It’s often expected that any religious group which believes Jesus is God’s Son will have special services during the Christmas season to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

Yet, Scripture does not tell us what day of the year Jesus was born, and God never commands churches to celebrate Jesus’ birth in this way. Scripture tells of God the Son coming to earth (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-20), but there is no mention of Christmas, nor is there a command for churches to pick a day of the year to remember Jesus’ birth above all other days.

Jesus did establish a special memorial for the church to observe (Luke 22:19). This is not Christmas (or Easter), but the “Lord’s supper” (1 Cor. 11:20), observed in the New Testament on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). The primary focus of this memorial is not His birth, but His death (1 Cor. 11:24-25).

This does not demean the importance of God the Son coming to earth, or suggest we can’t thank God for this on Christmas day (as with any other day). Nor does it imply that there is anything wrong with individuals celebrating Christmas in a non-religious way.

These points do, though, remind us of the difference between commands of God and manmade traditions promoted as though they are from God (Mark 7:7).

Christ’s Word specifies the worship He desires of the local church. May we simply submit to His pattern, remembering the words of 2 John 9, “Whoever transgresses and doesn’t remain in the teaching of Christ, doesn’t have God. He who remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”