Around this time of year there are certain predictable posts among Reformed Presbyterians: posts that lament the idolatry of the church, especially in celebrating man-made "holy days" like Advent and Christmas. Some of you, unfamiliar with Reformed history or practice, may wonder what the big deal would be. What faithful Christian wouldn't want to celebrate Christmas!? Isn't that just for the Grinch? Well, the reality is that a lot of faithful Reformed forefathers and mothers didn't celebrate Christmas, not because they were Grinches, but because they took very seriously the Bible's command to not worship God any other way than He Himself had ordained. The Westminster Confession, for example, says in chapter 21 Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day:
But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited to his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture.
God warned His people against thinking they knew better than He about how to properly worship Him. One very clear example of this would be Deuteronomy 12:32, "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." In worshiping God, we are only to do those things God has ordained, not add to them with our own ideas, nor take away from them through laziness. For many of our Reformed forebears, this forbade them from anything like annual Christmas celebrations. After all, nowhere in His word does God command the annual celebration of Christ's birth.
It was timely that our men's Bible study at Trinity Chapel wrapped up this week by finishing the book of Esther. The book of Esther closes with the institution of a yearly holiday for the Jews. Because God has delivered them from Haman and their enemies in the Persian empire, Mordecai writes a letter to all the Jews in the empire that they should remember this occasion every year: "as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another, and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them." (Esther 9:22-23)
This is the Jewish feast of Purim, the yearly celebration of God's deliverance from their enemies. It is, in a sense, a "man-made holyday." Nowhere do we read that God commanded Mordecai to institute it. Rather, following the example where God ordained holy days for His people to remember their past deliverances (e.g. Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles), Mordecai institutes this holiday to remember the Jews' most recent deliverance.
We are not told whether God approves of Purim. Based on other Scriptures, like Deuteronomy 12:32, plenty of Reformed teachers say that this cannot be approved by God, as it is a man-made holyday, not instituted by God. It's frustrating, as God doesn't make any explicit appearances in Esther: He only shows up behind the scenes, never even named, but working through His providence to direct all things and deliver His people. So we aren't told if He disapproves of Purim or not. The way we read the story, it seems like we are meant to approve of it. Esther, in some sense, is a story recorded to explain the holyday of Purim. You can imagine young Jewish boys and girls asking their parents, "Why do we celebrate these days each year?" And, like the Passover, those Jewish parents open the book of Esther and tell them the story of God's saving grace and power.
Christmas, in my estimation, is similar to Purim. Are we ever explicitly commanded to make a yearly remembrance and celebration of Christ's birth? No, we aren't. There is no verse in all the Bible that says, "Be sure to celebrate Christ's birth every year in late December. Chop down a tree and move it into your living room. Then exchange gifts among one another and with the poor." For some people, that means it is forbidden. I would not agree with that assessment, but why?
As I understand it, a definition of the regulative principle that says, "Anything not explicitly commanded is forbidden," leaves us with a lot of additional problems. Where is the explicit command to gather for worship on Sunday, and not Saturday? (That, by the way, is the chief argument of the "seventh-day" movements: nowhere in Scripture does God explicitly change the Sabbath day from the seventh day to the first. So, they say, we don't have a right to change it.) The reality is that we know the Sabbath day has changed, not because of an explicit command, but by deduction and example. We see that early Christians gathered on the first day, not the seventh. We know that the 4th commandment teaches a perpetual Sabbath of one-in-seven days to be holy to the Lord. Therefore, we deduce that the 4th commandment Sabbath is changed under the New Testament from Saturday to Sunday, in recognition of the world-changing power of Christ's resurrection, which was on the first, not the seventh day.
By deduction and example, I think we can make a case for at least an annual remembrance of Christ's first coming in Christmas. Just as the angel in Revelation came to John on the Lord's day, thus signifying the true significance of Sunday over Saturday, so also angels appeared to celebrate the incarnation of God's Son. "'For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.'" (Luke 2:11-15)
One reason I think many of our Reformed forebears reacted so strongly against things like Christmas was their connection to medieval Romanism and all the ungodly idolatry of that system. For centuries the papal antichrist had invented all sorts of superstitious celebrations for saints, angels, and the virgin Mary. The calendar had become full of so-called "holy days of obligation" that crept in and replaced the weekly Sabbath celebration on the Lord's day. They had made these days equal to the Lord's day, in that all the faithful were obligated to attend mass on these days, and rest from work and recreation (which was the whole point of the Sabbath in the first place).
Let me be clear: Christmas is not such a day as this. In no way is our annual celebration of Christmas a replacement for or even equal to the weekly obligation of the Lord's day Sabbath. My wife and I used to travel home every year for Christmas. Often, we would drive all day on Christmas day back to Chicago. We spent money on gas and eating at Waffle House (the only place on the road open on Christmas). Nor did we attend a worship service. My wife can testify that none of those would be the case for us on the Lord's day. The Sabbath alone is the day to not spend money, to buy or sell, to refrain from usual recreations and work, and instead to spend the whole day in worship and rest.
If you are reading this as a "Chreaster" (someone who only goes to church on Christmas + Easter) you are living in rebellion against God. God has commanded the weekly gathering of saints to worship Him in the Spirit and to rest from our usual worldly employment and recreation. If Sunday is football day for you, or the day for travel sports with kids, or the day to stay in your pajamas and binge watch Netflix, God is not pleased with you. He doesn't care how many candles you light, or how much caroling you do, or that you put up a tree in your living room.
But for those of you who are striving to keep the Lord's day, to spend the Sabbath day worshiping the Lord and resting from worldly things. To those of you who are seeking to be faithful, and also feel inclined to celebrate Christmas, I wouldn't fret as much. Keep it in its proper place: well below the weekly Lord's day Sabbath. But enjoy it. Make these "days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor." Remember that these days are not ultimately about family gatherings, not enjoyable light shows, not even the presents, but that God became man, lost and fallen man to save. Unashamedly proclaim the true Reason for the season:
Hail, the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
ris'n with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"
