I am afraid of you

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Galatians 4:10-11

Over the Easter season – seeing how Baptists have added “days, and months, and times” to their once very simple “form” of worship – the above verses came to mind. During his second journey Paul, with Silas and Timothy, visited the region of Galatia (Acts 16:6; Galatians 4:13). He returned on his third journey, strengthening the disciples (Acts 18:23).[i] He preached a simple and straightforward gospel of Christ crucified (Galatians 3:1-3). This letter to the Galatians is occasioned by false brethren who perverted the gospel, adding law, works, “days, and months, and times, and years.” The Galatians had received the word by faith, moving from Gentile idolatry to Christianity. Through false teaching, they moved then toward Judaism. Now Paul was afraid; afraid they had fallen away from the grace of God to a teaching of salvation by works (Galatians 1:6-9).

Baptist friends, I am afraid of some of you. No, you probably will not admit to teaching works instead of grace. Yes, you add to the simple faith of Baptists, looking here and there to see what others have to offer – what days, months, and times they keep.[ii]

A Southern Baptist pastor recently called the week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday “the holiest week of the Christian calendar.” An independent Baptist pastor recently related that in his lifetime he had “celebrated” all of the following during “Passion Week.”[iii]

Palm Sunday, Daily Devotional (adult) or Coloring page (children), Maundy Thursday Communion, Foot Washing/Anointing, Tenebrae Candles, Sit alone in Darkness, Thursday Night Prayer Vigil, Seven Sayings on the Cross, Good Friday, Stations of the Cross, Jewish Pesach Supper, Fast/Pray Saturday, Sunrise Service, Easter Worship, Church breakfast, Easter Egg Hunt, Walk thru Jerusalem (Vignettes of passion story).

Oh, my! I’ve been around awhile, and still had to look up some of this stuff.[iv] Other parts of the whole “season” include Clean Monday (Greek Orthodox), Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Easter Vigil, and who knows what else.

Let’s look to the Bible as our rule of faith and practice. That is what we claim to believe. If we want days, and months, and times, and years, what do we find in the Bible? Our “church calendar” is based on the Lord’s week – six days of labour and one day of rest (i.e. gathering to celebrate the Lord’s day, sing, worship, fellowship, and study the word). Every Lord’s day, by its very nature, is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection. We do not recognize one Sunday out of 52 as more holy than the other 51 Sundays.

If we want ritual or ceremony, what do we find in the Bible? How about baptism, a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord’s supper, a memorial of his body and blood given for us. Want more things to do? If so, check the Bible. You might find something that is not a fabricated ritual. How about washing one anothers’ feet? I have found that some of the most aggressive opponents of old-time Baptist feet washing nevertheless taken hook, line, and sinker for feet washing when included in a Maundy Thursday service. Maybe if it looks like a theatrical production, it suits!?

May the Lord help us who are true Baptists, who wish to be true Baptists, to find the Old Paths and walk therein.

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.”

 “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.”

“Help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.”

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[i] Galatia is also mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:10 and 1 Peter 1:1.
[ii] Such as Lent, which I have addressed HERE, HERE, and HERE.
[iii] He wrote, “I have personally either done these or witnessed them done in Baptist Churches.”
[iv] The only observances I grew up with was a recognition of Easter Sunday, and the Easter egg hunt. In church itself, Easter usually elicited a sermon on or related to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hunting Easter eggs was not a church sponsored event, but the church people did not oppose children doing it, that I recall, and many were involved in organizing it for family or community. Incidentally, we never bought into the “Good Friday” timing of the crucifixion.

Days, and Months, and Times: Some of the Easter Week observances

A brief list that might be helpful in conjunction with the next post, I am afraid of you.

• Palm Sunday – receive palm branches or palm crosses signifying Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem.
• Daily Devotional – 8-Day Devotional and Coloring booklet for Passion Week.
• Holy Monday – represents the day of the cleansing of the Temple.
• Holy Tuesday – represents Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives.
• Holy Wednesday – into the darkness; service of Tenebrae (where candles are gradually extinguished, creating a sense of darkness), signifying Jesus abandoned by his disciples. 
• Maundy Thursday – the Last Supper instituted, Jesus’s betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and his arrest at the Garden of Gethsemane, often including a representation of foot washing; might in some instances include a Jewish Pesach Supper.
• Good Friday – recognized as the day of crucifixion, and may include fasting, with meditation and veneration of the cross.
• Holy Saturday – burial of Jesus, a late-night Easter Vigil service represents women watching the tomb.
• Easter Sunday – commemorates the resurrection, often with sunrise services, Easter breakfast, Easter egg hunts, in addition to regular worship services. Churches averse to the word “Easter” may call it “Resurrection Sunday” instead.

