It is good and virtuous for Christians to want to live out their faith in a biblical and historically accurate way. But sometimes it’s not always clear what this looks like.
Unfortunately, many Christians—especially in the non-denominational world—are unfamiliar with historical practices of past Christians, generally motivated by a desire to be “authentic” and not appear too “catholic.”
In the absence of an understanding of Christian history, it can be tempting to look to contemporary Jewish traditions. After all, Jesus was Jewish—so it’d make sense to look to the Jewish community to establish acceptable biblical practices from the first century.
However, you might be surprised to learn that almost every aspect of modern Judaism was invented centuries—sometimes millennia—after the ministry of Jesus. In the wake of rabbinic Judaism’s rejection of Jesus—the central figure of the Hebrew Scriptures—and the destruction of the second temple—prophesied by Jesus as a judgment for their rejection of God—the non-Christian followers of Judaism shifted their interpretive lens and practices to accommodate life without a temple and without a hope in the Messiah.
Many practices—including how the calendar worked, what foods were permissible to eat, how to interpret the prophecies of Isaiah, why lamb should no longer be eaten on Passover, how to greet one another, how and when to celebrate biblical holidays, and what to wear—were created long after the first century, and oftentimes were in contradiction to the teachings of scripture.
This is fine for practitioners of Rabbinic/Talmudic/Modern Judaism—after all, they have a right to practice their beliefs as they see fit and allow their traditions to evolve over time—but Christians should use caution in appropriating many of these modern traditions, as they are foreign to Jesus and the scriptures—and sometimes were embraced as a rejection of Jesus.
A prime example of this is the kippah—a dome-shaped skullcap worn by orthodox Jews and sometimes known as a yarmulke.
The kippah is nowhere to be found in either testament of the Bible, and no first century Jew would have ever seen one before. While there isn’t a biblical imperative to wear a hat as part of your religious practice, there is a command to do just the opposite:
“Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head… for a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God” (1 Corinthians 11:4, 7).
Written around 55 AD, this command by Paul is certainly not a direct criticism of the kippah—kippahs would not exist for another thousand years. But Paul does suggest that while participating in church practices, it was considered dishonorable for a man to cover his head, and that a man “ought not” to do this. He also gives a reason: because man is made in the image and glory of God.
This is the only mention of head coverings found in the scriptures, and the admonition is that men should not wear them.
So if not from the scriptures, how did this practice develop in the Christ-rejecting Jewish community?
As previously stated, the Jewish practice of wearing a head covering did not exist in the first century. Neither the writings of Philo—a faithful Jew who lived during the first century—nor Josephus—a Jewish historian writing at the end of the first century—make mention of this practice. It also does not appear in the Mishnah—the first major collection of Jewish oral traditions, compiled around 200 AD.
The Gemara (6th century) makes a few brief references to head coverings—a rabbi who would ravenously steal food with his bare teeth if a cloak fell off his head, in accordance with the prophecies of a Babylonian astrologer (Shabbat 156b); and a comparison between two rabbis, one who stared at the ground while walking and another who covered his head with a cloak (Kiddushin 31a)—but these are limited to specific (and bizarre) practices of two individuals, not any sort of standard practice.
Two centuries later, the Soferim (8-9th centuries) record debates over whether the Shema and the Divine Name could be uttered by individuals with ripped clothing, uncovered heads, or blind men—with some saying it’s permissible and others stressing caution. The next mention of head coverings within the Jewish community comes almost 800 years later. The Shulchan Arukh, written by Rabbi Joseph Karo in 1565, records that debates were still taking place concerning head coverings: “There are those who say that it is forbidden to mention God’s name with an uncovered head, and there are those who say that one should object that people should not enter the synagogue with an uncovered head” (Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 91).
Over 1,500 years after the resurrection, the Jewish community who had parted from the teachings of Jesus had still not agreed upon the practice of head coverings. So when was this tradition finalized?
It came 81 years later in Poland, when David HaLevi—considered one of Europe’s greatest and most influential rabbinical authorities—published his commentary on the aforementioned Shulchan Arukh in 1646. He wrote that, while it had not previously been a requirement to cover one’s head, he believed that from henceforth it should be considered mandatory. Why?
“It has become a custom among the Akum [Christians] that they do this—immediately, as soon as they sit, they remove their hats—it therefore falls under the category of ‘do not walk in their statutes’” (Turei Zahav on Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 8.3).
The Potomac Torah Study Center, a Jewish educational organization, states that this ruling was made in response to “one of the prominent customs of the Christian church, based on verses in 1 Corinthians 11,” and that “as a result of this ruling, wearing a Kippah quickly became adopted by all Jews in Eastern Europe as standard practice, and remains in force today” (Volume 10, Issue 20).
Why did the Jewish community implement the standard practice of wearing the kippah? A driving factor was that Jews should cover their heads because Christians uncover their heads in accordance with their scriptures. In other words, it was implemented to distance themselves from the followers of Jesus and the teachings of the New Testament!
Again, my purpose isn’t to condemn the Jewish community for wearing kippahs. After all, they don’t worship Jesus and don’t believe the New Testament scriptures are authoritative—of course they would want to do their own thing. But it is undeniable that the kippah and any related head coverings were foreign to the biblical people of God. The practice developed over a thousand years after the resurrection of Jesus, and was mainstreamed by a community for the specific purpose of rejecting the people of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus.
As the people of Jesus Christ, we won’t find a historically accurate expression of our faith in the traditions of Rabbinic/Talmudic/Modern Judaism. Oftentimes, we’ll find the exact opposite—traditions that reject Jesus and lead us away from Him.
We don’t need to look to other religions—especially religions who have denied Jesus and the scriptures He gave us—to find an accurate portrayal of our Christian faith. We need only look to the Scriptures—both Old and New Testaments. The Triune God has sustained His people for over two thousand years. We don’t need to dip our toes into a Christ-less well for direction.
In the middle of the second century BC, things were not looking good for God’s people: They had been under Greco-Syrian occupation for over a hundred years; the priesthood had corrupted itself and was in the pocket of their pagan overlords; King Antiochus had demanded that the Jews stop serving Yahweh; and just about all of Israel decided to go along with it.
Then on the 25th of Kislev in the year 167 BC, Antiochus declared that he was God, and marching into Jerusalem He set up the abomination of desolation—a pagan idol of Zeus—right in the middle of the temple.
One family—led by Mattathias and his five sons Judah, Simon, John, Eleazar, and Jonathan—put a stop to this. They fled to the mountains, regrouped, and then began fighting. Not only did they stand against Antiochus and the Greeks—they stood against their kinsmen who had abandoned Yahweh in hopes of riches and political power.
And after three years of fighting, on the 25th of Kislev in the year 164 BC (the day celebrated as Hanukkah—“Dedication”), they recaptured Jerusalem. They marched back into the temple, tore down every abomination that had been raised, and rededicated the temple and nation to the one true God. As the war continued, almost every member of the Maccabean family was killed in the war or assassinated—with the exception of John, who died of natural causes.
And after seven years of war, the battle was won, the enemy was driven out, and the faithful remnant began rebuilding.
Just under two hundred years later, we read a New Testament story about Hanukkah. On the 25th of Kislev, Jesus declared that He was God and marched into the temple (John 10:22-30). The Jews were outraged and tried to have Him killed (v. 31).
