“Do not give that which belongs to God to dogs. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs. They will break them under their feet. Then they will turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:6
Here again is a phrase from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1–2) which most people, even non-Christians, have heard. The most common use of this comes from the King James translation, which warns not to “cast…your pearls before swine.” It’s easy to focus on the derogatory imagery of dogs and pigs and miss the real point, which is not meant as an insult. The message is about wasting things of value on those who not only won’t appreciate them, but might even be angered by the offer.
The long-promised Messiah, Jesus, came to preach that the kingdom of heaven was near (Matthew 4:17). Those who believed this and followed Him were eager to tell this fantastic news to others. Of course, not everyone believed it. Israel’s religious leaders, notably, would reject Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah. They would accuse Him of heresy and blasphemy (Mark 14:61–65). What Christ said was true (John 14:6) and incredibly valuable (John 10:28), but the response of these men was rejection and hatred.
In Jewish culture, dogs were rarely pets. They were wild animals who roamed the streets in packs looking for food and attacking weaker animals. Dogs were symbols of immorality, barbarism, vulgarity, and ignorance. Pigs were officially unclean, according to God’s law (Leviticus 11:7), and likely also scavenged for food. Pigs are voracious eaters, and not especially selective about food. Yet pigs can become aggressive when hungry; giving a herd of pigs something inedible when they expect food merely antagonizes them.
To be called a dog or a pig was a great insult in Jesus’ culture. Still, He does not hesitate to compare those who reject Him as Israel’s Messiah to dogs and pigs. Crucially, though, His purpose is not to degrade anyone. The emphasis is not on other people, but on God’s people. This verse is a warning to Christians: don’t waste time or invite harassment by from those who are obviously hostile.
Scripture embraces the value of seeking to convince others of the truth (Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 3:15; Acts 17:2). However, there is a difference between speaking to the willing, versus wasting time on the hard-hearted. In this verse, Jesus tells His followers to be aware of this difference. At times, we may not realize this until we’ve already tried to reach them (Matthew 10:14). Sometimes—such as pearls and pigs—we should know in advance that what we offer will be rejected. Spiritually speaking, “casting pearls before swine” isn’t an act of love towards the unbeliever (Matthew 5:16); it’s simply a waste of God-given resources.
Christ will give His disciples explicit instructions along these same lines, later in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 15:14).
Should Christians celebrate Christmas? Did Jesus celebrate Christmas? If you think these are strange questions, what Jesus taught may surprise you!
One of the most prominent days on the Christian calendar is Dec. 25—Christmas. At this season of the year, mainstream Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Even though the holiday is named after Christ (the Mass of Christ) and supposedly honors His birth, over time the day has been commercialized and is now widely celebrated by many who don’t even profess Christianity.
But doesn’t Jesus Christ appreciate the Christmas celebration and feel honored by it?
You may assume the answer is obvious—how could Christ not love Christmas? It’s His birthday, right? It’s a celebration to His glory, right?
Well, before you close this article and go on with your life, please consider some facts about Christmas.
Three important facts about Christmas
1. Nobody in the Bible celebrated Christmas.
Is Christmas biblical? Think about it. Did Jesus celebrate Christmas? Did the apostles celebrate Christmas? Why does the New Testament have not one mention of any Christians celebrating Christmas?
How could such a prominent observance on the modern Christian calendar have no backing in the Bible? In fact, if you go on any website that has a reputable English translation of the Bible in a searchable format (for instance, biblegateway.com) and type in “Christmas,” you will get a result like this:
“0 Bible results for ‘Christmas.’ Sorry, we didn’t find any results for your search.”
2. Jesus Christ’s birthday is unknown.
When was Jesus born? The Bible doesn’t say.
Not only is any hint of a celebration of Christ’s birth absent from the New Testament, but the Bible is also strikingly silent when it comes to the actual date of His birth. The most detailed account of Christ’s birth is found in Luke 2. Here we find that at the time of Jesus’ birth a census was taking place and shepherds were “living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:1-8).
