Before we even attempt to answer the question as to whether or not Messianic Jews and Christians should celebrate Christmas, we must first understand the who, what, where, when, and why of Christmas.
The “Church” Leaders Purposely Choose December 25 as Christ’s birthday while telling people it is not his actual birthday. Huh? Yes.
There are many shocking revelations about the origins of Christmas. One such revelation is that the leaders who began the promotion of “Christmas” knew that Yeshua was not born on December 25, as evidenced by their painstaking efforts to make it known that December 25 was intentionally chosen to celebrate the birth of Yeshua within their newly established “liturgical year” and not the actual day of His birth. Britannica says, “The early Christian community distinguished between the identification of the date of Jesus’ birth and the liturgical celebration of that event.”1
Many believers are unaware that the words “Christian” and “Church” were not common in the vocabulary of early believers. The earliest believers did not use these words to describe themselves. Furthermore, the use of the words”Christians” or “Church” by non-believers in reference to believers in Yeshua is vastly different today from its ancient Greek context—and even still, these words were rarely used in favour of other words and phrases.
Origins of the Word “Church”
The Greek word “ἐκκλησίαν (ekklēsian),” which over time became translated as “Church,” is not only inaccurate but also loses its spiritual potency, especially in the context of Matthew 16:18.
“…upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (English Standard Version)
“…on this rock I will build My Assembly, and [the] gates of Hades will not prevail against it;” (Literal Standard Version)
The most accurate translation of the Greek word, “ἐκκλησίαν (ekklēsian),” is not “church” but rather “a called out-assembly,” “the assembly,” or “the assembling of…” The word “church” is not a direct translation from ekklesian but rather an entirely different Greek word, “kuriakos.” Even still, “kuriakos” still does not translate literally to church. In actuality, “kuriakos” traded translation with a few other languages over time, including German, and later became the old English word “cirice” or “circe,” and was first used in the thirteenth century. In other words, the word “church” is more recent than we think.
When “church” began to gain traction as the preferred translation over “assembly“, the early Quakers fought against it because they, too, recognised the spiritual dilution that would transpire if “church” became widely used. The Quakers made the case that the switch from “assembly” to “church” would become associated with a building and not the people. For this reason, the Quakers began designing and calling the buildings where they worshipped “steeplehouses.” Looking at the “church” today, we can all agree that the Quakers were right in this matter. Perhaps, you have even heard or read articles in which “church” leaders are trying to bring people back to the Bible understanding of the “church” as the “people” and not the building. One believes that as long as the inaccurate translation “church” continues to be used, it is a loosing battle.
Matthew 16:18 and the Spiritual Power of “Assembly”
Yeshua, in His declaration in Matthew 16:18, stated how and upon what foundation He Himself was going to ” assemble, establish a called out-assembly, or engage in the assembling of His body, His temple.” At closer look, we can see with clarity the direct relationship between Yeshua’s declaration of calling out of the world those who believe in Him and His call and command to be “Holy.” Holy is a call of separation from the world, to be set apart specifically for YAHWEH.
When we read God’s word with proper translation and contextual understanding, we see more clearly the unity and conformity of the New Covenant within the boundaries of the Old Covenant. Yeshua did not make a new declaration in Matthew 16:18 but reiterated one He had already made. In Iasiah 28:16, YAHWEH declared, “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.” The one who believes refers to anyone, not just Jews but all people of the Earth. Remember, the promise of Abraham was that through him, all nations would be blessed. (Genesis 22:18)
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens [outsiders without rights of citizenship], but you are fellow citizens with the saints (God’s people), and are [members] of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the [chief] Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together, and it continues [to increase] growing into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, set apart, and sacred to the presence of the Lord]. In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22, Amplified Bible)
Construction is happening, and Yeshua is the architect, project manager, builder, and foundation. And the vision of the finish work is found in Revelation 7:9, "After these things I looked, and behold, a vast multitude that no one could count—from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues—was standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands."
Why Spend So Much Time Discussing the Meaning of the Word “Church and Not Christmas?”
