SPIRIT

The Greek pneu´ma (spirit) comes from pne´o, meaning “breathe or blow,” and the Hebrew ru´ach (spirit) is believed to come from a root having the same meaning. Ru´ach and pneu´ma, then, basically mean “breath” but have extended meanings beyond that basic sense. (Compare Hab 2:19; Re 13:15.) They can also mean wind; the vital force in living creatures; one’s spirit; spirit persons, including God and his angelic creatures; and God’s active force, or holy spirit. (Compare Koehler and Baumgartner’s Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, Leiden, 1958, pp. 877-879; Brown, Driver, and Briggs’ Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1980, pp. 924-926; Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, edited by G. Friedrich, translated by G. Bromiley, 1971, Vol. VI, pp. 332-451.) All these meanings have something in common: They all refer to that which is invisible to human sight and which gives evidence of force in motion. Such invisible force is capable of producing visible effects.

Another Hebrew word, nesha·mah´ (Ge 2:7), also means “breath,” but it is more limited in range of meaning than ru´ach. The Greek pno·e´ seems to have a similar limited sense (Ac 17:25) and was used by the Septuagint translators to render nesha·mah´.

Wind. Consider first the sense that is perhaps easiest to grasp. The context in many cases shows ru´ach to mean “wind,” as the “east wind” (Ex 10:13), “the four winds.” (Zec 2:6) The mention of such things as clouds, storm, the blowing of chaff or things of similar nature appearing in the context often makes evident this sense. (Nu 11:31; 1Ki 18:45; 19:11; Job 21:18) Because the four winds are used to mean the four directions—east, west, north, and south—ru´ach at times may be rendered as ‘direction’ or ‘side.’—1Ch 9:24; Jer 49:36; 52:23; Eze 42:16-20.

Job 41:15, 16 says of Leviathan’s closely fitting scales that “not even air [weru´ach] can come in between them.” Here again ru´ach represents air in motion, not merely air in a quiescent or motionless state. Thus the thought of an invisible force is present, the basic characteristic of the Hebrew ru´ach.

Evidently the only case in the Christian Greek Scriptures in which pneu´ma is used in the sense of “wind” is at John 3:8.

Man cannot exercise control over the wind; he cannot guide, direct, restrain, or possess it. Because of this, “wind [ru´ach]” frequently stands for that which is uncontrollable or unattainable by man—elusive, transitory, in vain, of no genuine benefit. (Compare Job 6:26; 7:7; 8:2; 16:3; Pr 11:29; 27:15, 16; 30:4; Ec 1:14, 17; 2:11; Isa 26:18; 41:29.) For a full discussion of this aspect, see WIND.

Spirit Persons. God is invisible to human eyes (Ex 33:20; Joh 1:18; 1Ti 1:17), and he is alive and exercises unsurpassed force throughout the universe. (2Co 3:3; Isa 40:25-31) Christ Jesus states: “God is a Spirit [Pneu´ma].” The apostle writes: “Now Jehovah is the Spirit.” (Joh 4:24; 2Co 3:17, 18) The temple built on Christ as foundation cornerstone is “a place for God to inhabit by spirit.”—Eph 2:22.

This does not mean that God is an impersonal, bodiless force like the wind. The Scriptures unmistakably testify to his personality; he also has location so that Christ could speak of ‘going to his Father,’ this in order that he might “appear before the person of God [literally, “face of God”] for us.”—Joh 16:28; Heb 9:24; compare 1Ki 8:43; Ps 11:4; 113:5, 6; see JEHOVAH (The Person Identified by the Name).

The expression “my spirit” (ru·chi´) used by God at Genesis 6:3 may mean “I the Spirit,” even as his use of “my soul” (naph·shi´) has the sense of “I the person,” or “my person.” (Isa 1:14; see SOUL [God as Having Soul].) He thereby contrasts his heavenly spiritual position with that of earthly, fleshly man.

God’s Son. God’s “only-begotten son,” the Word, was a spirit person like his Father, hence “existing in God’s form” (Php 2:5-8), but later “became flesh,” residing among mankind as the man Jesus. (Joh 1:1, 14) Completing his earthly course, he was “put to death in the flesh, but [was] made alive in the spirit.” (1Pe 3:18) His Father resurrected him, granted his Son’s request to be glorified alongside the Father with the glory he had had in his prehuman state (Joh 17:4, 5), and God made him “a life-giving spirit.” (1Co 15:45) The Son thus became again invisible to human sight, dwelling “in unapproachable light, whom not one of men has seen or can see.”—1Ti 6:14-16.

Other spirit creatures. Angels are designated by the terms ru´ach and pneu´ma in a number of texts. (1Ki 22:21, 22; Eze 3:12, 14; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 43:5; Ac 23:8, 9; 1Pe 3:19, 20) In the Christian Greek Scriptures, the majority of such references are to wicked spirit creatures, demons.—Mt 8:16; 10:1; 12:43-45; Mr 1:23-27; 3:11, 12, 30.

Psalm 104:4 states that God makes “his angels spirits, his ministers a devouring fire.” Some translations would render this: “Who makest the winds thy messengers, fire and flame thy ministers,” or similarly. (RS, JP, AT, JB) Such translation of the Hebrew text is not inadmissible (compare Ps 148:8); however, the apostle Paul’s quotation of the text (Heb 1:7) coincides with that of the Greek Septuagint and harmonizes with the rendering first given. (In the Greek text of Hebrews 1:7, the definite article [tous] is used before “angels,” not before “spirits [pneu´ma·ta],” making the angels the proper subject of the clause.) Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament (1974) says: “It is to be presumed that [Paul], who had been trained in the knowledge of the Hebrew language, would have had a better opportunity of knowing its [referring to Psalm 104:4] fair construction than we can; and it is morally certain, that he would employ the passage in an argument as it was commonly understood by those to whom he wrote—that is, to those who were familiar with the Hebrew language and literature.”—Compare Heb 1:14.

God’s angels, though capable of materializing human form and appearing to men, are not by nature material or fleshly, hence are invisible. They are actively alive and able to exert great force, and the terms ru´ach and pneu´ma therefore aptly describe them.

Ephesians 6:12 speaks of Christians wrestling, “not against blood and flesh, but against the governments, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places.” The latter part of the text in Greek literally reads: “Toward the spiritual (things) [Gr., pneu·ma·ti·ka´] of the wickedness in the heavenly [places].” Most modern translations recognize that the reference here is not simply to something abstract, “spiritual wickedness” (KJ), but refers to wickedness carried out by spirit persons. Thus, we have such renderings as: “the spirit-forces of evil on high” (AT), “the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (RS), “the spiritual army of evil in the heavens” (JB), “the superhuman forces of evil in the heavens” (NE).

God’s Active Force; Holy Spirit. By far the majority of occurrences of ru´ach and pneu´ma relate to God’s spirit, his active force, his holy spirit.

Not a person. Not until the fourth century C.E. did the teaching that the holy spirit was a person and part of the “Godhead” become official church dogma. Early church “fathers” did not so teach; Justin Martyr of the second century C.E. taught that the holy spirit was an ‘influence or mode of operation of the Deity’; Hippolytus likewise ascribed no personality to the holy spirit. The Scriptures themselves unite to show that God’s holy spirit is not a person but is God’s active force by which he accomplishes his purpose and executes his will.

It may first be noted that the words “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (KJ) found in older translations at 1 John 5:7 are actually spurious additions to the original text. A footnote in The Jerusalem Bible, a Catholic translation, says that these words are “not in any of the early Greek MSS [manuscripts], or any of the early translations, or in the best MSS of the Vulg[ate] itself.” A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, by Bruce Metzger (1975, pp. 716-718), traces in detail the history of the spurious passage. It states that the passage is first found in a treatise entitled Liber Apologeticus, of the fourth century, and that it appears in Old Latin and Vulgate manuscripts of the Scriptures, beginning in the sixth century. Modern translations as a whole, both Catholic and Protestant, do not include them in the main body of the text, because of recognizing their spurious nature.—RS, NE, NAB.

Personification does not prove personality. It is true that Jesus spoke of the holy spirit as a “helper” and spoke of such helper as ‘teaching,’ ‘bearing witness,’ ‘giving evidence,’ ‘guiding,’ ‘speaking,’ ‘hearing,’ and ‘receiving.’ In so doing, the original Greek shows Jesus at times applying the personal pronoun “he” to that “helper” (paraclete). (Compare Joh 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15.) However, it is not unusual in the Scriptures for something that is not actually a person to be personalized or personified. Wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs (1:20-33; 8:1-36); and feminine pronominal forms are used of it in the original Hebrew, as also in many English translations. (KJ, RS, JP, AT) Wisdom is also personified at Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35, where it is depicted as having both “works” and “children.” The apostle Paul personalized sin and death and also undeserved kindness as “kings.” (Ro 5:14, 17, 21; 6:12) He speaks of sin as “receiving an inducement,” ‘working out covetousness,’ ‘seducing,’ and ‘killing.’ (Ro 7:8-11) Yet it is obvious that Paul did not mean that sin was actually a person.

So, likewise with John’s account of Jesus’ words regarding the holy spirit, his remarks must be taken in context. Jesus personalized the holy spirit when speaking of that spirit as a “helper” (which in Greek is the masculine substantive pa·ra´kle·tos). Properly, therefore, John presents Jesus’ words as referring to that “helper” aspect of the spirit with masculine personal pronouns. On the other hand, in the same context, when the Greek pneu´ma is used, John employs a neuter pronoun to refer to the holy spirit, pneu´ma itself being neuter. Hence, we have in John’s use of the masculine personal pronoun in association with pa·ra´kle·tos an example of conformity to grammatical rules, not an expression of doctrine.—Joh 14:16, 17; 16:7, 8.

Lacks personal identification. Since God himself is a Spirit and is holy and since all his faithful angelic sons are spirits and are holy, it is evident that if the “holy spirit” were a person, there should reasonably be given some means in the Scriptures to distinguish and identify such spirit person from all these other ‘holy spirits.’ It would be expected that, at the very least, the definite article would be used with it in all cases where it is not called “God’s holy spirit” or is not modified by some similar expression. This would at least distinguish it as THE Holy Spirit. But, on the contrary, in a large number of cases the expression “holy spirit” appears in the original Greek without the article, thus indicating its lack of personality.—Compare Ac 6:3, 5; 7:55; 8:15, 17, 19; 9:17; 11:24; 13:9, 52; 19:2; Ro 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16, 19; 1Co 12:3; Heb 2:4; 6:4; 2Pe 1:21; Jude 20, Int and other interlinear translations.

How baptized in its “name.” At Matthew 28:19 reference is made to “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.” A “name” can mean something other than a personal name. When, in English, we say, “in the name of the law,” or “in the name of common sense,” we have no reference to a person as such. By “name” in these expressions we mean ‘what the law stands for or its authority’ and ‘what common sense represents or calls for.’ The Greek term for “name” (o´no·ma) also can have this sense. Thus, while some translations (KJ, AS) follow the Greek text at Matthew 10:41 literally and say that the one that “receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man’s reward,” more modern translations say, “receives a prophet because he is a prophet” and “receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man,” or similar. (RS, AT, JB, NW) Thus, Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament (1930, Vol. I, p. 245) says on Matthew 28:19: “The use of name (onoma) here is a common one in the Septuagint and the papyri for power or authority.” Hence baptism ‘in the name of the holy spirit’ implies recognition of that spirit as having its source in God and as exercising its function according to the divine will.

Other evidence of its impersonal nature. Further evidence against the idea of personality as regards the holy spirit is the way it is used in association with other impersonal things, such as water and fire (Mt 3:11; Mr 1:8); and Christians are spoken of as being baptized “in holy spirit.” (Ac 1:5; 11:16) Persons are urged to become “filled with spirit” instead of with wine. (Eph 5:18) So, too, persons are spoken of as being ‘filled’ with it along with such qualities as wisdom and faith (Ac 6:3, 5; 11:24) or joy (Ac 13:52); and holy spirit is inserted, or sandwiched in, with a number of such qualities at 2 Corinthians 6:6. It is most unlikely that such expressions would be made if the holy spirit were a divine person. As to the spirit’s ‘bearing witness’ (Ac 5:32; 20:23), it may be noted that the same thing is said of the water and the blood at 1 John 5:6-8. While some texts refer to the spirit as ‘witnessing,’ ‘speaking,’ or ‘saying’ things, other texts make clear that it spoke through persons, having no personal voice of its own. (Compare Heb 3:7; 10:15-17; Ps 95:7; Jer 31:33, 34; Ac 19:2-6; 21:4; 28:25.) It may thus be compared to radio waves that can transmit a message from a person speaking into a microphone and cause his voice to be heard by persons a distance away, in effect, ‘speaking’ the message by a radio loudspeaker. God, by his spirit, transmits his messages and communicates his will to the minds and hearts of his servants on earth, who, in turn, may convey that message to yet others.

Distinguished from “power.” Ru´ach and pneu´ma, therefore, when used with reference to God’s holy spirit, refer to God’s invisible active force by which he accomplishes his divine purpose and will. It is “holy” because it is from Him, not of an earthly source, and is free from all corruption as “the spirit of holiness.” (Ro 1:4) It is not Jehovah’s “power,” for this English word more correctly translates other terms in the original languages (Heb., ko´ach; Gr., dy´na·mis). Ru´ach and pneu´ma are used in close association or even in parallel with these terms signifying “power,” which shows that there is an inherent connection between them and yet a definite distinction. (Mic 3:8; Zec 4:6; Lu 1:17, 35; Ac 10:38) “Power” is basically the ability or capacity to act or do things and it can be latent, dormant, or inactively resident in someone or something. “Force,” on the other hand, more specifically describes energy projected and exerted on persons or things, and may be defined as “an influence that produces or tends to produce motion, or change of motion.” “Power” might be likened to the energy stored in a battery, while “force” could be compared to the electric current flowing from such battery. “Force,” then, more accurately represents the sense of the Hebrew and Greek terms as relating to God’s spirit, and this is borne out by a consideration of the Scriptures.

Its Use in Creation. Jehovah God accomplished the creation of the material universe by means of his spirit, or active force. Regarding the planet Earth in its early formative stages, the record states that “God’s active force [or “spirit” (ru´ach)] was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters.” (Ge 1:2) Psalm 33:6 says: “By the word of Jehovah the heavens themselves were made, and by the spirit of his mouth all their army.” Like a powerful breath, God’s spirit can be sent forth to exert power even though there is no bodily contact with that which is acted upon. (Compare Ex 15:8, 10.) Where a human craftsman would use the force of his hands and fingers to produce things, God uses his spirit. Hence that spirit is also spoken of as God’s “hand” or “fingers.”—Compare Ps 8:3; 19:1; Mt 12:28 with Lu 11:20.

Modern science speaks of matter as organized energy, like bundles of energy, and recognizes that “matter can be changed into energy and energy into matter.” (The World Book Encyclopedia, 1987, Vol. 13, p. 246) The immensity of the universe that man has thus far been able to discern with his telescopes gives some slight concept of the inexhaustible source of energy to be found in Jehovah God. As the prophet wrote: “Who has taken the proportions of the spirit of Jehovah?”—Isa 40:12, 13, 25, 26.

Source of animate life, reproductive powers. Not only inanimate creation but also all animate creation owes its existence and life to the operation of Jehovah’s spirit that produced the original living creatures through whom all living creatures today have come to exist. (Compare Job 33:4; see section of this article under “Breath; Breath of Life; Life-Force.”) Jehovah used his holy spirit to revive the reproductive powers of Abraham and Sarah, and therefore Isaac could be spoken of as “born in the manner of spirit.” (Ga 4:28, 29) By his spirit God also transferred his Son’s life from heaven to earth, causing conception in the womb of the virgin Jewess Mary.—Mt 1:18, 20; Lu 1:35.

Spirit Used on Behalf of God’s Servants. A principal operation of God’s spirit involves its ability to inform, to illuminate, to reveal things. Therefore David could pray: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me in the land of uprightness.” (Ps 143:10) Much earlier, Joseph had given the interpretation of Pharaoh’s prophetic dreams, being enabled to do so by God’s help. The Egyptian ruler recognized the operation of God’s spirit in him. (Ge 41:16, 25-39) This illuminating power of the spirit is particularly notable in prophecy. Prophecy, as the apostle shows, did not spring from human interpretation of circumstances and events; it was not the result of some innate ability of the prophets to explain the meaning and significance of these or to forecast the shape of coming events. Rather, such men were “borne along by holy spirit”—conveyed, moved, and guided by God’s active force. (2Pe 1:20, 21; 2Sa 23:2; Zec 7:12; Lu 1:67; 2:25-35; Ac 1:16; 28:25; see PROPHECY; PROPHET.) So, too, all the inspired Scriptures were “inspired of God,” which translates the Greek the·o´pneu·stos, meaning, literally, “God-breathed.” (2Ti 3:16) The spirit operated in various manners in communicating with such men and guiding them, in some cases causing them to see visions or dreams (Eze 37:1; Joe 2:28, 29; Re 4:1, 2; 17:3; 21:10), but in all cases operating on their minds and hearts to motivate and guide them according to God’s purpose.—Da 7:1; Ac 16:9, 10; Re 1:10, 11; see INSPIRATION.

God’s spirit, then, not only brings revelation and understanding of God’s will but also energizes his servants to accomplish things in accord with that will. That spirit acts as a driving force that moves and impels them, even as Mark says the spirit “impelled” Jesus to go into the wilderness after his baptism. (Mr 1:12; compare Lu 4:1.) It can be like a “fire” within them, causing them to be “aglow” with that force (1Th 5:19; Ac 18:25; Ro 12:11), in a sense ‘building up steam’ or pressure in them to do certain work. (Compare Job 32:8, 18-20; 2Ti 1:6, 7.) They receive the “power of the spirit,” or “power through his spirit.” (Lu 2:27; Eph 3:16; compare Mic 3:8.) Yet it is not merely some unconscious, blind impulse, for their minds and hearts are affected as well so that they can intelligently cooperate with the active force given them. Thus the apostle could say of those who had received the gift of prophecy in the Christian congregation that the “gifts of the spirit of the prophets are to be controlled by the prophets,” so that good order might be maintained.—1Co 14:31-33.

Variety of operations. Even as an electric current can be used to accomplish a tremendous variety of things, so God’s spirit is used to commission and enable persons to do a wide variety of things. (Isa 48:16; 61:1-3) As Paul wrote of the miraculous gifts of the spirit in his day: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but there is the same spirit; and there are varieties of ministries, and yet there is the same Lord; and there are varieties of operations, and yet it is the same God who performs all the operations in all persons. But the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for a beneficial purpose.”—1Co 12:4-7.

The spirit has qualifying force or capacity; it can qualify persons for a work or for an office. Though Bezalel and Oholiab may have had knowledge of crafts before their appointment in connection with the making of the tabernacle equipment and priestly garments, God’s spirit ‘filled them with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge’ so that the work could be done in the way purposed. It heightened whatever natural abilities and acquired knowledge they already had, and it enabled them to teach others. (Ex 31:1-11; 35:30-35) The architectural plans for the later temple were given to David by inspiration, that is, through the operation of God’s spirit, thus enabling David to undertake extensive preparatory work for the project.—1Ch 28:12.

God’s spirit acted on and through Moses in prophesying and performing miraculous acts, as well as in leading the nation and acting as judge for it, thereby foreshadowing the future role of Christ Jesus. (Isa 63:11-13; Ac 3:20-23) However, Moses as an imperfect human found the load of responsibility heavy, and God ‘took away some of the spirit that was on Moses and placed it upon 70 older men’ so that they might help in carrying the load. (Nu 11:11-17, 24-30) The spirit also became operative on David from the time of his anointing by Samuel onward, guiding and preparing him for his future kingship.—1Sa 16:13.

Joshua became “full of the spirit of wisdom” as Moses’ successor. But the spirit did not produce in him the ability to prophesy and perform miraculous works to the extent that it had in Moses. (De 34:9-12) However, it enabled Joshua to lead Israel in the military campaign that brought about the conquest of Canaan. Similarly, Jehovah’s spirit “enveloped” other men, ‘impelling’ them as fighters on behalf of God’s people, fighters such as Othniel, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson.—Jg 3:9, 10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:24, 25; 14:5, 6, 19; 15:14.

The spirit of God energized men to speak his message of truth boldly and courageously before opposers and at the risk of their lives.—Mic 3:8.

Its being ‘poured out’ on his people is evidence of his favor, and it results in blessings and makes them prosper.—Eze 39:29; Isa 44:3, 4.

