These three questions relate to Easter: (1) My friend tells me that the KJV translates the word ‘Passover’ wrongly as ‘Easter’ in Acts 12:4; and that Matthew Henry supports his contention. Is that true? (2) We know that Christ could not possibly have been born on 25 December, what about the day of the Lord’s resurrection; does it accurately fall on the Easter Sunday which is celebrated by most churches today? (3) What is the origin of Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies?

Firstly, your friend is right that ‘Easter’ in Acts 12:4 may be more correctly rendered as ‘Passover.’ The Greek pavsca (pascha)does refer to the Passover and it is so translated in all other 26occurrences in the KJV. Your friend is also right that Matthew Henrysupports his point. Henry writes that "it ought to be so read, for itis the same word that is always so rendered; and to insinuate theintroducing of a gospel-feast, instead of the passover, when we havenothing in the New Testament of such a thing, is to mingle Judaism withour Christianity." I would, however, hesitate to say that the KJV istherefore wrong. The word ‘Easter’ was probably derived from the nameof an obscure Germanic goddess of spring (Eastre), to whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover by the pagan Saxons. As the date of the festival of Eastrewas commonly known to the Anglo-Saxons, the early English versionsfrequently used the name to refer to the time of the paschal feast. The1534 translation of the New Testament by William Tyndale, for example,translates pavscaconsistently as ‘Easter’, even in verses such as 1 Cor 5:7, whereChrist is called "our Easter Lamb." By and by, in common speech, theword ‘Easter’ came to refer to the resurrection of Christ, because itoccurred at the time of the Passover—just as most Christians todayrefer to the Lord’s Day as ‘Sunday’ though the word ‘Sunday’ has itsorigin in Sun-worship. When the KJV was formed in 1611, the word‘passover’ was used in all passages in which pavsca occurs, except in Acts 12:4. No one is exactly sure why this was the case.

Secondly, whether thedate of the Resurrection accurately falls on the movable Easter Sundayeach year is open to much dispute. The Jewish Passover occurs on the 14thday of Nissan, this date according to our Gregorian calendar can be onany day of the week each year. The current date for Easter wasdetermined during the council of Nicaea in AD 325, under the patronageof Emperor Constantine. The council decided that the Resurrection becelebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or afterthe vernal equinox of March 21. Easter, as such, can come as early asMarch 22 or as late as April 25. Moreover, the Eastern Orthodox Church,which is still using the old Julian Calendar, celebrates Easter on aday that can be as much as 5 weeks at variance with the Roman Catholic& Protestant Easter. However, most who celebrate Easter does notreally bother with the accuracy of the date whatever might have beenthe formula of Nicaea. For us, the day for celebrating the Resurrectionof our Lord is given in Psalm 118:22-24, "The stone which the buildersrefused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD'sdoing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hathmade; we will rejoice and be glad in it." When we gather each week toworship we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. This date cannot bewrong as it is sanctioned by the Word of God.

Thirdly, there arenumerous stories pertaining to the origin of the Easter Egg and EasterBunny. Apparently, eggs were commonly regarded in ancient pagancultures as symbols of continuing life and resurrection. As such, eggswere exchanged as gifts at the spring festivals of the ancient Persiansand Greeks to celebrate the revival of nature after the winter. To theearly pagans converted to Christianity under Emperor Constantine'srule, eggs seemed the obvious symbols of the Lord's resurrection andwere therefore considered appropriate gifts at Easter time. The originof the Easter Bunny or more accurately ‘hare’ is even more overtlypagan. The hare was sacred to the Spring-Goddess, Eastre. Hares weresacrificed to her. The hare was an emblem of fertility, renewal, andreturn of spring to the heathen. Christian ought to have nothing to dowith these Pagan symbols which were no where appointed by God for HisChurch.