Easter brings about some odd arguments among Christians. Some Christians claim that Easter is pagan and should not be celebrated. Easter is used to describe the Biblical events regarding the death and resurrection of Christ as early as the 7th Century. Much may be said about the etymology, but history is clear that as that word began to be used to describe the events of the Bible, it was neither pagan nor the injection of pagan beliefs and rituals into the Biblical narrative.
Another issue that comes up during this season is by textual absolutists, in particular, King James Onlyists who will readily attack modern English translations that do not render “τὸ πάσχα” as Easter, choosing instead to stick with Passover. Their primary defense is an article found on textus-receptus.com, Article: “Easter” or “Passover” in Acts 12:4? by KJV Today – Textus Receptus.
In hopes to defend the the King James Version, the article asserts that, “the meaning of πάσχα is determined by context”. Their logic flows as follows: the article asserts that “πάσχα” is a polyseme, a word that may refer to more than one thing. It is their assertion that this may refer either the Jewish Passover or the Christian Easter (a celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection).
What is this hypothesis based on? Google Translate. The article suggests that one ought to being by understanding the use of the Greek word “πάσχα” in Modern Greek in order to determine how it is used in the Bible. Here, the article suggests that, in modern Greek, “πάσχα” by itself is referring to Easter and when paired with a modifier such as “εβραϊκό Πάσχα” (Hebrew Passover) or “Πάσχα των ιουδαίων” (Passover of the Jews), the word is no longer referring to the Christian Easter.
This is where I, along with anyone who understands etymology (the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history), would naturally object and claim that this is an anachronistic application of the modern Greek back into Koine Greek, the Greek used in the First Century AD when the New Testament was written. We do not understand Biblical terms and meanings in the King James Version with a modern English dictionary. Most King James Version Onlyists will readily admit that if you want to understand the KJV, you need a dictionary that is closer to the language of that day. Therefore, many will point people to the Websters 1828. But in this particular example, we are to break that pattern and inject a modern day usage of a word back into the text.
Fortunately, the author of this article predicted such an objection and attempted to address it in the following way:
There is no doubt that “Πάσχα” means “Easter” in modern Greek. The charge, however, is that “Πάσχα” did not mean “Easter” until centuries after the composition of Acts 12:4. This is not true. In the Gospel of John there is already a distinction being made between the Christian Pascha and the Jewish Pasc”) in modern Greek) is “Πάσχα των ιουδαίων” (Passover of the Jews).
The article then offers two examples to support this assertion, John 2:13 and John 11:55. Both of those seemingly qualify the Greek word “” by noting it is the “Jews’ Passover”:
John 2:13 (KJV 1900) 13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
John 11:55 (KJV 1900) 55 And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.
There is, however, a number of fatal flaws in this argument. First, one of the very proof texts offered by the article also refutes the hypothesis. In John 11:55, John speaks both of “the Jews’ passover” (τὸ πάσχα τῶν Ἰουδαίων) and “passover” (πάσχα). The article states, “The fact that John writes, “Jews’ Pascha” indicates that there was a need to qualify the word “Pascha.” The word is both qualified and unqualified in John 11:55. If there were a need to qualify the word “πάσχα” in the New Testament, we should see that in the consistency of the text. But it is not the case.
The word, “πάσχα” is used in 29 verses in our Greek New Testament. It is translated in the KJV 28 times as “passover” and only once as “Easter”. If modern Greek qualifies “πάσχα” with either the Greek word for Jews or Hebrews, then there should be a pattern to justify the translation of “πάσχα” as “Easter” in Acts 12:4. Let’s consider every New Testament occurrence of the word “πάσχα”:
Matthew 26:2 (KJV 1900) 2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.
Matthew 26:17–19 (KJV 1900) 17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? 18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
Mark 14:1 (KJV 1900) After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
Mark 14:12 (KJV 1900) 12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
Mark 14:14 (KJV 1900) 14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
Mark 14:16 (KJV 1900) 16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
Luke 2:41 (KJV 1900) 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
Luke 22:1 (KJV 1900) Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
Luke 22:7–8 (KJV 1900) 7 Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. 8 And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat.
Luke 22:11 (KJV 1900) 11 And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
Luke 22:13 (KJV 1900) 13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
Luke 22:15 (KJV 1900) 15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
John 2:13 (KJV 1900) 13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
John 2:23 (KJV 1900) 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
John 6:4 (KJV 1900) 4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
John 11:55 (KJV 1900) 55 And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.
John 12:1 (KJV 1900) Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
John 13:1 (KJV 1900) Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
John 18:28 (KJV 1900) 28 Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
John 18:39 (KJV 1900) 39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
John 19:14 (KJV 1900) 14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
Acts 12:4 (KJV 1900) 4 And when he had apprehended him, 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.
