5 Theological Truths to Teach Your Kids at Christmas

Christmas gives us so many natural opportunities to talk to our kids about Jesus. The songs are already playing, nativity scenes are sitting on our shelves, and we’re reading Christmas books, attending church services, and hearing the familiar story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem and laying a newborn baby in a manger. But as we tell our kids the story of Christmas, we also want to help them understand what the story means.

Christmas is packed with theology! The incarnation, the faithfulness of God, the identity of Christ, the fulfillment of God’s promises, and His plan of redemption are all wrapped up in the story our children hear every December. We don’t have to turn every Christmas tradition into a theology lesson, but we can use the season to begin giving our kids categories for understanding who Jesus is and why His coming matters. Here are five big truths we can help our kids understand this Christmas.

1. God Always Keeps His Promises

Long before Jesus was born, God promised that a Savior was coming. Throughout the Old Testament, those promises became increasingly clear. God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his family. He promised David that a King from his family line would reign forever. Through the prophets, God continued to promise that His Rescuer was coming. Then generations passed, kings came and went, and God’s people waited. But God had not forgotten.

Christmas reminds our kids that God always does what He says He will do. We may have to wait for His promises, and sometimes we may not understand how He is going to accomplish what He has said, but we never have to wonder whether He will be faithful. When our kids look at the baby in the manger, they are looking at evidence of the faithfulness of God.

2. Jesus Is Truly God

The baby born in Bethlehem was not simply another baby. He is God the Son. John tells us that the Word who was with God and was God “became a human being” and lived among us (John 1:14). Jesus did not begin to exist at Christmas. He has always existed as God the Son, and at Christmas He entered His creation and came to dwell among His people.

This is one of the most astonishing truths we can teach our children during the Christmas season. The baby Mary held, the child the shepherds came to see, and the King the wise men worshiped is the eternal Son of God. Christmas is not merely the celebration of the birth of an important person. It is the celebration of God the Son coming to us.

3. Jesus Is Truly Human

At the same time, Jesus did not merely look human or temporarily disguise Himself as a person. He became truly human. He was born as a baby, grew as a child, became hungry and tired, and experienced the realities of human life—and yet He never sinned. This is the wonder of the incarnation: Jesus is truly God and truly man.

Your children may not understand every implication of that doctrine yet, and that’s okay. One of the gifts we can give our children is theological language that their understanding can grow into. A four-year-old may simply learn, “Jesus is God, and Jesus became a man.” Years later, that same child can begin to understand more of the mystery and significance of the incarnation. We give them the categories now and continue filling them in as they grow.

4. Jesus Came to Save Sinners

When the angel spoke to Joseph about Mary’s baby, he said, “You must give him the name Jesus. That’s because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). That verse tells us why Christmas happened. Jesus did not come simply to give us an inspiring story about a baby in a manger. He came on a rescue mission.

The baby we celebrate at Christmas would grow up, live the perfectly obedient life we could never live, die in the place of sinners, and rise again. This means that we cannot fully understand the manger without eventually looking toward the cross and the empty tomb. Even with young children, we can begin making this connection. Jesus was born because we needed a Savior, and God loved His people so much that He sent His Son to save them from their sins.

5. Jesus Is the Promised King

Christmas is also the arrival of a King. The angel told Mary that her Son would receive “the throne of his father David” and that His kingdom would never end (Luke 1:32–33). The wise men came looking for the one who had been “born king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2). Jesus came as the King God had promised throughout the story of Scripture.

Unlike every earthly king, however, Jesus’ reign will never end. He reigns now, and one day He will return and make all things new. This helps our children understand that the Christmas story is not finished when the wise men go home. The King who came once has promised to come again, and God’s people are still waiting expectantly for that day.

Christmas Is an Opportunity for Theology

We don’t have to choose between making Christmas joyful for our kids and making it theologically meaningful. In fact, so much of the wonder of Christmas is found in its theology. God kept His promise. The eternal Son became human. The Savior came for sinners. The promised King arrived. These are not dry doctrines that distract us from the beauty of Christmas; they are the very truths that make Christmas worth celebrating.

That’s also why we created The ABCs of Christmas. It helps children learn the people, places, words, and theological truths surrounding the birth of Jesus from A to Z. Our hope is that it gives families simple opportunities to move beyond merely knowing the Christmas story and toward understanding why the coming of Christ is such incredibly good news.

So as you celebrate this year, keep telling the familiar story. Read about the manger, sing the Christmas hymns, set out the nativity, and talk about the shepherds and the wise men. But don’t be afraid to give your kids the big theological truths behind those familiar parts of the story, too. Christmas is one of the best opportunities we have to show our children just how wonderful Jesus really is.