Should A Christian Celebrate Easter?
Every year around this time the religious world will get together once more to celebrate an aspect of the historical account of Jesus’ life. His death and consequent resurrection. Every Spring a majority of the religious world will flock to church buildings to hear a lesson on the resurrection. Maybe there will be a sunrise service or an egg hunt following, but the question stands, does the Bible authorize Christians to celebrate Easter as a religious holiday?
Many sound preachers have taught against Easter in years past, but in more recent years, good brethren have started to advocate for this type of celebration. Some have said, “People are thinking about Jesus, and we will have visitors expecting this type of sermon, therefore, we should accommodate.” Other brethren have used a different argument coming from Romans 14. It is the idea of “esteeming one day above another” that I would like to discuss.
THE CONTEXT OF ROMANS 14
If you were to have lived during the first century you would have fallen into the mindset that we find Paul addressing in Romans. There are now Gentiles as Christians and also, there are those who grew up Jews, but now see the full scheme of redemption in Christ. This is the context of Romans. You have a lot of people who are transitioning from their former religious ways into a new way of thinking. Jews were transitioning out of the Old Covenant and Gentiles are transitioning from idol worship (primarily). There are many problems in this regard, but we are dealing with two things from this passage. First, meat offered to idols, and second, the regarding of days over other days. What is happening in Romans 14?
In regards to the question of meat, it was common in those days for meat to be offered to false deities (cf. Acts 15:9; 1 Cor. 8:4). You may recall that the Roman empire was rather eclectic in their view of gods (cf. Acts 17:22-23). If you had a god it was good with them, they would just add to their list of gods. In Acts 17, they even had a place for the “unknown god”. Because Rome had conquered multiple areas/peoples, then you were going to have a lot of different views on religion (as you would today).
When it came to the worship of these false gods it was a common practice to have meat that was offered to idols being sold in the marketplace. Here is where the problem arose. Those who had been involved in idol worship did not want any part in this practice as it was something that hurt their conscience. At the same time, there were Jews who so abhorred idol worship that they neither would partake in the same. In verses 1-4 the discussion about meat relates to things sacrificed to idols as well as meat that had previously been unclean. Both Jew and Gentile converts could have had an issue in these circumstances.
WHAT ABOUT ESTEEMING A DAY ABOVE ANOTHER?
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
(Rom. 14:5-6)
One of the most important rules of Bible study is to make sure to keep something in context. We have already looked at the context of Romans 14, so how do we apply it to verses 5-6? Again thinking Jew and Gentile what would the Jew have been used to doing that the Gentile had not? The Jew had been resting every Sabbath (Saturday) his/her entire life. If all of a sudden the 7th day of the week holds no importance you could now work on the Sabbath, but what if you had never worked on the Sabbath a day in your life? It would probably be pretty hard for you to start. It might take a while to come to your senses on it. Therefore those who were regarding the day for the Lord (whether Sabbath or God commanded feast, etc.) then they were doing it for the Lord.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO CELEBRATIONS LIKE EASTER?
First, trying to apply Romans 14 to celebrating Easter is not an equivalent thought. If the Jew wished to not work on Saturday as had been their practice their entire life, they could do so, but the thought of Romans 14 is to not cause them to stumble in their ways (Rom. 14:1, 22). It doesn’t matter if they were to not work on Saturday, just as it did not matter if a person were to eat meat (1 Cor. 8:7-8). To be plain this is not talking about making your own religious holiday, or making a day holy that wasn’t previously holy. There is simply no Biblical authority to do such as thing. This is talking about transitioning from the Old Law where a day was holy, to the New Law where it is not holy.
Second, for the sake of argument, let’s say that it did apply to making your own religious day, would the context allow for the celebration of Easter? I submit that it still would not. Why? Because of Romans 14:22. “Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.” The point is to be quiet about this liberty. If this did apply to Easter or Christmas (which it does not) then brethren would need to keep it to themselves. Congregations could not celebrate in any sort of way because they should keep it to themselves.
The conclusion is simple. To go to Romans 14 to support the celebration of religious holidays would be taking Romans 14 out of context. Let’s be fervent in our Bible study to keep things in their proper context.