Should Christians Celebrate Passover?

    Acts 10:34-35

• "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
• But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."

Galatians 3:27-29

• "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
• There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
• And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Nevertheless, the question remains, how does that relate to Christians celebrating the Passover Sedar? Is there any biblical justification for partaking in a Christian Sedar? I believe that the only Biblical reply to this question is no. Of course, I fully understand that by giving such a definitive and absolute answer in an age of unwarranted caution, political correctness, compromise, and appeasement, will be disdained and leave many aghast. Nevertheless, I believe that such ceremonial observances are not only unjustified, but unquestionably unbiblical. The fact is, Christians should not go back to celebrate the feast of Passover, the feast of Weeks, or any other Old Covenant feast day, such as Tabernacles, Rosh Hashanah, or Purim. The reason is not because we don't understand their importance in the foundation of Christian history, or that we are anti-semitic (God forbid), the reason is because Christ our Saviour has already come and fulfilled or completed these festivals. These observances prefigured His glorious work. As all of the Old Covenant ceremonial laws were, the Passover feast was instituted as a "sign" or token foreshadowing Christ's atoning work on the cross. It is one of the oldest festivals in Judaism, commemorating God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and ultimately pointed toward Christ fulfilling a greater spiritual, more perfect deliverance of captives from the bondage of their spiritual prison where Satan held them.

    Exodus 13:3

• "And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten."

    1st Corinthians 5:7-8

• "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:
• Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

    Hebrews 2:14-15

• "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
• And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

    Colossians 2:16-17

• Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
• Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

    Hebrews 9:22-25

• "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
• It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
• For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
• Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;"

    Luke 22:16-20

• "And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer:"

    Luke 22:16-20

• "For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
• And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
• For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
• And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
• Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you."

    Romans 6:9-11

• "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
• For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
• Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

    1st Corinthians 11:23-26

• "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:
• 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.
• After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
• For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."

    Hebrews 10:8-10

• "Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
• Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
• By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Yet, there are other reasons given for these ideas. I have heard some say that the reason they celebrate a Christian Seder is because it is historically beneficial, or is part of our Christian heritage, or leads to a greater understanding of Judaism and gives us a first-hand experience of the Jewish tradition. However, the truth is that just the opposite is the case. It perpetuates erroneous genealogical vanities and stereotypes, it reveals a fundamental lack of understanding of the purpose of Old Testament figures and shadows, and it presumes that observing Old Testament ceremonial feasts or laws is harmless. Moreovert, of all these excuses to celebrate a Christian sedar, absent is any scripture or biblical references to Christ’s fulfillment of this Old Covenant feasts or festivals. We all should have a fundamental problem with going back to the shadow that was done away with in the coming of that which it prefigured. Yes, it is part of our heritage as the family of God, but only in the same sense that God's people sacrificed lambs, carried an Ark with them and received the law from God by Moses on the mountain. It doesn't mean that we continue to kill lambs because they prefigured Christ, or build an Ark to carry with us, or that we look for tablets of stone from a mountain. On the contrary, being a Christian "should" mean that we have the Spirit of wisdom and should understand the folly in continuing to sacrifice a Lamb in Old Covenant ceremonies, building an Ark for our camp, or going to the mountain looking for tablets of stone to put in it. They were types, a sign or token, a figure of other things.

    Hebrews 10:11-14

• "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
• But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
• From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
• For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

Moreover, observing the Old Covenant Passover would negate the Lord's Supper "as if" it is a sign of some different fulfillment. Because these people have the erroneous idea that the Lord's supper gives a new or different meaning to the ancient Passover feast of bread. The truth is, The Lord's Supper "is" the New Testament Passover observance of eating unleavened bread, which is Christ. Why do we think Christ instituted it on the Passover? Did we not just read that Christ was our Passover? How could anyone think there should now be two observances of Christ's broken body? The Passover was a glorious ceremony picturing Christ's atonement for His people. The Jewish Passover transitioning into the Eucharist or Christian communion is the only doctrine that makes sense "Biblically." That is to say, if we are truly professing Christians who are under authority of the Word of God. And it's not insignificant to this issue that the Jewish people celebrate Passover looking forward to the deliverance of their Christ, as if He has not come. Indeed, they reject the Christian idea that Christ is the prophesied Messiah. We believe that He came and He fulfilled all of the Old Testament promises and prophecies (2nd Corinthians 1:20). Christians (Messianic or otherwise) should never join them in Passover feasts, as Christians know Christ has already fulfilled the feast and "become" our Passover. All Christians are led by the Holy Spirit, and "of God" should know better.

In conclusion, I do not believe that the question, "Should Christians celebrate Passover" or "Should we have a Christian Seder," is a matter of Christian liberty or of the conscience of each individual Christian. Rather it is a matter of discernment, understanding of biblical principles, and of spiritual wisdom. When I hear the question, "Why don't Christians celebrate Passover," My answer is threefold:

First, Christianity has New Covenant rite and observance that commemorate the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. If we celebrated Old Covenant festivals and practices, these observances would put us under the same Old Covenant laws and beliefs that those festivals and practices clearly "signified." Namely, a first coming of Messiah to restore all things and break the reliance upon works of the law by the nation Israel.

Second, Christians don't celebrate the Jewish Passover for the same reason that they don't keep the Saturday Sabbath, do not observe Old Testament unclean meats, do not sacrifice Lambs or oxen, and do not hold to laws against mixing two different types of thread in a garment. Because these ceremonial laws were patterns for spiritual truths, and when Christ finished His work on the cross, the Old dispensation was over. The feasts were "completed" or "fulfilled" in Christ so that it would be unbiblical for us to turn again to the bondage of the law.

Third, we don't need to recover a Christian Seder, or observe a Passover for Christians, because we never lost sight of the Passover observance in the first place. Christ's death on Passover day established the New Covenant Passover feast for us, just as pouring out of His Holy Spirit on the feast of weeks (Pentecost) was the New Covenant fulfillment of the feast of firstfruits. By God pouring out of Christ's Spirit to all tongues and nations, we better understand the feast of weeks and how we receive the firstfruits (Romans 8:23) of the Spirit. i.e., these Old Covenant feasts were merely pointing to a completion in Christ.