Because of the rainy and cold weather in Judea during the winter months, this would not have been a good time to take a census. Furthermore, shepherds typically sheltered their flocks at night during the cold winter months. Though Luke 2:1-8 doesn’t give us specifics, it does establish that Jesus’ birth was not in winter.
The fact is that God purposefully did not record the exact time of Christ’s birth. Nowhere in the Gospel accounts does Jesus reveal His birthday or ask people to celebrate it! Neither do we get any hint that the original apostles celebrated it after His death, resurrection and ascension.
3. The Roman church allowed new converts to retain elements of their pagan festivals in the new celebration they called Christmas.
The celebration of Christmas did not enter Christianity until many years after the end of the biblical record (the Bible closes in the last years of the first century).
Historians trace the beginning of Christmas to the fourth century—about 250 years after the close of the New Testament era. The World Book Encyclopedia tells us, “In 354 AD, Bishop Liberius of Rome ordered the people to celebrate [Christ’s birth] on December 25” (1966, Vol. 3, p. 416). This is one of the earliest records of Dec. 25 being connected with Jesus’ birth.
It is a well-known historical fact that Dec. 25 had nothing to do with the actual birthday of Jesus Christ. Instead, it was chosen to coincide with a popular festival season in ancient Rome. Three popular pagan festivals were celebrated in late December in the pagan Roman Empire:
Saturnalia was an annual seven-day festival to the god Saturn, celebrated from Dec. 17-23.
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (the birthday of the unconquered sun god) was celebrated on Dec. 25.
The birthday of Mithra, a Persian god who was primarily worshipped by Roman soldiers throughout the Roman Empire, was also celebrated Dec. 25.
All of these observances were connected to the astronomical winter solstice, which takes place in late December in the northern hemisphere. This is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, and it is when the length of daylight begins to increase again. Pagans who worshipped nature saw this as the birth of the sun god.
When Rome appropriated Christianity and began spreading it throughout the empire, leaders found it convenient to try to Christianize previously pagan traditions in order to make it easier for the people to accept Roman Christianity.
Notice this insightful quote from historian Rodney Stark: “Paganism never fully died out in Europe; it was assimilated by Christianity. For example, many pagan festivals continued to be celebrated and many of the gods lingered under very thin Christian overlays” (The Triumph of Christianity, 2011, p. 185).
This helps explain why nearly all of the traditions that surround Christmas have some connection to pagan worship of nonexistent gods. Historical research shows that this includes customs such as Christmas trees, mistletoe, gift giving, caroling, wreaths and Santa Claus.
Christ’s stand on Christmas
Since Christmas in its present form did not exist in Christ’s time, He never directly addressed it. But He did address it in principle.
In Mark 7 Jesus Christ had to deal with false religious ideas of the Pharisees (a sect of Judaism). The Pharisees were guilty of adding burdensome religious requirements above and beyond what was found written in the Bible. Over the centuries they had developed their own unbiblical traditions and presented those traditions as proper worship of God.
To make matters worse, they were also neglecting to teach and do things that actually were commanded in the Scriptures!
Jesus Christ’s response to this was very powerful and direct. The principles Christ laid out also apply to the Christmas holiday.
In vain do they worship Me
“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Mark 7:6-7).
Jesus Christ was reinforcing the principle found in Deuteronomy 12:32: “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.”
Christmas is a worship tradition added to the Bible, disconnected from God’s pattern of worship.In other words, God is only interested in worship that is clearly based on what He instructs in His Word—the Bible. In the Pharisees’ case, they added extra regulations above and beyond the commandments of the Bible.
Christmas is also added. It’s a worship tradition added to the Bible, disconnected from God’s pattern of worship. Christmas even goes one step further! Instead of just being made up, it was taken straight from pagan sun worship.