Judging and executing judgment. By his spirit God exercises judgment on men and nations; he also carries out his judgment decrees—punishing or destroying. (Isa 30:27, 28; 59:18, 19) In such cases, ru´ach may be fittingly rendered “blast,” as when Jehovah speaks of causing “a blast [ru´ach] of windstorms to burst forth” in his rage. (Eze 13:11, 13; compare Isa 25:4; 27:8.) God’s spirit can reach everywhere, acting for or against those who receive his attention.—Ps 139:7-12.

At Revelation 1:4 “the seven spirits” of God are mentioned as before his throne, and thereafter seven messages are given, each concluding with an admonition to “hear what the spirit says to the congregations.” (Re 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22) These messages contain heart-searching pronouncements of judgment and promises of reward for faithfulness. God’s Son is shown as having these “seven spirits of God” (Re 3:1); and they are spoken of as being “seven lamps of fire” (Re 4:5), and also as seven eyes of the lamb that is slaughtered, “which eyes mean the seven spirits of God that have been sent forth into the whole earth.” (Re 5:6) Seven being used as representative of completeness in other prophetic texts (see NUMBER, NUMERAL), it appears that these seven spirits symbolize the full active capacity of observation, discernment, or detection of the glorified Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, enabling him to inspect all the earth.

God’s Word is the spirit’s “sword” (Eph 6:17), revealing what a person really is, exposing hidden qualities or heart attitudes and causing him either to soften his heart and conform to God’s will expressed by that Word or to harden his heart in rebellion. (Compare Heb 4:11-13; Isa 6:9, 10; 66:2, 5.) God’s Word therefore plays a forceful part in predicting adverse judgment, and since God’s word or message must be carried out, the fulfillment of that word produces an action like that of fire on straw and like that of a forge hammer in smashing the crag. (Jer 23:28, 29) Christ Jesus, as God’s principal Spokesman, as “The Word of God,” declares the divine judgment messages and is authorized to order the execution of such judgments upon those judged. This is doubtless what is meant by references to his doing away with God’s enemies “by the spirit [activating force] of his mouth.”—Compare 2Th 2:8; Isa 11:3, 4; Re 19:13-16, 21.

God’s spirit acts as “helper” for congregation. As he promised, Jesus upon ascending to heaven requested of his Father the holy spirit, or active force of God, and was granted the authority to employ this spirit. He ‘poured it out’ on his faithful disciples on the day of Pentecost, continuing to do so thereafter for those turning to God through his Son. (Joh 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7; Ac 1:4, 5; 2:1-4, 14-18, 32, 33, 38) As they had been baptized in water, now they were all “baptized into one body” by that one spirit, immersed in it, as it were, somewhat like a piece of iron can be immersed in a magnetic field and thereby be imbued with magnetic force. (1Co 12:12, 13; compare Mr 1:8; Ac 1:5.) Though God’s spirit had operated on the disciples before, as evidenced by their being able to cast out demons (compare Mt 12:28; Mr 3:14, 15), it now operated on them in a heightened and more extensive manner and in new ways not previously experienced.—Compare Joh 7:39.

As the Messianic King, Christ Jesus has the “spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of mightiness, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.” (Isa 11:1, 2; 42:1-4; Mt 12:18-21) This force for righteousness is manifest in his use of God’s active force, or spirit, in directing the Christian congregation on earth, Jesus being, by God’s appointment, its Head, Owner, and Lord. (Col 1:18; Jude 4) As a “helper,” that spirit now gave them increased understanding of God’s will and purpose and opened up God’s prophetic Word to them. (1Co 2:10-16; Col 1:9, 10; Heb 9:8-10) They were energized to serve as witnesses in all the earth (Lu 24:49; Ac 1:8; Eph 3:5, 6); they were granted miraculous ‘gifts of the spirit,’ enabling them to speak in foreign languages, prophesy, heal, and perform other activities that would both facilitate their proclamation of the good news and serve as evidence of their divine commission and backing.—Ro 15:18, 19; 1Co 12:4-11; 14:1, 2, 12-16; compare Isa 59:21; see GIFTS FROM GOD (Gifts of the Spirit).

As the congregation’s Overseer, Jesus used the spirit in a governmental way—guiding in the selection of men for special missions and for serving in the oversight, teaching, and “readjustment” of the congregation. (Ac 13:2-4; 20:28; Eph 4:11, 12) He moved them, as well as restricted them, indicating where to concentrate their ministerial efforts (Ac 16:6-10; 20:22), and made them effective as writers of ‘letters of Christ, inscribed with the spirit of God on fleshly tablets, human hearts.’ (2Co 3:2, 3; 1Th 1:5) As promised, the spirit refreshed their memories, stimulated their mental powers, and emboldened them in bearing witness even before rulers.—Compare Mt 10:18-20; Joh 14:26; Ac 4:5-8, 13, 31; 6:8-10.

As “living stones,” they were being formed into a spiritual temple based on Christ, one through which “spiritual sacrifices” would be made (1Pe 2:4-6; Ro 15:15, 16) and spiritual songs sung (Eph 5:18, 19) and in which God would reside by spirit. (1Co 3:16; 6:19, 20; Eph 2:20-22; compare Hag 2:5.) God’s spirit is a unifying force of enormous strength, and as long as such Christians allowed it free course among them, it joined them peacefully together in bonds of love and devotion to God, his Son, and one another. (Eph 4:3-6; 1Jo 3:23, 24; 4:12, 13; compare 1Ch 12:18.) The gift of the spirit did not equip them for mechanical types of activity, as it had Bezalel and others who manufactured and produced material structures and equipment, but it fitted them for spiritual works of teaching, guiding, shepherding, and counseling. The spiritual temple they formed was to be adorned with the beautiful fruits of God’s spirit, and that fruitage of “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,” and similar qualities was proof positive that God’s spirit was operating in and among them. (Ga 5:22, 23; compare Lu 10:21; Ro 14:17.) This was the basic and primary factor producing good order and effective guidance among them. (Ga 5:24-26; 6:1; Ac 6:1-7; compare Eze 36:26, 27.) They submitted themselves to the ‘law of the spirit,’ an effective force for righteousness working to keep out the practices of the innately sinful flesh. (Ro 8:2; Ga 5:16-21; Jude 19-21) Their confidence was in God’s spirit operating on them, not in fleshly abilities or background.—1Co 2:1-5; Eph 3:14-17; Php 3:1-8.

When questions arose, the holy spirit was a helper in arriving at a decision, as in the question of circumcision, decided by the body, or council, of apostles and older men at Jerusalem. Peter told of the spirit’s being granted to uncircumcised people of the nations; Paul and Barnabas related the spirit’s operations in their ministry among such persons; and James, his memory of the Scriptures doubtless aided by holy spirit, called attention to the inspired prophecy of Amos foretelling that God’s name would be called on people of the nations. Thus all the thrust or drive of God’s holy spirit pointed in one direction, and hence, in recognition of this, when writing the letter conveying their decision, this body or council said: “For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things.”—Ac 15:1-29.

Anoints, begets, gives ‘spiritual life.’ As God had anointed Jesus with his holy spirit at the time of Jesus’ baptism (Mr 1:10; Lu 3:22; 4:18; Ac 10:38), so he now anointed Jesus’ disciples. This anointing with the spirit was a “token” to them of the heavenly inheritance to which they were now called (2Co 1:21, 22; 5:1, 5; Eph 1:13, 14), and it bore witness to them that they had been ‘begotten,’ or brought forth, by God to be his sons with the promise of spirit life in the heavens. (Joh 3:5-8; Ro 8:14-17, 23; Tit 3:5; Heb 6:4, 5) They were made clean, sanctified, and declared righteous “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God,” by which spirit Jesus had been qualified to provide the ransom sacrifice and become God’s high priest.—1Co 6:11; 2Th 2:13; Heb 9:14; 1Pe 1:1, 2.

Because of this heavenly calling and inheritance, Jesus’ spirit-anointed followers had a spiritual life, though yet living as imperfect, fleshly creatures. This is evidently what the apostle refers to when contrasting earthly fathers with Jehovah God, “the Father of our spiritual life [literally, “Father of the spirits”].” (Heb 12:9; compare verse 23.) As joint heirs with Christ, who are due to be raised up from death in a spiritual body bearing his heavenly image, they should live on earth as “one spirit” in union with him as their Head, not letting the desires or immoral tendencies of their flesh be the force controlling them, such a thing even resulting perhaps in their becoming “one flesh” with a harlot.—1Co 6:15-18; 15:44-49; Ro 8:5-17.

Gaining and retaining God’s spirit. The holy spirit is God’s “free gift,” which he gladly grants to those who sincerely seek and request it. (Ac 2:38; Lu 11:9-13) A right heart is the key factor (Ac 15:8), but knowledge and conformity to God’s requirements are also essential factors. (Compare Ac 5:32; 19:2-6.) Once received, the Christian should not ‘grieve’ God’s spirit by disregarding it (Eph 4:30; compare Isa 63:10), taking a course contrary to its leading, fixing the heart on goals other than that to which it points and impels, rejecting the inspired Word of God and its counsel and application to oneself. (Ac 7:51-53; 1Th 4:8; compare Isa 30:1, 2.) By hypocrisy one can “play false” to that holy spirit by which Christ directs the congregation, and those who “make a test” of its power in this way follow a disastrous course. (Ac 5:1-11; contrast Ro 9:1.) Deliberate opposition to and rebellion against the evident manifestation of God’s spirit can mean blasphemy against that spirit, a sin that is unforgivable.—Mt 12:31, 32; Mr 3:29, 30; compare Heb 10:26-31.

Breath; Breath of Life; Life-Force. The account of the creation of man states that God formed man from the dust of the ground and proceeded to “blow [form of na·phach´] into his nostrils the breath [form of nesha·mah´] of life, and the man came to be a living soul [ne´phesh].” (Ge 2:7; see SOUL.) Ne´phesh may be translated literally as “a breather,” that is, “a breathing creature,” either human or animal. Nesha·mah´ is, in fact, used to mean “breathing thing [or creature]” and as such is used as a virtual synonym of ne´phesh, “soul.” (Compare De 20:16; Jos 10:39, 40; 11:11; 1Ki 15:29.) The record at Genesis 2:7 uses nesha·mah´ in describing God’s causing Adam’s body to have life so that the man became “a living soul.” Other texts, however, show that more was involved than simple breathing of air, that is, more than the mere introduction of air into the lungs and its expulsion therefrom. Thus, at Genesis 7:22, in describing the destruction of human and animal life outside the ark at the time of the Flood, we read: “Everything in which the breath [form of nesha·mah´] of the force [or, “spirit” (ru´ach)] of life was active in its nostrils, namely, all that were on the dry ground, died.” Nesha·mah´, “breath,” is thus directly associated or linked with ru´ach, which here describes the spirit, or life-force, that is active in all living creatures—human and animal souls.

