Would Jesus Christ Celebrate Easter?

Each spring the excitement of Easter fills the air. Many churches prepare special Easter programs about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At home mothers color eggs, and parents hide the brightly colored symbols of Easter around the house and lawn so that, come Easter morning, their children can excitedly hunt for them.

Stuffed Easter bunnies and chocolate rabbits are seen everywhere in the weeks leading up to this major religious observance. Then there are the Easter sunrise services, where churchgoers gather to hear about Jesus' resurrection and honor that miraculous event by watching the sun come up in the east.

But what do colored eggs and the Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus Christ's resurrection? How did these seemingly irreligious symbols come to be associated with that event?

Can we find any historical or biblical record of Jesus or His disciples observing Easter or teaching parents and children to dye eggs and display bunnies on this holiday? Did Jesus or His apostles instruct any of His followers to meet to honor His resurrection at sunrise on Easter Sunday—or at any other time, for that matter?

If Easter was not sanctioned by Jesus or instituted by His apostles, then where did Easter come from? In other words, if Jesus were living among us as a flesh-and-blood human being, would He celebrate Easter or encourage others to do so?

Answers to these questions are readily available. Some may take a little research, but they become clear when we look into history and the Bible.

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?

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).

How, 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 calls it 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).

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.

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.

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

Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

At least that's what God told Paul to tell us...Is Paul wrong???

No!
Read the next verse:
29 Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are seed of Avraham and heirs according to the promise.
if you accept Yah'shua (YHvH be my salvation in the Hebrew),
you are Grafted in.

b'SHEM Yah'shua

‘.....many folks are confused when it comes to this “Law” thing.’ Diego

Not to be uncharitable, but I think you are one of them. Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient and it the only thing that is. "xone"

O.K., you are having problems understanding something that is actually quite simple. Let's try again!

[Colossians 2:14][Ephesians 2:15] These verses do not do away with God's laws. The term ordinance is the Greek word "Dogma" and refers to human laws and decrees. [Mark 7:7-8] Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. Can you see that He is speaking of "Talmudic" Law?

Our Lord referred to these Pharisees as hypocrites in verse 6. In verse 13 He says they have nullified the word of God through their tradition.....their Talmudic interpretations! This was the law that Our Saviour nailed to the cross with his atoning sacrifice!

His death also did away with animal sacrifice and eliminated other priestly duties [Hebrews 7:12]....but there still remained the law. Again....Our Saviour said He had not come to do away with....but fulfill [Matthew 5:17]. Paul refers to this Law as "Holy, just and good" [Romans 7:12].

[Deuteronomy 4:40] Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever. God's laws are with us forever. Man's laws....."Dogma"....come and go. If you cannot see the difference I'll just say.....blessings to you and your household.

a late-nite radio host once gave a wringing rebuke to his fellow christians

after hearing the message of Yeshua, instead of following HIM in the path HE directed, they continue to debate the directional sign HE left - was it made out of word or stone, did it point east or west, was it shaped like a circle or a triangle, was it painted red or was it painted white ———

neither the man-made ‘day’ of a celebration, nor the man-made physical accoutrements used to display a celebration define a celebration - it is defined in your heart, by that which your heart is celebrating

if one must rebuke some christians for easter, as much could be condemned, with as much scholarship, for the dec 24th christmas holiday, yet to what benefit????

‘O.K., you are having problems understanding something that is actually quite simple. Let’s try again! ‘

Save the condecension.

‘Again....Our Saviour said He had not come to do away with....but fulfill [Matthew 5:17]. Paul refers to this Law as “Holy, just and good” [Romans 7:12]. ‘

Again, no problem. Christ fulfilled the Law, ‘God’s laws are with us forever.’ including these.

You are the one who has limited the Lord’s work, and seek to substitute your view. As stated before no one keeps the Law. It doesn’t mean the Law is invalid or done away with. You in your piety keep portions of Mosaic law and seek to convince others to do so. When faced with the fact that no one save Christ has ever kept the 10 Commandments you shift to Talmudic Law. God didn’t write Talmudic Law. Christ fulfilled God’s Law. In Christ Christians are freed from the curse of the Law. The eternal penalty for transgressing it is GONE.

Will one be chastised for transgressing the Law despite Christ’s sacrifice? Could be, as God wills. But there is no eternal implication because Christ stands in my place at Judgement Day. God the Father sees Him instead of me, His righteousness not mine. Thank God for that.

All of the above is a result of my faith in Christ, given to me by Christ via His Grace. I didn’t do anything to earn it, I have his rightousness whether I go to Church on Saturday, Sunday or any other day of the week. On Easter as on Passover.

exactly, the three legged stool is the mainstay of christianity.. the word, his church, sacred tradition.... When you remove anyone of these, then the stool topples...
The main problem as I see it is.......much of your tradition is not sacred.................in the slightest! [Mark 7:7]

ME: you are making the same mistake that others make...you are waiting for everything to be spelled out in the bible describing any and all practices, and if it isnt, you claim it is wrong or not christian, that is simply a mistake and the earliest church history, FROM THE WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS, who witnessed and participated in, and knew the apostles and their successors, SHOW THE EXACT OPPOSITE, the SACRED TRADTIONS were well accepted and considered entiriely in line with the christian faith...

XS> ‘why do you celebrate the Pagan replacement for Passover?’
Christ’s death and resurrection pagan? Christians now pagans. Your comment reminds me of the early Christians laying Jewish law upon converted Gentiles. The Passover Lamb is Christ. Celebrating His death and resurrection aren’t pagan practices. My replacement for Passover is the Lord’s Supper.

63 posted on 03/16/2008 2:45:21 PM MDT by xone

I never said the Christ's death and resurrection was Pagan !
I never said that followers of the Christ were Pagans !
If the Passover Lamb is the Christ,
then why not celebrate on the day that He has commanded ?
Celebrating His death and resurrection on Pagan feasts
is just that Pagan and blasphemous.
I find no reference in the Holy Word of Elohim of the "Lord's Supper"

John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai

Prior to the betrayal of Christ, He and his followers celebrated the Passover together. According to the biblical accounts of that celebration would you find them to be in line with the Passover tradition?

Did Christ on that occasion command them to do anything that had not been done before? If so, what was it?

‘Celebrating His death and resurrection on Pagan feasts
is just that Pagan and blasphemous.’

Celebrating His death and resurrection anytime is neither pagan nor blasphemous.

FROM THE WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS, who witnessed and participated in, and knew the apostles and their successors, SHOW THE EXACT OPPOSITE, the SACRED TRADITIONS were well accepted and considered entirely in line with the Christian faith...

For the most part.....here is what the early church fathers brought us.

Clement: [Epistle to the Corinthians] "The high priest has been given his own special services, the priests have been assigned their own place, and the Levites have their special ministrations enjoined on them. The layman is bound by the ordinances of the laity." A.D. 95

Ignatius: [To the Ephesians] "Your REVEREND presbytery is tuned to the Bishop as strings to a lyre...Let us be careful not to resist the Bishop, that through our submission to the Bishop we may belong to God...We should regard the Bishop as the Lord Himself..." A.D. 110

Tertullian: [Roman of Carthage] "The supreme priest (that is the Bishop) has the right of conferring baptism: after him the presbyters and deacons, but only with the Bishop's authority. Otherwise the laity also have the right...how much more is the discipline of reverence and humility incumbent upon laymen (since it also befits their superiors)...It would be idle for us to suppose that what is forbidden to PRIESTS is allowed to the laity. The distinction between the order of clergy and the people has been established by the authority of the Church." A.D. 200

Cyprian: [Bishop of Carthage]"If Christ Jesus our Lord and God is Himself the High Priest of God the Father, and first offered Himself as a sacrifice to the Father, and commanded this to be done in remembrance of Himself, then assuredly the priest acts truly in Christ's place when he reproduces what Christ did, and he then offers a true and complete sacrifice to God the Father, if he begins to offer as he sees Christ Himself has offered." A.D. 250

So.....from the original concept of a local church being led by elders in a short 250 years this is what the church fathers brought us. A huge priesthood now doing a sacrificial mass with a centralized head......that eventually became infallible.

[Hebrews 7:11-12] If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

Whereas Out Saviour's atoning sacrifice eliminated the priesthood.....the fathers in a short 250 years gave us back exactly what Our Lord's actions had done away with!

Ah, yes! This article comes from "The Good News: A Magazine of Understanding." This would be the magazine of a splinter-group successor to Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God, yes? Unfortunately for the late Mr. Armstrong, his many novel doctrines are all over 1900 years too late in their formulation to be expositions of "authentic, primitive" Christianity, and most of the others that he borrowed seldom have, in turn, more than a 200 year-old pedigree themselves, which is equally incapable of establishing apostolic origins to the doctrines! Armstrongism is little more than a cult, in which an appreciation for historical Christianity is of no concern whatsoever. Lauditory, extensive use of that hack and fraud Hislop (!) as source material for much of this article is certain proof of this magazine's complete disregard for the continuous, 2000-year witness of true Christianity, from the Apostolic Era to the Early Fathers, and down to our own day.

What utter rubbish this article is! It makes objections that never existed for very near 1900 years since the time of Christ, and still dares to complain of the novelty of Easter celebrations! Whew!

Yes, but it is celebrated on a Sunday.

So was this: On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. Constantine 321 A.D.

This is also about the time when "The First Day of the Week" began appearing as translated scripture instead of "One of the Sabbaths". [Matthew 28:1][Mark 16:2][Mark 16:9][Luke 24:1][John 20:1][John 20:19][Acts 20:7] and [1 Corinthians 16:1]

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