Tradition vs. commandments
Christ continued in verse 9:
“All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”
Again, the Pharisees neglected some of what God said to do and instead made up their own traditions. The Christmas holiday does essentially the same thing.
Consider: millions around the world faithfully celebrate Christmas every December. Some focus on the scriptures about Jesus’ birth, while others just celebrate it as a secular holiday. But how many of these same people keep the actual holy days that God commands in the Bible? These include:
The weekly Sabbath day, which God specifically commanded to be observed on the seventh day of the week—from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Mark 2:27-28; Luke 4:16).
The annual holy days that God declared were His feasts (Leviticus 23; Matthew 26:17; John 7:2, 10-14; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
If you celebrate Christmas, think about this deeply: Are you observing unbiblical, pagan traditions while neglecting some of the actual commandments of God?
Christ or Rome: should Christians celebrate Christmas?
The question really comes down to this: Whom and what will we follow?
On one side, we have the traditions and practices added by the Roman church to make their version of Christianity more acceptable to the pagan masses. On the other side, we have the teachings of Jesus Christ, who explicitly taught fidelity to worship and beliefs grounded in the Bible (Matthew 4:4; Mark 7:7-13).
Joy is the gift of God to those who trust in Christ. Be encouraged by these verses and commentary adapted from the ESV Study Bible.
Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
As the people rejoiced in God and delighted in his presence, he would show himself strong to help them and defend them. “Joy” was a keynote because God had saved Israel, in both the remote and the recent past, and this story of salvation would have been told again in the reading of the Book of the Law.
John 15:10–11
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Obedience is not to be equated with drudgery; it is all about joy. The Old Testament prophets envisioned a period of great end-time rejoicing (e.g., Isa. 25:9; Isa. 35:10; Isa. 51:3; Isa. 61:10; Isa. 66:10; Zeph. 3:14–17; Zech. 9:9). God threatened judgment if his people would not serve him “with joyfulness and gladness of heart” (Deut. 28:47–48). Just as Jesus had great joy in obeying his Father even in the midst of opposition, so Christians will have joy in obedience.
Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Here there is a clear affirmation that the human yearning to be near to God and to know the pleasure of his welcome forever, beyond the death of the body, finds its answer in the covenant. Peter cites Psalm 16:8–11 in his Pentecost speech (Acts 2:25–28), applying the verses to the resurrection of Jesus; Paul used Psalm 16:10 in his similar speech (Acts 13:35). If the apostles meant that David’s words were a straight prediction of the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is difficult to know what function the psalm could have played in ancient Israel: the congregation would have scratched their heads in puzzlement every time they sang it. This puzzlement goes away if the psalm is seen as cultivating the hope of everlasting glory for the faithful, with the resurrection of Jesus (the holy one par excellence) as the first step in bringing this hope to fruition (cf. Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 15:23).
A master metaphor of the Bible: the covenant provides a “path” by which one walks to life in all its fullness (Prov. 5:6; Prov. 6:23; Prov. 10:17; Prov. 12:28; Prov. 15:24; Matt. 7:14); this is what the Lord makes known to his followers. To enjoy God’s presence, or his face, is the fruition of the covenant (cf. Ex. 33:14–15; Num. 6:24–26). The word pleasures is related to “pleasant places” (Ps. 16:6); the pleasure that he has begun in this life will continue into its fullness in the world to come.
Luke 1:14–15
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
Though the specific content of Zechariah’s prayer is not given, it most likely would have included at least two petitions: Zechariah would have been interceding on behalf of Israel as a nation, and he apparently also raised a second petition, for a child, as indicated by Luke 1:13b (cf. Gen. 25:21; Gen. 30:22; 1 Sam. 1:10–17). Zechariah must have prayed for a child hundreds of times over many years, and now at last the answer has come. Joy and gladness come to Zechariah and Elizabeth both because their childlessness has ended (cf. Luke 1:25) and because of (“for,” Luke 1:15) what God will do through their son.