Perhaps looking here (see link) will provide better understanding of some of this stuff (often, I do not really get it): Journey through Lent with Jesus.

Book Review of Don’t Passover Easter, by Bryan Ross

A book review of Don’t Passover Easter: A New Defense of “Easter” in Acts 12:4, by Bryan C. Ross. Don’t Passover Easter is a recent (2020) religious non-fiction, available in paperback or e-book (78 pages) from Dispensational Publishing House, Inc. for $9.99. Ross is also the author of The King James Bible in America: An Orthographic, Historical, and Textual Investigation (2019) and Rightly Dividing E. W. Bullinger: Assessing His Life, Ministry, and Impact (2020).

Readers interested in Bible translation and words should find Ross’s Don’t Passover Easter quite fascinating. Some of the more adamant KJV-detractors will not welcome it. However, some KJV-supporters might not either. Ross challenges the two views that are more common that his – that Easter in Acts 12:4 represents a pagan holiday (he interacts with Samuel Gipp, pp. 5-8, on this) or a Christian holiday (he interacts with an article at KJV Today on this). He sees “Easter” simply as a reference to the Jewish Passover and not a mistranslation. He further rejects the influence of Alexander Hislop mistakenly tying Easter to the goddess Ishtar/Ashtarte – as well as KJV-detractors such as James R. White whose work also promotes such a view.

This work is “A New Defense” probably in the sense that no one defending the translation in Acts 12:4 has previously presented this explanation in writing in the late 20th and 21st centuries. It is not new is the sense of being unheard of or not previously demonstrated. Through good research, Ross shows that Easter meant pascha before there was such a word as Passover in English – and still meant that in 1611.

Ross looks at the etymology of the English word “Easter,” as well as reviewing English Bible translations made before the King James translation in 1611. One thing that surprised me – because I had failed to consider it – is that the 1557 Geneva New Testament, unlike its successor the 1560 Geneva Bible, uses some form of the word “Easter” 24 times (then Pascal Lambe twice, and Passover thrice).

At the end of the work, there are three appendices on the English words Easter and Passover. A fourth appendix reviews translation words related to the event in the Old and New Testaments.

I highly recommend the book. It is brief (78 pages, including appendices), well documented, well written, and has a little larger than normal type that is easier on old eyes. Ross holds a dispensational view (mid-Acts) that some readers could find a distraction, but, in my opinion, does not detract from the worth of the book.

“The King James Bible is, therefore, not in error with this rendering nor is it a mistranslation of the Greek word pascha. Rather it is a perfectly acceptable English way of referring to the Jewish feast, as attested by the etymological and translational evidence…” (p. 46)

Easter in the King James Bible

Due to recent discussions, I provide an update of a previous post.
 
Acts 12:4 in the King James Version of the Bible: “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.”

This verse of Scripture has excited much discussion – often more than it should and of a nature that is not edifying. Now I add my voice, hopefully in soft rather than shrill tones that might edify the reader. Acts 12:4 has provided the anti-KJV-ist fodder to rail against the King James translation. It has incited the KJV-Only-ist to create tortured explanations of why “Easter” is correct and “Passover” would be incorrect (in this one verse).[i] The whole of it is rather simple. It could be dismissed rather easily, were it not for the extremists.

First, barring finding some source where the King James translators have explained it, we do not really know why they chose to translate πασχα (paska) as “Easter” in this passage. They translated the word as “Passover” in the other New Testament verses where it is used. While some explanations may seem plausible, they remain opinion rather than fact.

Second, a little knowledge of the development of the English language and the history of English translations apprises us that there is nothing sinister, secret, or stupid going on with the translation. Rather, it is quite simple.

Englishmen had no Jewish background. They were converted to Christianity from paganism. They had no word for the Old Testament feast of Passover. The Passover in the New Testament chronologically tied to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This they called “Ester” or “Easter.” The first translator of the complete Bible in English, John Wycliffe, used “paske” here, transliterating it over from the Greek or Latin.[ii] On the other hand, nearly 200 years later William Tyndale translated the New Testament. He chose “ester”,[iii] a word that was in common usage at that time. The word “Passover,” which is current in most modern translations, did not exist at that time. In fact, Tyndale himself coined the word “Passover” when he translated the Old Testament Pentateuch from Hebrew into English. Whatever his reasoning, Tyndale is the source of the word “Passover.”

