

Historical and Cultural Background

Israel’s calendar was God-taught. The Lord set holy days to rehearse His saving work—Passover, Weeks, Booths—each a living reminder of redemption and provision (Leviticus 23; Deuteronomy 16:1–17). The timing marked identity, and the rituals catechized the next generation: “that your children will ask… and you will answer” (Exodus 12:26–27). Even then Scripture pointed beyond those markers as prophets foretold nations streaming to Zion and worship filling the world in ways the old feasts only anticipated (Isaiah 2:2–3; Zechariah 14:16). In the first century the church came of age inside a calendar thick with civic and pagan observances, yet believers learned to inhabit ordinary time as the Lord’s, gathering on the first day to remember the resurrection (John 20:19; Acts 20:7) and navigating complex food and festival questions with consciences trained by love (1 Corinthians 8:1–6; 10:25–31).

Questions about Christmas often include two distinct threads: whether December 25 is the actual day of Jesus’ birth, and whether the date was chosen to displace a pagan festival. Scripture does not supply a day on the calendar for the nativity. The narrative gives historical anchors—Herod still reigning when Jesus is born; a census connected to Quirinius; shepherds watching their flocks by night—but none of these yields a certain date (Luke 1:5; Luke 2:1–8). Some argue that night watch in open fields suggests a milder season, while others note that Judean flocks could graze outdoors in winter; the text itself does not settle the season (Luke 2:8). In the early centuries, Christians proposed various dates; one line of reflection placed the conception of Jesus on a date associated with His later passion, counting nine months to arrive at late December for His birth, while eastern communities that marked a different passion date landed in early January for the birth and manifestation, hence Epiphany on January 6 (Luke 1:26; Luke 23:54). Another historical line sees December 25 asserting Christ’s lordship over a time commonly associated with solstice feasts, not by blending worship but by redirecting attention to the true Light of the world (John 8:12). In either case, believers did not treat the date as a magical hinge; they treated it as an opportunity to confess the Word made flesh with thanksgiving (John 1:14).

The word Easter raises a related but separate question. In most languages the Christian feast of the resurrection is called Pascha, derived from the Hebrew Passover, because Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed (Exodus 12:11; 1 Corinthians 5:7–8; Acts 12:4). English and German are outliers: Easter and Ostern are the household terms. English usage likely reflects the name of a spring month remembered in old sources and later applied by Christians to the season when they proclaimed Christ’s resurrection. Whatever the exact linguistic pathway, Scripture’s content governed Christian use: the church preached Christ crucified and risen, not seasonal rites, and taught that in Him believers walk in newness of life (Luke 24:5–7; Romans 6:4). Naming conventions aside, the global church’s substance has always been Pascha—the Christ-centered fulfillment of Passover that celebrates the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Biblical Narrative

Jesus honored Israel’s feasts while revealing their fulfillment in Himself. He went up to Jerusalem at festival times and announced living water at the feast’s climax, pointing to the Spirit (John 7:37–39). He kept Passover with His disciples and reinterpreted bread and cup around His own body and blood given for many (Luke 22:15–20). The cross and empty tomb landed on real calendar days, and from that day forward the first day of the week marked the church’s ordinary rhythm of resurrection remembrance as they gathered to break bread and hear teaching (John 20:19; Acts 20:7). The nativity accounts likewise ground the incarnation in history with named rulers and public events, yet the Gospels do not bind the church to a birthday observance; they bind the church to the worship of the incarnate Lord (Luke 2:1–11; Matthew 2:1–2).

Romans 14 addresses the conscience questions that surface whenever days and diets collide with differing backgrounds. One person regards a day as special, another does not; “each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind” and both should act “to the Lord,” giving thanks (Romans 14:5–6). The chapter opposes passing judgment on servants of Another and calls for love that refuses to trip a brother or sister (Romans 14:4; 14:13–15). The same pastoral frame appears in 1 Corinthians: believers must flee true idol worship but need not fear the marketplace; they may eat with thanks unless someone identifies food as offered to idols, in which case love guides abstaining for the other’s sake (1 Corinthians 10:14; 10:25–29). This distinction between participation in idolatry and ordinary use of created things with thanksgiving is vital for thinking about dates and names.

Paul also warns against elevating special days into a rule of righteousness. The Colossian church is told not to let anyone act as judge regarding “a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day,” since these were shadows pointing to Christ (Colossians 2:16–17). The Galatians are cautioned against returning to enslaving principles by treating days and seasons as the engine of favor with God (Galatians 4:9–11). These warnings do not erase good uses of days; they protect the gospel from legalism and protect conscience from fear. Whenever days help us remember the grace of God in Christ, they serve; whenever they replace Christ or divide His people, they fail.

Acts 15 shows the apostles steering between two ditches. The church rejects idolatry outright, yet it does not bind Gentile believers to Israel’s covenant calendar or food laws, laying on them essentials that guard unity and holiness in a mixed community (Acts 15:19–21, 28–29). Within that freedom, churches could teach the birth and resurrection of the Lord at moments when neighbors were listening, provided they filled those times with Scripture, prayer, and praise rather than seasonal superstition (1 Thessalonians 5:21–22; Ephesians 5:10–12).

Theological Significance

Marking Christmas and Easter is a confession of Christ’s lordship over time. If all things hold together in Him, then days and seasons are not rival powers but theater for His glory (Colossians 1:16–17). When believers declare the wonder of the Word made flesh and the victory of the crucified and risen Lord, they are not borrowing magic from a date or a name; they are filling ordinary time with the truth that saves (John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Prayer and proclamation set the day apart to God’s purposes so that gratitude, not superstition, governs observance (1 Timothy 4:4–5).

The uncertainty of the exact date of Jesus’ birth does not diminish the reality celebrated. Scripture anchors the incarnation in history and prophecy but leaves the calendar day unassigned; that silence functions as wisdom. The point is not to venerate a date but to adore the Son whom the Father sent “when the set time had fully come” to redeem and to adopt (Galatians 4:4–5). Whether a congregation rehearses the nativity narratives in late December, early January, or at many points through the year, the truth confessed is the same: the true Light has come into the world, and all who receive Him become children of God (John 1:9–12). Exact dating belongs to prudence; worship belongs to Christ.

The linguistic question about Easter reminds believers to distinguish words from worship. In lands where Pascha remained the dominant term, the connection to Passover is explicit: Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed, and we keep the feast in sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7–8). Where Easter or Ostern became the household word, churches catechized content, not folklore, preaching the empty tomb and new life in the Spirit (Luke 24:5–7; Romans 6:4). Scripture’s pattern is to reclaim language and time for holy use when possible, while refusing any mixture with idol practices. The test is whether the gathering is ordered around the word, prayer, and the glory of Christ or around seasonal rites that blur the gospel (Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 10:21).

Christian freedom is central. The New Testament refuses to make days into boundary markers of righteousness. Some will not observe special days out of conscience; others will gladly gather with hymns and readings that highlight Christ’s coming and triumph. Both may honor the Lord, provided gratitude and love drive the practice (Romans 14:6; 14:19). Because the kingdom is “not a matter of eating and drinking” or of keeping a particular date, but of “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,” believers can walk together without elevating preferences into laws (Romans 14:17–18). The same logic that frees ordinary meat from permanent taint when received with thanks also frees ordinary dates and ordinary names from permanent taint when filled with the worship of the true God (1 Corinthians 10:25–31).

This doctrine also guards against two errors. One error fears creation as if evil lives in days and foods; the other error treats cultural forms as neutral even when they smuggle idolatry. Scripture cuts a better path. It affirms the goodness of the Lord’s world and the freedom of the Lord’s people, while commanding decisive separation from idol worship and syncretism (Acts 15:29; 1 Corinthians 10:14). Churches that mark Christmas and Easter must therefore fill those services with Scripture, prayer, and praise, not with borrowed seasonal rites. Where local customs mingle questionable practices, wisdom and love lead believers to abstain or reshape traditions so that Christ alone is honored (Romans 14:13; Ephesians 5:10–12).

