History convincingly shows that December 25 was popularized as the
date for Christmas, not because Christ was born on that day, but because
it was already popular in pagan religious celebrations as the birthday
of the sun. But is it possible that December 25 could be the day of
Christ's birth?
"Lacking any scriptural pointers to Jesus's birthday, early Christian teachers suggested dates all over the calendar. Clement ... picked November 18. Hippolytus ... figured Christ must have been born on a Wednesday ... An anonymous document[,] believed to have been written in North Africa around A.D. 243, placed Jesus's birth on March 28" (Jeffery Sheler, "In Search of Christmas," U.S. News and World Report, Dec. 23, 1996, p. 58).
A careful analysis of Scripture, however, clearly indicates that December 25 is an unlikely date for Christ's birth. Here are two primary reasons:
First, we know that shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks at the time of Jesus' birth (Luke 2:7-8). Shepherds were not in the fields during December. According to Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays, Luke's account "suggests that Jesus may have been born in summer or early fall. Since December is cold and rainy in Judea, it is likely the shepherds would have sought shelter for their flocks at night" (Robert Myers, 1972, p. 309).
Similarly, The Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary (1980) says this passage "would argue against the birth's occurring on Dec. 25 since the weather would not have permitted" shepherds watching over their flocks in the fields at night.
A careful analysis of Scripture, however, clearly indicates that December 25 is an unlikely date for Christ's birth. Here are two primary reasons: