03/31/21 GOD'S WORD DOES NOT SAY, "EASTER"

03/31/21 GOD'S WORD DOES NOT SAY, "EASTER"

God's word is inerrant, translations are not. "Easter" in KJV should be "Passover." Resurrection relates to Passover, not Easter.

The KJV is still one of the most faithful translations. It ranks with one of two other translations as my favorite. I favor Formal Equivalence (aka Literal, Word for Word) over Functional Equivalence (aka Dynamic, Thought for Thought). However, even Formal Translations are not literally word for word. Sometimes Functional Translations give a better insight to the passage than the word for word. Though I use a variety of translations and I go back to the original languages (through the writings of scholarly Christians) and I consider the culture and idioms of the period, I spend much more of my time in Formal rather than Functional translations.

Now, back to Easter, Passover and Resurrection. The KJV is a wonderful translation, but on Acts 12:4 the translators erred.
KJV...
Acts 12:4
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.

KJV with Strong's Greek words...
Acts 12:4
4 AndG2532 when he(G3739) had apprehendedG4084 him, he putG5087 him inG1519 prison,G5438 and deliveredG3860 him to fourG5064 quaternionsG5069 of soldiersG4757 to keepG5442 him;G846 intendingG1014 afterG3326 EasterG3957 to bring him forthG321 G846 to theG3588 people.G2992

Notice the word Easter in KJV is the supposed translation of the Greek word, pascha (Strong's 3957). Look at the two different ways that Strong and Thayer define this Greek word.

STRONG...
pas'-khah
Of Chaldee origin (compare [H6453]); the Passover (the meal, the day, the festival or the special sacrifices connected with it): - Easter, Passover.

THAYER...
pascha
Thayer Definition:

1. the paschal sacrifice (which was accustomed to be offered for the people’s deliverance of old from Egypt)
2. the paschal lamb, i.e. the lamb the Israelites were accustomed to slay and eat on the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan (the first month of their year) in memory of the day on which their fathers, preparing to depart from Egypt, were bidden by God to slay and eat a lamb, and to sprinkle their door posts with its blood, that the destroying angel, seeing the blood, might pass over their dwellings; Christ crucified is likened to the slain paschal lamb
3. the paschal supper
4. the paschal feast, the feast of the Passover, extending from the 14th to the 20th day of the month Nisan
   This Greek word does mean Passover, in spite of the attempted fancy footwork of KJV ONLY people. KJV ONLY people do more twisting than Chubby Checker ever did. They twist Scripture, History, Religious and Social Jargon. When they try to justify their errant view, they create a straw man to attack and twist our words to fit their agenda.

I am not going to take the time to explain the errors of the KJV argument. For most Bible believers it is clear enough to know that the word Easter is not an actual translation of Passover. The KJV ONLY explanation is a super-imposed farce.

Having said this, I do not discredit the KJV. After all, it is only a translation and not the original (though there are KJV ONLY folks who would argue this as well).

Passover is the correct word.
Herod was the individual in this passage and he would have known and used the Jewish Passover celebrations in his plan to take more Jews into custody.

Jesus, as a Jew, practiced Passover celebrations. But He also was God and therefore He was the One who initiated the Passover with Moses. The Passover was a Jewish celebration of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and was also a prefiguring of the life, death and resurrection of the Promised Messiah (Jesus Christ).

The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ took place at the same time as the Jewish Passover. Though they are not the same, they have a common origin and a common meaning. Herod would have been thinking about the Jewish celebration. Herod's plan was to capture other Jewish followers of Christ after the Passover.

Unhappily, the erroneous translation of Passover to Easter has opened the door for pagan celebrations to be intertwined with the greatest God even in the Universe, when Christ became a man, died on the cross and raised Himself physically from the dead.

Don't believe anyone who tries to blame God for the confusion of a pagan fertility goddess with the Resurrection of the Son of God from the dead.