On What Day Does the Bible Say The Resurrection Of Jesus Is To Be Remembered?

There is no scripture which authorizes a commemoration of the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, there is no “special day of the week” or “time of year” that it can be observed with a “thus saith the Lord.” In spite of this, most (if not all) denomina­tions celebrate the Lord’s resur­rec­tion in an annual observance called Easter. National news casts of both radio and television publicize this event as the most important day in the “Christian calendar.”

If Easter is the most important event of the year among Christians, you would think we could turn to passages in the Bible and read about it. Therefore, where’s the passage that tells of its beginning? Where’s the passage that records it’s observance? Or, better still, where’s the passage that authorizes its observance? Read as long and as much as you can, and you will not find it! The observance of Easter finds its origin with man, not with God. I’m sure that is shocking to some, but it is the truth. The observance of Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, is not found in the Bible. It is not authorized from heaven.

In the New Testament, the Lord’s resurrection is spoken of in con­nec­tion with water baptism. Romans 6:3-6 describes baptism as the act in which one becomes a Christian and shows the relation­ship of one’s death to sin, burial in water and resurrection from the water with the Lord’s death, burial and resurrec­tion from the grave. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Water baptism is a likeness of the Lord’s death, burial and resurrec­tion.

Our appeal is to the Bible and the Bible alone. It was written for our instruction (2 Tim. 3:16-17). It provides us with “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). What we do religious­ly must be authorized by God (Col. 3:17). Easter is not.