1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV 1900) 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
Hebrews 11:28 (KJV 1900) 28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
If the premise of this article were to be accurate and John indicated there was a need to qualify the word, “πάσχα”, then why did John only qualify it in John 2:13 and John 11:55 — and only once in the latter verse? One would surely think that, if this were necessary, then John would have done this over and over again in his gospel. In John 18:39 and John 19:14, which passover is John referring to? Is it the Jewish passover or the Christian passover? There seems to be some overlap here. If Acts 12:4 is talking about Easter, aren’t these two verses in John? It is also curious why Matthew, Mark, and Luke saw no need to make such qualifications in their gospels. Additionally, neither Paul nor the writer of Hebrews made any such qualification. Only two verses out of 29 have mentions the “Jews’ passover” while all the rest simply say “passover”. The evidence simply does not support the assertion of the article.
Let us now consider the statement at the very beginning of the article: “The meaning of πάσχα is determined by context”. What is the context of Acts 12:4? Since there is no qualifier that states the text is talking about “the Jews’ passover”, then there should be contextual evidence to clearly identify that this is not talking about the Jews’ passover, but rather the “Saviour’s πασχα” as the article suggests by referencing Eusebius. Let’s look at Acts 12:1-5:
Acts 12:1–5 (KJV 1900) Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 4 And when he had apprehended him, 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. 5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
Herod has executed James, the brother of John. Upon seeing that it pleased the Jews, he arrested Peter. But he could not execute Peter because it was currently the days of unleavened bread. What does that mean? Passover is a week long celebration that begins with the Passover meal followed by seven days of unleavened bread. The entire week is known as Passover. Acts 12:3 states that this is during the days of unleavened bread. The Feast of Passover is still going on. The week is not over yet. His intention as stated in verse 4 is to kill him after the Feast of Passover, including the days of unleavened bread, was over. The scripture is in no way suggesting that Herod was waiting for Christians to finish celebrating the death and resurrection of Christ before he further pleased the Jews by executing Peter. He cannot execute Peter during the Passover week because that would offend the Jews.
Therefore, the article’s assertion that the meaning of “πασχα” is determined by context is false. “πασχα” is never used in the New Testament to refer to a celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection. Christ is referred to as our passover, but no celebration is ever identified using this term in all the 27 books of the New Testament. The article injects the anachronistic term, “Easter” into the text by injecting a modern cultural usage of the word “πασχα” in a manner that it is never used in scripture. The article falsely asserts that the New Testament authors (at least John) saw the need to qualify when the “πασχα” was referring to the Jewish feast. And the article’s assertion that the meaning of “πασχα” is determined by context is correct only in the sense that every contextual occurrence of the word is in relation to the Jewish passover. For these reasons, English versions that use the term, “passover” in Acts 12:4 have faithfully translated the text accurately and in a way that represents the intention of Luke when he wrote Acts in Koine Greek.
4 Responses
Who invented the word Passover and why would he translate it as Easter in Acts 12:4 without a reason? Why would he also translate Easterlamb later in 1 Cor 5 if it was Passover? How does he see something that you can’t?
That’s a great question. I will happily answer it. Tyndale invented the English word Passover. But he did so after he had already translated his New Testament. Tyndale used Easter everywhere in the New Testament where the Greek word “pascha” was used. He didn’t invent the English word Passover until later because he was still learning Hebrew — even while in prison. His Old Testament followed his New Testament. English Bibles that followed, replaced Easter with Passover because it all represented the same thing — The Jewish feast (including the days of unleavened bread). The KJV followed suit and simply missed this one in Acts. That usage is no different than the others. It just never got changed.
While there is no doubt that many practices associated with the current cultural celebration known as “Easter” are pagan in origin, there is no etymological connection between the terms Easter and Astarte as suggested by Hislop in The Two Babylons. I have read the section on Easter in his book three times, and I cannot find any actual evidence linking Easter to Astarte. Once Hislop connected “Easter” and Ishtar/Astarte it was picked up on by believers and advanced in an uncritical manner. In this way, the influence of Hislop looms large over the entire discussion of “Easter” in Acts 12:4. The True Etymology of Easter, on the other hand, has nothing to do with “flocks” or animal fertility. “Easter” (“Ostern” in German) is a Germanic word derived from the word “east” (“Ost” in German). The Online Etymological Dictionary is quoted in support: “Old English east “east, easterly, eastward,” from Proto-Germanic *aus-to-, *austra- “east, toward the sunrise” (cf. Old Frisian ast “east,” aster “eastward,” Dutch oost Old Saxon ost, Old High German ostan, German Ost, Old Norse austr “from the east”), from PIE *aus- “to shine,” especially “dawn” (cf. Sanskrit ushas “dawn;” Greek aurion “morning;” Old Irish usah, Lithuanian auszra “dawn;” Latin aurora “dawn,” auster “south”), literally “to shine.” The east is the direction in which dawn breaks.” The Oxford English Dictionary, the recognized authority on the history of the English language, is in complete agreement with the Online Etymological Dictionary as to the etymology of the English word “Easter.”
