The chants of the crowd in the Roman theater at Smyrna (in western Turkey) grew louder, demanding the deaths of more Christians. “Away with the atheists!” they cried, in reference to these deniers of the Roman gods. Many Christians had already been killed in the arena throughout this period of violent games. It was 155 AD. Christians were again under intense persecution.
“Let search be made for Polycarp!” they shouted, this man being, as they later called him, “the puller down of our gods, who teaches many not to sacrifice nor worship.”
After a few days, Polycarp was found and brought before the Roman magistrate in the theater. With the crowd calling for his blood, the proconsul pressed him to swear by Caesar’s spirit and curse Christ, effectively telling him, “Deny your faith, and I will set you free.”
Polycarp refused, saying: “Eighty-six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
The pressuring intensified, the magistrate threatening death by wild beasts or fire and again promising release if Polycarp would recant his faith.
Here was a moment of supreme testing for this aged man, who was a presiding elder in western Turkey. His home church was Smyrna, in the eastern extreme of where Christianity had penetrated. This area was initially taught by the apostle John. Now, after John’s death, Polycarp held the post, keeping the faith of most of his disciples he was charged with. His leadership stood firm at a time when others were compromising. Most of other eastern elders followed him. Polycarp had known this moment of trial and testing of faith would come.
Let’s take a further look at this man and his setting, then return to what happened on that day—considering his final answer and what our own resolve must be. Polycarp lived in the period after the age of the original apostles—so now, without the giants of the faith, the Apostles, there were false prophets creeping in, distorting the teachings and practices Jesus delivered to the original Church. Some groups were changing, even falling into apostasy. It was a time of great internal stress for the Church.
It was also an age of martyrs, with severe pressure from outside the Church as well. Roman authorities were clamping down on any subversives who refused even token participation in emperor worship, a symbol of state loyalty.
The first disciples of Christ were Jews, but their belief in the resurrected Christ brought a clash with the mainstream Jewish faith. Christians encountered increased animosity from unbelieving Jews who felt that Christian Jews were betrayers. The addition of Gentiles to the Church made relations worse. Many of the unbelieving Jews hounded the Christians, following them around to find fault, just as they did with Jesus. Plus there was heat from the Roman authorities. Even some of the Jews of Smyrna were among those calling for Polycarp’s death.
As a result of things like this, a growing number among the Christians were beginning to abandon all things “Jewish.” The Church began blaming Jews for killing Jesus, not focusing on how God had that as part of His plan to offer salvation to all the world through Jesus’ death. The earliest Church, even though persecuted in their day, still avoided this hatred of the Jews. They still observed the Passover and other festivals God gave to Israel, and Jesus’ Words confirmed that it was given to Gentile Christians too. Yet heretical teachings were gaining ground, being embraced by more and more nominal Christians in the Roman world—including Jewish “Christians.” Some of these were the cause of true Christians’ persecution, even martyrdom. In other words, it wasn’t just the Romans who persecuted Christians.
One of the great controversies among Christians around 150 AD was the continuing observance by Polycarp and others of the Passover, which they properly insisted keeping it on the Jewish date of the 14th of the Hebrew month of Nisan (or Abib) see Exodus 12:3, 5-8, 13-14 for an explanation of the orinal Passover:
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it…For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
Exodus tells the story of how Egypt put the Jews under slavery. God in return put plagues on them, but the pharaoh refused to free them. It ended with God sending the angel of death to Egypt’s first born. To get the angel of death to pass over the Jews, they had to slay a lamb, and put the sacrificed lamb’s blood on their doorpost, top crossbar and sides (a crude cross). They finally obtained their freedom from slavery on the 14th of Nisan, a Jewish month (this corresponds with part of March and part of April on our calendar.) They were to celebrate their freedom every year on that date by sacrificing a lamb. The Passover meal included unleavened bread, symbolic that when pharaoh finally said “Begone!” they were to act fast, before he changed his mind. They could not take time to put in leaven and bake it and wait for it to yeast up. The blood was symbolic of the lamb that they would slay and apply the blood on the doorposts for the angel of death to pass over them when he killed the firstborn.
But now, with Jesus, Passover had many symbolisms of Christ. For instance, John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God.” The Jews did not know it, but the Passover in Exodus foreshadowed His future death on the cross to free us from the slavery of sin. In fact, His death and shed blood by crucifixion happened exactly on a Passover day. He was crucified and giving His blood at the same time that the Jews were slaying the lamb, and offering its blood on the altar. God arranged that very date for the sacrifice of His Son. This happened in 33 AD. The Jews could see the connection, and realize, especially on His resurrection, that He was God in the flesh. But most of them never got it.