Galatians 5:22–23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The Spirit fights against sin not merely in defense but also in attack by producing in Christians the positive attributes of godly character, all of which are evident in Jesus in the Gospels. Love appears first because it is the greatest quality (1 Cor. 13:1–13; 2 Pet. 1:5–7) in that it most clearly reflects the character of God. Joy comes in at a close second, for in rejoicing in God’s salvation Christians show that their affections are rightly placed in God’s will and his purpose (see John 15:11; 16:24; Rom. 15:13; 1 Pet. 1:8; Jude 24; etc.).
Against such things there is no law, and therefore those who manifest them are fulfilling the law—more than those who insist on Jewish ceremonies, and likewise more than those who follow the works of the flesh surveyed in Galatians 5:19–21.
James 1:2–3
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
Trials are “tests” that challenge faith (James 1:2–5). When trials occur, one should count it all joy—not meaning mere worldly, temporal happiness, but rather spiritual, enduring, “complete joy” in the Lord who is sovereign over all things, including trials.
Testing of your faith defines the meaning of a trial for the Christian: as Jesus was “tested” in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1–13), so believers are tested. The Greek dokimion (“testing”) denotes a positive test intended to make one’s faith “genuine” (cf. 1 Pet. 1:7). The result is steadfastness, a life of faithful endurance amid troubles and afflictions.
Habakkuk 3:17–18
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Anticipating great destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, Habakkuk has radically changed—he began by informing God how to run his world, and ended by trusting that God knows best and will bring about justice. Verse 17 contains a frequently quoted list of material disasters in which all crops and livestock are lost, and as a result it is unclear how there will be food to eat. Yet even amid suffering and loss, Habakkuk has learned that he can trust God, and with that trust comes great joy, not in circumstances but in God himself: “yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” Yahweh has become Habakkuk’s strength (see Ps. 18:32, 39).
John 16:24
Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
While Jesus was on earth the disciples had not prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus. But now he was saying that they should do so. Regarding the meaning of praying “in Jesus’ name,” see notes on John 1:12–13; John 14:13. “Ask, and you will receive” reminds believers that frequent answers to prayer will give Jesus’ followers great joy as they see God actively at work in the world in answer to their prayers.
Hebrews 12:1–2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Through his atoning work, Christ’s perfection leads to the perfection of his people (which will be realized fully on the last day). The cross of Christ represents the greatest suffering in history, for Jesus not only suffered physically but also experienced God’s just wrath in taking upon himself the sin of the world. Still, the promise of future reward and joy gave Jesus strength to suffer. Crucifixion, performed naked and in public, and inflicting prolonged pain on the victim, was intended to cause shame as well as death (cf. Heb. 12:6).
1 Peter 1:8–9
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Peter realizes that joy is mingled with grief as Christians in Asia Minor suffer various trials. These sufferings are God’s will for his people, so that their faith might be purified and shown to be genuine. Such faith has a great reward, for at the revelation (that is, the return) of Jesus Christ, honor and praise will belong both to Christians and to Christ.
Joy is not reserved only for the future when Jesus will be clearly seen at his revelation (1 Peter 1:7). Even now, his followers love him, believe in him, and rejoice with an inexpressible joy. The end result is eternal salvation—the completion of God’s saving work.
“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. – Luke 12:8
“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God.
Luke 12:8 NIV
Thoughts on Today’s Verse…
What a simple way to inherit a blessing. Let’s make sure that we don’t fall into the trap of Peter during the night of Jesus’ arrest — strong when in the presence of friends and weak in the presence of those who are hostile. Let’s be ready to share our faith with friends with “gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15). Let’s be willing to be openly identified as one of Jesus’ disciples and show it by our words and deeds. Let’s confess that Jesus is our Lord by our lives and our lips for all the world to see.
My Prayer…
Dear God, give me courage and wisdom to appropriately acknowledge Jesus as Lord before my friends, co-workers, and colleagues in a way that honors Christ and that is respectful of them. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
