Was Jesus really born in a barn? Did the angels actually sing? How many wise men were there, really?
There are lots of components of the Christmas story that we’ve come to accept as gospel truth, but that the Bible doesn’t actually teach. Here are some great resources to help us better understand the details surrounding the biblical account of the birth of Christ.
Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem?
The Bible doesn’t tell us, so we don’t know for sure. She could have ridden a donkey. She could have ridden in a cart. She could have walked. All Scripture tells us is that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. It doesn’t say how they got there.
Was Mary in active labor when she and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem?
It makes for dramatic nativity movies, but it’s very unlikely. God Himself had given Joseph the enormous and grave task of taking care of Mary and Jesus. You’ve seen first time dads and the weight of responsibility they feel to protect and provide for their wives and their own babies. This was God’s Son. Joseph must have been quaking in his sandals to make sure he got everything right. He certainly would not have waited until Mary was near her due date and risked her delivering the baby in the open country on the trip (not to mention outside of Bethlehem, which would have failed to fulfill prophecy).
Luke 2:6 says:
And while they were there [in Bethlehem], the time came for her to give birth.
“While they were there,” not “as soon as they got there.” “The time came,” not “IT’S TIME, JOSEPH! Find me a room NOW!” The phraseology of this verse suggests that Mary and Joseph spent some time in Bethlehem before Jesus was born. Rather than taking Mary to Bethlehem at the last minute, it’s much more likely that Joseph carefully prepared for the trip, made sure to get there with plenty of time to spare, and made arrangements to stay in Bethlehem until the baby was born.
Was Jesus born in a barn or stable? And what about that innkeeper?
Luke 2:7 tells us:
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
To our western minds, an inn is like a hotel – a business that rents rooms to travelers. But in biblical times, the cultural rules of hospitality dictated that travelers stay with family, friends, or anyone who would extend hospitality to them. Thus, there was no hotel-like “inn” in Bethlehem, and, of course, no innkeeper.
The Greek word kataluma, usually rendered as “inn” in Luke 2:7 is more accurately rendered “guest room” or “upper room” (of a home) – the same sort of “upper room” Jesus used for the Last Supper. One of Joseph’s relatives would have welcomed him and Mary into their home when they got to Bethlehem. But because Bethlehem was packed with visitors arriving for the census, the guest room of the home they stayed in was likely already full. So instead of giving birth in the crowded upper room of the home, Mary moved to the lower room. This lower room would have had space for the animals to be brought in at night, complete with a feed trough (manger), giving her a convenient cradle for the little Lord Jesus to lay down His sweet head. Jesus was not born in the kind of barn or stable we think of in America and usually see in traditional nativity scenes.
Once more: Jesus was not born in a stable by Ian Paul
Born in a Barn (Stable)? at Answers in Genesis
Jesus Was Born in a Stable? at When We Understand the Text
Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? Was she in active labor when she arrived? Was Jesus born in a barn/stable? And what about that innkeeper? Time to bust some popular Christmas myths!
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Did Jesus cry as a baby?
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes
Until I started researching this article, I didn’t realize that some people think Jesus never cried as a baby because of these two lines from the Christmas carol Away in a Manger.
I don’t think that was the hymnist’s intent. The stanza reads as though, in that particular moment when He woke up, Jesus was content and happy, not that He never ever cried.
Furthermore, we know from Scripture that Jesus was not only fully God, He was also fully human. Human babies cry when they’re hungry or tired or sick or in pain or a thousand other scenarios. That’s how they communicate. Jesus was a real live human baby who cried, nursed, spit up, burped, needed His diaper changed, fell down when He was learning to walk, and had to be potty trained. The only type of crying we know He never did was sinful crying – because He didn’t get His own way, because He was angry and frustrated, etc. – since we know Jesus was without sin.
Hark! Did the “herald angels” actually sing?
It’s possible, but we don’t know for sure. We know that the gloria in excelsis deo proclamation was spoken to the shepherds because Luke 2:13-14 says.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, โGlory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!โ
But it also says they were praising God. In the Bible, though praise can be expressed in many ways, singing is one of the most common and natural ways of praising God. So while we know the angels weren’t singing exclusively, there’s no reason they couldn’t have been singing at some point.
Hark! The Herald Angels Said? at Answers in Genesis
Do Angels Sing? at Got Questions
How many wise men were there, exactly?
