"pascha" {pas'-khah} passover (Strong's #3957)
1) "The paschal sacrifice (which was accustomed to be offered for the people's deliverance of old from Egypt)
2) the paschal lamb, i.e. the lamb the Israelites were accustomed to slay and eat on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan (the first month of their year) in memory of the day on which their fathers, preparing to depart from Egypt, were bidden by God to slay and eat a lamb, and to sprinkle their door posts with its blood, that the destroying angel, seeing the blood, might pass over their dwellings; Christ crucified is likened to the slain paschal lamb
3) the paschal supper
4) the paschal feast, the feast of the Passover, extending from the 14th to the 20th day of the month Nisan"1Source: Blue Letter Bible Tools: Strong's #3957
The Greek word "Pascha" appears 29 times in the Greek manuscripts of the New testament. It is translated in the Authorized Version (KJV) 28 times as "Passover," and once, in Acts 12:4, as "Easter."
The Old Testament Passover was a shadow of the selfless act of the Lord Jesus Christ going to the Cross as the sacrificial Lamb to pay for our sins. This wonderful act provided atonement (forgiveness) for our sins, allowing us to now enter into the glorious presence of a just and merciful God; as our sins are now forgiven - "passed over" and forgotten. But what is Easter, and why is the word "Pascha" translated as such in this verse? Conversely, ONLY the King James Bible uses the word "Easter" in this passage. All modern Bible versions translate the word as "Passover" in Acts 12:4. We will soon see why the later translations are 100% incorrect in their usage of the word.
"It is precisely in this one passage that "Easter" must be used, and the translation "Passover" would have conflicted with the immediate context. In their rush to accuse the Authorized Version of error, many have not taken the time to consider what the passage actually says: "(Then were the days of unleavened bread) ... intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people."To begin with, the Passover occurred before the feast of unleavened bread, not after!
- "And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten" (Num. 28:16, 17). See also Mark 14:12, 1 Cor. 5:7, 8, etc.
Herod put Peter in prison during the days of unleavened bread, and therefore, after the Passover. The argument that the translation "Passover" should have been used as it is intended to refer to the entire period, is ruled out by the inclusion of "these were the days of unleavened bread." Scripture does not use the word "Passover" to refer to the entire period." 2 (Jack A. Moorman: Conies, Brass & Easter.)
Peloubet's Bible Dictionary says: "Strictly speaking the Passover only applied to the paschal supper and the feast of unleavened bread followed"" (p. 486).
With the understanding that Scripture interprets Scripture it is clearly evident, from the context of the verse, that the word Easter is not referring to the Jewish Passover. What, then, is Easter making reference to?
Millions of people assume that these time-hallowed customs are Christian and must therefore date back to the early Christian Church. Yet few know the real origin of Easter, or why the Christian-professing world, today, observes this particular holiday. Not generally known is that Easter did not originate with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The English word "Easter" long antedates Christianity. Originally it referred to the celebration of the spring Equinox, and new life in the springtime. Encyclopedias and dictionaries trace the term Easter variously back to Eostre, the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring; to Eostur, the Norse word for the spring season; or to Ishtar, the ancient spring goddess of Near Eastern countries, also known as Astarte, or, in the Bible, Ashtoreth. Other culture use the names Ostera, Eastur, Ostara, and Ostar.
These names all have a common origin. All are connected to the spring season and springtime fertility festivals which represented rejuvenation, reproduction and the life-enriching qualities of the sun. Customs and symbols of today that are conected with the Easter observance can be directly traced back to Easter's pre-Christian origins.
Alexander Hislop, in his book The Two Babylons,3 writes, concerning the festival of Easter:
"Then look at Easter. What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar." (p. 103)Hislop continues:
"Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now. The "buns," known too by that identical name, were used in the worship of the queen of heaven, the goddess Easter, as early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens -- that is, 1500 years before the Christian era. "One species of sacred bread," says Byrant, "which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun." Diogenes Laertius, speaking of this offering being made by Empedocles, describes the chief ingredients of which it was composed, saying, "He offered one of the sacred cakes called Boun, which was made of fine flour and honey." The prophet Jeremiah takes notice of this kind of offering when he says, "The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven." The hot cross buns are not now offered, but eaten, on the festival of Astarte; but this leaves no doubt as to whence they have been derived." (Hislop, p. 108)The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, in its article on Easter, describes these customs and symbols as "having been handed down from the ancient ceremonial and symbolism of European and Middle Eastern pagan spring festivals." One symbol, the Easter rabbit, is called the modern replacement for "the hare, the symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt."
Another source reveals the origin of two Easter customs:
"Also popular among Europeans and Americans on Easter is ham, because the pig was considered a symbol of luck in pre-Christian European culture" (The Encyclopedia of Religion, 1987, article, "Easter").
"In traditional folk religion the egg is a powerful symbol of fertility, purity, and rebirth. It is used in magical rituals to promote fertility and restore virility; to look into the future; to bring good weather; to encourage the growth of crops and protect both cattle and children against misfortune, especially the dreaded evil eye. All over the world it represents life and creation, fertility and resurrection...Later [customs concerning eggs] were linked with Easter. The church did not oppose this, though many egg customs were pre-Christian in origin, because the egg provided a fresh and powerful symbol of the Resurrection and the transformation of death into life" (ibid: article, "Egg").
"In Rome Easter was celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon after the spring equinox, and was a memorial of the resurrection" (The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, 1990, p. 36).Note that carefully. What was instituted by Jesus to annually commemorate His death was subtly changed to a celebration memorializing His resurrection. But there is no command in the Bible, by Jesus or His apostles, to solemnize His resurrection.