So… what’s going on here?
The Jews in the temple were acting like it was “167 BC” repeating itself. They acted like Jesus was a false king, a false god, an idol being set up in the temple. They acted like they were the Maccabees, fighting against Antiochus and the pagans.
But that wasn’t what was actually happening, and they knew it.
The Jews in the temple had already corrupted themselves years before. Under the occupation of Rome, the priesthood had abandoned God’s ways and partnered with the Romans in exchange for riches and power. They had steered the Jewish community away from God’s Word through their pagan traditions. They had desecrated the temple by exulting a false Yahweh made in their own image. In other words, the Jewish leaders weren’t the Maccabees—they were the paganized Jews who had sold out to Antiochus!
And John 10 wasn’t repeating 167 BC—it was repeating 164 BC.
After three years of ministry, Jesus and His disciples—half of whom were named after the Maccabees—had reached the temple on Hanukkah. They triumphantly marched in and declared Jesus was Yahweh—the one true God—tearing down the false caricature the rabbis had built up for all Israel to see.
The story didn’t end there. The corrupt Jewish leaders doubled down on their alliance with Rome and spent the next forty years persecuting the followers of Jesus. Every disciple of Jesus was eventually murdered—with the exception of John, who died of natural causes.
Eventually Rome turned on the leaders in Judea who had perverted God’s Word and led so many astray. After seven years of tribulation, those false leaders were slaughtered in 70 AD and Jerusalem was destroyed—an event Jesus described as another “abomination of desolation” in the temple.
But just like the Maccabees, the faithful remnant survived. Heeding Jesus’ warning (Matthew 24:15-16), they had fled to the mountains—just like the Maccabees. And after the temple was destroyed and the corrupt leaders were defeated, they began rebuilding.
Today there are 2.3 billion Christians around the world. We are here because two thousand years ago, a faithful remnant of Christ-followers refused to surrender. They refused to lose hope. Instead, in the spirit of the Maccabees they dedicated themselves to the Lord, fought for what was good and right and true, and committed their lives to rebuilding.
And we have the same commission—to fight the good fight, to occupy until Jesus returns, to disciple all nations, and to take dominion over all the earth.
The sixth chapter of Revelation is when things get exciting. It’s got everything: earthquakes, the moon turning red, stars falling out of heaven. And as a result, many Christians assume that a particularly large earthquake or a lunar eclipse (sometimes called a “blood moon”) means the antichrist is on the rise and all hell is about to break loose.
But is this how we’re supposed to read the apocalyptic signs and wonders?
“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.” (Revelation 6:12-14)
It sounds like a scene right out of a Hollywood disaster movie about global warming. But every part of this vision had been witnessed multiple times before—in the Old Testament.
All these signs appear throughout the Prophets to signify judgment on a city or nation—typically idolatrous Israel and sometimes enemy nations that persecute God’s faithful:
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy [Babylon’s] sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; and sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. (Isaiah 13:9, 10)
Woe to Ariel [that is, Jerusalem], to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!… I will encamp against you all around, I will lay siege against you with a mound, and I will raise siegeworks against you… you will be punished by the LORD of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and devouring fire. (Isaiah 29:1, 3, 6)
Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will throw out at this time the inhabitants of the land… Behold, the noise of the report has come, and a great commotion (Hebrew ra’as and Greek seismos, meaning earthquake) out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.” (Jeremiah 10:18, 22)
For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: “Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel… and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake ay My presence. And mountains shall be thrown down…” (Ezekiel 38:19, 20, 21)
A nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number… Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty… The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness… And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth—blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. (Joel 1:6, 15, 2:10, 30, 31)
“The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore… Shall the land tremble for this?… And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord GOD, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight… I will bring sackcloth on every waist…” (Amos 8:2, 8, 9, 10)
What’s notable about all these prophetic utterances is that they occurred thousands of years ago—and were fulfilled thousands of years ago.
Isaiah prophesied around 700 BC concerning the destruction of Judah—which occurred in 586 BC—and the destruction of Babylon—which occurred in 539 BC. Jeremiah’s ministry coincided with the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the Jews, which took place during and shortly after 586 BC. And Joel and Amos preached during the eighth century BC, shortly before the destruction of Israel in 722 BC.
These prophets weren’t warning of a singular “day of the LORD” that would occur in our future—they were warning of various “days of the LORD” that happened thousands of years ago.[1] And with this in mind, it’s clear that these signs aren’t meant to be taken literally. There are no reported earthquakes during these catastrophic events, and the sun and moon are still shining. This is God’s poetic way of saying, “The destruction of your nation will be so cataclysmic, it’ll be as if the sun stops shining and the sky crashes into earth.”
It’s no surprise that Jesus adopted this same prophetic and poetic language during His ministry:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Matthew 24:29)
The immediate context of this prophecy concerned the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 24:2, 3). And just as Israel and Judah had collapsed a generation or so after the prophets had declared, just as Babylon and Assyria weren’t turned upside down as the world shifted beneath them, so too did Israel come under God’s judgment in 70 AD.
John’s Revelation was given a few years before the destruction of the second temple. God was giving the inhabitants of Jerusalem one last chance to repent before the city was sacked and the nation destroyed. And the effects of that destruction upon the world were greater than if mountains had literally been thrown into the sea.
So where does this leave us? Are these astronomical signs and wonders simply events of our distant past and otherwise meaningless to us today? Of course not! Regardless of whether your eschatological views believe in a coming tribulation, there will always be empires that rise up against God’s people—and thus days of the Lord will always be necessary. And when they inevitably come, we can take comfort in Joel’s words:
“And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32)
[1] Some of us think that “the day of the LORD” is a coming day related to antichrists, raptures, and the end of the world. Biblically, a “day of the LORD” is a day of judgment on sinners and deliverance for saints. Rightly understood, the destruction of Israel’s first and second temples and the conquering of corrupt nations like Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, and Israel were all “days of the LORD.”
Kosher laws far exceed the biblical dietary restrictions. For example, the law not to boil a goat in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19, 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21) was expanded to restrict people from eating any dairy product with any meat product—even though both Abraham and David ate dairy products with meat (Genesis 18:8, 2 Samuel 17:27-29). Current kosher laws like the restriction on meat and cheese originated centuries after Jesus’ resurrection and wouldn’t have been observed by Jesus or any Old Testament Jews.
Concerning the dietary laws found in the Hebrew Scriptures, the early church—including Jewish Christians—believed that these laws had been fulfilled and had stopped observing them by the end of the first century. The Epistle of Barnabas was written was written by the eponymous Jewish companion of Paul, sometime after the destruction of the second temple. In this letter, the apostle explains that the Old Testament dietary laws were given primarily to instruct His people in how they should interact with gentile peoples (10:1-3), and that their purpose had been fulfilled in Christ (2:6-10).
This is in line with Peter’s vision in Acts 10. While Peter is praying on a rooftop, he falls into a trance and God commands him to eat unclean animals. Peter responds as we’d expect him to: “Not so, Lord! I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). The Lord responds,
“What God has cleansed you must not call common.” (Acts 10:15)
Soon after, a group of messengers arrive and invite Peter to come visit a gentile named Cornelius. Peter acquiesces, and tell the gentiles,
“God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” (Acts 10:28)
This culminates with Jesus being preached not just to a Jewish audience but to the gentile world as well, opening the gospel to all nations.