At least two (because the Bible speaks of them in the plural), but possibly a whole passel of them. Our minds are set to “three” because the Bible mentions that they brought three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, because of Christmas carols like We Three Kings, and because every nativity set comes equipped with three wise men. But it’s just as possible that two wise men gave three gifts, or that three gifts were given corporately by a larger group of wise men.
We Three Kings at Answers in Genesis
What does the Bible say about the three wise men (Magi)? at Got Questions
How many wise men came after Jesus was born? at CARM
Did Jesus cry as a baby? Hark! Did the “herald angels” actually sing? Just how many wise men *were* there, exactly? Ready to bust some Christmas myths? Check this out!
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Were Anna and Simeon married to each other?
Nope. Not even a little bit.
The end of Luke 2 tells us the story of Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple to offer the appropriate sacrifice for Him as “the first male to open the womb”. While they’re there, Simeon shows up and prophesies over Jesus and Mary. And “at that very hour” Anna also “began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” But nowhere does the passage even hint that they were married to each other, or that they even knew one another.
I think a lot of people mentally marry Anna to Simeon because their stories are back to back, because they showed up at the temple at the same time, and because we tend to assume they were both elderly. (Anna was at least 84, but, technically, we’re never told Simeon’s age or that he was elderly.) But verse 37 clearly tells us that Anna “lived as a widow”. She wasn’t married to anyone, including Simeon.
Who was Simeon in the Bible? at Got Questions
Who was Anna the prophetess in the Bible? at Got Questions
How many babies were murdered in the slaughter of the innocents?
Matthew 2:16 tells us that an enraged King Herod “sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under” in an attempt to murder Jesus. We tend to think of scores, even hundreds, of babies being murdered in this event which has come to be known as “The Slaughter [or Massacre] of the Innocents.” But as the beloved Christmas carol states, it’s “O little town of Bethlehem”. Bethlehem had a population of approximately 1500. Statistically speaking, scores or hundreds of baby boys age two and under in a population that size would have been impossible. Twelve to fifteen – still a horrifying tragedy- would be more accurate.
Truth or Fiction: Did Herod Really Slaughter Baby Boys in Bethlehem? by Paul Maier
Were Anna and Simeon married to each other? How many babies were murdered in the slaughter of the innocents? Let’s bust some Christmas myths!
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Does Christmas have pagan origins, and does that mean Christians shouldn’t celebrate it?
No, and no. Christians celebrating the incarnation of Christ is Christian, not pagan, and Christians are free to celebrate (or not) Christ’s incarnation any day of the year, including December 25.
Do some aspects of the celebration of Christmas find their origin in millennia-old paganism? Possibly. But are you participating in that paganism if you put up a tree or give gifts at Christmas? Probably not. The โChristmas is paganโ lore is so ancient and uncertain that most people arenโt even aware of it. How could you possibly be participating in paganism if youโre not even aware of its existence, you have no intention of participating in it, and it has nothing to do with your reasons for celebrating?
Read more: Is Christmas Pagan?
Does Christmas have Catholic origins, and does that mean Christians shouldn’t celebrate it?
Maybe you’ve heard people say that the word โChristmasโ means โChristโs mass,โ so Christmas is Roman Catholic and Christians shouldnโt celebrate it or use the word โChristmasโ.
Itโs true that the word โChristmasโ is a shortened form of โChristโs massโ. It first appeared in English usage as Crฤซstesmรฆsse in 10381, and, at that time, it did refer to the Roman Catholic mass celebrating the birth of Christ.
Youโll note that 1038 was long before the Protestant Reformation. In 1038, Roman Catholicism was the primary manifestation of any form of Christianity. There was no other church. So, at that time, if you were going to refer to a religious observance of the birth of Christ, you naturally would have couched it in Catholic vernacular. You would not have had any other frame of reference for Christianity.
But the word โChristmasโ has come a long way in the last thousand years. It no longer refers exclusively or primarily to a Roman Catholic mass. It refers to all kinds of things surrounding December 25 and the birth of Christ, from a Christmas worship service at your own doctrinally sound church to Christmas sales, presents, trees, carols, 5Ks, parties and everything else under the sun that takes place this time of year. Itโs perfectly fine for Christians to use the word โChristmasโ. I mean, โThursdayโ started out as โThorโs Day“. Itโs actually named after a false god, and none of us bat an eye when it rolls around every week, so why would โChristmasโ be problematic?
But if you have a sensitive conscience and it bothers you to use the word โChristmas,โ why not try on โIncarnation Dayโ and see how it fits? Or maybe โNoelโ? It derives from Old French and means โbirthโ or โbirthdayโ1.
