January 1 is not the biblical New Year. God's plain statement in Exodus 12:2, "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you," sets the year's start in the springtime month of Abib (later called Nisan), when the barley reaches the green ear stage. This clear definition verse grounds Bible study on the subject and keeps believers on course. Apparent indications of a Tishri 1 autumn New Year, such as Ezekiel 40:1, the Feast of Tabernacles at the "end of the year," and the "return of the year" in II Samuel 11:1, can all be explained. They refer to the agricultural cycle, to Ezekiel's use of the Babylonian spring-year reckoning, or to spring as the time when the year begins anew. Once believers are well grounded in the springtime first month commanded in Exodus 12:2, those indications fall away. Even more pointedly, the January 1 New Year's Day is shown to be wholly erroneous, since it has no basis in God's command and falls in the dead of winter rather than at the beginning of spring.

January 1 is not God's New Year. God set the year's beginning at Abib (Nisan) in early spring, in mid-to-late March or early April, and He marks it only as a calendar reference, never commanding a party or countdown. January 1 derives from the Roman Saturnalia, the pagan festival honoring Saturn, which ran from mid-December to January 1 and included drunken revelry, role reversal, gift-giving, and even human sacrifice. As pagans entered the church after Constantine, the church could not suppress the customs and instead Christianized them. The Yule log, mistletoe, and other Teutonic and Druid rites were added during the Middle Ages. The date moved briefly to March 25, then Pope Gregory XIII restored the pagan Roman date of January 1 and imposed it on the Western world through his 1582 calendar reform. January 1 also became a day of anti-Jewish persecution, with forced conversion sermons, taxes, confiscation of Jewish literature, and killings. Its customs, such as midnight kissing, the old man and baby imagery, the two-faced god Janus, and lucky foods, are pagan holdovers. Its modern fruit is drunkenness, adultery, disease, accidents, and broken relationships. Because God does not change and forbids learning the way of the heathen (Jeremiah 10:2; Leviticus 18:3), and because Scripture contains no command to observe a New Year holiday, Christians are to come out of Babylon's practices and not take part in them.

January 1 is not God's New Year. God places the year's beginning at Abib or Nisan (April 9 in 2016), mentioning it only as a time marker before Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, with no command to celebrate it. January 1 comes from the pagan Roman Saturnalia, which ran from mid-December to January 1 and involved drunken revelry, gift giving, and human sacrifice in honor of Saturn. When Constantine's empire adopted Christianity, the church could not suppress the festival and instead absorbed its merriment, greenery, lights, and gifts. Medieval Teutonic and Druid customs, such as the Yule log and mistletoe, were added, and the date temporarily shifted to March 25. Pope Gregory then reinstituted January 1 across the Western world with his 1582 calendar reform. Gregory and earlier church leaders used the day for persecuting Jews, including forced conversion sermons, taxes, confiscation of sacred books, and murders. December 31 is St. Sylvester Day, after the pope who promoted anti-Semitic legislation. Midnight kissing, lucky foods, and drunkenness carry on the pagan fertility and rebirth themes, and the modern fruit is hangovers, adultery, and drunk-driving accidents. Because God does not change, the command not to learn the ways of the heathen (Jeremiah 10:2; Leviticus 18:3) still applies. Christians must not conform to the world (Romans 12:2) and must come out of Babylon (Revelation 18).