How to Read This Series
This series is written for Christians who want to honor God and feel caught in the crossfire of online claims. If you’re skeptical of Easter, you’re not my enemy. If you celebrate Easter, you’re not automatically compromised.
- We’ll be fair: We’ll represent opposing claims accurately (not caricatures).
- We’ll be careful: We’ll distinguish Scripture, history, and tradition.
- We’ll be pastoral: Our goal is clarity without fear, conviction without hostility.
- We’ll keep Christ central: The resurrection is not a side issue—it is the heart of our hope.
Throughout, we’ll make room for sincere differences of conscience (Romans 14) while refusing to bind others where Scripture does not.
Is a “Man-Made” Holiday Automatically Wrong?
Mythbusters: Easter Edition — Post 2
In the previous post, we explored why some Christians argue that Easter should not be celebrated at all. Before examining those historical and theological claims in detail, we need to address a foundational question that sits underneath nearly every objection:
Is it wrong to celebrate Easter simply because it is a “man-made” holiday?
At first glance, the objection sounds compelling:
- “God didn’t command it.”
- “The early church didn’t celebrate it this way.”
- “Shouldn’t we only observe the feasts God Himself established?”
Teachers such as Jim Staley, TruthUnedited, and others often add another layer to this argument:
“Easter was created by Rome at the Council of Nicaea, replacing the biblical Passover. Therefore, Christians should not observe it.”[1]
If that were true, the conclusion would matter greatly. But before we assume that man-made automatically means sinful, we need to examine what Scripture actually teaches—and what the historical record does and does not support.
To do that, we must begin where the Bible begins: with the feasts God commanded, and the celebrations God’s people established in response to His saving work.
How to Use This Resource
This post follows the three-tier MTSM format:
- New readers: Start with A Quick Answer.
- Groups & discipleship: Read A Simple Explanation.
- Teachers & leaders: Work through A Deeper Look and the footnotes.
Table of Contents
- A Quick Answer
- A Simple Explanation
- A Deeper Look
- A Word About Conscience and Christian Unity
- Where We’re Going Next
- Footnotes & Sources
A Quick Answer
No—“man-made” does not automatically make a celebration wrong.
- Scripture records God-honoring celebrations that were not commanded in the Law (Purim, Hanukkah).
- Jesus Himself was present at the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) (John 10:22–23).
- Historically, Christians commemorated Christ’s saving work (Pascha) long before the Council of Nicaea; Nicaea addressed the dating of an existing celebration, not the existence of the celebration itself.
The real question isn’t “Did God command this holiday?” but “Does this help me honor the Lord in truth and love?”
A Simple Explanation
The Feasts of the Lord
God gave Israel seven annual festivals, recorded in Leviticus 23:
- Passover
- Unleavened Bread
- Firstfruits
- Pentecost
- Trumpets
- Day of Atonement
- Tabernacles
These feasts were commanded, not optional. They rehearsed God’s mighty acts in history and ultimately pointed forward to Christ and His redemptive work.
And yet Scripture also records other recurring celebrations that God did not command in the Law of Moses—celebrations that emerged organically as faithful responses to God’s deliverance.
Two of the clearest examples are Purim and Hanukkah.
Can a man-made celebration still honor the Lord? Scripture’s own patterns point to “yes.”
Purim: A God-Honoring Celebration God Never Commanded
After God rescued His people from Haman’s genocidal plot, Mordecai established a yearly celebration called Purim (Esther 9:20–32). This celebration involved:
- feasting,
- giving gifts,
- helping the poor, and
- remembering God’s deliverance.
Purim was not commanded from heaven. It was not part of the Mosaic Law. It was a human response to God’s faithfulness—and Scripture records it without rebuke.
Why Purim matters: Purim shows that God’s people can establish recurring celebrations that honor Him, even when those celebrations are not explicitly commanded in Scripture.
Just as Purim reminded Israel of salvation from destruction, Easter can remind Christians of salvation through the empty tomb.
Hanukkah: A Man-Made Holiday Jesus Participated In
After Antiochus IV desecrated the Temple (167–164 B.C.), the Maccabees recaptured Jerusalem and restored worship. To commemorate that rededication, the people established Hanukkah, also known as the Feast of Dedication.[2]
This eight-day festival was not commanded in the Law of Moses. It emerged during the intertestamental period.
And yet John 10:22–23 tells us Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Festival of Dedication. Jesus did not avoid it, and He did not rebuke it. He was present during a man-made celebration centered on worship and remembrance—and He used the moment to speak openly about His identity and mission (see John 10:30).
Why Hanukkah matters: A celebration can be historically “man-made” and still be spiritually meaningful when it directs attention toward God’s works, God’s worship, and God’s truth.
A Deeper Look
“But Didn’t Rome Create Easter at the Council of Nicaea?”
This claim appears frequently in modern videos and teachings. The argument usually unfolds like this:
- The early church celebrated Passover exactly as Jesus did.
- In A.D. 325, the Council of Nicaea banned the biblical Passover.
- Rome invented Easter as a replacement.
- Therefore, Easter is a man-made, unbiblical substitute for God’s true feast.
It’s a compelling narrative. But historically, it does not align with the evidence.