Understanding the meaning and timetime of the use of the word church helps us to paint an accurate picture of the context of the early believers.
In Acts 2:14-41, we read that following Peter’s message, three thousand men (Acts 2:5-12) surrendered their lives to Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah). The passage went on to list among those nations Parthians, Medes, Elamites “and those living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and visitors from Rome (both Jewish people and proselytes) (Acts 2:9-11).” Pausing to take note of the use of the term “proselytes” is necessary. Some translations use the word “converts.” Other translation chooses to utilise the most accurate and directly translation which is “converts to Judaism.” The Greek word, prosēlytoi προσήλυτοι, only appears once and is the Greek word for convert.
“prosēlytoi προσήλυτοιin” only appears once and in context was specifically referring to Gentile converts to Judaism.The Greek word “prosēlytoi προσήλυτοι” was seldom used because Gentiles who converted, much like today, were converting into a Hebrew context. Thus, variations of the Hebrew word “Ger” would have been used to describe the convert.
Here We Must Ask These Questions:
- Did any of the Jews who believed in Yeshua as a result of hearing Peter’s message convert to Christianity?
- Did any of the Gentiles who believed as a result of hearing Peter’s message convert to Christianity?
The answer to both questions is a resounding NO! Those who were Jews stayed Jews and those who were Gentiles converted to Judaism because they believed in the Jewish Messiah. The early believers were so Jewish that Paul regularly had to intervene to provide guidance as to how the “Jewish Laws” were to be applied to the “Gerim” or Gentile converts to Judaism. Nevertheless, a spiritual conversation did take place among the Jews and Gentiles that called them out and “assembled them” in a way that distinguished them from nonbelievering Jews and Gentiles. This reference to a spiritual conversation will be discussed at a later date.
For now, however, it is important that we understand that the early believers did not establish churches nor did they call themselves Christians. Hence, Christian practices like Advent, Christmas, and even Easter, to name a few, were never practised or celebrated by the early believers. If we were to travel back in time to the early assembly, they would be utterly confused and likely label us “false prophets” if we celebrated “Christmas” in their presence.
Jews and Believers Worshiped Together in the Synagogue: Home Churches are Not What We Have Been Led To Belive
The early believers worship at the Synagogue/ Temple on Shabbat. “House chuches” were not churches as we have been led to believe. After worshiping at the Synagogue, the assembly or believers in Yeshua HaMashiah, (Jesus the Messiah), would gather at each others homes to discuss, often over a meal, the Torah portions and discussion from the Synagogue and how they could clearly see Yeshua in the Torah. Additionaly, when we study the Jewish context of the early believers, this was a common practice. Jews would gather at each others homes after attending the synagogue to break bread together, celebrate the Shabbat together and discuss the Scriptures and discussions from the Synagogue.
Subtle Differences
The only differents between the Jews and the Jews who believed in Yeshua (including Gentile converts) was that the believers discussed Yeshua in teh context of the Scripture while the Jews would disscussion it in the context of the Law. In both cases, the traditional prayers and songs for Shabbat or the Biblical feasts would have been sung and because of this, it is often false narrative have repeated that the believers were hosting a separate worship service from the Jews, not so.
No. The Early Believers Did Not Celebrate Christmas
The Jews, and Jewish believers in Yeshua (including Gentile converts) all celebrated the Biblical feasts and other mandadted Biblical celebrations. It is important to once again reiterate that, the current celebrations in the church were not celebrated by the early believers and in fact were not even established until hundreds of years later in most cases.
Should Messianic Jews and Christians Celebrate Christmas? Upcoming Discussions
- History of the word “Christian.”
- Gentile believers no longer wanted to be identified as Jews, the feud and the Split.
- The establishment of the liturgical year.
- The development of “Christmas” AKA “mass on Christ’s day.”
- Leader of the early assembly feud over the celebration of “Christmas.”
- Digging deeper, is Christmas Biblical or pagan?
References:
- Britanica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas ↩︎