Instead, Jesus highlighted what was to be accomplished by His death by instituting new symbols for the new covenant meaning of the Passover (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:17-20). He was the Lamb of God who would offer Himself as the true Paschal sacrifice for the sins of the world (John 1:29), and His death fulfilled what had been foreshadowed by the slaying of the Passover lambs.
There is no record in the New Testament of the early Christians ever observing Easter. But there is evidence that they continued observing the Passover each spring, on the 15th of Nisan, commemorating Christ's sacrifice for our sins! Neither Jesus nor the apostles ever directed that it should be observed. How, then, did Easter creep into the professing Christian Church?
Says historian and scholar Alexander Hislop:
"The difference, in point of time, betwixt the Christian Pasch, as observed in Britain by the native Christians, and the Pagan Easter enforced by Rome, at the time of its enforcement, was a whole month; and it was only by violence and bloodshed, at last, that the Festival of the Anglo-Saxon or Chaldean goddess came to supersede that which had been held in honour of Christ." (The Two Babylons, p. 107)By the early fourth century A.D. nominal "Christianity" became established as a state religion of the Roman Empire. Almost everyone sought membership in the new "church" and almost no one was rejected. The forms and ceremonies of paganism gradually crept into the religion. Some of the old heathen feasts became church festivals with a slight change of name and of worship.
Alexander Hislop continues, showing how this ancient PAGAN festival crept into the professing "church" centuries after the time of the original apostles. He writes:
"To conciliate the pagans to nominal Christianity, Rome, pursuing its usual policy, took measures to get the Christian and Pagan festivals AMALGAMATED, and, by a complicated but skillful adjustment of the calendar, it was found no difficult matter, in general, to get Paganism and Christianity -- NOW FAR SUNK IN IDOLATRY -- in this as in so many other things, to shake hands." (p.105)One of those heathen feasts which were adopted by large numbers of professing Christians and endorsed by the leaders of the popular church was Easter!
Constantine presided over the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325) at which the "Easter question" was taken up for settlement. In an attempt to conciliate the conflicting customs of "Christians" throughout the Roman Empire, he wanted his religious leaders to determine a universal date for the celebration of Easter so that all the peoples of his Empire would observe this festival on the same date. It was at the Council of Nicea that the date of Easter was declared to be the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox.
"Currently celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox [the Council of Nicea fixed this date in A.D. 325], Easter falls differently for [Eastern] Orthodox Christianity which, unlike Western Christianity, did not accept the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582" (Harper's Bible Dictionary, 1985, article "Easter").Roman Emperor Constantine, who had been a devoted worshipper of the sun most of his life, and who did not embrace the "Christian" religion until his death bed, proposed the adoption of pagan customs by the Christians.
The church leaders of that day felt that for "Christianity" to conquer the world, it would be wise to compromise with pagans throughout the Empire. Since the common people were habituated to their pagan customs and reveled in their pagan holidays, church leaders devised a method to reconcile paganism and nominal Christianity. They simply "baptized" pagan customs, thereby making them "Christian" in appearance and name. The result? Pagans began to flock into the Church in droves. They kept the same days and performed the same rituals, but now they did it to "Christ" instead of to Astarte or Tammuz! They had not, however, understood what it meant to repent and become converted.
We therefore see that the world's observance of Easter is a curious mixture of ancient mythological practices and arbitrary dating introduced into "Christianity." during the 4th century A.D. The Passover was discarded and replaced with Easter.
"Well, what difference does it make?" many might ask. "Sure, Easter Sunday is derived from heathen customs, but don't we observe it as a Christian holiday, in honor of Christ and His resurrection? I don't see anything inherently wrong or evil about that!"
In the first place, Easter does not commemorate the resurrection. The resurrection was not on Sunday. Nor was the crucifixion on any so-called "Good Friday." Does Friday evening to Sunday morning equal three days and three nights? And, more importantly, we humans are not free to select our own method of worshipping God!
King Solomon was inspired to write: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:13; 16:25) Jesus Christ said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4)
The vitally important question is: What does God say about taking pagan practices and "making them Christian"?
Jeremiah 10:2 says: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them."
Those are plain words.
God says in the Bible that Satan the devil "deceiveth the whole world." (Revelation 12:9) Do you want to go along with the world in its deception? Speaking of the religious system and customs of this modern world, God says to His people: "Come out, of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18: 4)
Should you simply go along with the crowd and attend Easter services? God says: "...what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?...Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (II Corinthians 6:14-18)
God sent ancient Israel into captivity because that nation forsook His commandments and began following pagan ways and incorporating pagan traditions, customs, and superstitions into the worship of God (see II Kings 17; Jeremiah 44; Ezekiel 8). Should we imitate their mistakes?
The question is whether or not we are willing to trustfully obey God, even when we do not fully understand why He tells us to do something. To learn this kind of obedience based on faith is of decisive importance not only for our life here and now, but also for all eternity.
Whether or not we observe pagan customs labeled "Christian" makes a great deal of difference to God. Therefore, let's get back to the pure, unaltered and unadulterated faith which was once delivered to the saints.
All Biblical qotations are from the King James Version
Online References
(1) Blue Letter Bible Tools: Strong's #3957
(2) Moorman, Jack A: Conies, Brass & Easter: FEA, Los Osos, CA
(3)Hislop, Alexander: The Two Babylons
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