Christians Remembered Christ’s Saving Work Long Before Nicaea
By the second century, we have clear evidence of an established annual Christian observance connected to Christ’s death and resurrection—commonly called Pascha (the Greek word for “Passover”).[3]
Writings associated with figures such as Melito of Sardis (c. A.D. 170), along with later historical discussion preserved by Eusebius, show that Pascha was already a recognized Christian practice well before the fourth century.[3]
A Clarifying Historical Note
It’s important to say this clearly: the earliest Christians did not all observe Pascha in identical ways, nor did they agree on every detail of timing or emphasis.
Some communities emphasized the date of Christ’s death in connection with Passover. Others emphasized the resurrection on Sunday. These differences are well documented in the second century and help explain why later church leaders sought greater uniformity.[4]
Acknowledging this diversity does not weaken the historical case—it strengthens it. The point is not that early Christians practiced Pascha uniformly, but that an annual remembrance of Christ’s saving work already existed long before the Council of Nicaea.
What Nicaea Actually Addressed
The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) did not invent a new Christian holiday. Instead, it addressed an existing disagreement over how to determine the date of Pascha:
- Should it be observed on 14 Nisan, regardless of the day of the week?
- Or should it be observed on Sunday, emphasizing the resurrection?
This disagreement—often called the Quartodeciman controversy—was already active in the second century, not created in the fourth.[4]
Nicaea’s concern was unity in celebration, not creating a brand-new holiday from scratch. As one standard church-history summary notes, Nicaea dealt with determining the date of Easter/Pascha as part of its work on church order and unity.[5]
What About the Name “Easter”?
The Greek-speaking church historically called the celebration Pascha, and many Christians around the world still do.
The English word Easter developed later in Germanic languages and was not part of fourth-century Roman vocabulary. Bede famously connects the English term to Ēosturmōnaþ, while modern reference works note the complexity and limits of our evidence for the word’s earliest development.[6]
So… Does the Man-Made Nature of Easter Make It Wrong?
Based on Scripture’s patterns and Jesus’ own example, the answer is no.
A celebration is not sinful simply because it is not directly commanded. It becomes sinful when it draws God’s people into idolatry, replaces biblical truth, or dishonors the Lord.
Purim honored deliverance. Hanukkah honored rededication. Pascha—and what later came to be called Easter—honors the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paul offers a guiding principle:
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
—1 Corinthians 10:31
The question, then, is not only, “Did God command this holiday?” The deeper question is, “Does this help me glorify God?”
When Easter is anchored in Scripture, centered on Christ, and celebrated with gratitude and joy, it can honor the Lord.
A Word About Conscience and Christian Unity
It’s also important to say this clearly: faithful Christians may arrive at different convictions about how—or whether—to observe certain holidays.
Some believers choose to avoid Easter entirely out of conscience, wanting to distance themselves from anything they associate with historical compromise. Others celebrate Easter joyfully as a clear proclamation of Christ’s resurrection.
Scripture gives room for both approaches. The New Testament repeatedly reminds us that matters of days, customs, and practices must be handled with humility and charity (see Romans 14).
What Scripture does not allow is binding the conscience of others where God has not spoken with clarity. This series is not written to pressure Christians into a single cultural expression, but to remove fear, correct misinformation, and help believers make informed, Christ-centered decisions.
Where We’re Going Next
If man-made celebrations can honor God, the next question naturally follows:
Is Easter pagan?
In the next post, we’ll examine claims about Nimrod, Semiramis, Tammuz, and Ishtar—and test them against actual historical evidence.
After that, we’ll address the most common Easter traditions:
- Where did Easter eggs come from?
- Are Easter eggs pagan?
- Where did the Easter Bunny come from?
- Is the Easter Bunny pagan?
- What should Christian families do with the Easter Bunny?
- Why do so many people eat ham at Easter?
This series exists to replace confusion with clarity, fear with confidence, and misinformation with truth—so you can celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with joy, discernment, and peace.
Footnotes & Sources
- Example claim in popular online teaching that Nicaea “created Easter” and replaced Passover. Replace with your exact video/episode title, publisher, and timestamp(s). ↩
- For the historical origin of the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), see 1 Maccabees 4:36–59 and 2 Maccabees 10:1–8 (intertestamental history). See also John 10:22–23 for the New Testament reference to the Festival of Dedication. ↩
- Early evidence of Christian Pascha (Paschal observance) in the second century includes Melito of Sardis, On Pascha (also known as Peri Pascha), translated and introduced by Alistair Stewart-Sykes (SVS Press). For the late-second-century dispute surrounding Pascha, see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 5 (esp. 5.23–25). ↩
- On the Quartodeciman controversy (Pascha on 14 Nisan vs. Sunday observance) and the Polycarp/Anicetus discussion, see Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.23–25; and standard reference summaries such as the Oxford Reference entry on “Quartodecimanism.” ↩
- On Nicaea addressing the computation/determination of the date of Easter/Pascha (rather than inventing a new feast), see Everett Ferguson, Church History, Volume 1: From Christ to Pre-Reformation (Zondervan), discussion of Nicaea and its canons on determining the date of Easter. ↩
- On the development of the English word Easter and Bede’s famous note connecting it to Ēosturmōnaþ, see Bede, De temporum ratione (“The Reckoning of Time”), and modern discussions noting evidential limits and complexity (e.g., major lexicography/linguistics summaries). ↩
Easter: Fact, Fiction, Faith
This post is part of a larger series examining Easter through Scripture, history, and pastoral wisdom—addressing common questions, misconceptions, and conscience concerns.
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