Today is celebrated in some European countries as St. Nicholas Day. It marks the anniversary of the death of Nicholas of Myra--a Christian bishop famed for his care for the needy--in 343 AD. After his death, Nicholas became viewed as a "saint" by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, and in particular, was considered the patron saint of sailors and children. It was because of this latter role that Nicholas, an actual person, was transformed overt time into an imaginary character--Santa Claus.
It can be argued that in modern American culture Santa Claus has become the very symbol of a secularized form of Christmas. Indeed, some Christians might argue that an emphasis on Santa Claus detracts from the real "reason for the season"--the birth of the Lord Jesus. However, it would be a mistake to suppose that ideas about Santa Claus are entirely divorced from religious beliefs. In fact, if we look at the lyrics of two popular songs about Santa Claus, we can see how depictions of the "jolly old elf" have led to some rather bad theology.
First, consider the song "Here Comes Santa Claus." This song tells us that "Santa Claus knows we're all God's children/ That makes everything right." While this is a popular sentiment, it is not particularly biblical. It is true that in Acts 17:28 the Apostle Paul quotes some Greek poets as saying "We are [God's] offspring" in his speech to the Athenians. However, my understanding is that the Greek word translated as "offspring" in the New International Version (NIV) means something like "creature"--it does not imply membership in a family. Only those who have chosen to enter into a relationship with God are truly His "children." In fact, in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus even says that some people have the Devil as their "father"! The same song promises that "Peace on earth will come to all/If we just follow the light." What exactly "[following] the light" means, I'm not sure since it is quite vague. However, the Bible only promises peace to those "on whom [God's] favor rests" (Luke 2:14), meaning those who are living in accordance with His will.
Perhaps more egregious are the lyrics to the second song--"Santa Claus is Coming to Town." This popular song informs us that "[Santa Claus] sees when you're sleeping/He knows when you're awake/He knows if you've been bad or good/So be good for goodness' sake!" In other words, in this song Santa Claus is portrayed as being all-knowing--which, not to put too fine a point on it, is arguably a blasphemous notion since there is only One who is truly omniscient.
We can only speculate as to what the "real Santa Claus"--Nicholas of Myra=--would have thought of such language. Perhaps, though, we can get a hint from Australian theologian Michael F. Bird, who informs us:
According to legend, St. Nicholas was a delegate to the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. Nicholas was part of the faction who supported the full and equal divinity of the Son with the Father against the Arians, who denied it. According to some hagiographies, Nicholas was so outraged with Arius' subordinationist view of Jesus as being less than the Father that he slapped Arius in the face in front of the entire assembly. (Michael F. Bird et al., How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus' Divine Nature, p. 201).
Perhaps some readers will think that I'm taking all of this too seriously--that we shouldn't be looking for well-thought-out theological concepts in popular music. Nevertheless, popular music sometimes does reflect widely-accepted ideas in the culture, so perhaps we do need to take the ideas expressed in these seemingly innocuous songs seriously.
Image of Jonathan Meath as Santa Claus from Wikipedia