Topic(s): Bible Authority, Christian Life

Bob Prichard

The word “holiday” is derived from “holy day.” Celebration of holy days was very important under the old law. Every male was supposed to go to Jerusalem three times yearly for the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. These special days reminded the Jews of God’s care for them. God condemned them when they did not keep these holy days or special Sabbaths. “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them” (Ezekiel 22:26).

Christians, however, are not bound to keep those Jewish holy days, because Christians are released from the Jewish law. Hosea prophesied that because of their sins, “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts” (Hosea 2:11). Christians live under the new covenant, based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6-9).

Two specific groups troubled the early church over holy days. “Judaizing teachers” tried to bind the Jewish holy days (and other Jewish laws) on Christians, while the Gnostics, a heretical sect that claimed to have special insights, tried to bind austere practices on Christians, excluding all holidays. Paul warned that both were wrong. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. . . . Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?” (Colossians 2:16-17, 20-22). Thus Christians were not bound to keep the Jewish holy days, but neither were they bound by the austere rules of the Gnostics, that would forbid any kind of celebration.

Christians are free to participate in holidays that do not conflict with God’s word or their consciences. Americans have a number of national holidays, such as Independence Day and Labor Day. Christians, as citizens, should be able to participate in these, as long as they do not engage in immoral practices, such as the consumption of alcohol. Christians who want to observe “religious holidays” should use caution to see that they do not violate scripture, realizing that there is much mythology associated with many religious holidays, For instance, the idea that the birth of Christ must be celebrated on December 25 is foreign to scripture. The New Testament does tell about the birth of Christ, but it neither gives a date or any command or example for Christians to celebrate it as a holiday. In fact, December 25 was selected as a date because it coincided with a pagan holiday. This does not necessarily mean that everything associated with a holiday is wrong because of original pagan connections. Most of our days of the week are named after pagan gods, but there is no pagan connotation attached to them today.