You might read this and respond, “Well, that wasn’t about food; it was about people.” And yes, you are correct. This was about people. And it always was. These dietary restrictions were never about food—they were always about people, and now that the lesson has been learned in Christ, these dietary restrictions became obsolete.
Jesus, Peter, and Barnabas aren’t alone in this understanding, either. Philo of Alexandria was a Jewish teacher who was born about two decades before Jesus and who died about two decades after Jesus. He lived in Egypt, and it is unlikely he ever heard about Jesus. He too taught that these dietary laws were never about the food itself, but were instead instituted as symbolic lessons.
The consistent teaching of the Bible is that the dietary laws of Moses were given for a specific purpose, and that purpose has been fulfilled in Jesus, understood by the Church, and are no longer necessary. Whether it’s Mark’s claim that Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), Paul’s encouragement that “every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4, 5) and to claim otherwise is “giving heed to deceiving spirits” (v. 1), or the Jerusalem Council’s pronouncement that the dietary laws would not be put on new believers because there was “no distinction between us (Jews) and them (gentiles)” (Acts 15:9-11), the biblical teaching is clear—these requirements are no longer in effect today.
So what then? Should Christians do the opposite? Should you gorge yourself on shrimp and hotdogs in the name of Jesus?
Not exactly.
In Romans 14, Paul gives instruction to believers dealing with weaker brothers in the faith. Paul states that, although he “knows and [is] convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean” (v. 14), he is aware that some Christians haven’t comprehended this truth yet. Paul recognizes that his freedom to eat all foods might offend some without full knowledge and drive them away from the faith. Thus, he warns against “destroying with your food [the faith of] one for whom Christ died” (v. 15).
Alternatively, Paul spends much of his epistle to the Galatians warning against false teachers who will try to deceive unknowledgeable Christians into unnecessarily subjecting themselves to misunderstood Jewish rituals such as circumcision and dietary restrictions. Paul discloses that even Peter got off-track with this. Though Peter had been “living in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews,” he was pressured by Judaizers to “compel the Gentiles to live as Jews” (Galatians 2:14). Paul would have none of it, and confronted Peter for his misleading acquiescence and cowardice, and warned that anyone who taught as the Judaizers had taught was teaching a false gospel (Galatians 1:6), had perverted the message of Christ (v. 7), and would be accursed (v. 8).
Paul’s position is clear. Though the dietary laws are no longer useful or needed, there may be those weaker in the faith who do not understand such things. To them, you are to gently guide them to the truth without damaging their faith. But on the other hand, there are those who will attempt to pervert the gospel by insisting that believers submit themselves to these restrictions, as if that will work alongside grace to benefit the Christian. To them, you are to firmly admonish lest they damage the faith of others.
So once again, should Christians eat kosher? No, there is no need or command to restrict one’s diet in this way, except to spare the faith of a weaker brother as you guide him to the full truth of the gospel. The lesson of these guidelines were fully realized in Christ, and as far as He is concerned, all are purified by faith (Acts 15:9), not by whatever enters a man from outside (Mark 7:18).
“The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:24-26)
You can worship Allah and go to heaven. You can also worship Yahweh and go to hell.
Hold on hold on. Hear me out.
Let’s imagine you’re on a mission trip in Tunisia. At a marketplace one day, you strike up a conversation with a local and hand him a Bible in his native language—Arabic. He heads home and flips the book open to the first page:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Allah and the Word was Allah.”
There is something seriously messed up going on here. Why does the Arabic translation of the Christian Bible teach that Jesus had anything to do with the Muslim god?
Simple answer: it doesn’t.
Most of us associate the word Allah with the false religion of Islam. So we assume that Allah is the name of their false god. But that’s not what Allah means. Allah is simply a title meaning “god.” It’s no different than telling a Spanish speaker that the universe was created by Dios. Heck, even the Hebrew word El—used repeatedly throughout scripture to refer to the one true God—sometimes refers to false gods. That’s because El isn’t His name—it’s a generic title that means “god.” Depending on the context, El can refer to the one true God of scripture or false idols of wood and stone.
We face this same problem in English today. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe in god. The question is, which one? If you worship the Christian God, you’re in good hands. If you think Taylor Swift is god, you’re in trouble. You need more than the correct title—you need to believe that God is who He is.
The Israelites got into trouble with this around 3,500 years ago. They stood at the foot of Mount Sinai weeks after Yahweh (the name ascribed to the biblical God in Exodus 3) had delivered them from bondage in Egypt. Then they proceeded to throw a bunch of gold into a furnace and mold a false dios out of it. As the golden idol came out of the fire, the people declared, “This is your Elohim, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). Aaron then proclaimed the idol was Yahweh, and the people began offering sacrifices to it.
Think about that. They had the correct people (Israelites) in the correct place (Mount Sinai) worshipping a correctly-named deity (Yahweh) to whom they attributed the correct works (deliverance from Egypt) in the correct way (burnt offerings and peace offerings)—and yet they obviously were participating in pagan worship. On the surface, so much of their worship seemed correct. But the object of their worship was undeniably the wrong god.
This still happens today. For instance, did you know that Muslims believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah? However, they don’t believe He was crucified and subsequently raised from the dead. So they aren’t worshipping the one true God.
Modern Jews claim to worship a deity named Yahweh, who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. But they also believe Jesus was a false sorcerer who currently resides in hell—not God Incarnate. So they aren’t worshipping the one true God.
Mormons believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead for the sins of mankind. But they don’t believe that Jesus is God—at least, not the one true God. Rather, God the Father and God the Son of separate gods among many gods, according to Mormon theology. Once again, they have the wrong god.
In all of these cases (and every other religion not mentioned above), these false worshippers have remade God according to their desired image. In effect, they threw a bunch of golden jewelry into an oven, slapped a handful of seemingly accurate labels upon the calf that came out, and called it God, Allah, Dios, El.
So then, who is the one true God?
In short, the God revealed in the Old and New Testaments—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the Truine God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And the essential, biblical description of the one true God, used throughout all of Christian history and accepted by every Christian worldwide, is summarized in the Nicene Creed.
If you’ve never read the Nicene Creed before, I encourage you to check it out. Despite appearing somewhat traditional and (dare I say) religious, you’ll find that every line is deeply rooted in scripture. A Christian would struggle to find anything with which they would disagree.[1]
So, will an Arabic Christian who worships Allah go to heaven? If they believe in the one true Allah—the Triune Allah revealed in the Christian Scriptures and confessed by the universal and timeless Church.
[1] Oh, and don’t be scared off by the word catholic. As we’ve discussed extensively, words can often mean something other than you’ve been programmed to think it means. Catholic simply means “universal.” In this context, it means the one Church is representative of all Christians throughout space and time—not that you need to like the pope.