Moreover, something else that is lacking when discussing this topic is the fact that the term Easter was used interchangeably with Passover in English Bibles leading up to the King James Bible. (see https://www.oed.com/dictionary/easter_n1?tab=meaning_and_use#5928475 )You would think that if one were to mount a defense of a singular word in Scripture, he or she would have investigated usage of that term in English Bibles prior to the KJB. For example, the Coverdale Bible of 1535 in Ezekiel 45:21, a verse that figures prominently in this controversy, employs the word Easter, whereas the KJB uses Passover. The translators of the latter, furthermore, would have followed Richard Bancroft’s rules when developing their work, altering its predecessor the Bishops Bible as little as possible. So, what they did in Acts 12:4 was adopt the reading of the Bishops Bible. It is interesting to note that in John 11:55 the Bishops Bible uses the terms Jewes Easter and Easter while the KJB uses the terms Jews’ Passover and Passover. It is clear from an examination of the context of John 11:55 that what the Bishops Bible calls the Jewes Easter is everywhere else in the gospels referred to as Passover. Furthermore, the Bishops Bible in John 12:1 mentions Passouer. This is significant for two reasons: first, it shows that there is no doubt that the two English words were viewed as a reference to the same event; second, it illustrates that the KJB translators rejected the notion of uniformity of phrasing as described in “The Translators to the Reader” preface of their work. When the translators made the decision to leave Easter in Acts 12:4, were they intending to refer to a pagan festival celebrated by Herod or were they simply using an acceptable English synonym for the Jewish Passover? While Herod most surely was a pagan, there is nothing in the passage in Acts 12:1-4 to positively link him to celebrating the goddess Astarte, as there is no relationship between Easter and Astarte as previously stated. The verses say nothing of Herod keeping or observing anything. Given all that has been presented thus far, it makes far more sense to view Easter as a reference to the Jewish festival of Passover than it does to think that the KJB translators ascribed a meaning to the word Easter wholly apart from how the word was used and understood by their predecessors and contemporaries.
Finally, the key thing to note is that the term “Passover” can refer to (1) just the Passover meal itself or (2) the entire seven-day feast (Ezekiel 45:21). In Acts 12:3-4, it is clear from the reference to the days of unleavened bread that Easter is being used in the second meaning above.
“Passover” is correct in Acts 12:4, but so is “Easter” in the King James Bible. Of course in 2024 we would not use the term “Easter” when discussing the Jewish feast, but in 1611 it was used interchangeably with “Passover.”
My dear Brother Ross, you made the assumption that I had not studied the use of the word in previous English Bibles. You said, “you would think that if one were to mount a defense of a singular word in Scripture, he or she would have investigated usage of that term in English Bibles prior to the KJB.” It is unfortunate that our first interaction would include such a passive-aggressive and unhelpful remark. I am familiar with you and your work. There was no need to break the ice in a hostile manner. I hope any future correspondence will be much more cordial. We are not enemies.
In fact, I addressed it in the comments back in April of this year. I was asked by a commenter who invented the word “Passover” and why it would be translated as “Easter” in Acts 12:4. I answered that in a manner that demonstrates its use by Tyndale. After all, the Coverdale and Bishops you mentioned in your retort were both based on Tyndale’s work. Here is my response that addresses the issue.
“Tyndale invented the English word Passover. But he did so after he had already translated his New Testament. Tyndale used Easter everywhere in the New Testament where the Greek word ‘pascha’ was used. He didn’t invent the English word Passover until later because he was still learning Hebrew — even while in prison. His Old Testament followed his New Testament. English Bibles that followed, replaced Easter with Passover because it all represented the same thing — The Jewish feast (including the days of unleavened bread). The KJV followed suit and missed this one in Acts. That usage is no different than the others. It just never got changed.”
Your assertion that leaving Easter here was purposeful is also an assumption. The fact that the translators did not follow concordance in this instance is not stated as being because of the translators’ rejection of uniformity of phrasing. In lieu of any marginal note or other explanation, the ultimate reason why the Second Oxford Company led by Thomas Ravis left this instance as “Easter” remains nothing more than conjecture.
I further addressed the fact that “Passover” can be used to refer to the meal or the entire seven-day feast in the article. Perhaps you missed that when you were reading the article. Easter is not correct in Acts 12:4. Perhaps it was practical in Tyndale’s Greek New Testament and in editions before it was changed to Passover. But this one odd occurrence that stands in contrast to other instances of the underlying Greek word being translated as “Passover” serves only to cause arguments such as this.