Christs Birth Day

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Did the early church observe Christ’s day of birth?

As December 25^th was the birthday of the pagan god Mithra, and as this day was not absorbed into mainstream Christianity until the 4^th century, the early Church would not have associated itself with this custom. The observance of birthdays is rooted in pagan worship systems. When Job’s children celebrated their birthdays (Jb. 1:4), he asked God to forgive them because he knew it was contrary to God’s will (Jb. 1:5, 19). Activities similar to those observed during December 25^th are not to be followed by God’s people (Jer. 10:1-5). When Christ was born, the shepherds were tending their flocks in the field by night (Lk. 2:8) and this activity ceases around mid-October due to the cold and rainy season. According to Appendix 179:3 in the Companion Bible, Christ’s birth would have occurred around the end of September based on calculations related to the birth of John the Immerser, whose birth preceded Christ’s by about 6 months (Lk. 1:26, 36). John would have been conceived shortly after his father Zacharias had completed his course of duty at the Temple (Lk. 1:5; cf. 1Chr. 24:10), around June 13-19. John would have been born nine months later, approximately March/April and Christ would have been born six months after John, which falls around September/October. This period coincides with the Holy Days of the seventh month held at Jerusalem, which would explain why all the inns were full at the time of Christ’s birth (Lk. 2:1-8).

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