Revelation 4 kicks off with John seeing and hearing a bunch of crazy stuff:
Four creatures full of eyes, six wings, and the faces of a lion, calf, man, and eagle (Rev. 4:7, 8)
A throne surrounded by a rainbow with the appearance of an emerald (v. 3)
Lightnings, thunderings, and voices everywhere (v. 5)
God sitting on the emerald throne, appearing like a jasper and sardius stone (v. 3)
Twenty-four elders on twenty-four thrones, clothed in white robes with golden crowns on their heads (v. 4)
And all day and night they worship God together, crying out “Holy holy holy!” (v. 8)
This was quite a sight for John to see. And not surprisingly, every part of this vision had been witnessed before—in the Old Testament.
It’s lifted almost verbatim from Ezekiel 1. The Book of Ezekiel is about a man (Ezekiel) born to be a priest and serve in the temple. However, due to the sins of his unfaithful countrymen, Ezekiel is exiled from the land and all his dreams of ministering before the Lord was dashed… until God appears to him in Babylon and reestablishes his calling. While the physical temple will be destroyed and the unfaithful scattered, Ezekiel will nonetheless serve God and His people as a priest.
The rainbow throne, the crystal, the many-eyed, multi-winged creatures… all of them appear in the opening chapter of Ezekiel—the book of the exiled priest without a physical temple.
But that’s not the only priestly imagery in the book. The emerald, jasper, and sardius stones all appear in Exodus’s instructions concerning the priests’ attire—as well as the robes and the golden crowns (Exodus 28, 39).
Even the lightnings and thunderings come from Exodus 19—at the base of Mount Sinai, where God calls all of His people to be a kingdom of priests before the Lord.
And right in the middle of all this priestly language are the twenty-four elders—the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples—representing the entirety of God’s people before and after the resurrection, united as one to serve before the Lord as that kingdom of priests God called for at Mount Sinai.
Later in Revelation, the temple will again be destroyed. Those who should be God’s people will instead rebel against the Lord and be scattered once again. Hopes for God’s faithful will seem dashed.
But don’t lose hope. God doesn’t dwell in a temple made with hands (Acts 7:48). And even in exile, God still dwells among His people. Even without a physical temple, God’s people stills minister as kingly priests in the true temple—the Church.
The epic descriptions of Jesus in the opening chapters of Revelation are more important than you think.
As John opens this book, he describes Jesus in several vivid ways:
He is One like the Son of Man (v. 13)
He is coming with clouds (7)
He is clothed with a garment down to His feet and wrapped about with a golden belt (13)
The hair on His head is white like wool (14)
His eyes are like a flame of fire (14)
His feet are like fine brass (15)
His voice is like the sound of many waters (15)
A sharp sword is coming out of His mouth (16)
His face is like the sun shining in its strength (16)
Yes, Jesus is certainly epic in all His glory. But there’s more to this than just seeing the King of Kings in an awesome way. Every single one of these descriptors is lifted directly from the Hebrew Scriptures.
In Daniel 7, God appears with “the hair of His head like pure wool (v. 9), “coming with the clouds of heaven” (v. 13) as “One like the Son of Man” (v. 13). Later in the chapter, a wicked king arises and “persecutes the saints of the Most High” (v. 25), but God soon overthrows this false ruler and gives an everlasting kingdom to His people (v. 27).
In Ezekiel 9, the people of Jerusalem have forsaken God and turned to rampant idolatry. In response, the glory of God comes upon a man “clothed with a garment down to his feet” with a belt at his side (v. 3). This man then goes “through the midst of Jerusalem, putting a mark on the foreheads of the men” who mourn and repent over the downfall of God’s holy city (v. 4). Soon after, the city is overrun and the temple is destroyed (vv. 5, 7), but those with the faithful mark are protected (v. 6).
In Daniel 10, a heavenly man appears to the prophet with “eyes like torches of fire,” his feet “like burnished bronze,” and “the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude” (v. 6). He informs Daniel that the Kingdom of Heaven were triumphing over the kingdoms of the empires of earth (v. 13) and commanded Daniel to be strong in the days to come (v. 19).
In Isaiah 49, the Suffering Servant of the Lord—Jesus—has His mouth made like a sharp sword (v. 2). He issues forth from His mother’s womb (v. 1) to gather God’s chosen together (v. 5) and then extend God’s salvation to every nation on earth (v. 6), thus “restoring the earth” to its intended glory (v. 8).
In Judges 5, Israel is enslaved to the kings of the surrounding Canaanite nations. The men are too afraid to fight back until, through the inspiration of a life-giving mother in Israel (v. 7), courage is restored and the people are delivered. Peace and rest are returned to God’s people as they cry out, “Let all Your enemies perish, O LORD, let those who love Him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength” (v. 31).
This vision of Jesus Christ isn’t just a cool sight that John saw—it was encoded with powerful imagery for all those who have ears to hear! Before we hear any fantastical prophecies or are given any righteous commandments, the mere sight of God tells us what we can expect:
Persecution is coming, but the wicked will be overthrown and God’s people will reign
The temple in Jerusalem has forsaken God and will soon be destroyed, but God has marked the faithful for protection
A spiritual war is raging, but the battle is already won
The gospel is for more than just Israel—the entire earth is being restored to God’s chosen
Persevere, don’t lose hope, and trust that God will strengthen His people and give them rest
All these things happened—a generation after Jesus and a few years after this vision was given. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD, but those faithful to Jesus Christ were protected; and soon the most powerful empire on earth bent the knee to Jesus Christ.
But like most things, we see echoes of these events reverberate through history. So we can take hope in this glorious vision of Jesus, just as the early church did. When persecution comes, we patiently endure, knowing we reign alongside our King. When false messiahs arise, we stand on the truth, knowing we carry the mark of Jesus Christ upon our heads. When the gospel is hindered by savage nations, we know that God reigns over all the earth. So we trust in God to strengthen His people and restore us to peace once again.
Is Christianity as we know it today an invention of Emperor Constantine and a perversion of the true faith handed down from Jesus to His disciples?
In recent decades, many allegations have been leveled at the infamous emperor, including:
He handpicked which books would be included in the Bible
He invented the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity
He forced the Church to abandon their calendar
He enacted antisemitic laws that forced Jews away from Christianity
Which of these accusations, if any, are true, and how did it shape the Christianity we practice today?
Who Was Constantine?
Constantine was a Roman emperor in the early fourth century. On October 27, 312 AD, he supposedly received a vision from the Christian God, who promised him victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Sure enough, his forces won the battle the following day.
Constantine eventually converted to Christianity and legalized Christianity (and all other religions). And in 325 AD, he assembled the Council of Nicaea, which (among other things) declared Arianism a Christological heresy and announced that Christians would calculate the dates of Passover independently from the Jewish community.
Did Constantine Create the Bible?
No, Constantine did not have any impact on what books were included in the Bible.
The twenty-seven books of the Old Testament were written prior to 400 BC and their canonicity was agreed upon hundreds of years before Constantine was born. Furthermore, the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were written and in circulation before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD—over two centuries before Constantine’s reign and the Council of Nicaea.
A document called the Muratorian Fragment dates to around 175 AD (150 years before Constantine and Nicaea) and, while portions of the document are missing and difficult to translate, provides a list of New Testament books that were generally accepted and read in churches. This list largely coincides with the New Testament books we have today, and importantly doesn’t make any mention of the false gospels that are sometimes claimed to have been banned by Constantine.
