The apostles' record on Easter
As surprising as this may sound, nowhere in the New Testament can you
find any reference to Easter. In the King James Version of the Bible
(in Acts 12:4) you do find the word Easter, but it is a blatantly
erroneous mistranslation that has been corrected in virtually every
other Bible translation.The original Greek word there is pascha, correctly translated as "Passover" in virtually every modern version of the Bible everywhere it appears in the Scriptures. It refers to the biblical Passover originally instituted when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt (Exodus
12:1-14).The original apostles, from the inception of the New
Testament Church to near the end of the first century, when the apostle
John died, left absolutely no record of observing Easter or teaching
others to do so. From Jesus to John, not one of the apostles gave even
the slightest hint of celebrating or advocating the observance of what
we know today as Easter Sunday.
However,
that doesn't mean the early Church did not hold to specific religious
observances. The apostle Paul, some 25 years after Jesus' death and
resurrection, plainly told members of the church at Corinth that they
should continue to observe the Passover as Christ commanded.Paul wrote:
"For
I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the
Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and
when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My
body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the
same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the
new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of Me.'"For
as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the
Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks
this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:23-27).Paul was
concerned that the Church members in Corinth observe the Passover in
the right way, with reverence and proper comprehension of its meaning.The
writings of Paul and of Luke, his traveling companion and author of the
book of Acts, regularly mention keeping the weekly Sabbath day and the
biblical festivals listed in Leviticus 23. But Easter is conspicuously
absent (1 Corinthians 5:6-8; 16:8; Acts 2:1-4; 13:42, 44; 17:1-3; 18:4;
20:6, 16).Since Easter wasn't introduced by Jesus or the
apostles, where did it come from, and how did it come to be such an
accepted part of traditional Christianity?
The origin of Easter
It's not that difficult to trace the surprising origins of Easter and
what it really represents. Many scholarly works show that Easter is a
pre-Christian religious holiday, one that was created and developed
long before Jesus' time and carried forward to the modern era through
such empires as Babylon, Persia, Greece and finally Rome.Vine's
Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words notes:
"The term 'Easter' is not of Christian origin. It is another form of
Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean [Babylonian] goddess, the
queen of heaven. The festival of Pasch [Passover] held by Christians in
post-apostolic times was a continuation of the Jewish feast . . . From
this Pasch the pagan festival of 'Easter' was quite distinct and was
introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt
to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity" (W.E. Vine, 1985, "Easter").Alexander
Hislop, in his book The Two Babylons (1959), explores the origins of
Easter. He discovered that a form of Easter was kept in many nations,
not necessarily only those that professed Christianity: "What means the
term Easter itself? . . . 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 . . . Ishtar" (p. 103).Easter and the practices
associated with it can be traced back to various pagan rituals. Hislop
explains that "the forty days' abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed
from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess" (p. 104). In Egypt a
similar 40-day period of abstinence "was held expressly in
commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god" (p. 105)
.
A pre-Christian spring festivalHow, then, did 40 days' abstinence come to be associated with a
resurrection? Hislop continues: "Among the pagans this Lent seems to
have been an indispensable preliminary to the great annual festival in
commemoration of the death and resurrection of Tammuz, which was
celebrated by alternate weeping and rejoicing" (p. 105).Tammuz
was a chief Babylonian deity and husband of the goddess Ishtar. Worship
of Tammuz was so widespread in ancient times that it even spread into
Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 8:12-18 God describes that worship and callsit an
abomination—something repugnant and disgusting to Him.The
Babylonians held a great festival every spring to celebrate Tammuz's
death and supposed resurrection many centuries before Christ walked the
earth (see "The Resurrection Connection" on page 18). Hislop
comprehensively documents evidence showing that Easter's origins
precede the modern Christian holiday by more than 2,000 years!
