3258.— When Was Jesus Born?
Will you give me some proof or information as to the time when Christ was born?
J. B. We do not know the day of Christ’s birth. There is a possibility that it may have been December 25, but the probabilities, it seems to us, are clearly against it. In the first place, December 25 is very likely to be a cold period in Palestine, when the sheep would be in the fold and the shepherds themselves sheltered. “And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock,” showing that it evidently was not in the winter season. Secondly, our Lord began His ministry when He was “about thirty years” of age (Luke 3: 23), according to the Jewish law. This ministry began in the autumn. It seems quite evident that He had six months of ministry before His first Passover. He attended four Passovers, and at the last was crucified. If He began His ministry in the autumn, as it seems clear He did, and was about thirty years of age at the time, it must be in the autumn when He was born, or about six months from the spring equinox, which would bring the time of His birth in September to November. That, to us, is the nearest that we can estimate the time of birth. If He had desired that man should observe the day of His birth, He certainly would have revealed the day; that He did not do it, is evidence that nothing sacred attaches to the day. The origin of Christmas does not come to us from Christ. Very much of it, indeed, especially all of its gaiety, its sport, its folly, its sin, its giving of gifts, comes to us from the old Roman Saturnalia that was held at that season of the year. When the church of Christ had drifted far out into the world, she unwisely thought she could win more heathen to Christ by adopting heathen customs. Christmas and Easter came into the church in just that way; it was a pity that they did. The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, becoming flesh for us, ought to be remembered every day, and not merely one day in the year.