So, what did Constantine and the Council of Nicaea have to say about the canon of scripture? Nothing. This was not one of the topics of discussion at the Council, and there is no historical evidence that Constantine was involved in deciding which books should be included.
Why, then, were some books (such as the Gospels of Thomas and Bartholomew) rejected? Because they were written long after the life of Jesus and the other New Testament writings, because they were falsely attributed to apostles who had long since died, and because they made fantastical claims at odds with the other New Testament writings[1] and contained obvious political messaging[2] that ran contrary to the rest of scripture.
Did Constantine Invent Jesus’ Divinity?
One reason Constantine called for the Council of Nicaea was to clarify Christian doctrine related to the divinity of Jesus. While this seems like an obviously biblical belief nowadays, in the fourth century a man named Arius was promoting the idea that Jesus was just a human, not God in the flesh.
Did Constantine suppress Arius’ heart-felt belief and promote Jesus to the Godhead? No. In fact, Constantine actually leaned towards Arianism. The idea that a mere human could achieve god-like status (rather than the biblical doctrine that Jesus was and is eternally God) was much more attractive to Constantine’s Roman upbringing, so Constantine entered the Council of Nicaea supportive of Arius’ heresy.
Over the course of the three-month council, hundreds of bishops (led by a man named Athanasius) bravely opposed Arius—and Constantine—to espouse the Bible’s teaching that Jesus was and had always been God. And rather than oppose the bishops and demand that they agree with him, Constantine submitted to their leadership and expertise, and the Council of Nicaea affirmed the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity.
Later in life, Constantine continued to flirt with Arianism, even being baptized by an Arian bishop at the end of his life. After he passed, Constantine’s successors persecuted Athanasius over the issue of Jesus’ divinity, exiling him an astounding five times. However, the bishops remained firm, submitting to the Scriptures rather than the emperors, and today the doctrine of the Trinity and Jesus’ divinity is firmly established—without any influence from Constantine.
Did Constantine Force Christians to Abandon the Biblical Calendar?
After the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the Jewish community changed how they determined the dates of Passover. For over 800 years, there were many competing methods for structuring the calendar, none of which were the system in place during the time of Jesus.
During this time, the Christian community struggled to find consistent dates to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus (which they called Pascha, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Pesach, meaning Passover). Many churches relied on their Jewish neighbors for these dates, but this wasn’t ideal. For one, many Christians distrusted the synagogues, which had persecuted the Church for almost a hundred years, had forced the Christians out of their communities by declaring them heretics, and had taught that Jesus was a false sorcerer who had been sent to hell for His sins. Additionally, Passover in one synagogue might be as much as a month off from the synagogue in the next town, leading to churches from town to town celebrating at different times.
For hundreds of years prior to Constantine’s reign, Christians debated the proper time to observe Passover. So when the Council of Nicaea was finally called to address the Arian heresy, the subject of the timing of Passover was also discussed.
While a dating method was not determined, the bishops agreed that all Christians should celebrate on the same day and that this day should be calculated independent from the Jewish community.
Later that century (and long after Constantine’s death), the Church finally agreed on a way to determine the date of Passover. Passover would always be celebrated after the first full moon that fell after the spring equinox—the same method that was in place during Jesus’ life, according to Jewish-Roman historian Josephus, Jewish scholar Philo, the translators of the Septuagint, and several other ancient Jewish teachers.[3]
Constantine did not force the Church to change the calendar, nor did he dictate when Passover would be celebrated, though the Christians of the day agreed that the calendar needed to be corrected and eventually made that correction.[4]
Did Constantine Enact Anti-Jewish Laws?
Constantine did indeed enact what could be considered an anti-Jewish law. On October 18, 315, Constantine made it illegal for Jews to “attack with stones or any other kind of violence” fellow ethnic Jews who had converted to Christianity. According to the law, there had been recent instances of Jews committing violence against converts to Christianity, so Constantine outlawed this practice and made it punishable by “immediately being given over to the flames and burned” (Codex Theodosianus 16.8.1[5]).
Constantine did enact several other laws related to the Jews as well. In addition to making Judaism a legal practice with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, he also exempted Jewish leaders from compulsory military service (16.8.2) and public service (16.8.4); preserved the rights of Jews to serve on municipal councils (16.8.3); and prohibited recent Christian converts from “disturbing Jews or inflicting any injury on them” (16.8.5).
Based on the historical record, Constantine did not actually enact any laws that could be interpreted as oppressive towards the Jewish people, other than preventing them from oppressing Christian converts—and even then, he also outlawed Christian converts from oppressing Jews as well. Additionally, he passed several laws that protected the Jewish clergy and preserved the roles of the Jewish people in civil society. If anything, it could be said that Constantine enacted laws that actually protected the Jewish people in the increasingly Christianized empire.
Was Constantine a Good Person?
The purpose of this article was not to comment on Constantine’s morality or to conclude whether he was a genuine Christian. The goal was simply to clarify the role that Constantine played in the development of Christianity.
And from the historical record, Constantine did not directly influence Christianity as we know it today, nor did he subvert what Christianity was prior to his conversion. He simply got out of the way. He prevented the enemies of the Faith from persecuting God’s people and allowed Christians the freedom to practice their religion in peace.
When Constantine held doctrinal views contrary to the Church, he submitted to their theology rather than demand they cave to his. And despite tensions that had flared between Christians and Jews for hundreds of years, he prohibited violence from either side, allowing both to serve in the empire so long as they did so in peace.
The Faith that Christians practice today—what is sometimes called Nicene Christianity—is the same faith Jesus passed on to His disciples. It is Biblical Christianity, and no historian can reasonably claim that Constantine had a hand in creating it.
[1] As an example, the so-called Gospel of Bartholomew (tells a story where Jesus pulled up the earth like a carpet and led the devil out on a leash in the presence of the disciples, who immediately died out of fright and had to be resurrected one at a time.
[2] The Gospel of Thomas, for instance, makes disparaging claims about women, suggesting that they aren’t fully human.
[3] As you can see, the correction of the calendar was based almost exclusively on Jewish writings. Whether ancient Jewish scholars (translators of the Septuagint), Jewish scholars of Jesus’ day (Philo), or a Jew-turned-Roman historian (Josephus), all testify that of the proper calendar dating method. Additionally, the Talmud (a compilation of oral Jewish tradition formalized shortly after the Council of Nicaea) affirms there were many varying methods for determining Passover, none of which matched the system in place during Jesus’ ministry or in place today.
[4] While on the subject of Passover, Constantine also didn’t invent Christmas or Valentine’s Day. He did, however, make Sunday a civil day of rest in 321 AD, allowing Christians to continue the practice of Sunday worship (established in the Book of Acts) without interfering with their work.
Jesus was crucified during the feast of Passover around 30 AD and was raised to life three days later. Since then, faithful Christians have commemorated this historic event every year. But what is the proper date to celebrate this holiday?
