Defending the King James Version Bible's use of the word "Easter" Acts 12:4 KJV

 1947 Strongs

◄ 1947. epikouria ►
Strong's Concordance
epikouria: aid, assistance

Original Word: ἐπικουρία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: epikouria
Phonetic Spelling: (ep-ee-koo-ree'-ah)
Definition: aid, assistance
Usage: succor (against foes), help, aid, assistance.

 

The word Easter is NOT pagan. It means East and the dawn of the risen Lord the celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.   I have personally studied this myself in the Oxford compact English Dictionary (page 827*) to see the etymology of the word Easter.  Although the pagans tied the word East to a goddess of the sunrise (usra) (eostre) , the 1st Century Christians used the word and understood clearly the word to mean sunrise, the resurrection and spiritual dawn. Please see notes below.  It was also extremely important in Acts 14 for the Christians to make a distinction from the Jewish Passover and for this one must have an understanding of rightly dividing the word of God (2 Timothy 2:15) to know that the age of grace, aka church age is separate from the dispensation of the law and the old testament. 

 following quote taken from:  KJV TODAY.COM

The resurrection = spiritual "dawn"

Christ's resurrection is a "dawn" also in a spiritual sense because that is when the light of salvation rose (resurrected) from the darkness of death.  The following passages compare Christ to the sun rising from darkness:
  • "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." (Isaiah 60:1-3)
  • "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;" (Malachi 4:2)
  • "And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:76-79)
  • "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:" (2 Peter 1:19)
  • "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (Revelation 22:16)

Some Christians try to avoid anything that has to do with sunrise imagery, presuming that it is pagan.  Yet God in his Holy word compares Christ to the rising sun.  The word, "Easter" (austra in Proto-Germanic and aster in Old Frisian; see above), with its connotation of a sunrise, pays tribute to this biblical imagery of Christ as the "Sun of righteousness".  The word translated "dayspring" at Luke 1:78 is "ανατολη", which means "1) a rising (of the sun and stars); 2) the east (the direction of the sun’s rising)" (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon).  The Old West-Saxon version of the Gospel of Luke translates the word as "eastdæle", which is the Saxon word for "east/sunrise".  Luke 1:78 in West-Saxon reads, "þurh innoþas ures godes mildheortnesse. on þam he us geneosode of eastdæle up springende;"  This is another proof that the word "Easter" came from the biblical language of the Saxons.

Myth 4: "Easter" is tainted by residual pagan etymology

Despite any explanation that "Easter" is derived from a generic Saxon word for "dawn" that is not pagan in and of itself (as with the Proto-Germanic austra and the Old Frisian aster), the mere possibility that a goddess went by the name of "Eostre" appears to scare some Christians into avoiding the word "Easter".  These Christians need to realize that pagans should not be given monopoly over valid words in the English lexicon.  If today it is discovered that a pagan sect calls its goddess by the name "Dawn", would these Christians abandon the word "dawn" from their everyday usage?  No, that would be silly and it would amount to surrendering a perfectly biblical name to pagans.  Anglo-Saxon and Old Germanic Christians may have been aware that a goddess went by the name "Eostre" or "Ostara".  These Christians may have deliberately taken a word that was popular among pagans in order to reclaim the proper use of the word.  Thus the word "Easter" ("Ostern" in German) stands as a testimony of the Anglo-Saxon and Old Germanic Christians' rejection of the goddess in reception of the true God, Jesus Christ.  Such a victorious reclaiming of a beautiful word for the cause of Christ should be honored, not opposed.

The funny thing is that many Christians who oppose the use of the word "Easter" still celebrate Good Friday.  Yet the word "Friday" is based on the name of a pagan goddess.  The word "Friday" means "Day of Frige" - Frige being the name of a Norse goddess. "Good Friday" literally means "Good day of Frige (the goddess)".  Some Christians say that Christ died on Wednesday or Thursday and rose on Saturday.  Yet "Wednesday", "Thursday," and "Saturday" are also derived from the names of the pagan gods Woden, Thor and Saturnus, respectively.  If one would actually like to avoid a "pagan connection", he would be wiser to avoid using the words "Friday", "Thursday", "Wednesday" and "Saturday" rather than the Christian word "Easter".  Avoiding all of these words, of course, is an impossibility if we wish to communicate with others regarding the days of the week.  We just have to admit that the English language is the language of a people who were once pagan and that there are many vestiges of pagan etymology in English.  Also to be noted is the irony that this word "Ishtar" which some Christians wish to avoid appears to be related to "Esther", which is the name of an entire book of our Holy Bible.  Esther lived in a pagan culture and was given a pagan name as with Mordecai (which is related to the pagan god Marduk).  While it has been demonstrated that Easter has nothing to do with Ishtar, the Bible itself shows that God can redeem a name even if it is in fact related to Ishtar.

 

http://www.kjvtoday.com/home/easter-or-passover-in-acts-124

 

The King James Version Bible is and has been proven and demonstrated as authentic and reliable word of God.  Please read links below.  Also please read "Final Authority" by Dr. Grady.  There's a tremendous onslaught of evil afoot in these last days to diminish or throw out the KJV translation.  Perverted bible translations are now used in almost all churches. Please see notes below.

 

NOTES:

 King James Version Bible for Today

 http://www.kjvtoday.com/home#TOC-The-King-James-Version-is-Demonstra

Why Bible Translations really matter:

 https://www.thethirdheaventraveler.com/2020/08/the-true-history-of-king-james-bible.html

 


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