What is Valentine's Day?
Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that seems to live in two worlds at once. On one hand, it’s a romantic cultural phenomenon—full of red roses, candy hearts, and Hallmark cards. On the other, it has deep Christian roots that trace back to the life and legacy of a martyr named Valentine. The Bible doesn’t talk about Valentine’s Day directly, but the story behind it offers a glimpse into how faith, love, and culture often intertwine in surprising ways.
What started as a solemn commemoration of courage and sacrifice has morphed into a worldwide celebration of love and affection. That shift tells us something important—not just about Valentine’s Day, but about how sacred stories move through history, how they inspire, adapt, and remain meaningful even in a secular world.
The Historical Saint Behind the Holiday
Most people celebrating Valentine’s Day have no idea who Saint Valentine actually was—or that there might have been more than one. Historical accounts of Valentine are blurry, with at least two different martyrs named Valentinus appearing in early church records. Both were reportedly executed during the reign of Emperor Claudius II in the third century AD. One was a priest in Rome; the other possibly a bishop in Terni. Over time, their stories became mingled and mythologized.
The best-known legend is of a Roman priest who continued to perform Christian marriages despite imperial orders forbidding them. This act of defiance—carried out in the name of love and covenant faithfulness—eventually cost him his life. Another version of the story tells of Valentine healing the blind daughter of his jailer and sending her a note signed “from your Valentine” before his execution.
While we can’t be certain which elements of these stories are historically accurate, their power lies in what they represent: courage under persecution, love that transcends self-preservation, and a devotion to something higher than personal safety. In that sense, Saint Valentine’s story becomes a Gospel echo—pointing to the kind of love that lays down its life for others (1 John 3:16).
From Martyrdom to Romance
So how did we get from martyrdom to chocolates and date nights?
The association between Saint Valentine and romantic love didn’t emerge until the Middle Ages. Around the 14th century, writers like Geoffrey Chaucer began linking the feast day of Saint Valentine (February 14) with the blossoming of spring and the pairing of birds in love. These poetic connections grew in popularity, especially in Europe, and eventually gave rise to customs of expressing affection through handwritten notes, known as “Valentines.”
As courtly love traditions spread, the day took on increasingly romantic overtones. The sacred story of a martyr was reimagined in the language of longing and devotion. This wasn’t necessarily a rejection of the holiday’s religious roots—it was a reinterpretation, one that reflected the layered nature of human love: physical, emotional, and spiritual.
Over time, as printing became more accessible and societies became more commercialized, the holiday was shaped into what we recognize today—a celebration not just of romantic love but of affection in all forms. Valentine’s Day became an opportunity to express care, whether toward a spouse, a friend, or even a child.
Cultural Transformation and Sacred Memory
The transformation of Valentine’s Day illustrates a broader pattern in how sacred traditions evolve. Just as ancient Jewish festivals were sometimes celebrated in village contexts with both spiritual and communal significance, modern holidays can carry multiple meanings at once. Valentine's Day can be, for some, a Christian reflection on love and sacrifice. For others, it’s a lighthearted cultural celebration, divorced from any theological implications.
That dual nature doesn’t have to dilute the spiritual meaning. In fact, it can enhance it—if we’re paying attention. As 1 Corinthians 10:31 reminds us, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” That includes how we engage with culture, how we give gifts, how we speak love into the lives of others.
Just as Saint Valentine’s witness challenged Roman norms, we too can use this holiday to challenge shallow views of love that dominate today’s media. Love isn’t just about butterflies and good feelings. At its core, biblical love is rooted in covenant, patience, and sacrifice. It’s the kind of love modeled in Christ’s death and resurrection. That’s the message Christians are called to live out—not just on February 14, but every day.
The Gospel, Love, and Human Affection
Valentine’s Day, at its best, points to the truth that love is worth celebrating—not because it’s always easy or romantic, but because it reflects something divine. 1 John 4:7–8 tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God… God is love.” That doesn’t mean all expressions of affection are equally valid, or that love becomes a vague feeling detached from truth. It means that real love—love rooted in truth and guided by Scripture—is part of the Christian witness.
The Bible also reminds us that love is not merely emotional. It’s deeply moral. It’s about how we treat the vulnerable, how we respond to injustice, how we bear burdens with one another. This is where the conversation about love intersects with broader moral issues in society, including abortion.
In a culture that often equates love with personal freedom or fleeting passion, Valentine’s Day can easily become a celebration of sentimentality. But Christians know that love sometimes looks like protecting the unborn. It looks like caring for the marginalized. It looks like honoring marriage, seeking reconciliation, and refusing to use others for our own gratification.
In that light, Valentine’s Day becomes more than a box of chocolates. It becomes a moment to reflect on what it means to love well—and to ask whether our love reflects the Gospel.
Sacred Time in a Secular World
Romans 12:2 calls believers not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. That includes how we think about time—how we mark it, celebrate it, and live within it. Holidays shape our imaginations. They tell us what matters. So even secularized holidays like Valentine’s Day are worth examining, not to reject them outright but to reorient them toward Christ.
We live in a world where the sacred and the secular are often blurred, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. But God’s people have always lived in tension between cultural adaptation and covenantal distinctiveness. The key is not to retreat from culture, nor to baptize every tradition uncritically, but to bear faithful witness in the midst of it.
When we see people buying flowers or writing notes of affection, we’re reminded that the human heart still longs to give and receive love. That longing points to something eternal—the desire for communion with God and others. And the Christian story says that longing finds its truest fulfillment not in Cupid, but in Christ.
Final Thoughts: A Holiday With Layers
So, what is Valentine’s Day?
It’s a day shaped by a martyred priest, romantic poets, chocolate factories, and pop culture. But underneath all of that, it’s a reminder that love still captures our imagination. And when rooted in the truth of the Bible, love becomes more than a feeling—it becomes a calling.
Whether you celebrate with roses or prayers, whether you’re married, single, or somewhere in between, Valentine’s Day invites you to remember that love is worth pursuing, defending, and embodying. Especially the kind of love that sacrifices, that holds fast, and that tells the truth.
Bible Verses Relating to Valentine's Day:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
Song of Solomon 8:6-7, "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it."
Romans 12:10, "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."
1 John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God."
Proverbs 17:17, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."
Ephesians 4:2, "With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love."
Colossians 3:14, "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
1 Peter 4:8, "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."
Mark 12:30-31, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."
