stephen
2017-04-05 16:20:18 UTC
Three times the Bible refers to Passover as the Passover of the Jews.
John 2:13, John 6:4, John 11:55.
The Apostle John, in John 6:4, explains it to his readers:
John 6:4 (KJV) – And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
Language like that would not make sense in a community of Passover
observers, especially a Passover that resembled the Jewish one. That
doesn’t sound at all like he, his readers, or his community kept it.
Nor do I. I am not a Jew. I am a Christian.
Christians, as I have shown, properly celebrate Sunday, as a little
Easter every week, and an annual Easter every year. Very early on in the
Christian world, however, two different customs developed.
Custom 1 – Jesus rose from the dead on the Sunday during Passover, so
most Christians celebrated Jesus’ death and resurrection on the Friday
to Sunday during Passover. They called it Pascha.
Custom 2 – Jesus died on 14 Nisan at the time of the Passover lambs, so
some Christians celebrated Jesus’ death on 14 Nisan and his resurrection
on 16 Nisan, the third day. They too called it Pascha. Because it used
14 Nisan to find its date, it was called Quartodecimanism.
For a while, these two customs lived in harmony, to some extent.
Around 160 AD, St Polycarp, one of the Apostle John’s disciples, and one
who followed Quartodecimanism, met with St Anicetus, bishop of Rome, who
didn’t, and discussed their different practices. They departed unable to
convince each other to change, but happy to keep their respective
practices and respect each other’s. Nobody claimed back then that the
Jewish calendar was important – they respected each other’s legitimate
practices. (Much like modern Catholics, who celebrate Pascha at
different times – most with the Western date, but some, with the
go-ahead from Rome, with the Orthodox. In fact, all of Israeli Catholics
– Latin rite and Eastern rite – celebrate Pascha on the Orthodox date
from 2015.) Eventually the Quartodeciman controversy unfortunately
became less civil, and the minority Quartodeciman practice died out.
Nowhere do we see Christians keeping the Passover of the Jews. Both
groups kept a derivative of Passover, a Christianised version, that
looked back on the new creation instead of the old, the true Lamb
instead of the symbolic animal, the new Exodus instead of the old, as a
memorial of our salvation from sin instead of Israel’s salvation from Egypt.
Why keep the Passover of the Jews when the Pascha of the Christians is
so much better? The Jewish Passover prepared us for Christ, and ended
with him, as did the sabbath and the rest of the Mosaic law.
Further reading:
Is Easter Pagan? - http://blog.theotokos.co.za/?p=2385
Is Easter Christian? A reply to Samuele Bacchiocchi -
http://blog.theotokos.co.za/?p=2392
Why Sunday is an improvement on the sabbath -
http://blog.theotokos.co.za/?p=4024
John 2:13, John 6:4, John 11:55.
The Apostle John, in John 6:4, explains it to his readers:
John 6:4 (KJV) – And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
Language like that would not make sense in a community of Passover
observers, especially a Passover that resembled the Jewish one. That
doesn’t sound at all like he, his readers, or his community kept it.
Nor do I. I am not a Jew. I am a Christian.
Christians, as I have shown, properly celebrate Sunday, as a little
Easter every week, and an annual Easter every year. Very early on in the
Christian world, however, two different customs developed.
Custom 1 – Jesus rose from the dead on the Sunday during Passover, so
most Christians celebrated Jesus’ death and resurrection on the Friday
to Sunday during Passover. They called it Pascha.
Custom 2 – Jesus died on 14 Nisan at the time of the Passover lambs, so
some Christians celebrated Jesus’ death on 14 Nisan and his resurrection
on 16 Nisan, the third day. They too called it Pascha. Because it used
14 Nisan to find its date, it was called Quartodecimanism.
For a while, these two customs lived in harmony, to some extent.
Around 160 AD, St Polycarp, one of the Apostle John’s disciples, and one
who followed Quartodecimanism, met with St Anicetus, bishop of Rome, who
didn’t, and discussed their different practices. They departed unable to
convince each other to change, but happy to keep their respective
practices and respect each other’s. Nobody claimed back then that the
Jewish calendar was important – they respected each other’s legitimate
practices. (Much like modern Catholics, who celebrate Pascha at
different times – most with the Western date, but some, with the
go-ahead from Rome, with the Orthodox. In fact, all of Israeli Catholics
– Latin rite and Eastern rite – celebrate Pascha on the Orthodox date
from 2015.) Eventually the Quartodeciman controversy unfortunately
became less civil, and the minority Quartodeciman practice died out.
Nowhere do we see Christians keeping the Passover of the Jews. Both
groups kept a derivative of Passover, a Christianised version, that
looked back on the new creation instead of the old, the true Lamb
instead of the symbolic animal, the new Exodus instead of the old, as a
memorial of our salvation from sin instead of Israel’s salvation from Egypt.
Why keep the Passover of the Jews when the Pascha of the Christians is
so much better? The Jewish Passover prepared us for Christ, and ended
with him, as did the sabbath and the rest of the Mosaic law.
Further reading:
Is Easter Pagan? - http://blog.theotokos.co.za/?p=2385
Is Easter Christian? A reply to Samuele Bacchiocchi -
http://blog.theotokos.co.za/?p=2392
Why Sunday is an improvement on the sabbath -
http://blog.theotokos.co.za/?p=4024
--
blog: http://blog.theotokos.co.za/
ebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiscussingAdventismBook/
blog: http://blog.theotokos.co.za/
ebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiscussingAdventismBook/