Most of us have heard of the Protestant Reformation, that religious revolution that took place in the Western church in the 16th century.
The movement was sparked by Martin Luther and the posting of his famous 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on Oct. 31, 1517.
Soon the movement spread to Switzerland under the leadership of such religious stalwarts as Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin. Eventually, other European nations were caught up in the attempts to reform the church, especially some of its beliefs and practices.
“Prima Scriptura”—the “primacy of the Scriptures”—was one of the great battle cries of the Reformation. All the Reformers wanted to return the church to the Bible as the primary source for belief and practice. Another of their desires was to free the gospel from all liturgical legalism in liturgical practices.
The Catholic Church embraced the veneration of saints and a whole host of special feast and festive days obligatorily observed throughout the liturgical calendar year.
Among these special liturgical observances was the celebration of the 12 days of Christmas—the “Christ Mass,” or period between Christmas and Epiphany that included eight days of special feast days and holy celebrations, typically honoring certain deceased saints.
Reformers responses to Christmas
How did Reformers such as Luther, Zwingli and Calvin deal with the liturgical legalism they believed were entrapping the church of their day? They simply desired to purge all the excesses, public exuberances and obligatory legalism that had come to be associated with celebrations such as Christmas.
They sought to remove the superstitious veneration of saints from the church. They also continued to stress the importance of following the life of Christ throughout the year as told in the Gospels.
Luther
While Luther’s attempt to reform the Catholic Church eventually failed and what emerged was the Lutheran Church in Germany, he still embraced Christmas and often preached on the birth of Christ in December of each year.
Luther held to the “normative principle” in worship, which teaches whatever is not specifically prohibited in Scripture is permitted in worship, so long as it fosters the peace and unity of the church.
Zwingli
Zwingli, while prohibiting the observance of all official ecclesiological saints’ days, still allowed the church to celebrate Christmas. He held to what is known as the “regulative principle” of worship, which maintains Scripture gives specific guidelines for conducting corporate worship services. The church must not add anything to those guidelines.
The “regulative principle” sees the Bible’s instructions as a strict code of conduct, while the “normative principle” sees the Bible’s instructions as simply principles to follow.
Calvin
Calvin accepted the “regulative principle,” but he believed each congregation, after prayer and meditation, was free to decide what to do and not do.
When Calvin arrived in Geneva in 1536, the authorities already had prohibited the observance of special festival days. Calvin, however, personally embraced Christmas and the birth of Jesus without making the festival binding on the faithful.
Interestingly and sadly, the Protestant Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the British Commonwealth, actually outlawed Christmas altogether.
Reforming our Christmas observance
With this brief history of the “reformation” of Christmas by the three famous Protestant Reformers, the real question for us today is does our Christmas need a little “reforming” this year?
Has our Christmas become a little too routine and, as the Reformers fought against, perhaps even a little too legalistically observed?
Certainly, we never should “reform” any of our beliefs about Christmas. We always should adhere to the prima Scriptura declaration of God’s written word.
We steadfastly proclaim God became incarnate on that first Christmas. Jesus, the God-man, the great Immanuel (“God with Us”), the Living Word of God, entered into the human race on that first Christmas. This is the non-negotiable, forever-standing belief about Christmas we never can change.
But while our beliefs about Christmas never should be “reformed,” our behaviors and practices of Christmas always should be re-evaluated and perhaps even “reformed” a little.
From routine to reformed
According to a 2015 General Social Survey, fully 47 percent of Americans say their lives are “routine” or “dull.” A recent OnePoll survey reports that the average American adult experiences 131 days of boredom each year.
Christmas time never should be a “routine” or “dull” time. Christmas Day never should be one of those days of routine boredom.
Perhaps some of us, while never compromising our beliefs about Christmas, have fallen into a “dull routine” in our practices of Christmas. We do the same things over and over—perhaps even a little legalistically—year after year, Christmas after Christmas, when it comes to celebrating what should be the boredom-busting birth of our Savior.
While most of these practices probably are good in and of themselves, perhaps we should liven up our Christmas a little this year just by doing something a little different. Your own behavioral “reforms” of Christmas could take on many forms. Be creative.
On this glorious Christmas Day 2023, be a reformer. Break your routine, liven it up, do something different, make it a little fresher and more meaningful. When you do, you just might be surprised at what your “reforms” of Christmas will do for you.
Jim Lemons is professor of theological studies and leadership in the College of Christian Faith and the director of the Master of Arts in Theological Studies at Dallas Baptist University. The views expressed are those solely of the author.
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