What Is Written 28-Mar-99: The Celebration of Easter

I’m sure that most of you know that next Sunday is Easter Sunday, an annual holiday celebrated by many people and most churches. Among other things, it has become the time that new dresses and suits are worn. Little girls have on their frilly dresses and cute hats. Little boys wear bow ties and vests. Easter baskets appear at bedsides of children of all ages. Easter eggs are hunted in yards throughout the country. But beyond these events, millions of people commemorate the resurrection of Jesus on this day. Churches schedule special services, many commencing at dawn, to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Most who observe Easter consider it as the most holy of all religious holidays, including Christmas. For some people, it marks the only time they attend church services, although Christmas does run a close second. These are things you were probably aware of, but were you aware that the church in the New Testament did not observe a yearly observance of the Lord’s resurrection? That’s right! When you read through the New Testament, you will not find so much as one reference to an annual observance known as Easter being celebrated. I will mention this. If you use the King James Version of the scriptures, you will find the word Easter mentioned. It is found in Acts 12:4, which says, “...and when he [that is, Herod the king] had apprehended him [this refers to the arrest of the apostle Peter], he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.” The use of the word Easter in the King James Version has led to considerable confusion. People who do not have much depth to their Bible understanding will immediately make an improper assumption. They will incorrectly assume that this refers to what we know today to be Easter Sunday. Actually this refers to the Jewish celebration of the Passover. Every other translation renders the Greek word in this verse to be Passover. Let me cite a few. The New King James Version says, “intending to bring him before the people after Passover.” The New American Standard Bible says, “intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people.” And the New International Version says, “Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.” This is because the Greek word is actually Passover, and it is so translated everywhere else in the King James Bible. The word is pascha and it is found 29 times in the New Testament and is translated Passover in every other passage.

The English word Easter actually comes from Eostra, which is the Anglo-Saxon name of the Teutonic (or Germanic) goddess of dawn or spring. To this goddess was dedicated a month corresponding to our month of April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of vernal equinox, which is the time when the sun crosses the equator making the night equal in length to the day. And many of the customs associated with Easter illustrate the pagan origin of the day. The emphasis on rabbits is associated with the fertility practices of the goddess Eostra. Also, the decoration of eggs appears to have been a practice of some ancient Egyptians and Romans. This was intended to insure that the recipient would have a very fertile or productive year. Since there is no biblical evidence of the celebration of Easter and since the holiday is traced to pagan practices, this ought to prompt some questions in the minds of Bible believers. How did the yearly observance of the resurrection of Jesus get started? Also, how did pagan names and traditions become associated with a so-called Christian holy day? Should the Lord’s church become involved in such a holiday? Would God be pleased that people separate one day a year to honor the wonderful resurrection of Christ?

In order to answer these any other questions, we must first consider Easter from a historical perspective. That is, we must come to understand Easter as it began to evolve into the way that most people today are familiar with it. Like many accepted practices of today, Easter began when the church began to depart from the scriptures. Colliers Encyclopedia says this about the early history of a yearly observance of the resurrection of Christ. I’m reading now from volume 8, page 491. “Prior to the time of Victor I, the western churches celebrated the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week...Through the energetic efforts of Victor I, this practice gradually disappeared.” The practice of an annual celebration of the resurrection began early, in the form of a Christian Passover. As you know, the Passover was already an important feast to the Jews. Moses instituted it to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt. It was to be observed yearly. It was during this feast that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.

One of the early problems the church faced was what to do with the rites and practices of the Jewish faith. That is, were Christians to incorporate the Jewish feasts and celebrations into the worship of the church? The council at Jerusalem, in Acts 15, addressed the matter of keeping circumcision and the law of Moses. The conclusion was that the law of Moses was not to be incorporated into the church. Paul reminded some in Galatia who were inclined to have special days in Gal. 4:10–11, “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” The Passover was never something bound upon Christians, nor were Christians expected to keep it. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 5:7, “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.” Late in the second century, when men were planting the idea of an Easter celebration, they revived the yearly observance of the Passover and made it remember the resurrection of Christ instead of the deliverance from Egyptian slavery. That is, the Passover became Christianized and was observed in memory of the death of Jesus, who died during Passover Week. Those in Protestant churches who observe Easter begin with Good Friday, the supposed day of the crucifixion, and end with the joyous celebration of the resurrection on the following Sunday. Catholicism lengthens this celebration to include The Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, and Lent. The facts of Easter do not include the Bible. It was borrowed from paganism. Even its name comes from a source associated with idolatry. To give it credibility, those wishing to have Easter as a Christian observance made it into a so-called Christian Passover where the death and resurrection of Christ are celebrated once a year. This is what we now see in the majority of Catholic and Protestant churches — a yearly observance of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

Did you know that although the Bible is silent about the observance of Easter, it tells us that God does want Christians to observe and honor and remember the death, burial and resurrection of Christ? Not in some hybrid Jewish and Christian and pagan day called Easter. Instead, Christ instituted a uniquely Christian memorial, the Lord’s Supper, as the proper means of commemorating his death. Let’s spend a moment noting what Jesus did institute. In Lk. 22:17–20 we read:

Then he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, this is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me. Likewise he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

The early church met to celebrate the death of Christ on a regular basis, not in some contrived and adulterated version of the Jewish Passover, but in a simple observance of the Lord’s Supper. Paul said in 1 Cor. 11:23–26:

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.

This commemoration of the Lord’s death and resurrection was not observed annually, but weekly. Acts 20:7 gives us a divine vision into the frequency of the early church’s celebration of the Lord’s death and resurrection. It says, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.”

There is not one shred of biblical evidence that even suggests the Lord intends for us to celebrate Easter. The Lord foreordained that we meet each Sunday to commemorate and remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ through partaking of the Lord’s Supper. It is unlawful and wrong to observe Easter as a special yearly memorial of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection. Also, once we depart from the scriptures and begin to observe an unscriptural holy day such as Easter it isn’t long before many more observances are being held. This so-called yearly Christian Passover soon included other rites as well. We already considered some of these that now surround Easter, but let’s discuss some more. A week before the observance of Easter there is Palm Sunday, which is purporting to be the day Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem prior to his death. This is followed by Good Friday, the day he was crucified. Then, of course, there’s resurrection Sunday, which came to be known as Easter. Just remember this, the yearly observance of the resurrection originated from human tradition, not from the Bible. Therefore it is no surprise that all surrounding the Easter holiday is of pagan and not Biblical ancestry. As a matter of fact, assimilation of pagan ritual into so-called Christian observances was a common practice. When people took the gospel into a pagan area, instead of repudiating the vain days and observances of paganism, many would attempt to give such customs a Christian flavor. Not only was this true about Christmas, but it is also true about Easter. In idolatrous religions, the egg was a symbol of life. And so, when Easter began to be celebrated, the egg was taken as a symbol of Easter. The earliest Easter eggs were dyed red to represent the blood shed by Christ. After several years of usage it becomes almost blasphemous to discuss the pagan origin of Easter. For example, how many of you would have ever thought of Easter as the name of a goddess? I’m sure that not many would! Those countless churches and pastors who get all worked up about Easter certainly do not want you to know that Easter is strictly unbiblical. They refuse to discuss the historical nature of Easter. Therefore, most people believe that Christians have always observed a yearly observance regarding the death and resurrection of Jesus, but that is not the case. Easter was conceived in the mind of man and not in the mind of God. But this is examining Easter from a historical perspective. As disciples of Christ, our primary concern should be the Biblical perspective.

Therefore, let’s spend a few minutes analyzing Easter from a Biblical viewpoint. As we noted a few moments ago, Paul warned early Christians about observing special days for which there was no divine authority. Remember that he said in Gal. 4:10-11, “You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” It was by the preaching and work of the apostle Paul that these Galatians were converted to Christ. Now he writes to inform them that if they resort to the weak and worthless things of Judaism such as observing special holy days, then his work among them in leading them to Christ was in vain. This ought to serve to remind us that since the celebration of special holy days, including Easter, is not according to the gospel of Christ, then authority for them must come from someone or something else. The Galatians sought authority from the Law of Moses, and in doing so it meant their conversion was empty. Paul said it like this in Gal. 5:4: “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” If using the Old Testament as authority for special days renders one estranged from Christ, then what will appealing to paganism do for our salvation? Easter is not a New Testament version of the Passover, but it is barbaric and Gentile to the core. Also, Jesus warned of the dangers inherent in following after human religious traditions. In Mk. 7:6–8, he rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their use of religious traditionalism. He said, “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. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.” If Easter is not of Biblical origin, then it is a tradition of men. Jesus said that observing such traditions were offering the Lord only lip honor and not heart honor. It might appear righteous and good but it is in fact outward and empty. It is all symbolism and no substance. In keeping their traditions, these extremely religious men were laying aside the commands of God. I know this might sound rather harsh to some, but this is what Jesus said. He said that traditions of men are wrong. Jesus said these human traditions will soon become doctrine. Easter has become an entrenched doctrine in almost every denomination in the world. Look in the paper this week to see the number of denominational churches that have scheduled special sunrise services or some other Easter service. Protestant churches will have their largest crowds of the year next Sunday. There will be cantatas and plays, programs and dramas by the score —all without one verse or one word of biblical authority. Jesus said that such things as these were vain. He said to displace the commands of God by the keeping of traditions causes one to be offering God empty and shallow service. I know that many people believe that services that honor the resurrection of Christ must be permitted because it helps focus men upon that wonderful event. But we have already noted that it is not authorized in the scriptures. We have already seen this morning that the early church did not celebrate Easter, but that they observed the Lord’s Supper each Sunday to remember and focus upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This means that the Bible does not permit us to celebrate a day that is unauthorized. If we do, then our worship and our deliverance from sin is vain. There is no discernable difference between the erection of a statue to help us focus upon the unseen God as there is to establishing a day that helps us focus upon the resurrection of Jesus. The Bible is silent regarding any yearly observance of Christ’s resurrection. If Jesus intended for the church to honor him with a special annual day called Easter, then surely we could find it mentioned in the scriptures. Any yearly observance is based upon human tradition, and not God’s Word.

I want to revisit something we said earlier just in case you missed it. The King James Version of the Bible does have the word Easter in it. And this has led many to incorrectly believe that this refers to the celebration of Easter as we understand it today. This is false. The word Easter found in Acts 12:4 of the King James Version, but it is an unfortunate translation. As a matter of fact, the word Easter was not translated — instead, it was injected. When the Bible says that Herod was “intending after Easter to bring” to bring Peter to trial, the word Easter — in the Greek — is pascha, which is translated Passover every other place it is found in the word of God. If this is so, and it is, then you might be wondering why does it appear as Easter in the King James Version of the Bible? That’s a good and fair question. You see, when Queen Elizabeth I died and King James I ascended to the throne of England in January 1604, he accepted the proposal that a new translation of the Bible be made. The outcome of his decision was the King James Version of 1611. It was actually number nine in the sequence of printed English Bibles and is primarily a revision of the Bishops’ Bible. What many don’t know is, the King James Version was heavily criticized in its early days; but in time, with official pressure, it won out and became “the Bible” for English-reading people — a position it has held for almost four hundred years. The King James Version has undergone countless modifications so that the currently circulating edition differs dramatically from that of 1611 in many ways, though the basic text is essentially the same, including the disputed use of Easter in Acts 12:4. When the King James Version was published, the celebration of Easter had been occurring for several centuries. Both the Anglican and Roman churches had already adopted this pagan celebration as a so-called Christian holy day. Therefore, the translators, biased by their religious prejudices toward the observance of Easter, inserted Easter for Passover in Acts 12:4. If those scholars had been honest with the original language, as those who translated after them, they would have had Passover instead of Easter in that verse. This would have eliminated the confusion surrounding the text. It isn’t any more complicated than that. Also, this isn’t something that is unknown by most of the denominational churches and pastors who will be celebrating Easter Sunday next week. Regardless of the perceived good that is being done, we must recognize that the observance of Easter is a human tradition without biblical authorization. Also, those who get all worked up every year in celebrating Easter will blatantly disregard the Lord’s authorized and commanded memorial of his death, burial, and resurrection, which is the weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper. Those churches celebrating Easter next week have displaced the keeping of God’s commandments in order to keep a day that is unauthorized. Those churches that have scheduled the passion plays and sunrise services have substituted human wisdom and tradition for the word of God. Human tradition has devised the annual Easter celebration, but God has told his church to meet each week and to break bread in a simple but profound service to remember the Lord’s death until he returns. Therefore regardless of the reason behind the celebration of Easter, the church has absolutely no scriptural right to observe it.

Now, I can imagine what some of you might be thinking. You might be asking, “isn’t it a good thing if it causes men and women to become concerned about the resurrection of Jesus?” This is what I hear about Christmas. I hear people say that even though the practice is not authorized, if it causes men and women to think about the Lord, then we ought to applaud it instead of condemning it. Now, let’s be serious, does that reasoning make any real sense? If it does, then we can substitute anything else we might see for Easter or Christmas. That is, if Easter becomes a good thing (even though it is not authorized) because it causes some to think about Christ and his resurrection who might otherwise never do so, then we ought to applaud those who take the Lord’s Supper on days other than Sunday. We ought to be happy to see young couples have a communion service during their Saturday afternoon wedding. If just causing people to think about something Biblical is justification enough to compliment a practice, then we ought to be thankful for all the crosses we see adorning Catholic Church buildings. Hearing this sort of nonsense causes me to remember the words of Paul in Rom. 3:8 when he sarcastically asked, “And why not say, let us do evil that good may come?” The celebration of Easter is not good; instead, it is unauthorized. This makes it wrong! Jesus posed a very frank question in Lk. 6:46 when he asked, “But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?” This question is really the heart of the matter. If I claim to honor the Lordship and the authority of Christ and if I claim to respect his deity and his word, then why would I then do something that is not part of his will? Jesus told us in his word what he wants celebrated. He does desire that we remember his death, burial, and resurrection. But it isn’t in an annual celebration known as Easter. Instead it is a weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper. Every Sunday is a day that the Traders Point Church of Christ gathers to remember and consecrate the atoning work of Christ in his death and resurrection. We do it in the manner he prescribed. We commune with him by eating the supper he authorized. And, you know something As Christians we should be happy to give thanks and celebrate Christ’s resurrection year around. Those who love the Lord, celebrate the resurrection of Christ 52 times each year. Acts 20:7 tells us, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.” And, this has been going on now for nearly two thousand years. Acts 2:42 says, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” If you were to join us today, or next Sunday, or the next, or the next, or any Sunday, you will find that we are celebrating the death and the resurrection of Christ.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if men and women honored the Lord in the way that he wants, instead of the ways they want? My prayer is that people will do more than think about God’s Son once a year. My prayer is they will seek to obey him every day of the year.