Going back to 150 AD. The church of Rome and other western congregations, because of their distaste for the Jews, abandoned Passover, and shifted to the observance of what would later be called Easter. Polycarp traveled to Rome to discuss the matter with the Roman bishop Anicetus, but the contention remained unresolved. To quote a historian at the time:
“For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp to forego the observance {in his own way}, inasmuch as these things had been always {so} observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant; nor, on the other hand could Polycarp succeed in persuading Anicetus to change back to Scripture, for he maintained that he was bound to adhere to the usage of the presbyters [or elders] who preceded him [in Rome]”
The matter became more heated a few decades later, when a Roman bishop suggested to excommunicate (send to hell) the eastern churches over this. (And Smyrna was in the east). But the eastern churches still kept the 14th of Nisan date annually, to celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus. The important Council of Nicaea in 325 AD did in fact do that in writing. They exccommunicated those churches who still held to the 14th of Nisan Passover, and refused to celebrate Easter. It amounted to the Western churches excommunicating many Eastern churches. Constantine favored that, since he was a Roman emperor. He also was Pontifex Maximus, or High Priest, of the official state religion—namely, Christianity. So now the Roman church would become political. Seven hundred years later the East Church would split from the West. (These became the Orthodox Churches). Now many of their lands are overrun by Islamists or Communists. But the Eastern churches, called Orthodox, still cling to Christianity and tradition.
History labels those who kept the Passover observance and Festival of Unleavened Bread according to the teaching handed down from the apostolic era as Quartodecimans (or “Fourteeners,” for the 14th of Nisan). Church historian Henry Chadwick writes: “There can be little doubt that the Quartodecimans were right in thinking that they had preserved the most ancient and apostolic custom. They had become heretics simply by being behind the change in culture” (The Early Church, 1967, p. 85). But that change of culture was because of the hatred of the Jews. Christians who keep a New Testament Passover today can be assured that they are holding firm to observances God instructed through the Apostles.
With that background, we return to Polycarp before the Roman proconsul. If he hadn’t been singled out because his churches observed Christ’s Passover, he might never had been put on Roman trial. Rome was not concerned with the Jews’ religious observances, but they were sensitive to insurrection. If Christians are getting riotous with themselves or Rome’s pagans (such as what happened to Polycarp), they might trump up a charge that a man might even be executed, just to get trouble out of the way. So the Romans pressed Polycarp to renounce his Christian faith under threats of execution.
This story of faith is recorded for us in greater detail in an early letter from the Smyrna congregation known as “The Martyrdom of Polycarp” (also reproduced in Eusebius’ History of the Church, both of which you can find online).
Faced with being burned alive, Polycarp said: “You threaten with fire that burns for a bit and after a little while is quenched, for you are ignorant of the fire of the future judgment and eternal punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. But why do you delay? Come, do what you will.”
He thus stood firm in his convictions. Wood was quickly gathered, and Polycarp was tied up on the pyre. With his final prayer looking ahead to his resurrection, the fire was lit. But remarkably it billowed up around him without burning him. So an order was given to stab him through the flames, whereupon he bled to death, the fire strangely ceasing. At some agitators’ insistence, his dead body was then burned, successfully this time.
And there are lessons for us today. Faith in the Bible is under attack from many quarters. A rising tide of secular hostility to the Bible continues to mount. And it’s even harder for those who seek authentic, biblical Christianity in churches.
Would you stand up for your faith against attack, to the point of death, as Polycarp and others did? It was not just the pagan Romans who stood against them, but the misguided “Christians.” They persecuted the few who persisted in the truth about the proper Passover doctrine, and kept false doctrines instead.
Many believing Christians, and churches, celebrate “Easter” as a way to honor Jesus Christ's resurrection. But “Easter” is a day with very un-Christian roots—stretching long ago into pre-Christian paganism. (It comes from Ishtar, a fertility goddess celebrated among pagans. Rome, as typical, renamed her as Aphrodite, then later Venus). Why did the Church do this, besides getting apart from the Jews? Because, again as typical, Rome mixed pagan practices with Christian practices (called syncretism) to increase its acceptance among the pagans in the area. A bad evangelistic idea, though. We should stick with the Bible alone. It alone has the truth of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, and it shows a different set of celebrations that Jesus commanded—one of which is the Passover—that give us the real story that Easter doesn't tell us.
Most Christians are not aware that Jesus made a series of commands when He celebrated His last Passover with His disciples--commands that He directed to us, as we are His disciples too, if we want to follow His commands, to please God. Let’s learn of them, and seek a group to worship that follows this Passover command along with all the other Gospel commands—the purpose of all this is to seek to please God and to end up in heaven.
Here are the rules Jesus commanded and followed by the Apostles and the early New Testament Church (before 325 AD). These are the rules that we should follow as well.
First, there was a foot-washing of another member's feet. No, I know, you’re ready to forget this already. But this is a symbol of your willingness (a) to live counterculture and to be an evangelist, to be willing to say, “yes, I am different, because I will do whatever my Lord tells me, since He saved me from eternal death, no matter how the culture changes.” THAT testimony will gender some great questions—you can become an instant evangelist.
It is also proof that you are willing (b) to be a servant, to live humbly before the Lord. Micah 6:8 says it well:
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Sure, that’s an Old Testament quote, but we should still follow the moral principles of the Old Testament. Those principles are more than just the Ten Commandments. Just not the dietary, religious rituals, mixing linens in clothing, etc.
Here is proof that foot-washing is a command for us, His continuing disciples. After the Old Testament Passover supper was completed, He set forth new rules for His disciples, including Us. From John 13:2-5a,13-15:
And supper being ended… 3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5 After that he poureth water into a basin, began to wash the disciples' feet…
Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
The Greek word translated “example” is indicated in Strong’s as “copy of the thing to be imitated.” This is more than an example; it is a command, to copy what He just did. See the words ye should do as I have done to you.
It has been argued that the other three Gospels say nothing about foot-washing, so maybe it was just for the Jews, or maybe we should ignore it for its inconsistency. But this is just an effort to hide what’s happening in context. True, the foot-washing was only in John, but that casts no aspersions on the truth of it. There are events in this Passover supper that are recorded in Luke only, such as He changes the rules about their traveling from town to town evangelizing (Luke 22:35-38). No one has questioned the truthfulness of that. Also, when you look at the four Gospels regarding Jesus' resurrection day, they tell different things. But it was a day of excitement, when there was more emotion. But they each told what they remembered. Experts have proven no inconsistencies, and when you put it all together, the day’s events can be figured out. That’s why there were four Gospels—different people telling what they remembered. As long as there are no inconsistencies, no one is lying. God made sure that, together, they remembered everything that He wanted heard. In putting doctrines, or history, or even science together, the Bible has all the facts there to make a decision in context. Nothing is left out. No one’s memory fuzzed out. It is truly God’s infallible Word.
Secondly, and this is what our paper is mainly about, we should forget Easter for reasons that I gave before, and follow Jesus’ commands on Passover. This means three things:
- We should celebrate it annually, on the day the Crucifixion happened, namely Nisan 14. We look for that date on a Jewish calendar. Then we do what Jesus did:
- Have a foot-washing ceremony; and
- We take what is called Jesus' Lord’s Supper, the unleavened bread and the wine (or juice, if you have a problem with alcohol). Scripture has it this way. From Matthew 26:25-30:
Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. 30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Note His reference to the “new testament” in v. 28. This certified that the rules about Passover changed for us. No lamb or hyssop. Secondly, I emphasize that Jesus was not giving the disciples pieces of His body; so when He said “this is my body,” we must assume its symbolic significance. It still has great meaning, though. Unleavened bread, His body in symbolism, is stress-striped, as was Jesus’ body when the Roman guards hacked up His back with their famous flayed whip. The nails in the wrists and the feet, and the spear that He was stabbed with, and the mocking crown of thorns on His forehead, tell of His blood that was shed. Sadly, He knew in advance what would be done to Him, but He never lodged a complaint, nor suggest we were not “worth it.” He loves His followers. More than any family member or wife can. More even than our mothers. The wine was symbolic of His blood shed or us.
There is a second symbolism of unleavened bread for Christians. Leaven is a type of sin. See I Corinthians 5:7, substituting “sin” each time you read “leaven”:
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.
As he says, a little sin makes us sin more. Purge sin out. Do not practice a sin. All because One who knew no sin was sacrificed for us. His gifts to us are, and can be, so vast that we want to please Him. Practicing holiness will get that. With the Holy Spirit’s help we can be closer to His likeness each year. Christ’s death was a “Passover” for His believers. Believers’ sin and penalty in hell has been passed over. But we still need to confess our sins frequently to Him, and we will get better at cleaning them up.
Another advantage for this radical change in tradition—you have identified yourselves with Jews. It is an effective evangelism to them, when you take a day off work for the 14th and explain what is significant about it. The Jews will take notice. There are many of them that feel persecuted every day. They respect an ally. They may tease you for it, but if hard days come, they will come to you for advice.
