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INCREASE YOUR BIBLE IQ
Easter
Before Christ?
hat do you think of when
someone mentions Easter- brightly colored
eggs, bunny rabbits, hot cross buns, Easter
parades and sunrise servíces?
Have you ever wondered whether these
traditional customs of Easter have any logical
connection with t he resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Not in the Bible!
Yery few have ever thought about why they believe
what they do-why they follow the custorns they do,
or where those custorns carne frorn. Having been
born ínto this world wíth its relígious custorns,
perhaps you take for granted the custorns and beliefs
of society wíthout questíon.
Just how and when did Easter oríginate? Does ít
really celebrate the resurrection of Cbrist? Was
Christ even resurrected on a Sunday rnorning? Oíd
the original apostles, whom J esus taught personally,
celebrate Easter?
Let's begín this eye-opening study and d iscover
the surprising answers!
Did Apostles Celebrate Easter?
Jt
is commonly believed that the Good
Friday/Easter Sunday tradition began with the
apost les of the New Testament Church.
1.
What is found in the Bíble regarding the
observance of "Easter"? Acts 12:4, Authorized
Version.
COMMENT: This is the only verse in the
Authorized or King James Version of the Bible
where the word
Easter
is mentioned. However, as
any authority of the Greek language knows, it is a
flagrant mistranslation! The original Greek word
36
here is
pascha,
rneaning Passover. In every other
place in the New Testarnent where
pascha
is used, it
is always translated Passover. Exarnples of this can
be found in Matthew 26:2, 17-19; Mark 14:12; and 1
Corinthians 5:7.
Vírtually all other translations of the Bible correctly
render
pascha
as Passover in Acts 12:4. The Revised
Authorized Version, for example, has" . .. intending to
bring him before the people after Passover."
Consequently, there is absolutely no bíblica!
record of Christ's apostles and later true Christians
ever observing Easter.
According to the
Encyclopaedia Britannica,
" There is no indicatíon of the observance of the
Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the
writings of the apostolic Fathers.... Tbe first
Christíans continued to observe the J ewisb festivals
[that is, God's- Levit icus 23:1-2], though in a new
spirit, as cornrnernorations of events which those
festivals had foreshadowed" ("Easter," 11th edition).
Also notice what the historian Socrates
Scholasticus wrote in his
Ecclesiastica/ History,
not
long after the Rornan Ernperor Constantine, in the
fourth century:
"Neither tbe apost les, therefore, nor the Gospels,
have anywhete irnposed . . . Easter.... Wberefore,
inasrnuch as rnen !ove festivals, because they afford
thern cessation frorn labor: eacb individual in every
place, according to bis own pleasure, has by
prevalent custom celebrated [Easter] .. . .
"The Sav'iour and bis apostles have enjoined us by no
law to keep this feast ... just as many other custorns
have been established in individuallocalities according
to usage, so also the feast of Easter carne to be observed
in each place according to the individual peculiarities of
the peoples inasrnuch as none of the apostles legislated
on the matter. And that the observance originated not
by legislation, but as a custom the facts thernselves
indicate" (chapter 22).
2. Did Christ inst ruct bis apostles to observe his
resurrection or just the opposite-to cornrnernorate
the date of his
death?
Luke 22:8, 13-20. Also notice
1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
COMMENT: Tbe eveni ng before his crucifixion,
J esus established the New Testarnent Passover for
Christians. He introduced the new syrnbols of
unleavened bread and wine in place of the slaying of
a lamb. Then he cornrnanded his t rue followers down
througb the ages, "Th is do ... in
remembrance of
me"
(I Cor. 11 :25).
The PLAIN TRUTH