As translation and language progressed, the use of Easter for Passover in the New Testament dwindled. By the time of the 1568 Bishops’ Bible “Easter” is used in only two places (here and twice in John 11:55). With the coming of the King James, “Easter” remained with one solitary use, in Acts 12:4.

Why did the King James translators not change “Easter” to “Passover” in Acts 12:4 as in all the other cases? Was it an editorial oversight? Did they see something that caused them to think it best left in place?[iv] Though not specifically mentioning the word “Easter,” “The Translators to the Reader” indicates that these scholars were not rigidly tied to one word in the target language (English) for the same one word in the source language (Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek): “...wee have not tyed our selves to an uniformitie of phrasing, or to an identitie of words, as some peradventure would wish that we had done...we cannot follow a better patterne for elocution then God himselfe; therefore hee using divers words, in his holy writ, and indifferently for one thing in nature: we, if wee will not be superstitious, may use the same libertie in our English versions out of Hebrew & Greeke, for that copie or store that he hath given us.” We will probably never answer why. Rather than worry over or fight about it, just know that the context indicates that Easter refers to the Passover season, and it was a legitimate word choice. It had included that meaning for over at least 600 years by that time, and should be no cause for foul fracases (nothing wrong with healthy debate).[v]

The Deuteronomy Chapter 16 Heading, Geneva Bible 

This chapter summary is clipped from the 1560 Geneva Bible. Though the 1560 Geneva Bible did not use word “Easter” in its text, this summary at the beginning of Deuteronomy 16 shows how “Easter” and “Passover” are synonyms. (Also “Whitsuntide” and “Pentecost,” that is, the feast of weeks, verse 10.)

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[i] Including the anti-KJV speculation that ties the origin of the word and holiday “Easter” from the festival of the goddess Ēostre (largely debunked), and some KJVOs’ insistence that πασχα in Acts 12:4 actually refers to a pagan holy day rather than Passover. I do not recommend the anti-KJV and KJVO links above; they are supplied only for informational purposes. Both of them are full of misrepresentations. “There is now widespread consensus that the word derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba (‘dawn’) and became eostarum in Old High German, the precursor of the modern German and English term.”
[ii] The Anglo-Saxon translations of the four gospels preceded Wycliffe’s translation by about 400 years. These use ēasterdaeges, ēastro, and ēastron.
[iii] My count using StudyLight.org is 26 times in 25 verses in the New Testament (ester or esterlambe). The English-to-Latin dictionary Promptorium Parvulorum Sive Clericorum first appeared circa 1440, and is attributed to Geoffrey the Grammarian, a friar who lived in Norfolk, England. In the 1865 printing at Archive.org (p. 143), we find Eesterne (Easter) means Pascha.
[iv] If the translators judiciously followed rules 8-11, it seems highly unlikely they could have accidentally left in the word “Easter” through an oversight. For an explanation of why they might have left “Easter” in place, see Easter in KJV, Acts 12:4. On the one hand, some contemporary KJV defenders have posited that “Easter” was left in Acts 12:4 because it is the only post-resurrection historical reference to paska/Passover. On the other hand, some recent KJV detractors have suggested the High-Church Anglicans altered the translation of Acts 12:4 back to the word “Easter” to preserve a mention of their then current celebration. I checked the Easter sermons of Lancelot Andrewes transcribed at Project Canterbury. He never mentioned Acts 12:4 in any Easter sermon (Sermons of the Resurrection Preached upon Easter-Day, 1606-1618 and Sermons of the Resurrection Preached upon Easter-Day, 1620-1624), which seems odd if that were one of the reasons they kept the word “Easter” in that passage.
[v] In the related German language, Martin Luther used Ostern (Easter) in his Bible translation.

Easter

Easter is mentioned only once in the Bible -- Acts 12:4 -- where in context it refers to the Passover season. The Passover was a fixed date which came at the same time of year, the 14th of the month Nisan. Yet in our culture (the "West"), when we celebrate what we call Easter, which is supposed to acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have a day that moves around based on the first Sunday following the full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox. (Oh, the confusion of it all!)

All confusion aside, we know that Christ is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Corinthians 15:20). Every Lord's Day when we meet, every new morning and every new life ought to be a reminder of the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ's resurrection is God's firstfruits, the earnest guarantee of the future resurrection of His saints. His indwelling Spirit completes that earnest -- Christ in you, the hope of glory!

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. (John 11:25). 

"I Am, saith CHRIST, our glorious head, 
(May we attention give) 
The resurrection of the dead, 
The life of all that live. 

By faith in me, the soul receives 
New life, though dead before; 
And he that in my name believes, 
Shall live, to die no more. 