As for celebrating Christmas, itโs not required by Scripture, so you donโt have to observe the day if you donโt want to, but I would plead with you, donโt use โbecause itโs Catholicโ as your reason. Donโt dignify that evil, apostate religious system โ which has sent millions to Hell โ with the power to be a factor in your spiritual decision making. Donโt let it keep you from celebrating the birth of your Lord in the biblical way of your choosing. They donโt have that right, and you shouldnโt give them that power. I would encourage you to read my article Is Christmas Pagan?. Everything in it applies to Catholicism as well.
Does Jeremiah 10:3-4 (and other passages) prohibit Christmas trees?
for the customs of the peoples are vanity.
A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
Jeremiah 10:3-4
Itโs imperative to look to Scripture to make sure that none of our Christmas traditions conflict with Godโs Word. But we need to make sure we’re handling God’s Word rightly and in context.
If we read all of Jeremiah 10, it’s very clear that the entire chapter is talking about idol worship. The English Standard Version even has a little heading at the top that says, โIdols and the Living Godโ.
Verses 3-4 of Jeremiah 10 are not referring to Christmas trees. They’re talking about ancient pagans – not Christians – chopping down trees to create wooden idols to worship, not chopping down a tree and decorating it – as is – in honor of the birth of Christ, or for any other reason. Itโs talking about the crafting of wooden idols.
We know this because of the phrase in verse 3, “worked by the hands of a craftsman”. Some translations render it “a craftsman shapes it with his chisel”. The craftsman carved a piece of wood into an idol which was then often dipped into or plated with gold or silver. This is exactly whatโs being described in verses 8-9:
the instruction of idols is but wood!
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
their clothing is violet and purple; [the clothing the craftsman would dress the idols in]
they are all the work of skilled men.
Idol worship is the “custom of the peoples (pagans) that is vanity,โ as it says in verse 3, and that is what God prohibits in this passage, not Christmas trees.
Neither do the passages of Scripture that refer to idol worship taking place under โevery green treeโ prohibit Christmas trees. I can only surmise this false belief came into being because โevery green treeโ sounds like โevergreen tree,โ which is what Christmas trees are. There are several verses that use this phrase, โevery green tree.โ Hereโs one of them:
You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. Deuteronomy 12:2
Again, all of the verses that use this phrase are talking about idol worship, because thatโs apparently where the idol worship took place. The tree itself wasnโt intrinsically evil, itโs the fact that people were using it in their idol worship.
So, unless you’re worshiping your Christmas tree as an idol, or youโre using your Christmas tree as some sort of altar from which to worship an idol, your Christmas tree itself isnโt evil. You donโt have to have a Christmas tree in your house if you donโt want one, but you canโt use these Scripture passages to justify your choice or to bind the consciences of other Believers.
Are Christmas Trees Pagan? at When We Understand the Text
Should Christians have Christmas trees? by John MacArthur
Isn’t using the term “X-mas” somehow taking Christ out of Christmas?
No. But itโs kind of understandable that people would think that the โXโ in X-mas is removing Christ or genericizing Christmas. We use the letter X as an unknown variable in math. We might see a detergent commercial in which one of the bottles is labeled โbrand Xโ instead of its real name. So it can kind of seem like X is a place-filler or that it can stand for practically anything.
But thatโs not the case with the X in X-mas. That X has a finite value. X = 1, the One and only, Jesus Christ. How do we know that?
In the term X-mas, rather than the letter X taking Christ out of Christmas, the letter X actually stands for Christ.
Read more: The Mailbag: Merry “X-mas”?
Christmas is pagan, or Catholic? Scripture forbids Christmas trees? X-mas takes Christ out of Christmas? These Christmas myths are BUSTED!
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There are lots of myths about Christmas flying around out there. And there are lots of sentimental and striking details of the Christmas story we’ve come to embrace over the years. But it’s imperative that we get our theology from the Bible, not Christmas carols, traditions, and assumptions. Yet even more important than donkeys and stables and trees is why Jesus came – to save sinners like you and me.
Additional Resources:
Christmas Mythbusters at A Word Fitly Spoken
25 Christmas Myths and What the Bible Says by Gabe Hughes
Please note, I am not thoroughly familiar with the theology of every site linked above. I have only vetted the specific articles that are linked. I do not endorse anything at the sites above that conflict with my theology as outlined in my “Statement of Faith” and “Welcome” tabs at the top of this page. Please reject any theology you may come across at these sites that conflicts with God’s Word.
