Easter is a Christian word with a Christian meaning.

It seems really difficult for some to understand why the word “Easter” is right in the King James Bible. The modernists say that “Easter” doesn’t belong in the first century. Certain extremists say that Easter still is a pagan festival (a view that in general is supported by Reformed Presbyterians, Seventh Day Adventists and people who hate the Emperor Constantine, etc.)

In recent years I’ve noticed King James Bible supporters who embrace a more Textus Receptus leaning try to explain the situation. They go about looking at the Greek, talking about Pascha, which never appears in the King James Bible. Our starting point should be the King James Bible and believing that the word of God is in English for us.

Well, we can see that Acts 12:4 says “Easter”. Should we start from the assumption that “Easter” means a pagan festival because a bunch of people claim that? No.

Here’s the correct view about the word “Easter”. The Bible talks about the Passover. When it uses the word “Easter”, it is using the Christian word to describe the Jewish Passover, except the Christian understanding of the “Passover” (i.e. Easter) has slightly different connotations.

Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, was describing Peter in prison during Easter. Peter, being a Jew, came from the tradition of celebrating the Passover, however, Luke and Peter, being Christians had already understood a different meaning to the Passover, which connected to it Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Thus, the timeframe was the Passover, but the meaning much more was to do with a Christian slant of the Jewish festival.

Herod was waiting for Easter to finish because obviously the Jews and Christians were celebrating Passover each in their own way, one the Jewish way and the other the Christian way.

Now we come to the etymology of the word “Easter”. The word arises in English from the Anglo-Saxon language, which we understand from Bede, was the title of a goddess associated with the dawn, springtime and fertility. The origin of the word “Easter” is therefore the same word as what the heathen used for their own feast Eostre, and the meaning of that word means “dawn” and “East” and therefore the idea of sun-rising. Eostre and Passover occurred around the same time of year.

With the Christianisation of England, the word “Easter” then came to be used for the Christian festival about Jesus’ death and resurrection (as derived from the Jewish Passover festival). All the symbolism of course aligned as well, being that Jesus rose on Sunday, etc. However, in the minds of Christians, the word fully transformed in meaning from paganism to Christianity, which means that this is an example of Christianisation of the culture.

Thus, when the Reformation Christians spoke of Easter (e.g. the Anglican Book of Common Prayer) they clearly meant the Christian understanding of Passover. The word that once had been used by pagans now was fully sanctified and had its proper present meaning.

Thus, when Acts 12:4 states the word “Easter”, it was not referring to a pagan festival, nor was it denying the Jewish festival, but was recorded by inspired Luke as a Christian understanding of the Jewish holidays.

The word is not merely synonymous for Passover, because the fact that the KJB translators chose to use it means it had a purpose. All words in our Bible have a purpose, and this Biblical English is special and has meaning which is so precise and precious.

Easter is a Bible word with a Bible meaning.