As the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Vol. VI, p. 336) states: “Breath may be discerned only in movement [as in the movement of the chest or the expanding of the nostrils], and it is also a sign, condition and agent of life, which seems to be esp[ecially] tied up with breathing.” Hence, the nesha·mah´, or “breath,” is both the product of the ru´ach, or life-force, and also a principal means of sustaining that life-force in living creatures. It is known from scientific studies, for example, that life is present in every single cell of the body’s one hundred trillion cells and that, while thousands of millions of cells die each minute, constant reproduction of new living cells goes on. The life-force active in all the living cells is dependent upon the oxygen that breathing brings into the body, which oxygen is transported to all the cells by the bloodstream. Without oxygen some cells begin to die after several minutes, others after a longer period. While a person can go without breathing for a few minutes and still survive, without the life-force in his cells he is dead beyond all human ability to revive him. The Hebrew Scriptures, inspired by man’s Designer and Creator, evidently use ru´ach to denote this vital force that is the very principle of life, and nesha·mah´ to represent the breathing that sustains it.

Because breathing is so inseparably connected with life, nesha·mah´ and ru´ach are used in clear parallel in various texts. Job voiced his determination to avoid unrighteousness “while my breath [form of nesha·mah´] is yet whole within me, and the spirit [weru´ach] of God is in my nostrils.” (Job 27:3-5) Elihu said: “If that one’s spirit [form of ru´ach] and breath [form of nesha·mah´] he [God] gathers to himself, all flesh will expire [that is, “breathe out”] together, and earthling man himself will return to the very dust.” (Job 34:14, 15) Similarly, Psalm 104:29 says of earth’s creatures, human and animal: “If you [God] take away their spirit, they expire, and back to their dust they go.” At Isaiah 42:5 Jehovah is spoken of as “the One laying out the earth and its produce, the One giving breath to the people on it, and spirit to those walking in it.” The breath (nesha·mah´) sustains their existence; the spirit (ru´ach) energizes and is the life-force that enables man to be an animated creature, to move, walk, be actively alive. (Compare Ac 17:28.) He is not like the lifeless, breathless, inanimate idols of human fabrication.—Ps 135:15, 17; Jer 10:14; 51:17; Hab 2:19.

While nesha·mah´ (breath) and ru´ach (spirit; active force; life-force) are sometimes used in a parallel sense, they are not identical. True, the “spirit,” or ru´ach, is at times spoken of as though it were the respiration (nesha·mah´) itself, but this seems to be simply because breathing is the prime visible evidence of the life-force in one’s body.—Job 9:18; 19:17; 27:3.

Thus at Ezekiel 37:1-10 the symbolic vision of the valley of dry bones is presented, the bones coming together, becoming covered with sinews, flesh, and skin, but “as regards breath [weru´ach], there was none in them.” Ezekiel was told to prophesy to “the wind [ha·ru´ach],” saying, “From the four winds [form of ru´ach] come in, O wind, and blow upon these killed people, that they may come to life.” The reference to the four winds shows that wind is the appropriate rendering for ru´ach in this case. However, when such “wind,” which is simply air in motion, entered the nostrils of the dead persons of the vision, it became “breath,” which is also air in motion. Thus, the rendering of ru´ach as “breath” at this point of the account (vs 10) is also more appropriate than “spirit” or “life-force.” Ezekiel also would be able to see the bodies begin to breathe, even though he could not see the life-force, or spirit, energizing their bodies. As verses 11-14 show, this vision was symbolic of a spiritual (not physical) revivification of the people of Israel who were for a time in a spiritually dead state due to their Babylonian exile. Since they were already physically alive and breathing, it is logical to render ru´ach as “spirit” in verse 14, where God states that he will put ‘his spirit’ in his people so that they would become alive, spiritually speaking.

A similar symbolic vision is given at Revelation chapter 11. The picture is presented of “two witnesses” who are killed and whose corpses are allowed to lie on the street for three and a half days. Then “spirit [or breath, pneu´ma] of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet.” (Re 11:1-11) This vision again draws on a physical reality to illustrate a spiritual revivification. It also shows that the Greek pneu´ma, like the Hebrew ru´ach, may represent the life-giving force from God that animates the human soul or person. As James 2:26 states: “The body without spirit [pneu´ma·tos] is dead.”—Int.

Therefore, when God created man in Eden and blew into his nostrils “the breath [form of nesha·mah´] of life,” it is evident that, in addition to filling the man’s lungs with air, God caused the life-force, or spirit (ru´ach), to vitalize all the cells in Adam’s body.—Ge 2:7; compare Ps 104:30; Ac 17:25.

This life-force is passed on from parents to offspring through conception. Since Jehovah was the original Source of this life-force for man, and the Author of the procreation process, one’s life can properly be attributed to Him, though received not directly but indirectly through one’s parents.—Compare Job 10:9-12; Ps 139:13-16; Ec 11:5.

Life-force, or spirit, is impersonal. As noted, the Scriptures refer to the ru´ach, or life-force, as being not only in humans but also in animals. (Ge 6:17; 7:15, 22) Ecclesiastes 3:18-22 shows that man dies in the same manner as the beasts, for “they all have but one spirit [weru´ach], so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast,” that is, as to the life-force common to both. This being so, it is clear that the “spirit,” or life-force (ru´ach), as used in this sense is impersonal. As an illustration, one might compare it to another invisible force, electricity, which may be used to make various types of machines operate—causing stoves to produce heat, fans to produce wind, computers to solve problems, television sets to produce figures, voices and other sounds—yet which electric current never takes on any of the characteristics of the machines in which it functions or is active.

Thus, Psalm 146:3, 4 says that when man’s “spirit [form of ru´ach] goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.” The spirit, or life-force, that was active in man’s body cells does not retain any of the characteristics of those cells, such as the brain cells and their part in the thinking process. If the spirit, or life-force (ru´ach; pneu´ma), were not impersonal, then it would mean that the children of certain Israelite women who were resurrected by the prophets Elijah and Elisha were actually in conscious existence somewhere in the period during which they were dead. So, too, with Lazarus, who was resurrected some four days after his death. (1Ki 17:17-23; 2Ki 4:32-37; Joh 11:38-44) If such had been the case, it is reasonable that they would have remembered such conscious existence during that period and upon being resurrected would have described it, told about it. There is nothing to indicate that any of them did so. Hence, the personality of the dead individual is not perpetuated in the life-force, or spirit, that stops functioning in the deceased person’s body cells.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 states that at death the person’s body returns to the dust, “and the spirit itself returns to the true God who gave it.” The person himself was never in heaven with God; what “returns” to God is therefore the vital force that enabled the person to live.

In view of the impersonal nature of the life-force, or spirit, found in man (as also in the animal creation), it is evident that David’s statement at Psalm 31:5, quoted by Jesus at the time of his death (Lu 23:46), “Into your hand I entrust my spirit,” meant that God was being called upon to guard, or care for, that one’s life-force. (Compare Ac 7:59.) That there be an actual and literal transmission of some force from this planet to the heavenly presence of God is not necessarily required. Even as the fragrant scent of animal sacrifices was spoken of as being ‘smelled’ by God (Ge 8:20, 21), whereas such scent undoubtedly remained within earth’s atmosphere, so, too, God could ‘gather in,’ or could accept as entrusted to him, the spirit or life-force in a figurative sense, that is, without any literal transmission of vital force from earth. (Job 34:14; Lu 23:46) A person’s entrusting his spirit evidently means, then, that he places his hope in God for a future restoration of such life-force to himself through a resurrection.—Compare Nu 16:22; 27:16; Job 12:10; Ps 104:29, 30.

Impelling Mental Inclination. Ru´ach and pneu´ma are both used to designate the force that causes a person to display a certain attitude, disposition, or emotion or to take a certain action or course. While that force within the person is itself invisible, it produces visible effects. This use of the Hebrew and Greek terms rendered “spirit” and basically related to breath or to air in motion is paralleled to a considerable degree by English expressions. Thus, we speak of a person as ‘putting on airs,’ or of manifesting an ‘air of calmness’ or of ‘having a bad spirit.’ We speak of ‘breaking a person’s spirit,’ in the sense of discouraging and disheartening him. As applying to a group of persons and the dominant force activating them, we may talk of ‘getting into the spirit of an occasion,’ or we may refer to the ‘mob spirit’ that infects them. Metaphorically we may refer to an ‘atmosphere of discontent’ or to ‘winds of change and revolution blowing through a nation.’ By all of these we refer to this invisible activating force working in persons, moving them to speak and act as they do.

Similarly, we read of Isaac and Rebekah’s “bitterness of spirit” resulting from Esau’s marriage to Hittite women (Ge 26:34, 35) and of the sadness of spirit that overwhelmed Ahab, robbing him of his appetite. (1Ki 21:5) A “spirit of jealousy” could move a man to view his wife with suspicion, even to bring charges against her of adultery.—Nu 5:14, 30.

The basic sense of a force that moves and gives “drive” or “thrust” to one’s actions and speech is also seen in the reference to Joshua as “a man in whom there is spirit” (Nu 27:18), and to Caleb as demonstrating “a different spirit” from that of the majority of the Israelites who had become demoralized by the bad report of ten spies. (Nu 14:24) Elijah was a man of much drive and force in his zealous service to God, and Elisha sought a two-part share in Elijah’s spirit as his successor. (2Ki 2:9, 15) John the Baptizer demonstrated the same vigorous drive and energetic zeal that Elijah had shown, and this resulted in John’s having a powerful effect on his listeners; hence he could be said to have gone forth “with Elijah’s spirit and power.” (Lu 1:17) By contrast, Solomon’s wealth and wisdom had such an overwhelming and breathtaking effect on the queen of Sheba that “there proved to be no more spirit in her.” (1Ki 10:4, 5) In this same fundamental sense one’s spirit may be “stirred up” or “roused” (1Ch 5:26; Ezr 1:1, 5; Hag 1:14; compare Ec 10:4), become “agitated” or “irritated” (Ge 41:8; Da 2:1, 3; Ac 17:16), be “calmed down” (Jg 8:3), be ‘distressed,’ be made to ‘faint’ (Job 7:11; Ps 142:2, 3; compare Joh 11:33; 13:21), be ‘revived’ or “refreshed” (Ge 45:27, 28; Isa 57:15, 16; 1Co 16:17, 18; 2Co 7:13; compare 2Co 2:13).

Heart and spirit. The heart is frequently tied in with the spirit, indicating a definite relationship. Since the figurative heart is shown to have the capacity for thinking and motivation, and to be intimately related with emotions and affection (see HEART), it undoubtedly has a major share in the development of the spirit (the dominant mental inclination) that one shows. Exodus 35:21 places heart and spirit in parallel in saying that “everyone whose heart impelled him, . . . everyone whose spirit incited him,” brought contributions for the tabernacle construction. Conversely, on learning of Jehovah’s powerful works on behalf of Israel, the Canaanites’ ‘hearts began to melt and no spirit arose among them,’ that is, there was no urge to initiate action against the Israelite forces. (Jos 2:11; 5:1; compare Eze 21:7.) References are also made to ‘pain of heart and breakdown of spirit’ (Isa 65:14) or similar expressions. (Compare Ps 34:18; 143:4, 7; Pr 15:13.) Evidently because of the powerful effect of the activating force on the mind, Paul admonishes: “You should be made new in the force actuating [form of pneu´ma] your mind, and should put on the new personality which was created according to God’s will in true righteousness and loyalty.”—Eph 4:23, 24.

The vital necessity to control one’s spirit is strongly emphasized. “As a city broken through, without a wall, is the man that has no restraint for his spirit.” (Pr 25:28) Under provocation a person may act as the stupid one who impatiently ‘lets all his spirit out,’ whereas the wise one “keeps it calm to the last.” (Pr 29:11; compare 14:29, 30.) Moses allowed himself to become unduly provoked when the Israelites “embittered his spirit” on one occasion, and he “began to speak rashly with his lips,” to his own loss. (Ps 106:32, 33) Thus, “he that is slow to anger is better than a mighty man, and he that is controlling his spirit than the one capturing a city.” (Pr 16:32) Humility is essential for this (Pr 16:18, 19; Ec 7:8, 9), and the one “humble in spirit will take hold of glory.” (Pr 29:23) Knowledge and discernment keep a man “cool of spirit,” in control of his tongue. (Pr 17:27; 15:4) Jehovah makes “an estimate of spirits” and judges those who fail to ‘guard themselves respecting their spirit.’—Pr 16:2; Mal 2:14-16.

Spirit shown by a body of persons. As an individual may show a certain spirit, so too a group or body of people may manifest a certain spirit, a dominant mental inclination. (Ga 6:18; 1Th 5:23) The Christian congregation was to be united in spirit, reflecting the spirit of their Head, Christ Jesus.—2Co 11:4; Php 1:27; compare 2Co 12:18; Php 2:19-21.

Paul refers to “the spirit of the world” in contrast with God’s spirit. (1Co 2:12) Under the control of God’s Adversary (1Jo 5:19), the world shows a spirit of catering to the desires of the fallen flesh, of selfishness, bringing enmity toward God. (Eph 2:1-3; Jas 4:5) Like unfaithful Israel, the world’s unclean motivation promotes fornication, either physical or spiritual, with idolatry.—Ho 4:12, 13; 5:4; Zec 13:2; compare 2Co 7:1.

christmas banned

The Bible’s Viewpoint
What You Should Know About Christmas
MILLIONS worldwide are getting ready to enjoy the 2002 Christmas season. Perhaps you are among them. On the other hand, it may not be your custom to share in the religious aspects of this popular celebration. Either way, you are not likely to escape the influence of Christmas. It permeates the worlds of commerce and entertainment, even in non-Christian lands.
What do you know about Christmas? Is the celebration of Christ’s birth supported in the Bible? What is behind this popular celebration held every December 25th?
Christmas Banned
If you take a few moments to research this subject, you will find that Christmas has no roots in true Christianity. Many Bible scholars of various religious denominations acknowledge this. With that in mind, it should not surprise you that in England, Cromwell’s Parliament decreed in 1647 that Christmas be a day of penance and then banned it outright in 1652. Parliament purposely met on December 25 every year from 1644 to 1656. According to historian Penne L. Restad, “ministers who preached on the Nativity risked imprisonment. Churchwardens faced fines for decorating their churches. By law, shops stayed open on Christmas as if it were any regular business day.” Why such drastic measures? Puritan reformers believed that the church should not create traditions that did not exist in the Scriptures. They actively preached and distributed literature denouncing Christmas celebrations.
Similar attitudes were evident in North America. Between the years 1659 and 1681, Christmas was banned in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to the law enacted then, Christmas was not to be observed in any form or fashion. Violators were subject to a fine. Not only were Puritans in New England uncomfortable with celebrating Christmas but some groups in the middle colonies were also. Pennsylvania Quakers were as adamant as the Puritans in their view of the celebration. One source says that “shortly after Americans had won their independence, Elizabeth Drinker, a Quaker herself, divided Philadelphians into three categories. There were Quakers, who ‘make no more account of it [Christmas] than another day,’ those who were religious, and the rest who ‘spend it in riot and dissipation.’”
Henry Ward Beecher, a renowned American preacher who was raised in an orthodox Calvinist household, knew little about Christmas until he was 30 years old. “To me Christmas was a foreign day,” wrote Beecher in 1874.
The early Baptist and Congregationalist churches also found no Scriptural grounds for celebrating Christ’s birth. One source notes that it was not until December 25, 1772, that the Baptist Church of Newport [Rhode Island] observed Christmas for the first time. This was approximately 130 years after the founding of the first Baptist church in New England.
The Origin of Christmas
The New Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges: “The date of Christ’s birth is not known. The gospels indicate neither the day nor the month . . . According to the hypothesis suggested by H. Usener . . . and accepted by most scholars today, the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian Calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the dies natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of the invincible sun). On Dec. 25, 274, Aurelian had proclaimed the sun-god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particularly strong at Rome.”
M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopœdia says: “The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of N[ew] T[estament] origin. The day of Christ’s birth cannot be ascertained from the N[ew] T[estament], or, indeed, from any other source.”
An “Empty Deception”
In view of the above, should genuine Christians share in Christmas traditions? Is it pleasing to God to fuse his worship with the religious beliefs and practices of those who do not worship him? The apostle Paul warned at Colossians 2:8: “Look out: perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ.”
The apostle also wrote: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial [Satan]? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever?”—2 Corinthians 6:14, 15, footnote.
In view of the irrefutable evidence at hand, Jehovah’s Witnesses refrain from sharing in Christmas celebrations. In harmony with the Scriptures, they strive to practice “the form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God,” by keeping themselves “without spot from the world.”—James 1:27.
[Footnote]
Established in 1628 by English Puritans, Massachusetts Bay Colony was the largest and most successful early settlement in New England.

England’s Parliament banned Christmas in 1652

“To me Christmas was a foreign day”—HENRY WARD BEECHER, AMERICAN CLERGYMAN

Pagan devotees of Mithras and the sun-god (shown in bas-relief) celebrated December 25

Musée du Louvre, Paris

Is Christmas Really

Is Christmas Really Pagan?
PUBLICK NOTICE
The Observation of CHRISTMAS having been deemed a Sacrilege, the exchanging of Gifts and Greetings, dressing in Fine Clothing, Feasting and similar Satanical Practices are hereby FORBIDDEN with the Offender liable to a Fine of FIVE SHILLINGS
Above, at the right, is a facsimile of a statute passed in 1660 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England, prohibiting the observance of Christmas. Similarly, in 17th-century England, Christmas celebrations were banned as “pagan and papish, Saturnalian and Satanic, idolatrous and leading to idleness.”
Though those were laws of a bygone era, they still prompt the question: Is Christmas really pagan? A closer look at the roots of some of the popular customs of Christmas may provide the answer.
The Date
All the standard encyclopedias and reference works agree that the date of Jesus’ birth is unknown and that the churches borrowed the date of December 25 from the Romans, along with their customs and festivities. Here are some typical comments: “The ecclesiastical calendar retains numerous remnants of pre-Christian festivals—notably Christmas, which blends elements including both the feast of the Saturnalia and the birthday of Mithra.” (“Encyclopædia Britannica”) “It is usually held that the day [December 25] was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around the time of the winter solstice, when the days begin to lengthen, to celebrate the ‘rebirth of the sun.”’ (“Encyclopedia Americana”) “On this day [December 25], as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the birthday of the invincible sun.”—“New Catholic Encyclopedia.”
Saturnalia was a seven-day Roman festival running from December 17 to 24, held in honor of Saturn, the god of agriculture. The festival was marked by boisterous feasting, drinking, merrymaking, dancing, gift-giving and the decorating of homes with evergreens. December 25, the birthday of Mithra the sun-god, originally the Babylonian god of light, became the climax of the week-long celebrations.
In an effort to make converts of the pagans and to win back those fallen away to such worldly practices, the Roman Church, in the middle of the fourth century, ‘Christianized’ Mithra’s birthday and adopted the date and customs, but designated it as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Thus was born Christmas.
Christmas Tree
Some authorities attribute the origin of the Christmas tree to Boniface, who convinced the eighth-century Germans to abandon their worship of the sacred oak trees. According to the legend, when he chopped down one of their sacred oaks, a young fir tree grew up in its place. Boniface told the new converts that the fir would be their holy tree—the tree of Christ.
Others believe that the Christmas tree came from the paradise tree, popular in medieval Germany. The tree was the centerpiece in the paradise play honoring “saints” Adam and Eve, whose feast was on December 24. It was decorated with apples and wafers.
Indeed, the first reference to the Christmas tree as we know it came from Strasbourg, Germany, in 1531. German settlers eventually carried the custom to North America, where it was embellished and popularized. The first electrically lighted Christmas tree appeared in 1882 in New York city in the home of Edward Johnson, an associate, appropriately, of Thomas Edison, inventor of the electric lamp.
Santa Claus
Legend has it that when Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop of Myra (now southwest Turkey), heard that a local resident lacked money for dowries for his three daughters, he secretly tossed gold pieces or coins into their home through a window or a smoke hole on the roof. The gold supposedly fell right into some stockings that had been hung by the fire to dry. All the essential elements of the Santa Claus story were there.
The image of the rotund, red-suited gift bearer, however, appeared to be the product of the fertile imagination of a series of famous New Yorkers. First, the Dutch settlers contributed the name—Saint Nicholas in Dutch is Sinterklaas. Then, in the 19th century, writers including Washington Irving and Clement Moore (famous for his poem: “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”) furnished the literary descriptions. Finally, cartoonist Thomas Nast, creator of the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant, brought the finishing touches to the jolly old fellow seen around Christmas time.
Holly and Mistletoe
According to a New York “Times” report, “evergreens of many sorts were used throughout much of Europe long before the Christian era in midwinter pagan rites intended to insure the return of spring.”
The Teutons and the Celts of medieval Germany and England regarded holly as a symbol of eternal life because it stayed green when other trees faded away in winter. Mistletoe was sacred to the Druids of ancient Britain, who ascribed to it magical power over demons, witchcraft, poisons, diseases and infertility. In Scandinavia, mistletoe was so sacred that enemies meeting under it would lay down their weapons and give each other a kiss of peace.
Fantastic legends developed to link these plants with Jesus. One legend holds that holly was originally leafless in winter. But when Mary put the baby Jesus under a holly bush to hide him from Herod’s soldiers during the flight to Egypt, the plant immediately put out thick green leaves complete with prickly points to hide and protect the infant.
IS IT FOR YOU? Pagan rites and superstitious legends—such are the sources of the Christmas tradition. They were shunned by the early Christians, who, according to “the World Book Encyclopedia,” “did not celebrate His birth because they considered celebration of anyone’s birth to be a pagan custom.”
This package of rituals and superstitions called Christmas is but another by-product of the famous dictum of Pope Gregory I to the missionary Augustine: “Tear down their idols but consecrate their temples.” Only the labels have been changed. The contents are as pagan as ever.

The Roots of Modern

The Roots of Modern Christmas
FOR millions of people worldwide, the Christmas season is a very joyful time of the year. It is a time of sumptuous meals, time-honored traditions, and family togetherness. The Christmas holiday is also a time when friends and relatives enjoy exchanging cards and gifts.
Just 150 years ago, however, Christmas was a very different holiday. In his book The Battle for Christmas, professor of history Stephen Nissenbaum writes: “Christmas . . . was a time of heavy drinking when the rules that governed people’s public behavior were momentarily abandoned in favor of an unrestrained ‘carnival,’ a kind of December Mardi Gras.”
To those who view Christmas with reverential awe, this description might be disturbing. Why would anyone desecrate a holiday that purports to commemorate the birth of God’s Son? The answer may surprise you.
Faulty Foundation
From its inception in the fourth century, Christmas has been surrounded by controversy. For example, there was the question of Jesus’ birthday. Since the Bible does not specify either the day or the month of Christ’s birth, a variety of dates have been suggested. In the third century, one group of Egyptian theologians placed it on May 20, while others favored earlier dates, such as March 28, April 2, or April 19. By the 18th-century, Jesus’ birth had been associated with every month of the year! How, then, was December 25 finally chosen?
Most scholars agree that December 25 was assigned by the Catholic Church as Jesus’ birthday. Why? “Most probably the reason,” says The New Encyclopædia Britannica, “is that early Christians wished the date to coincide with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun.’” But why would Christians who were viciously persecuted by pagans for over two and a half centuries all of a sudden yield to their persecutors?
Corruption Introduced
In the first century, the apostle Paul warned Timothy that “wicked men and impostors” would slip into the Christian congregation and mislead many. (2 Timothy 3:13) This great apostasy began after the death of the apostles. (Acts 20:29, 30) Following the so-called conversion of Constantine in the fourth century, vast numbers of pagans flocked to the form of Christianity that then prevailed. With what result? The book Early Christianity and Paganism states: “The comparatively little body of really earnest believers was lost in the great multitude of professed Christians.”
How true Paul’s words proved to be! It was as if genuine Christianity were being gobbled up by pagan corruption. And nowhere was this contamination more apparent than in the celebration of holidays.
Actually, the only celebration that Christians are commanded to observe is the Lord’s Evening Meal. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26) Because of the idolatrous practices associated with Roman festivals, early Christians did not share in them. For this reason third-century pagans reproached Christians, saying: “You do not visit exhibitions; you have no concern in public displays; you reject the public banquets, and abhor the sacred contests.” Pagans, on the other hand, bragged: “We worship the gods with cheerfulness, with feasts, songs and games.”
By the middle of the fourth century, the grumbling subsided. How so? As more and more counterfeit Christians crept into the fold, apostate ideas multiplied. This led to compromises with the Roman world. Commenting on this, the book The Paganism in Our Christianity states: “It was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance.” Yes, the great apostasy was taking its toll. The willingness of the so-called Christians to adopt pagan celebrations now brought a measure of acceptance within the community. Before long, Christians came to have as many annual festivals as the pagans themselves. Not surprisingly, Christmas was foremost among them.
An International Holiday
As the predominant form of Christianity spread across Europe, Christmas expanded with it. The Catholic Church adopted the viewpoint that it was fitting to perpetuate a joyous festival in honor of Jesus’ birthday. Accordingly, in 567 C.E., the Council of Tours “proclaimed the 12 days from Christmas to Epiphany as a sacred and festive season.”—The Catholic Encyclopedia for School and Home.
Christmas soon absorbed many features from the profane harvest festivals of northern Europe. Merrymaking remained more common than piety as revelers indulged in gluttonous eating and drinking. Rather than speak out against the loose conduct, the church endorsed it. (Compare Romans 13:13; 1 Peter 4:3.) In 601 C.E., Pope Gregory I wrote to Mellitus, his missionary in England, telling him “not to stop such ancient pagan festivities, but to adapt them to the rites of the Church, only changing the reason of them from a heathen to a Christian impulse.” Thus reports Arthur Weigall, who once was inspector general of antiquities for the Egyptian government.
During the Middle Ages, reform-minded individuals felt the need to speak out against such excesses. They sent out numerous decrees against “the abuses of Christmas merriment.” Dr. Penne Restad, in her book Christmas in America—A History, says: “Some clergy stressed that fallen humankind needed a season of abandon and excess, as long as it was carried on under the umbrella of Christian supervision.” This only added to the confusion. It hardly mattered, though, for pagan customs were already so closely fused with Christmas that most people were unwilling to give them up. Writer Tristram Coffin put it this way: “People at large [were] doing just what they ha[d] always done and paying little attention to the debates of the moralists.”
By the time Europeans began settling the New World, Christmas was a well-known holiday. Still, Christmas did not find favor in the colonies. Puritan reformers viewed the celebration as pagan and banned it in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.
After the ban was lifted, the celebration of Christmas increased throughout the colonies, particularly south of New England. In view of the holiday’s past, however, it is not surprising that some were more concerned with having a good time than with honoring God’s Son. One Christmas custom that was especially disruptive was that of wassailing. Rowdy bands of young men would enter the homes of wealthy neighbors and demand free food and drink in a trick-or-treat fashion. If the householder refused, he was usually cursed, and occasionally his house was vandalized.
Conditions in the 1820’s worsened to the point that “Christmas misrule” became “an acute social threat,” says Professor Nissenbaum. In cities like New York and Philadelphia, wealthy landowners began hiring watchmen to guard their estates. It is even said that New York City organized its first professional police force in response to a violent riot during the 1827/28 Christmas season!
Christmas Make-Over
The 19th century brought unprecedented changes to humankind. People, goods, and news began to travel much faster as a network of roads and railroads emerged. The industrial revolution created millions of jobs, and factories churned out a steady supply of merchandise. Industrialization also introduced new and complex social problems, which ultimately affected the way Christmas was celebrated.
People have long used holidays as a means to strengthen family ties, and so it is with Christmas. By selectively reworking some of the older Christmas traditions, its promoters effectively changed Christmas from a wild, carnivallike festival to a family-based holiday.
Indeed, by the late 19th century, Christmas came to be viewed as a sort of antidote to the ills of modern American life. “Of all holidays,” says Dr. Restad, “Christmas was a perfect agency for transporting religion and religious feeling into the home and for righting the excesses and failures of the public world.” She adds: “Gift-giving, gestures of charity, even the friendly exchange of a holiday greeting and the decoration and enjoyment of an evergreen tree set in a parlor or, later, a Sunday school hall, linked members of each nuclear family to one another, to church, and to society.”
In a similar vein, many today celebrate Christmas as a means to affirm their love for one another and to help maintain family unity. Not to be overlooked, of course, are the spiritual dimensions. Millions of people celebrate Christmas in honor of Jesus’ birth. They may attend special church services, put up Nativity scenes at home, or offer prayers of thanks to Jesus himself. But how does God view the matter? Do these things meet with his approval? Consider what the Bible has to say.
“Love Truth and Peace”
While Jesus was on earth, he told his followers: “God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) Jesus lived by those words. He always spoke the truth. He perfectly imitated his Father, “Jehovah the God of truth.”—Psalm 31:5; John 14:9.
Through the pages of the Bible, Jehovah has made it clear that he hates all forms of deception. (Psalm 5:6) In view of this, is it not ironic that so many features associated with Christmas smack of falsehood? For instance, think of the fairy tale about Santa Claus. Have you ever tried explaining to a child why Santa prefers entering through a chimney instead of a door, as is widely held in many lands? And how does Santa visit so many millions of homes in just one evening? What about flying reindeer? When a child learns that he has been deceived about believing that Santa is a real person, does it not undermine his trust in his parents?
The Catholic Encyclopedia plainly states: “Pagan customs . . . gravitated to Christmas.” Then why do the Catholic Church and other churches of Christendom continue to perpetuate a holiday the customs of which are not of Christian origin? Does that not indicate a condoning of pagan teachings?
While on earth Jesus did not encourage men to worship him. Jesus himself said: “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” (Matthew 4:10) Similarly, after Jesus’ heavenly glorification, an angel told the apostle John to “worship God,” indicating that nothing had changed regarding this matter. (Revelation 19:10) This leads to the question, Would Jesus approve of all the worshipful devotion that is directed to him, not his Father, at Christmastime?
Clearly, the facts about modern Christmas are not very flattering. It is largely a manufactured holiday with much evidence pointing to a degraded past. In all good conscience, then, millions of Christians have decided not to celebrate Christmas. For example, one youth named Ryan says regarding Christmas: “People get so excited about a couple of days a year when the family gets together and all are happy. But what is so special about that? My parents give me gifts all year!” Another youth, 12 years old, says: “I don’t feel deprived. I receive gifts throughout the year, not just on one special day when people feel obligated to purchase gifts.”
The prophet Zechariah encouraged fellow Israelites to “love truth and peace.” (Zechariah 8:19) If we, like Zechariah and other faithful men of old, “love truth,” should we not avoid any false religious celebration that dishonors the “living and true God,” Jehovah?—1 Thessalonians 1:9.