This was one of the many questions that early believers debated during the first three centuries of Christianity, with various factions of the religion celebrating on different days. Amidst disagreement as to which day was the correct day, in 325 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine gathered hundreds of bishops from around the world to settle this question (and several others) once and for all. By the end of the council, an official date for Pascha[1] (the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Pesach, meaning “Passover”) was not set, but two determinations were made:
All Christians should celebrate on the same day
“It was determined by common consent that everyone, everywhere should celebrate it on one and the same day. For what can be more appropriate, or what more solemn, than that this feast from which we have received the hope of immortality, should be kept by all without variation, using the same order and a clear arrangement?”[2]
The date of Pascha should be determined independent of the Jewish community
“It seemed very unworthy for us to keep this most sacred feast following the custom of the Jews… Since we have cast aside their way of calculating the date of the festival, we can ensure that future generations can celebrate this observance at the more accurate time which we have kept from the first day of the passion until the present time… Therefore have nothing in common with that most hostile people, the Jews. We have received another way from the Savior. In our holy religion we have set before us a course which is both valid and accurate.”[3]
Nowadays the Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter generally coincide, except for three years[4] out of every nineteen-year cycle. As faithful Christians who want to honor Jesus on the correct day, should we celebrate during Jewish Passover or on Easter Sunday? Should we observe Jesus’ resurrection at the same time that the Jews observe the deliverance from Egypt, or were the Nicene bishops correct to separate themselves from the Jewish calculations?
What the Bible Says
Even before the crucifixion of Jesus, Passover was about more than the escape from Egyptian slavery. It seems that God placed many deliverances during this week-long festival. To name just a few,
Lot was delivered from Sodom and Gomorrah during Passover
Joshua entered the Promised Land during Passover
Daniel received the vision of the return from Babylonian captivity during Passover
Esther’s fast for the deliverance of the Jews from Haman occurred during Passover
The original Passover had become the template for God’s great and ever-present salvation. In fact, Passover had become so synonymous with God’s deliverance that Jeremiah prophesied the Messiah’s eventual deliverance of mankind would mirror and yet outshine the original Passover (Jeremiah 16:14-16, 23:5-8).
Given the history, symbolism, and importance of Passover, it’s no surprise that Jesus died on the cross during this feast. Just as Jesus had rescued the Israelites from slavery to Egypt during Passover (Jude 1:5), so too did He rescue humanity from slavery to sin and death during this feast.
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, God repeatedly gave the date of the Passover as the fourteenth day of Abib—the first month:
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread…” (Exodus 12:18)
“The Feast of Unleavened Bread[5] you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.” (Exodus 34:18)
“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day[6] of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord…” (Leviticus 23:5, 6)
“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night.” (Deuteronomy 16:1)
Turning to the New Testament accounts, all four gospels record that Jesus’ crucifixion occurred during Passover:
“Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And [Pilate] said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ …Then he delivered Him to [the chief priests] to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.” (John 19:14, 16[7])
If the people of God are looking for the date on which they should celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the days during the weeklong celebration of Passover/Unleavened Bread would be the answer.
More specifically, Jesus’ death and burial would have taken place on the first Friday of the Passover week:
“Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath [the day before Saturday, i.e., Friday]… he laid Him in a tomb…” (Mark 15:42, 46)
…while His glorious resurrection would have taken place during the first Sunday of Passover:
“Now on the first day of the week [Sunday] Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” (John 20:1)
Jesus was crucified before sunset on the 14th day of the first month (a Friday); He was in the tomb on the 15th day of the first month (a Saturday); and He rose from the dead shortly before sunrise on the 16th day of the first month (a Sunday).[8]
What the Jews Do
In determining the proper dates to recognize these historical events, one must examine when the Jewish community and Christian community celebrate these holidays—and how they arrived at those dates. Today, observant Jews enjoy a Passover meal at sundown, just after the fourteenth day ends and the fifteenth day begins, during what they consider the first month of the year—the month of Nisan. This appears accurate to the biblical commission, but when does their first month begin—and why do they call it Nisan rather than Abib?
There is no exact history on when the first month of the biblical calendar was supposed to begin, but what is known is that the methodology for calculating the start of this month has changed several times throughout the history of the Jewish people. From the time that the Passover was given to Moses and the Israelites (1446 BC) until the time of the Babylonian captivity (586 BC), the first month was called Abib—Hebrew for “barley ripening.” It is unknown how the new year was determined during this period, but it is agreed that the first day of each month was announced upon the first observation of the crescent moon immediately following a new moon and that the first month began near the spring equinox.[9] Each year typically had twelve months, and every few years a thirteenth “leap month” was added to keep Passover from drifting too close to winter.[10]
After the southern kingdom of Judah was conquered in 586 BC, Jews en masse were exiled to Babylon. Here they were introduced to the more sophisticated calendar of Babylonia, which was based not on agriculture but strictly on the movements of the sun and the moon. The exiled Jews quickly adopted the precise Babylonian methodology (and a new Babylonian name for the first month of the year—Nisan, meaning “beginning”) while living in a foreign land, and—upon their return to the Promised Land in 539 BC—continued determining their feasts based on astronomy.
Using the Babylonian method to sort their calendar, the first day of the year (1 Nisan) would fall on the day after the new moon closest to the spring equinox, while Passover (14 Nisan) would always fall on the first full moon on or after the spring equinox.
This rationale continued from the Babylonian captivity until well into the first century AD. In The Antiquities of the Jews, which was written in 93 AD, Josephus writes:
“But in the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the beginning of our year, on the fourteenth day of the Lunar month, when the sun is in Aries;[11] for on this month it was that we were delivered from bondage under the Egyptians: the law ordained that we should every year slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of Egypt; and which is called the Passover.” (The Antiquities of the Jews, 3.10.5)
This system was not without its problems. Given that the first month could begin fourteen days before the spring equinox, adherence to this system required both an accurate observation of new moons as well as a foreknowledge of when the spring equinox would begin.[12] When the Sanhedrin was confident that the stars had aligned properly, they would announce the new year and the people could begin preparing for the upcoming Passover.[13]
After the destruction of the second temple in 70 AD, the determination for the Hebrew new year—and thus the proper dating for the Passover—became fractured within the Jewish community, with various groups using different standards and thus celebrating on different days. For instance, Rabbi Jose ben Halafta suggested the following criteria for establishing a new year:
“A year may be intercalated on three grounds: for the ripening of the grain, for the fruit of the trees, and for the equinox. Any two of these can justify intercalation, but not one alone.” (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 11b)
Rabbi Shimeon ben Gamaliel offered a different view, suggesting that the month of Nisan should be pushed back thirty days if “the pigeons are still tender and the spring lambs thin” (Sanhedrin 11a). Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi said the new year should be delayed a month if the spring equinox is over twenty days away, while others suggested it should be delayed if the equinox is only sixteen days (Mishnah Sanhedrin 12b). There was also disagreement concerning whether a leap month could be added to adjust the timing of Sukkot,[14] as well as whether leap months could be used during successive years or during sabbath years.
Without an objective, universal standard, the Sanhedrin would end up deciding when the new year had begun based on some combination of the above rationales, and these often varied from year to year. Those abroad had no way to know when the new year would begin, which led to scattered communities either waiting for messengers to arrive with the message that Nisan had officially been declared or celebrating Passover on the day they figured it would most likely fall on. This disparate methodology continued for almost a thousand years, with historical records revealing many distinct dates and competing calculations for Passover throughout the first millennium AD, even in the same year.
