1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.
2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. (Acts 12:1-4)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God (Rev. 19:13), and the Bible is the word of God (Heb. 4:12). Just as the incarnate Word is without error, so the inspired word is without error. But just as religious leaders falsely accused Christ, so religious leaders falsely accuse the Bible of mistakes, contradictions, and errors. The “scholars” tell us that “Easter” in Acts 12:4 is a mistake in the King James Bible. They claim it is a mistranslation of the word “Pascha” and that it should be translated as “Passover.” There are NO errors or mistakes in the KJB which has proven itself to be the inspired and preserved word of God after 400 years on trial.

There are two options when it comes to defending the word Easter in Acts 12:4.  

1. The standard defense of Acts 12:4 among Bible-believers is that “Easter” is the correct translation because it refers to a pagan feast that Herod kept.

This view makes sense when you understand that holidays like Easter and Christmas are Roman Catholic traditions that are rooted in Babylonian religion and not the word of God. There is a historical connection between the word Easter and pagan idolatry. For example, a monk by the name of Bede (672-735 A.D.) wrote in his work “Reckoning of Time” that the month of Eostre (translated in his work as “Paschal month”) was an English month, corresponding to April, which he said “was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month.” That name is connected with the word East, the direction of the sunrise (Ezek. 8:14-16, Easter vigil).

There have long been pagan festivals honoring goddesses of fertility held late in the month of April (Astarte, Ashtaroth in OT, also known as Ishtar, queen of heaven” – Jer. 7:18; 44:17-25). Such festivals were a celebration of the earth “regenerating” itself after the winter season and involved a celebration of reproduction. For this reason, the common symbols of such festivities were the rabbit and the egg.  

It was the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) that set the date of Easter as the Sunday following the full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox. Catholicism is a blend of paganism, scripture, and tradition.   

Another reason for believing Easter in Acts 12:4 refers to a pagan feast is the parenthetical statement in Acts 12:3. The Passover was on the 14th of Abib (called Nisan after the captivity, our April) and the seven days of unleavened bread ran until the 21st (Lev. 23:5-6). So, if it was the days of unleavened bread, wasn’t the Passover already over?  

2. The Greek word “pascha” may be correctly translated as “passover” or “Easter.” 

The word “pascha” appears 29 times in the NT and 28 of those times it is translated “passover” (an English word coined by William Tyndale). The word “Easter” is a correct translation of the Greek word “pascha.” In fact, Greeks to this day use “pascha” for Easter. English translations leading up to the KJB (Tyndale, Matthews, Great, Geneva, Bishops) all used the word Easter. Tyndale used Easter 14 times in the NT.  

The translators of the KJB replaced all references to “Easter” with the word “passover” except in Acts 12:4. So, why did they leave “Easter” in this one verse? The surface reason is that they did not practice uniformity in translation (which they explain in the “Translators to the Readers”). In other words, they did not always translate a word the same way. The deeper reason, whether they were conscious of it or not, is that the Spirit of God led them to leave one reference to Easter in order to teach us that Easter is not what the religious world says it is.  

In the past I have stated the feast of unleavened bread is never called the passover. After further study, I have changed my position on this (see Deut. 16:1-8, 16; Ezek. 45:21; Matt. 26:17-18; Lk. 22:1, 7 – Luke wrote Acts as a sequel, addressed to the same person). 

Who was observing Easter in Acts 12? It was not the early church. Those who were observing Easter did not believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead! Whether you believe “Easter” in Acts 12:4 refers to a pagan festival or the Jewish passover, you have to admit that it is not referring to the Body of Christ celebrating the resurrection of Christ. 

God did not give the Body of Christ any holy days to observe in this present age of grace (Col. 2:8, 16). We should rejoice in the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ every day!