Hislop cites the fifth-century writings of Cassianus, a Catholic monk
of Marseilles, France, on the subject of Easter's being a pagan custom
rather than a New Testament observance. "It ought to be known," the
monk stated, "that the observance of the forty days [i.e., the
observance of Lent] had no existence, so long as the perfection of that
primitive Church remained inviolate" (p. 104).Sir
James Frazer describes Easter ceremonies entering into the established
church: "When we reflect how often the Church has skillfully contrived
to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we
may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ
was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis
[the Greek name for Tammuz], which . . . was celebrated in Syria at the
same season" (The Golden Bough, 1993, p. 345).
Why eggs and rabbits?
What about other customs associated with Easter? One Catholic writer
explains how eggs and rabbits came to be connected with Easter. You
will quickly notice an absence of any link or reference to the Holy
Bible when it comes to these rituals:"The
egg has become a popular Easter symbol. Creation myths of many ancient
peoples center in a cosmogenic egg from which the universe is born. In
ancient Egypt and Persia friends exchanged decorated eggs at the spring
equinox, the beginning of their New Year."These eggs were a
symbol of fertility for them because the coming forth of a live
creature from an egg was so surprising to people of ancient times.
Christians of the Near East adopted this tradition, and the Easter egg
became a religious symbol. It represented the tomb from which Jesus
came forth to new life" (Greg Dues, Catholic Customs and Traditions,
1992, p. 101; emphasis added throughout).Like eggs, rabbits came
to be linked with Easter because they were potent symbols associated
with ancient fertility rites. "Little children are usually told that
the Easter eggs are brought by the Easter Bunny. Rabbits are part of
pre-Christian fertility symbolism because of their reputation to
reproduce rapidly. The Easter Bunny has never had a religious meaning"
(p. 102).Honest Bible scholars freely admit that Jesus never
sanctioned this pre-Christian holiday, nor did His apostles. In the
centuries to follow among those who called themselves Christian, Easter
eventually supplanted the Passover, the biblical ceremony Jesus and the
apostle Paul told Christians to observe.This came to a head with
the Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea—almost three
centuries after Jesus was killed and rose again.Says The
Encyclopaedia Britannica: "A final settlement of the dispute [over
whether and when to observe Easter or Passover] was one among the other
reasons which led Constantine to summon the council of Nicaea in 325 .
. . The decision of the council was unanimous that Easter was to be
kept on Sunday, and on the same Sunday throughout the world, and 'that
none should hereafter follow the blindness of the Jews'" (11th edition,
pp. 828-829, "Easter").Constantine 's decision was a fateful
turning point for Christianity. Those who remained faithful to the
instruction of Jesus and the apostles would be outcasts, a small and
persecuted minority (John 15:18-20). A vastly different set of beliefs
and practices—recycled from ancient pre-Christian religions but dressed
in a Christian cloak—would take hold among the majority.
What would Jesus do?
Since Easter (with all the pagan symbols that have come with it) was
adopted by the Catholic Church centuries after Christ's ascension,
should Christians observe this holiday and encourage others to do so?To answer that question, let's go back to the title of this article, "Would Jesus Christ Celebrate Easter?"He
certainly could have told us to. So could the apostles, whose teaching
and doctrine are preserved for us in the book of Acts and the epistles
written by Paul, Peter, James, Jude and John. But nowhere do we find a
hint of support for Easter or anything remotely resembling it. What we
do find, as pointed out earlier, is clear instruction from Jesus and
Paul to keep the Passover and other biblical—and truly
Christian—observances.Holy Scripture does not support this
pre-Christian holiday and, in fact, condemns such celebrations. Because
Scripture condemns pagan practices and the worship of false gods
(Deuteronomy 12:29-32), we know that God the Father and Jesus His Son
have no interest in Easter and do not approve of it.Jesus, in
fact, is diametrically opposed to religious rituals that supposedly
honor Him but in reality are rooted in the worship of false gods. He
makes clear the difference between pleasing God and pleasing men:
"Well
did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people
honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain
they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men . . .