According to a tenth century tradition, Hillel the Nasi[15] proposed a fixed nineteen-year calendar in the year 359 AD.[16] However, this idea didn’t gain widespread attention until the ninth century. Sometime after 836 AD, the Jewish community began using a repeating nineteen-year cycle to determine the beginning of the month of Nisan. Adjustments were made over the next ninety years, and around 924 AD this new calendar system reached its modern form by applying the nineteen-year cycle to the Julian Calendar. This system is still in use by the Jewish community today.
Since the modern Hebrew calendar is based on a fixed timeline and not the actual movements of the sun, it is slightly out-of-sync with the solar year. As a result, the Hebrew calendar drifts by approximately two hours every nineteen years, which has led to a roughly five-day shift since its inception in the tenth century. Eventually this discrepancy will push Passover into summer, Sukkot into winter, and Hanukkah into spring. Jewish scholars have suggested that this shift will need to be rectified eventually, but currently there are no plans to adjust the calendar.
What the Christians Do
After the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus occurred during the Passover festival, followers of Jesus continued celebrating the Passover in the context of this momentous event. Evidence in the Book of Acts demonstrates that the apostle Paul and his ministry team observed Passover while living in gentile Philippi (Acts 20:6), and Paul explicitly connects Jesus’ passion to the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (1 Corinthians 5:7).
While there was general agreement among Christians that the crucifixion and resurrection should be celebrated during the month of Nisan, disagreement arose concerning on which day of the month it should be observed. Bishops in the East, led by Polycrates of Ephesus, “held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Savior’s Passover.”[17] In a 195 AD letter, Polycrates cited half a dozen Christians throughout history, including the apostle John and Polycarp of Smyrna, who also observed the crucifixion on the fourteenth day of Nisan.
On the other hand, bishops in the west, led by the Roman African Bishop Victor I, contended that the resurrection should always be celebrated on a Sunday—albeit the Sunday during the weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread. This necessitated that the crucifixion be observed on a Friday during Passover, which wouldn’t always fall on the fourteenth.
Though much ink and several synods were convened, no decision was reached. All parties involved agreed to live peaceably despite the difference and their various congregations continued observing these holidays between 14 Nisan and 22 Nisan.
This tacit arrangement continued for the next century and a half, but dissatisfaction arose concerning the method of deciding when Nisan had officially begun. During this time the Jewish people lacked a consistent technique for determining the new year. As such, Christian churches depended on an announcement from their local Jewish community. And depending on where you lived, the date you received from the Jews in your region might differ by as much as thirty days from the date celebrated a few towns away.
There was also a general acknowledgement that the dates provided by the Jews, inconsistent or not, were based on a relative system foreign to the calculations of old. Anatolius of Laodicea wrote in 260 AD that the Jews, whose newer system could place the Passover before the spring equinox, had “committed no slight or common blunder” in abandoning the calendar system used from the sixth century BC until the destruction of the second temple. He continued,
“And this is not an opinion of our own, but it was known to the Jews of old, even before Christ, and was carefully observed by them.”
Looking back into Jewish history, he cited Philo, Josephus, Musaeus, “and not only them, but also those yet more ancient, the two Agathobuli, surnamed ‘masters,’ and the famous Aristobulus, who was chosen among the seventy interpreters of the sacred and divine Hebrew Scriptures” as those who used the older system:
“These writers, explaining questions in regard to the Exodus, say that all alike should sacrifice the Passover offerings after the spring equinox, in the middle of the first month.”[18]
The growing sentiment was that—since the Jewish community had abandoned the calendar which was in place during the latter years of the Hebrew Scriptures, during the life and ministry of Jesus, and during the early church—it didn’t make sense to rely on their inconsistent and constantly evolving guidance in determining the official dates of Passover.
Disagreement continued for another sixty years, until, amid growing confusion, Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to address this topic (along with the Arian heresy). At the council, bishops from around the world argued for a variety of possible solutions. Some wanted to rely on the Jewish calendar, while others wanted to break away and return to the ancient and thus “correct” system for dating Nisan. Some felt the observance should always occur on Sunday, while others felt it should always occur on the 14th day of the lunar month.
At the conclusion of the Nicene Council, the bishops had formally resolved the issue. While no formal calculation was established, it was agreed that Pascha would be determined independently from the Jews. Within a century, the Church widely adopted a calendar system based on the methodology that had been in place during the life of Jesus[19]: the fourteenth of Nisan would fall on the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, and Pascha in turn would be celebrated on the following Sunday.[20] The consensus was that this calculation wasn’t new but instead was that “which we have kept from the first day of the passion,” and by returning to this tradition they had “set before us a course which is both valid and accurate.”[21]
Differences Between the Calendars
Today both the Christians and the Jews use a nineteen-year calendar first developed by Anatolius. While the calendars mostly align, the Jewish calendar places Jewish Passover a month after Christian Easter three times every nineteen-year cycle. This is because the Christian calculation is based on the spring equinox while the Jewish calculation is fixed to the now defunct Julian calendar. As a result, the dates for Jewish Passover are slowing shifting toward summer. Unless Jewish calendar is updated, more and more dates on the nineteen-year cycle will shift further from the spring equinox over the coming centuries.[22]
Which System Should Christians Use Today?
The proper date to observe Pascha is during the week of Passover/Unleavened Bread, from 14 Nisan to 22 Nisan. Both the Jews and the Christians agree on this but disagree on when the month of Nisan begins. And throughout history, the standard for calculating the month of Nisan has changed many times, with (according to many scholars) a seemingly foreign system adopted from Babylon even being used during the ministry of Jesus (not to mention replacing the Hebrew name of the month with the Babylonian name).
As the Jews and Christians each believe they are celebrating during the correct month of Nisan and the Bible doesn’t define when Nisan should begin, it could be argued that both are striving for the spirit of the law and thus neither are provably in error.
However, while neither system can be condemned, it is my opinion that the current Christian system is more faithful than the others, for the following three reasons:
First, it was the system in place during the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. According to a plethora of Jewish sources, Jesus would have celebrated Passover during the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. He would have eaten His last supper and died upon the cross during the Nisan based on this system. And He would have been raised from the dead on the Sunday following the fourteenth of this Nisan. Additionally, Peter, Paul, and the rest of the early church would have observed the feast using this system.
Secondly, third century Christians had the authority to break from the Jews and adopt this system. As has been mentioned, the Jews changed their calendar on multiple occasions. In fact, several of these changes occurred after they had rejected the Messiah, rendering their religious service unfaithful to the Torah. If the Jesus-denying Jewish community had the authority to break from the past and update their calendar, how much more would a Church submitted to Christ have the authority to break from the present and return to the ways of old?
Finally, the Christian system is based on the motions of the sun while the Jewish system is based on a defunct Roman calendar. While the Christian system was established within the context of the Roman Empire, it doesn’t actually place the celebration of Pascha within the confines of a Roman calendar; it instead uses the spring equinox and the phases of the moon. The Jewish calendar, on the other hand, uses a Roman calendar established by Julius Caesar rather than the equinox. And given the slight inaccuracy of the Julian calendar, the Jewish system will have to eventually be changed yet again.
For these reasons, it is my belief that the Christian Pascha is the more accurate date to celebrate Christ our Passover. However, Jesus isn’t only the Lamb of God on the fourteenth of Nisan, nor is He only alive on Sundays.
