The fact that His birth had such humble beginnings, that God chose for His Son to be born this way, speaks of His nature and character-meek and lowly. The details the Bible does include about Jesus' birth can help us understand more about who He is as a person. What matters is that He was born at all, that He came into the world to pay the penalty we owe for our sins, that He was resurrected to eternal life, and that He's alive today in the heart of every believer. ![]() The truth is, it really doesn't matter what DAY Jesus was born. However, historical evidence proves that unblemished lambs were kept in the fields near Bethlehem for the Temple sacrifice during the winter. This theory claims that the Judean winters were too cold for shepherds to be out at night, watching their flocks. Some Christians argue that Jesus may have been born in another season, such as autumn. and 4 B.C., but that is still a range of 2 years. Many scholars believe it was somewhere between 6 B.C. In fact, we don’t even know for sure the exact year in which He was born. While December 25 has pretty much been accepted as the day to celebrate Jesus' birth, it is still impossible to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was born on December 25. Could Jesus have been born on another day? (Think of it sort of like Halloween today.) Over the years, many of the symbols and actions the pagans used were reinterpreted in ways acceptable to the Christian faith, and Christians also came up with their own symbols and traditions for December 25. The celebration of Christmas on December 25 had the added opportunity to offer a Christian alternative during a time of pagan festivities. During the time of the early church, Christians would still participate in winter solstice festivals because, in an agricultural society, it was an important time of year. Why was December 25 chosen as Jesus' birthday?īecause of the various historical records, December 25 was eventually officially recognized for Christmas, but it is true that the date coincided with the time of Saturnalia and winter solstice festivals that were already practiced by pagans. ![]() Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) had access to the original Roman birth census, which also documented that Jesus was born on the 25th of December. ![]() Later on, one of the early church fathers, John Chrysostom, agreed that December 25 was correct. The first recorded observance of Christ's birthday is included in the Philoclian Calendar, representing Roman practice, in the year 336. 170-236) claimed that Jesus was born on December 25. People have been speculating about the actual birthday of Jesus Christ since the 3rd century, when Hyppolytus (ca. We can learn all about the circumstances surrounding His birth in Matthew 1:18-25 2:1-12 Luke 1:26-38 and 2:1-20. We DO get plenty of details in the Bible though, such as His birth city (Bethlehem), where He slept (a manger), and what He was wearing (swaddling blankets) (Luke 2:4,7,12). The Bible does not actually mention the precise date of Jesus' birth, so we can't know for sure what day Jesus was born.
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