Holidays and Celebrations

Holidays and Celebrations
The fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not participate in most holiday observances and other celebrations can be somewhat perplexing to a teacher. We hope the following helps you to understand why we take the matter so seriously.
Perhaps to a greater extent than you may have realized, many holidays and the customs associated with them have a non-Christian religious background. It is this that makes them objectionable to Jehovah’s Witnesses. We try to follow the principle stated by the Christian apostle Paul:
“What fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial [a false god]? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? . . . ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah.”—2 Corinthians 6:14-17.
So if a holiday or a celebration is in some way linked to other gods or goddesses, or if observing it is contrary to our understanding of Biblical principles, we do not take part.
Birthdays: Enjoying a feast or a party and generous giving to loved ones are certainly not wrong. (Luke 15:22-25; Acts 20:35) Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoy giving gifts and having good times together throughout the year. However, the only two birthday celebrations mentioned in the Bible involved people who were not true believers. They were a Pharaoh of Egypt and the Roman ruler Herod Antipas, each of whose birthday celebrations had deadly results. (Genesis 40:18-22; Mark 6:21-28) So it is not surprising to see these historical references to the attitude of early Christians toward birthday celebrations:
“The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general.”—The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries (New York, 1848), by Augustus Neander (translated by Henry John Rose), page 190.
“Of all the holy people in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners (like Pharaoh and Herod) who make great rejoicings over the day on which they were born into this world below.”—The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1911), Volume X, page 709 (quoting Origen Adamantius of the third century).
Additionally, birthday celebrations tend to give excessive importance to an individual, no doubt one reason why early Christians shunned them. (Ecclesiastes 7:1) So you will find that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not share in birthday festivities (the parties, singing, gift giving, and so forth).
Christmas: As you are probably aware, December 25 was not the birthday of Jesus Christ. You may feel that this does not matter—that the event is the important thing. But the way the Christmas holiday developed shows that there is more to it than that. The following encyclopedias explain:
“The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of N[ew] T[estament] origin. The day of Christ’s birth cannot be ascertained from the N[ew] T[estament], or, indeed, from any other source. The fathers of the first three centuries do not speak of any special observance of the nativity.”—Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1981 reprint), by John McClintock and James Strong, Volume II, page 276.
“Most of the Christmas customs now prevailing in Europe, or recorded from former times, are not genuine Christian customs, but heathen customs which have been absorbed or tolerated by the Church. . . . The Saturnalia in Rome provided the model for most of the merry customs of the Christmas time.”—Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics (Edinburgh, 1911), edited by James Hastings, Volume III, pages 608, 609.
It is commonly known that Christmas was not originally a celebration of Christ’s birth. U.S. Catholic of December 1981, page 32, notes: “It is impossible to separate Christmas from its pagan origins.” The magazine explains:
“The Romans’ favorite festival was Saturnalia, which began on December 17 and ended with the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’ (Natalis solis invicti) on December 25. Somewhere in the second quarter of the fourth century, savvy officials of the church of Rome decided December 25 would make a dandy day to celebrate the birthday of the ‘sun of righteousness.’ Christmas was born.”
When learning these facts about Christmas, how have some been affected? The World Book Encyclopedia (1982) observes under “Christmas”: “During the 1600’s . . . Christmas was outlawed in England and in parts of the English colonies in America.” Since people in the past refused to celebrate Christmas because of its pagan origins, it should be understandable why Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate it today. We take no part in Christmas parties, plays, singing, exchanging of gifts, or in any other such activity that is associated with Christmas.
Jehovah’s Witnesses take the same position of total nonparticipation in other religious or semireligious holidays that occur during the school year. The reason is that these holidays, too, are connected with non-Christian worship; in fact, certain features of such worship often dominate the celebrations. Consider the following examples:
Easter: Although this holiday is supposed to commemorate Christ’s resurrection, note what secular authorities say regarding it:
“Easter. Originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.”—The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (Philadelphia, 1944), by John D. Davis, page 145.
“Everywhere they hunt the many-colored Easter eggs, brought by the Easter rabbit. This is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility.”—Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore Mythology and Legend (New York, 1949), Volume 1, page 335.
Halloween: Though celebrated as a Christian holiday, Halloween finds its origins in pre-Christian festivals that propagate false ideas about life after death. Interestingly, we read: “After the Reformation, Protestants rejected this feast along with other important ones such as Christmas and Easter. Nevertheless, Halloween folk customs of pagan origin flourished.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 11, page 107.
All Saints’ Day: “There is little doubt that the Christian church sought to eliminate or supplant the Druid festival of the dead by introducing the alternative observance of All Saints’ day on Nov. 1. This feast was established to honour all saints, known or unknown, but it failed to displace the pagan celebration of Samhain.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 11, page 107.
New Year’s Day: “In ancient Rome, the first day of the year was given over to honoring Janus, the god of gates and doors and of beginnings and endings. . . . New Year’s Day became a holy day in the Christian church in A.D. 487.”—The World Book Encyclopedia (1982), Volume 14, page 237.
Valentine’s Day: “Valentine’s Day comes on the feast day of two different Christian martyrs named Valentine. But the customs connected with the day . . . probably come from an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia which took place every February 15. The festival honored Juno, the Roman goddess of women and marriage, and Pan, the god of nature.”—The World Book Encyclopedia (1973), Volume 20, page 204.
May Day: “May Day festivals probably stem from the rites practiced in honor of a Roman goddess, Maia, who was worshiped as the source of human and natural fertility. . . . [The] Maypole is believed by most scholars to be a survival of a phallic symbol formerly used in the spring rites for the goddess Maia.”—The New Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia (1952), page 8294.
Mother’s Day: “A festival derived from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Formal mother worship, with ceremonies to Cybele, or Rhea, the Great Mother of the Gods, were performed on the Ides of March throughout Asia Minor.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 15, page 849.
These are just a sampling of holidays that are commonly observed, and in which schoolchildren often are expected to participate by sharing in certain activities. However, Jehovah’s Witnesses for conscientious reasons do not take any part in these holiday activities—whether it be singing, playing music, acting in plays, marching in parades, drawing pictures, attending parties, eating and drinking, and so forth. Yet, at the same time, we do not object to others celebrating such holidays nor try to hinder them. We appreciate it very much when teachers kindly excuse our children from participation in all activities that in any way commemorate these holidays.
National Holidays
Other holidays are somewhat different in nature. These are not so universally celebrated, but may be unique to a particular country. For example, there may be national days of thanksgiving. In some places there may also be a certain day set aside to memorialize a nation’s war dead, or a day to remember the birth of a country or certain prominent presidents, rulers or national heroes.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also respectfully refrain from participating in such national holidays. Though we respect the authorities in whatever country we may reside, for conscientious reasons we do not give them what we view as worshipful honors. We remain neutral toward all such celebrations. This is in keeping with Jesus’ words regarding his followers: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.”—John 17:16.

“Christmas was outlawed in England and in parts of the English colonies in America”

For conscientious reasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not take part in holiday activities

Early Christians did not celebrate their birthdays

“This is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility”