The sinner, sleeping in his grave, 
Shall at my voice awake; 
And when I once begin to save, 
My work I ne'er forsake."

Fulfill thy promise, gracious LORD, 
On us assembled here, 
Put forth thy Spirit with the word, 
And cause the dead to hear. 

Preserve the pow'r of faith alive, 
In those who love thy name; 
For sin and Satan daily strive 
To quench the sacred flame. 

Thy pow'r and mercy first prevailed 
From death to set us free; 
And often since our life had failed, 
If not renewed by thee. 

To thee we look, to thee we bow; 
To thee, for help, we call; 
Our life and resurrection thou, 
Our hope, our joy, our all. 

Hymn 116, The resurrection and the life. Jn 11:25, from Olney Hymns, John Newton (Common Meter)

Wednesday institution of the Lord's Supper

Last spring I read and printed a Yahoo News article titled Last Supper was a day earlier, scientist claims. As I was sorting and filing this morning, I found the 2 pages I had printed which reminded me of this. As one who has long ago come to a conclusion that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday rather than Friday, I found this claim interesting. The scientist, Colin Humphreys has written a book called The Mystery Of The Last Supper which says it finds "a new solution" to the chronology of Jesus's last days "based on a combination of Biblical, historical and astronomical research." I have no idea of Humphreys' position on the authority of the Bible and can't recommend what he wrote. I, nevertheless, found it intriguing. The following comment is helpful to address those who think the Gospel accounts are contradictory:

“Whatever you think about the Bible, the fact is that Jewish people would never mistake the Passover meal for another meal, so for the Gospels to contradict themselves in this regard is really hard to understand,” Professor Humphreys said.

McLaren on the Resurrection

Dear brethren, on the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is suspended everything which makes the Gospel good news. Strike that out, and what have you left? Some beautiful bits of moral teaching, a lovely life, marred by tremendous mistakes about Himself and His own importance and His relation to men and to God; but you have got nothing left that is worth calling a gospel. You have the cross rising there, gaunt, black, solitary; but, unless on the other side of the river you have the resurrection, no bridge will ever be thrown across the black gulf, and the cross remains ‘dead, being alone.’ You must have a resurrection to explain the Cross, and then the life and the death tower up into the manifestation of God in the flesh and the propitiation for our sins. Without it we have nothing to preach which is worth calling the gospel....

If He whom we believed to be our sacrifice by His death and our sanctification by His life has not risen, then, as we have seen, all which makes His death other than a martyr’s vanishes, and with it vanish forgiveness and purifying. Only when we recognise that in His cross explained by His resurrection, "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," (Col. 1:14) and by the communication of the risen life from the risen Lord possess that new nature which sets us free from the dominion of our evil, is faith operative in setting us free from our sins.

Expositions of Holy Scripture: Volume 13, by Alexander MacLaren

Anderson on the Resurrection

Some of us are less prone to observe days than others, but it's quite obvious that we can't avoid the pervasive influence of this popular part of our culture.* We can choose to stick our collective heads in the sands, or we can perhaps engage popular culture with salt and light about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Around 1950 J. N. D. Anderson published a little booklet engaging an apologetic for the resurrection. He writes,

"Easter is not primarily a comfort, but a challenge. Easter's message is either the supreme fact in history or else a gigantic hoax. In the days of the early Church...On the one hand there was a little company of men and women who turned the world upside down by their passionate proclamation of the miracle which had transformed their lives: on the other hand, there were those who vehemently denounced the whole story as arrant blasphemy...Either the resurrection is infinitely more than a beautiful story, or else it is infinitely less. If it is true, then it is the supreme fact of history; and to fail to adjust one's life to its implications means irreparable loss. If it is not true, if Christ has not risen, then Christianity is all a fraud, foisted on the world by a company of consummate liars--or, at best, deluded simpletons.

"Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ true of false? It is vital for us to decide on an answer...

"Finding the pertinent data is not so infeasible as it may seem. At least two methods are available: (1) we can examine the historical evidence and (2) we can apply the test of experience."

Read more of The Evidence for the Resurrection by Norman Anderson HERE. Other online resources for or discussions of the resurrection of Jesus Christ include:

Jesus' Resurrection and Contemporary Criticism: an Apologetic (Part I)
Jesus' Resurrection and Contemporary Criticism: an Apologetic (Part II)
Jesus' Resurrection was physical
Ravi Zacharias on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Top Ten Myths About the Resurrection

* I describe this as a "popular part of our culture" because in many ways and for many people Easter is a cultural holiday rather than a religious "holy day".