“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” (Revelation 1:18)
As believers in the Messiah, we should remember His broken body and His shed blood whenever we gather together, and we should rejoice in the power of His resurrection at all times. The most proper day to observe the Passover Lamb is every day, and he who recognizes the Lordship of Christ shall not be condemned, whether he recognizes it using my preferred Paschal system or not.
[1]Pascha is the common and historical name for Easter. To this day, most languages refer to the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection as some form of Pascha (Spanish: Pascua, French: Pâques, Dutch: Pasen, Filipino: Pasko, Hawaiian: Pakoa, Turkish: Paskalya, Swahili: Pasaka, and so on); while a handful of languages (like English, German, and Japanese) use some variant of the word Easter. The first recorded use of the word Easter was in 725, when the Venerable Bede wrote that “Eosturmonath [the month of Easter] has a name now translated ‘Paschal month,’ and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre” (The Reckoning of Time, Chapter 15: The English Months). Ironically, he was commenting how Pascha took place during the English month of Eostre (an old English deity unknown to history except for Bede’s passing reference), but his pointing this out caused the English people to adopt the name Easter for the holiday season.
[2] Source: Vita Constantini, Book III.17-20 (Eusebius).
[4] While the dates currently vary three times every nineteen years, this discrepancy will grow as time goes on (albeit slowly). By the year 3000, for instance, there will be six discrepancies every nineteen years.
[5] “Passover” originally referred to the sacrificial lamb that was slain on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the first month. This was followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which began that evening and lasted seven days. Over time, the term “Passover” began to describe the meal eaten on the first night of Unleavened Bread (i.e., the Passover Seder), and nowadays it’s not uncommon for the entire weeklong festival to be called Passover.
[6] Because Genesis 1 recounts each day with the words “so the evening and the morning were the [first/second/etc.] day,” the traditional Biblical calendar day begins at sunset rather than at midnight. Thus, “the fifteenth day” began at sundown a few hours after the Passover sacrifice of the fourteenth day, not twenty-four hours later.
[7] Similar accounts are recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and 1 Corinthians 5.
[8] It should be noted that, while scripture seems to indicate these were the calendar dates and weekdays of these events, there is scholarly debate as to which exact weekday and which calendar date during the weeklong festival all of these things happened. Regardless, there is universal agreement that these events took place during the Paschal season.
[9] Most scholars believe that, before the Babylonian exile, Israelites used agricultural observation rather than astronomical observance to determine when the spring equinox would occur. However, as there are no records indicating their methodology during this time, this is educated speculation.
[10] A lunar month is about 29.5 days long, meaning a twelve-month lunar year is about 354. This is a little over eleven days short of a solar year (~365.2425 days), so leap months are occasionally added to make up for this eleven-day drift into winter.
[12] It is recorded that when a Jew saw the first slivers of a crescent moon, he was to report it immediately to the Sanhedrin. This witness would then select the shape and rotation of the crescent moon from a lineup of several possible choices to confirm that the shape they claimed to have seen matched the shape predicted during that time of year. Only when two witnesses had been confirmed to have seen the correct moon phase would the Sanhedrin officially declare that the new month had begun.
[13] A comical historical detail reveals that when the Sanhedrin observed a new moon, they would light signal fires to inform the nation of the change in month. The Samaritans, always a thorn in the side of the Jews, interrupted this practice by lighting fake signal fires to throw off the celebration of Biblical feasts. To ward against this, the Jews began sending messengers rather than relying on signal fires. However, this method took much longer, resulting in far-off communities missing feasts by a day or so. To be safe, Jewish communities outside of Israel would estimate the true day of the feast and begin the celebration both a day early and the next day—to ensure the feast was celebrated on the correct day. This is why modern Jewish families living in the diaspora observe feasts for two days, while those in Israel only observe for one day.
[14] Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, is an eight-day fall festival celebrated during the seventh month of the Biblical calendar.
[15]Nasi means “prince” in Hebrew, revealing Hillel II was a leader of the Sanhedrin during the fourth century.
[16] The fixed nineteen-year lunar calendar was first proposed by Christian bishop Anatolius of Laodicea almost a hundred years earlier.
[17] Source: Church History, Book V.23.1 (Eusebius).
[18] Source: Church History, Book VII.32.15-17 (Eusebius).
[19] Anatolius proposed this system in 260 AD, and in addition to being formally adopted by the Church a century later, six hundred years later it also became the basis for the Jewish calendar in use today.
[20] Not all Christian churches use this system today. The Orthodox Church, for instance, adds an additional rule to the above criteria: it must occur after Jewish Passover.
[21] Source: Vita Constantini, Book III.17-20 (Eusebius).
[22] Ironically, the impetus for the Christians breaking from the Jewish calendar was because the system of the third century placed too many Passovers before the spring equinox. The Jews’ current system—put in place during the tenth century—now places too many Passovers over a month after the spring equinox.
After David defeated Goliath and drove the philistines away from the Valley of Elah, he and King Saul returned home. They were met by an array of celebratory women, who joyfully sang,
“Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.” (1 Samuel 18:7)
Saul was ticked. “They have credited David with tens of thousands, but me only with thousands,” he lamented. And from that day forward, Saul’s jealousy burned against David, eventually culminating in the king going mad and committing suicide.
But was Saul even right? Were these singing women really praising David more than Saul?
Outside of the David/Saul debacle, there are only four verses in the scriptures that compare “thousands” (Hebrew “eleph”) to “ten thousands” (Hebrew “rebaba”)—and all are poetry:
In Deuteronomy 32, Moses sings about how “one could chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight” only through the help of the Lord.
In Deuteronomy 33, Moses blesses Joseph, prophetically declaring that his two sons will drive their enemies “to the ends of the earth”—the older Manasseh defeating “thousands” and the younger Ephraim overcoming “tens of thousands.”
The author of Psalm 91 sings that even if “a thousand fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand,” pestilence and destruction “shall not come near you.”
Micah 6 warns that God will not be pleased with sacrifices of “thousands of rams” and “ten thousand rivers of oil” if His people refuse justice, mercy, and humility.
In all of these verses, it becomes evident that the escalation from “thousands” to “tens of thousands” is poetic way of elevating the point God is making. Furthermore, that escalation often results from additional people joining the cause, even someone younger.
When Manasseh—the older brother—fights against God’s enemies, he overcomes thousands; but when Ephraim—his younger brother—takes up arms at the right side of his eldest brother, their efforts increase tenfold. And how good it is when these brothers dwell together in unity (Psalm 133)!
When the women sang that Saul had slain thousands and David ten thousands, they weren’t saying, “David is ten times better than Saul”; on the contrary, they were declaring that, because David had joined the king’s cause and because Saul had welcomed this younger man into the family, their joint efforts had increased tenfold. Saul (who himself was a descendant of Benjamin, the younger brother of Joseph), they rejoiced, had defeated their enemies by inviting the next generation to join the work of God!
But Saul couldn’t see this. His pride and his fear blinded him to what was so plain. And for the rest of Saul’s short reign, the tens of thousands of philistines that had been driven to the ends of the earth were allowed to once again invade the land while Saul aimed his spite at David—his spiritual Ephraim.
Garrett Milovich 