Now that Christmas season is in full swing, you’ve no doubt experienced your fair share of Santa Claus sightings. You’ve encountered him outside people’s homes as you’ve driven down the road, seen him in the local mall, heard him in Christmas songs, and seen him in lots of Christmas movies (but not in Die Hard shockingly). Suffice it to say, Santa is a pretty big deal this time of year.

With all the Santa hype, though, predictably comes outrage from certain Christians. After all, it’s Christ-mas, not Santa-mas, they say. This much is true, and, in a sense, I commend them for their convictions. Jesus’ birth should be the focal point of all Christians this time of year. But this doesn’t mean Christians should be curmudgeons about jolly old St. Nicholas.

Even worse, we shouldn’t obnoxiously remind our non-Christian friends and neighbors who celebrate Santa Clause that “Jesus is the reason for the season ya know.” We don’t need to make ludicrous comments like “if you rearrange Santa’s name is spells Satan” or “it’s not about presents but about HIS presence.” I agree that most of the world misses the point of Christmas. That’s not the point. The point is that Christians can celebrate Santa Clause too without feeling like we’re not giving proper credence to Jesus. Let me explain what I mean.

THE GENEROSITY OF ST. NICHOLAS

St. Nicholas — the real man behind the legend — was born around the year AD 280 in modern day Turkey. When he reached adulthood, he became the bishop of the church in Myrna. One of St. Nic’s lasting legacies was his overwhelming generosity. Despite inheriting large sums of money from his wealthy parents, he gave most of it away.

The most famous story of his generosity tells us that St. Nicholas snuck into a poor family’s home one night and dropped off three large monetary gifts for the three girls who lived there. He did this so they wouldn’t feel pressured to sell themselves into prostitution. It’s easy to see how this incredible story led to our modern Santa Claus coming down the chimneys at night.

For centuries, Europe celebrated St. Nicholas day (Dec. 6), but all that changed with the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther loathed the idea of celebrating a Catholic saint so he changed the celebration to Christ Child — or Christkindl — to keep the focus on Jesus rather than St. Nicholas. Interestingly, Chris Kringle has now become synonymous with Santa Claus. I guess that’s one thing Martin Luther couldn’t reform.

Much of Europe followed Luther’s lead except the Netherlands. They continued to celebrate St. Nicholas Day and referred to him as Sinterklaas. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how we get Santa Claus from Sinterklaas. So basically, we have the Dutch to thank for the man in red. 

ST NICHOLAS PERSECUTED FOR HIS FAITH

In the early fourth century, emperor Diocletian sponsored an empire wide persecution of Christians. While several recanted, Nicholas stood firm in the faith. Therefore, the Roman officials tossed him in prison and possibly tortured him.

The church gave the title “confessor” to anyone — like St. Nicholas — who confessed the faith despite persecution. As you can imagine, this title certainly added credibility to Nicholas both as a Christian and as a bishop.

ST. NICHOLAS DEFENDED CHRISTIAN ORTHODOXY

Nicholas was apparently one of the bishops present at the most important church council in the history of the church — the Council of Nicea (AD 325). This council’s purpose was to iron out what the Bible taught about the nature of Jesus.

You see, a group of four bishops, led by a man named Arius, had been promulgating the idea that Jesus, though an exulted being, was not of the same nature as God the Father. They said things like, “there was a time when he was not.” They suggested that Jesus was the greatest of all created beings, but he was created nonetheless, and not to be placed on the same level as God the Father.

In response to Arius’ claims, the Bishops wrote what is now known as the Nicene creed. The creed declares:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, that is, from the same substance of the Father, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, both in heaven and on earth…

But those who say that there was when He was not, and that before being begotten He was not, or that He came from that which is not, or that the Son of God is of a different substance, or that He is created, or mutable, these the Catholic Church anathematizes.

The early church worked extremely hard to show that even though God the Son is a different person than God the Father, they consist of the exact same nature. That is, they are both fully God. In the end, 218 of the 220 bishops present at the council signed their affirmation to the creed.¹

Legend has it, that as Arius stood up to make his case at the council that Jesus was not, in fact, God, St. Nicholas got so upset he marched over to Arius and smacked him in the face. Nicholas’ actions put the entire council on hold, as officials had to restrain and remove him from the council for the remainder of the proceedings.

CELEBRATE THE REAL SANTA CLAUSE

By now, I hope it’s abundantly clear, the man behind Santa Claus — the real St. Nicholas — is someone worthy of our admiration. While he’s not worthy of our worship like Jesus is, we can still look back at the positive example he set for Christians. He was generous with the resources God provided, endured persecution for his faith, and was willing to stand up for one of the most important doctrines of the Christian faith.

Next time you’re tempted to scorn all the Santa Claus craze, I hope you’ll consider it an opportunity to think about the real Santa Claus. More than that, I hope you’ll remember back to the time when he put Arius on his naughty list.

1. Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, 130.