Christian Passover Is Not Jewish Passover

Since we celebrate Christian Passover in place of easter, some Christians can become confused by the date of celebration.

Why?

In April, Jewish passover takes place, and we see the date mentioned just about everywhere. However, Christians should not confuse the date of Jewish passover, with the date of Christian Passover.

So we are going to talk about that today.

Calculating Christian Passover

God’s instructions concerning the original passover were very simple. God told Moses, the first month of the year for the Israelites was Abib. On the fourteenth day of that month, in the evening, was passover, (Deut 16:1, Exo 12:2, Lev 23:5).

Simple.

However, how do we know what day and month Abib represents on our modern calendar?

There is no way to know with 100% certainty. God did not provide those level of details. However, the very definition of “Abib” means,

“Green young ears of grain”.

That indicates, the month of Abib occurs in spring when all life regenerates.

Therefore, it’s Biblical reasonable, and sound, to use the spring equinox to mark the beginning of Abib. In the year 1828, it was common knowledge, as Websters 1828 Dictionary states, ‘the month of Abib begins at the spring equinox’.

This year, the spring equinox falls on March 20th. So Abib 1st begins on March 20th.

So all of this makes calculating Christian Passover simple to understand. That’s always God’s way, simplicity without confusion, (1 Corinthians 14:33).

However, the same cannot be said for Jewish passover, and determining it on their calendar.

Let me show you what I mean.

Calculating Jewish Passover

There are several noteworthy complexities with the Jewish calendar, which is lunar-based.

Jewish months start with a new moon. 14 days later is the full moon. The Nisan full moon is called the “Pascal Full Moon”, and begins the Passover celebration.

Determination of Jewish passover date

There we have it.

Jewish passover begins on the first full moon during the month of Nisan, formerly called “Abib”.

This creates two problems.

1. This method is not exact, and it’s subjective depending on the viewer.
2. Where did God tell us to look at the moon to determine passover?

The fact of the matter is, God never told Moses to look at the moon to determine passover. The reality is, religious men simply came up with this method to get close to the date of their celebration.

However, God did say,

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

Isaiah 1:14

Those are the words of God, not my own.

God hates this new moon business, and He never said to look at the moon to determine passover, so why do it?

Note: Christianity does the same thing to calculate easter. In fact, during the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., men “decreed that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.”

Now, since the Jewish calendar is lunar-based, Jewish passover always falls on a different date. In fact, this point is quickly realized when Jewish passover is overlaid on our own Gregorian calendar, which is solar-based.

Let me show you an example so you may better understand.

As you can see, Jewish passover always falls on a different date. The reason? These calculating methods were derived from men, not that their method came from God Himself.

The Methods For Calculating Passover

So why did I point all of that out?

There are three reasons.

1. We are trying to understand why Christian Passover falls on a different day than Jewish passover.
2. We are also trying to determine which dating method is the most accurate.
3. Finally, so you understand all of these methods were derived from men long ago, they are not Gospel.

With that laid out, we determine Christian Passover by the spring equinox, while Jewish passover is determined by a full moon. As we learned, using the spring equinox aligns with the meaning of Abib, and it does not use methods God expressed displeasure with. Namely, using the moon.

Nevertheless, this will not close the debate. There will always be someone who questions if using the spring equinox is an appropriate measure to calculate Christian Passover. That’s okay, as none of us know with 100% certainty when Abib begins.

Personally, I don’t believe this is a subject we should get hung up on. After all, while it’s easy to calculate the spring equinox today, it would have been a bit more challenging to calculate it in the days long ago.

I simply believe, it’s our best way to determine Passover accurately and consistently.

Summary

As we learned, the specifics God laid out for Moses to calculate passover were very simple to follow. It only becomes confusing when we allow denominationalism and other faiths into the conversation. The fact is, all of these methods were derived from men at some point in history.

So, ask yourself…

• Is it more accurate to follow the complexity of moons that God was displeased with?
• Or is it more accurate to follow the simplicity that God explained to Moses?

I will take the latter.

In the end, I believe God is more concerned that we celebrate and honor the day for what it is. It’s about remembering that Jesus Christ was sacrificed to provide redemption for our sins. That through His precious Blood, we could obtain Eternal Life.