The global church’s use of these seasons serves mission. Neighbors already attend to winter and spring observances; they ask questions and come to services. A congregation can invite them to meet the living Christ, telling why “the Word became flesh” and why the tomb is empty (John 1:14; Luke 24:5–7). Rather than ceding the calendar to rival stories, believers proclaim the true story in public, making the best use of the time because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). The aim is not to win a calendar but to win people, speaking the truth in love and keeping the cross at the center (Ephesians 4:15; 1 Corinthians 2:2).

Spiritual Lessons and Application

Receive time as a gift and aim it at the Giver. Whether a household marks these days or not, Scripture invites a posture that fills ordinary calendars with thanksgiving, prayer, and witness. Reading the nativity accounts in December or January and the resurrection narratives near spring can serve families and seekers alike, leading hearts to adore Christ and to rest in the hope that death has been defeated (Luke 2:10–14; Matthew 28:5–7). If a church chooses focused services on these themes, let the word govern every element so that the day is unmistakably about Jesus and not about seasonal folklore (Colossians 3:16–17).

Let conscience be trained by Scripture and guided by love. If a believer’s background makes certain seasonal associations painful or tempting, abstaining can be wise, and the family of God should make room for that choice without ridicule (Romans 14:22–23). If another believer’s freedom leads them to a full-throated celebration of Christ at those times, the same family should receive it with charity, provided no one is pushed to violate conscience and no hint of rival worship is embraced (Romans 14:6; 1 Corinthians 10:28–31). Households can also teach children the difference between the debated dating of Jesus’ birth and the unshakable truth of the incarnation, and the difference between the English word Easter and the biblical Pascha that proclaims the Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7–8).

Use the seasons evangelistically and pastorally. Many who rarely hear Scripture will come when invited to sing carols or to consider the resurrection. Churches can preach Christ crucified and risen, catechize with the creed and psalms, and invite seekers to repent and believe (1 Corinthians 15:3–4; Acts 17:30–31). Homes can practice hospitable joy, opening tables where prayer names Jesus as Lord and where the lonely are welcomed (Romans 12:13; Acts 2:46–47). When the focus is the Lord, these days can become on-ramps to lifelong discipleship.

Keep the long horizon in view. Seasonal joy is not the destination; it points to a greater day when the Lord gathers His people from every nation and fills the world with light. Today’s calendars will give way to the unending feast where “death has been swallowed up in victory” and where songs never end (Isaiah 25:6–8; Revelation 21:1–4). Marking time around the incarnation and the resurrection is thus a rehearsal for the kingdom’s fullness, a way to live now in the hope we will soon see (Matthew 26:29; Romans 8:23).

Conclusion

The question about pagan roots acknowledges our complicated world, yet Scripture gives a clear path. Created days are not enemies to fear; they are rooms in the Lord’s house. The church must reject all idol worship and any practices that smuggle it into Christian life, but it need not surrender the calendar when it can be filled with the truth of Christ and used for edification and mission (Deuteronomy 12:29–31; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 10:31). Under the risen Lord’s authority, believers may regard a day as special or treat every day alike; the measure is whether it is done “to the Lord” with thankful hearts and without causing a brother or sister to stumble (Romans 14:5–6; 14:19). The exact date of Jesus’ birth remains uncertain, and the English word Easter has a different linguistic story than Pascha, but neither uncertainty nor naming history dictates worship; Christ does.

Marking Christmas and Easter, then, does not depend on imagined sacred power in dates, nor is it hindered by what others once did with winter or spring. It depends on the gospel and on the church’s decision to teach, pray, sing, and love in Jesus’ name. Where conscience forbids such observance, abstaining honors the Lord; where conscience permits, celebrating honors Him as well. Across both choices, unity is preserved by humility, and joy is sustained by the truth that Jesus is Lord of all time and that the kingdom is near (Romans 14:17–18; Colossians 3:17).

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” (Romans 14:17–19)