Origin of Christmas

Origin of Christmas and Its Spirit
Did your parents celebrate your birthday before you were born? Would they think of celebrating it on another day, other than the day you were born? As Christians would they think of honoring it by transferring the day to a pagan festival, by drinking ale out of skulls of enemies, or by offering live human babies to demon gods? If not, why, then, do professing Christians so commemorate the birth of Christ? This article answers.
THE Christmas spirit is not Christian, because it did not originate with Christ. It predated the Christian era by many centuries. Shortly after the Flood the spirit and the whole celebration of Christmas had its beginning. It began with Nimrod, grandson of Ham the son of Noah, a wicked, ruthless dictator, responsible for the great organized worldly apostasy from God that continues to this day. In contempt for God and all decency Nimrod married his own mother, Semiramis. After his untimely death, his mother-wife, Semiramis, taught the lie that her husband-son was a spirit god. She claimed a full-grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead tree stump, which symbolized the springing forth to new life of the dead Nimrod. She taught that on the anniversary of his birth, which was December 25, Nimrod would visit the evergreen tree and leave gifts upon it. The historian, Professor Hislop, says: “Now the Yule Log is the dead stock of Nimrod, deified as the sun-god, but cut down by his enemies; the Christmas-tree is Nimrod redivivus—the slain god come to life again.”—The Two Babylons, pages 97, 98.
This is the beginning of Christmas with its spirit. This is also the origin of the yule log, the Christmas tree, the celebrating of birthdays, the spirit of exchanging gifts, the spirit of feasting and merrymaking, visits and salutations, jocularity, revelry and drunkenness. All of this is an outgrowth of the first lie, nurtured by the spirit of Satan the Devil, who told it. In Eden to Eve he said: “You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” Like Eve, Semiramis believed Satan’s lie and proclaimed Nimrod as a spirit god. With this proclamation a wild celebration began on his birthday that has stuck down through the centuries to our day. In.the Western world it is called Christmas.—Gen. 3:4, 5, NW.
Nimrod became worshiped as the “divine son of heaven,” “the Messiah, son of Baal the sun-god.” Devil-worshiping pagans believed that life and immortality proceeded from Nimrod, and so they worshiped the never-dying sun in the heavens as the personification and representation of Nimrod’s “divinity.” Mother and child, Semiramis and Nimrod, became chief objects of worship. The pagan world idolized this combination. In Egypt they were worshiped as Isis and Osiris, in Asia as Cybele and Doius, in pagan Rome as Fortuna and Jupiter-puer. Even in China, Japan, Tibet and in other non-Christian lands is to be found the counterpart of the Madonna, held sacred in Christendom. Pagans adored these symbols long before the birth of Christ, yet Christendom hails these as Christian and adoringly speaks of them as “the beautiful spirit of Christmas.”
Jehovah God, on the other hand, commanded his people Israel: “Learn not the way of the heathen, . . . For the customs of the people are vain.” “You must not bow down to their gods or be induced to serve them, and you must not make anything like their works, but you will without fail throw them down and you will without fail break down their sacred pillars.” “You must not serve their gods, because that will be a snare to you.” Jehovah’s declaration against pagan gods has not changed, nor has his attitude toward pagan worship, because, says he: “For I, Jehovah, change not.”—Jer. 10:1-3; Ex. 23:24; Deut. 7:16, NW; Mal. 3:6, AS.
The Bible studiously avoids the recording of the date of anyone’s birthday, nor is there any record of birthday celebrations by Jehovah’s servants, either before or after Christ. The conspicuous silence of the Bible regarding birthdays is powerful testimony that the same were not kept, that they were frowned upon as pagan. Origen of Alexandria (A.D. 185-254) wisely discerned: “In the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday.” The only birthday celebrations mentioned in the Bible are that of Pharaoh, when a man was hung, and that of the adulterous King Herod, whose step-daughter Salome danced to make the celebration “merry,” yes, merry by having the head of John the Baptist chopped off.
FROM PAGAN SATURNALIA TO “CHRISTIAN” CHRISTMAS
How, then, did these pagan customs become a part of the greatest “Christian” holiday, Christmas? That first-century Christians did not celebrate Christmas is borne out by early “Christian” writers. The Catholic Encyclopedia makes the following admission: “Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their list of feasts.” When apostate Christians began to fall away to pagan practices, Tertullian complained: “By us, who are strangers to Sabbaths, and new moons and festivals, once acceptable to God, the Saturnalia [and other pagan feasts] are now frequented, gifts are carried to and fro, . . . and sports and banquets are celebrated with uproar.”—Gal. 4:10, 11; Col. 2:8.
In an effort to gain pagan converts the Roman Catholic clergy in the fourth century after Christ took in this pagan Saturnalia on December 25 and sponsored it as the “mass of Christ” or “Christ-mass.” Christmas, therefore, is nothing more than a carbon copy of the pagan Saturnalia. This is generally admitted by historical and religious scholars. Says a world history, On the Road to Civilization, page 164: “The feast of Saturn, the Saturnalia, was a winter festival which lasted a week beginning on the twenty-fifth day of December, and was celebrated with dancing, the exchanging of gifts, and the burning of candles. The Saturnalia was later taken over by the Christians as their Christmas, and given a new significance.”
Elaborating on the customs of the Saturnalia, the New Americanized Encyclopedia Britannica, 1900, Vol. IX, page 5236, says: “Saturnalia . . . celebrated on the 19th . . . lasted seven days. The time was one of general joy and mirth. The woolen fetters were taken from the feet of the Image of Saturn, and each man offered a pig. During the festival schools were closed. . . . Gambling with dice, at other times illegal, was practiced. All classes exchanged gifts, the commonest being tapers and clay dolls. These dolls were especially given to children. Varro thought that these dolls represented original sacrifices of human beings (children to the ‘Infernal God’).”—Jer. 32:34, 35.
Last December, “Rev.” A. E. Palmer of Holy Trinity Church was reported by the Examiner to have said: “‘Why choose December 25 as the date of the sacred festival? Wouldn’t any other public holiday do just as well for this jollification?’ There was no evidence, he said, that Jesus was born on December 25 but the Church took over a great many of the ancient pagan festivals and gave them Christian meaning. On December 25 was celebrated the return of the sun, with the days becoming longer, and the Church chose this as being symbolic of the light that shone through the darkness. Christmas without Christ, he said, was nothing but a pagan festival.”
James M. Gillis, C. S. P., editor of the Catholic World (December 2, 1945), makes this candid confession: “It is a well-known fact that the popes and councils in the early Church deliberately placed a Christian festival on or near the day of a previously existing pagan carnival, with the purpose of ousting the heathenish and generally licentious celebration.” Like Haman of old, the Catholic Church became ensnared with her own scheme.—Esther 7:10.
Behind its newly, loosely fitted “Christian” mask Christmas was and is nothing more than the ancient pagan Saturnalia. And it is the spirit of this pagan holiday that is hailed as “the beautiful spirit of Christmas.” What is so beautiful about a pagan holiday that dishonors God? What is so beautiful about a festival that is kept in defiance of God’s commands? What is so beautiful about a celebration that has perpetuated a lie? That makes hypocrites out of its participants? That has blinded men to truth and righteousness? What is beautiful about a “disgusting” thing?
IDENTIFYING THE “SPIRITS”
The spirit of God that produces fruits of “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control” is not identified in the Saturnalia borrowed from the pagans. As the well-known Biblical and historical authority, James Murdock, reports in a footnote in his translation of Mosheim’s Institutes of Ecclesiastical History: “From the first institution of this [Christmas] festival the Western nations seem to have transferred to it many of the follies and censurable practices which prevailed in the pagan festivals of the same season, such as adorning the churches fantastically, mingling puppet shows and dramas with worship, universal feasting and merry-making, visits and salutations, presents and jocularity, revelry and drunkenness.”—Gal. 5:22-25, NW.
Instead of converting pagans to “Christianity” the apostate Christians fell victim to their own passions and desires and were swept out to sea by pagan practices. This God foretold: “You must not serve their gods, because that will be a snare to you.”—Deut. 7:16, NW.
The campaign that is now being waged to “put Jesus Christ back in Christmas” is an open admission that Christ is not in its celebration. And, as “Rev.” Palmer stated, “Christmas without Christ is nothing but a pagan festival.” So it is. Christ was never in Christmas, nor was Christmas ever in Christ. More apropos and in line with Christian principle would be the slogan: “Away from Christmas and back to Christ.” Simply to label the pagan Saturnalia as Christian does not make it so. A wolf does not become a lamb simply because we call it such. No, nor does Christmas become Christian because professing Christians take part in its celebration. Its celebration by certain religious organizations does not make it Christian, any more than bingo games, lotteries or card parties in religious parish houses or parish schools are for that reason Christian.
Is the spirit of God to be found in the practice of exchange handed down by demon-worshiping pagans? Is the spirit of God found in the annual $50-million Christmas-tree business that commemorates the lie of human immortality? Is it found in the glittering balls of gold that pay homage to Balder, god of the ever-mystical sun? Is the spirit of God found in the millions of toy soldiers and tanks, guns and planes that glorify war and not “peace on earth, good will toward men”? Is it found in the gluttony, the drunkenness, lasciviousness and murder committed on this day called “Christmas”?
Hardly. “Do not be misled,” says the inspired Paul. “God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap; because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit.” The Christmas spirit is well described for us by apostles Paul and Peter at Galatians 5:19-21 and1 Peter 4:1-4. By these fruits we know her.—Gal. 6:7, 8, NW.
IDENTIFYING FRUITS OF “CHRISTMAS TREE”
The Christmas spirit is supposed to be one of good will toward men. After fifteen hundred years of Christmas celebrating, how much good will is there in the world today? How much good will is practiced during the holiday season itself? How Christlike are the people during this “most sacred festival”? Read and decide for yourself what spirit predominates.
According to a report by Gerhard J. Falf, University of Pennsylvania sociologist, “more murders are committed on Christmas day than on any other one day of the year.” Is this the Christian spirit? A chief detective of a department store declares: shoplifters and pickpockets “increase in numbers” when Christmas arrives. Is this spirit Christian? Last year, in Detroit, Michigan, Carl Ross tried to defend his truckload of trees from a crowd. An unidentified man “grabbed a stake from the truck and beat him unconscious with it. As he lay there while the crowd looted his trees, someone stole $400, his day’s receipts, from his pocket. His father finally got the truck in motion and fled for his life with about a third of his load.” Another man complained that a dealer had beaten him when he offered him fifty cents for his last tree. “An unusual number of persons reported that their front lawn evergreens had been cut down during the night,” the Detroit News announced. Is this the spirit of Christianity?
In the spirit of Christmas “a Santa Claus bandit who said ‘my kid is going to have a real Christmas,’ robbed a Brooklyn toy store of $900.” As “jolly good fellows” during this carnival of self-indulgence 1,200 drunks were gathered off the streets of Los Angeles alone. “I’ve never seen anything like it!” exclaimed a bewildered policeman. “They’re stacked up here like cordwood.” A tabloid headline noted breezily, “Los Angeles Staggering into Christmas.”
As Jesus accurately said: “This people honors me with their lips, yet their hearts are far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep paying respect to me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.” This was true in Jesus’ day, and it is true regarding Christendom today. It is true regarding all her feasts and practices, Christmas not excluded.—Matt. 15:8, 9, NW.
ABOMINATION IN GOD’S SIGHT
The Christmas festival is held high among men of the world. But, as Jesus stated: “You are those who declare yourselves righteous before men, but God knows your hearts; because what is lofty among men is a disgusting thing in God’s sight.” While church bells ring out and men make a pretense at prayer on this day, yet God views their festivities as a disgusting pagan celebration. To Christians that fell away to similar practices Paul said: “You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that somehow I have toiled to no purpose respecting you.” From these things men were made free by Christ, but Christendom has returned to them. She has become as disgusting to God as a dog that “has turned back to its own vomit, and the sow that was bathed to rolling in the mire.”—Luke 16:15; Gal. 4:10, 11; 2 Pet. 2:22, NW.
What, then, is the spirit of Christmas? It is “earthly, animal, demonic.” It is the spirit of paganism parading in Christian garb. It is the spirit of the Devil that has intoxicated the whole world. The keeping of Christmas cannot pass as innocent fun for children, because the name and worship of God are involved. The festivities and decorations are demonic, because they glorify paganism, which is demonism. The associating of God’s name and Word with pagan customs is desecrating that name, taking it in a worthless way. One of the Ten Commandments is: “You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.”—Jas. 3:15; Ex. 20:7, NW.
Cannot Christians celebrate Christmas out of a pure heart to the honor of Jehovah God? God himself answers through his Word: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? . . . ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing,’ ‘and I will take you in.’ ‘And I shall be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me,’ says Jehovah the Almighty.” So it is a choice of accepting Christmas with its spirit and losing God, or accepting God and receiving his spirit and favor and losing Christmas. The right choice should not be hard to make.—2 Cor. 6:14-18, NW.

October
December Nimrod’s Birthday—Jesus’ Birthday