There is something else that should go on in this celebration of His crucifixion: It was recorded in I Corinthians 11:23-31:
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do proclaim the Lord's death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
We are to be sober and introspective, not only because it is the suffering of Christ as our subject, but we are to “examine” ourselves. That means thinking about our sins, and how we have kept ourselves not in the perfect will of God’s commandments, and how we have grieved Him. How can we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, become holier and make God happier? Not thinking about becoming holy will make us take the Lord’s supper “unworthily,” and possibly even bring damnation to ourselves if we ignore this command regularly.
In this passage by Paul in the New Testament, by the way, echoing Jesus’ Words just before He gave His life, please note that he was speaking to Gentile Christians. This is again definite proof that the Lord’s Supper command was to be done on the anniversary of Jesus’ crucifixion for the Gentiles too.
Now I know that many of you celebrate the Lord’s Supper weekly, or monthly. Some churches only at night (they are trying for it just to be taken by the “true” Christians. Those who come at night must be the true Christians.) But these verses seem to suggest it should only be once a year, on the exact anniversary of His death. Note verse 26—as often as you do this “you proclaim the Lord’s death til’ He comes.” In your church that serve it several times each year, are you reminded of crucifixion each time? My experience doesn’t indicate that with multiple-Lord’s Supper churches. Most who quote I Corinthians 11, will only quote verses 23-25—most never make it to verse 26.
Do it on the right day, the 14th, no matter what day of the week it is. Don’t forget, He was not crucified on this day this year, and another day, another year, like we do for "Easter." For those married, how would you wives like it if your husband played games with what day he came with anniversary gifts? You would ask, “Does he not respect the day we were married? Is that day important to him or not?” Isn’t an anniversary a treasured day, that’s only once a year? Is July 4 important, that we can play with the dates? I mean, Jefferson drew it up on July 4, it’s in the heading of the Declaration—not several dates. Our Congress respects the date enough not to mess with it.
Besides, the fact is, there is seemingly nowhere in Scripture where we are bound to a commandment to celebrate the Resurrection. I’m not saying it’s not important. But God chose the crucifixion over the resurrection for commanding us for various reasons. First, since God does not have His family in heaven yet (us), He can say the resurrection is not ready to be celebrated, with only the Trinity there. He wants to do it with all of us present, too.
Related to that, we should think longingly for that day to come, not think of it as it already is a done deal. The crucifixion is a done deal; that is what we celebrate. Romans 6:9-10 proves that:
9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God
Doing the right kind of Lord’s Supper cannot be a frequent thing. Since He died once, we should celebrate it once—on its anniversary. The frequency reminds me too much of the Mass. There they symbolically crucify Christ—or a vicar does--repeatedly.
That brings up another issue in the resurrection, which we are supposedly “celebrating” now. People feel that to celebrate the crucifixion, not the resurrection, seems a wrong emphasis. Well, let me set this straight. Messing with the resurrection dates, and emphasizing sweets, like chocolate Easter bunnies and colorful eggs, is that a proper celebration of Easter as resurrection? No, I think not. Those things betray the pagan fertility rites it came from. Simply, Jesus made no command on celebrating His resurrection,
Actually, a lot of things have crept into the church sermons to get away with the “downers:” Like never talking about the fear of God, the depravity of sin that we all have, or hell, the need for holiness, or judgment. Every funeral is bidding the dead adieu to heaven—it doesn’t matter if he or she may be a liar, a fornicator, or an adulterer. We think hell is just for Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot (I’m showing my age.) But those “negative” things about sin are facts too. We need to be reminded about the dangers of hell. It seems that in many churches (especially in the megachurches), all we get preached is the love of God, the unconditional “just say a prayer like this, and you’re saved forever.”
But we need to focus in on the crucifixion, to remind ourselves why it happened—our sin made it necessary. We are to examine our lives. All are worthy subjects for a true celebration: that Jesus freed us from the penalty of sin, if we believe in Him, and follow up with a loving relationship with Him. That shoildn't be too hard, for One that loves us like that.
So, in summary, after this long paper, I’m suggesting three things that are major changes that you should do:
- Celebrate the crucifixion, as commanded, on the proper day: Nisan 14 on the Jewish calendar.
- Do a foot-washing;
- And, after a self-examination quiet time, give the Lord’s Supper, unleavened bread (sorry, the Styrofoam stuff doesn’t fly) and wine (or juice, for the forbearing), once a year.
- Forget Easter. Your kids should, of course, be taught about the Lord's resurrection.
Got that? Now, you influential people and elders: Urge your church to betray tradition in honor of Scripture. Study up to be an effective apologetic, because there will be much moaning and groaning.
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