All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your
tradition'" (Mark 7:6-9).Easter is a tradition of men,
not a commandment of God. But it's more than that. It is a pagan
tradition of men that, like other traditions involved in the worship of
false gods, is abhorrent to the true God. Jesus and His apostles would
never sanction its observance because it mingles paganism with
supposedly Christian symbolism and ritual. It is rooted in ancient
pre-Christian fertility rites that have nothing to do with Jesus.In
reality, most of the trappings associated with Easter reveal that the
holiday is actually a fraud pawned off on unsuspecting and
well-intentioned people. God wants us to worship in spirit and truth
(John 4:23-24), not to recycle ancient customs used to worship other
gods.Even the timing of the events used to justify celebrating
Jesus' resurrection on a Sunday morning—that He was crucified on the
afternoon of Good Friday and resurrected before dawn on Sunday
morning—are demonstrably false, as an examination of the Scriptures
shows.For those who want concrete proof that He was indeed the Messiah and Savior of mankind, Jesus made a promise:
"An
evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be
given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the
Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth"
(Matthew 12:39-40).Try as some might, there is no way to
calculate three days and three nights from late Friday afternoon to
Sunday morning before daylight. At most, this amounts to barely more
than a day and a half. Either Jesus was mistaken, or those who say He
was crucified on a Friday and resurrected on a Sunday are mistaken. You
can't have it both ways.
Jesus' instructions remain consistent
If Jesus walked the dusty roads of Galilee today, would He celebrate
Easter? Certainly not. But He would be consistent because He does not
change (Hebrews 13:8). For instance, He would keep the annual Passover
in the same manner as He instructed His followers to keep it (1
Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:15-17). And Jesus would observe the Days
of Unleavened Bread in the way He inspired Paul to instruct early
Christians (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).Anyone
who wants to be right with God, who wants to be a true disciple of
Christ, the Master Teacher, will carefully examine his beliefs and
practices to see whether they agree with the Bible. Such a person will
not try to honor God with ancient idolatrous practices, violating His
explicit commands (Deuteronomy 12:29-32; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1).
Easter, as we have seen, is filled with idolatrous trappings.Simply
claiming that something is Christian or is done to honor God doesn't
make it acceptable to God. Easter doesn't represent a resurrected Jesus
Christ. Rather—difficult as it may be to admit—it merely continues the
practices pagans followed thousands of years ago to honor their
nonexistent gods. If we are to escape the calamities prophesied to come
on those who place the ways of this world ahead of God, then we must
repent of following traditions that dishonor Him (Revelation 18:1-5).God
wants us to honor and obey Him according to His instructions in His
Word. Then He can use us to represent His holy Son, our Savior and the
Messiah, who will return to the earth. No greater calling can be
extended to human beings. May you have the heart to seek understanding
and God's perfect will! GN***********************
Note from Bob Barney
The Plain Truth About Easter
Has
it ever occurred to those stuffing their faces with Easter ham that
Jesus would puke at the thought? Neither Jesus or Peter, James or John
ever ate forbidden foods. They wouldn't feel too comfortable at plenty
of people's dinner tables.
Unclean Christianity vs. Peter's Vision
Unclean
traditional Christianity teaches the religious lie that Jesus "did away
with" the dietary laws, sinning against both God and man (1 John 2:4;
Matt 5:17-20).
Do You Prefer TRADITION Over Truth?
If anybody
is honestly interested in knowing whether or not this or that doctrine
is actually biblical or merely traditional, all they have to do is
objectively search the Scriptures like the noble Bereans did in Acts
17:11, after hearing Paul out, to see whether what he taught was true...
Is the Plain Truth Too Strong?
"Cry
aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people
their transgression [the Church and Synagogue], And the house of Jacob
[the family of Israelite nations - all Twelve Tribes of Israel] their
sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a
nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of
their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight
in approaching God" (Isaiah 58).