PASSOVER #6--- ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW--- AND MORE!

 PASSOVER

                  UNDERSTANDINGS
                

                     NT Proof the Passover lambs
                were being slain at the Beginning
                                of the 14th
 

Written March 1997 by

Keith Hunt 

     This study is going to get quite technical. I will try to
make it as clear and as plain as I can.

     Turn to Mark 14:12. The Greek in Berry's Interlinear reads:
"And on the first day of unleavened, when the passover they
killed........"  In our last study we saw all about the phrase
"And on the first of unleavened."  This time I want to focus on
the phrase "when the passover they killed"  and especially the
words "they killed."  Actually in the Greek it is only ONE word
for "they killed" - it is ETHUON.
     This word is most revealing when we look at the Greek TENSE!

     As Fred Coulter in his book THE CHRISTIAN PASSOVER points
out(page 197), "The verb ethuon reflects the following case and
action: 3rd person plural - they; imperfect - meaning an action
not yet completed but taking place at that very moment - were
killing; active indicative - being done personally at the moment
by the subject - they. A literal translation of the Greek would
be as follows: 'AND ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE UNLEAVENEDS, WHEN
THEY WERE KILLING THE PASSOVER....'

     "THE ORIGINAL GREEK TEXT SHOWS THAT THE LAMBS WERE BEING
KILLED AT THAT VERY MOMENT AS JESUS SENT HIS DISCIPLES INTO THE
CITY OF JERUSALEM! THESE LAMBS WERE NOT BEING KILLED BY THE
PRIESTS AT THE TEMPLE - THAT WOULD FOLLOW THE NEXT AFTERNOON, FOR
THE 14/15 TEMPLE-KILLED PASSOVER.

     "Who were 'they'?  The word 'they' in this verse can only
refer to those who were killing the Passover lambs at that moment
on the 14th.........who were killing the Passover lambs at the
houses and inns........The lambs were being killed at the
beginning of the 14th........This was the exact moment that Jesus
sent His disciples into Jerusalem - '.....when they were killing
the Passover.....'

     "Properly translated, this verse in the Gospel of Mark has
profound meaning! When Mark's account is combined with Luke's
account, the impact is even greater! Here are Mark 14:12 and Luke
22:7 combined in a literal translation: ' On the first day of the
unleaveneds, in which it was obligatory for the Passover to be
killed, when they were killing the Passover, His disciples asked
Him, Where do You desire that we should go and prepare the
Passover that You may eat?' "

End quote.

     Back to the word "Ethuon" - they killed.  The ANALYTICAL
GREEK LEXICON, page 116 gives the sense as: "3 person, plural,
IMPERFECT, active.
     The same Lexicon under section 39 THE USE OF THE TENSES says
this about the "imperfect" tense: "The imperfect expresses a
PROLONGED or RECURRENT action in PAST TIME."

     From the book ESSENTIALS OF NEW TESTAMENT GREEK by Ray
Summers, page 55, we read this:  "The imperfect tense indicates
continuous action in past time. Contrast 'I am loosing' (present)
with 'I was loosing' (imperfect) and the significance is clear.
     There are several varieties of expression in the imperfect.
ALWAYS IT REPRESENTS CONTINUOUS ACTION IN PAST TIME.........The
repeated or iterative imperfect shows action repeated in past
time. It would be represented by a broken line (------) rather
than a continuous line (_____) which would represent the
descriptive imperfect.  A good ILLUSTRATION is found in Acts 1:6, 
' They WERE ASKING HIM, Lord, art thou at this time restoring the
kingdom to Israel? '   This could well be translated ' They kept
on asking him.'  The context indicates that the same question was
asked Jesus frequently by the disciples..........."

     Now that reading was taken from Lesson 13 and the section
called IMPERFECT ACTIVE INDICATIVE.

     Turning to the ANALYTICAL GREEK LEXICON for the tense of the
Geek word used in Acts 1:6 (eperootoon - number 1905 in
Strong's), we find this on page 153, " 3 person, plural,
imperfect, active. "

     The Greek Tense for BOTH Acts 1:6 "asked" and Mark 14:12
"they killed" IS THE EXACT SAME!!

     Hang on to that, hold it firm. BOTH are in the same Greek
tense - the third person, plural, imperfect, active.

     The disciples in THE PAST from when Luke was writing the
book of Acts, did not just ask Jesus ONCE about if the time was
now that the kingdom would be restored to Israel, but they asked
Him REPEATEDLY - action many times on a continuous basis in
past time. So Luke really recorded that the disciples WERE ASKING
HIM OFTEN OR REPEATEDLY THE QUESTION, WOULD IT BE AT THIS TIME
THE KINGDOM WOULD BE RESTORED TO ISRAEL!

     Now let's put ourselves in Mark's shoes. He knew the truth.
He knew what exactly was going on when the disciples at the very
beginning of the 14th day, the Passover day, the day they were
obliged to sacrifice the Passover lambs. He knew the truth about
groups of people being able to get together and sacrifice the
Passover lambs themselves, not having to have priests in the
Temple or anywhere, doing it for them. He knew the Passover lambs
were to be slain and eaten that NIGHT of the 14th, the BEGINNING
of the 14th, at DUSK, between the two evenings, over a period of
about 1 HOUR or slightly more.
     He knew the disciples were coming to Jesus quite concerned
that it was NOW the beginning of the 14th, and Jesus had not TOLD
THEM WHERE TO PREPARE THE PASSOVER!  
     He knew it was the time of day as they came to Jesus, when
the Passover lambs were beginning to be slain among the various
groups within the city limits of Jerusalem. It would be a
REPEATED CONTINUOUS ACTION for an hour or more. One group would
slay their lamb at the stroke of sunset, another group would slay
their lamb a few seconds later, another group a few minutes
later, and still others later, and so on until DUSK was over, and
the NIGHT had come in its full moon blackness.
     Obviously the two disciples Jesus sent to prepare the
Passover for themselves(the 13 of them), it would be towards the
END of the two evenings, or dusk, when they would arrive at the
place Jesus said was waiting and ready for them.
     In that context, as Mark knew it, he wrote: "And the first
day of the unleaveneds, when they WERE REPEATEDLY(and
continuously)  KILLING(imperfect active tense)  THE PASSOVER, 
His disciples said unto Him, Where will you that we go and
prepare that you may eat the Passover?"

     Now we need to look at Luke 22:7 and the phrase "must be
killed."  First I will give it as it is in the Greek/English
Interlinear by Berry.  "And came the day of unleavened in
which was needful to be killed the passover."
     The word "needful" (edei in Greek) means "mandatory,
compulsory, obligatory, one must, or has to, is required to,
compulsion of duty and compulsion of law" (Arndt and Gingrich, A
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament).
     The phrase "to be killed" is the Greek word "Thuesthai" and
the TENSE from the ANALYTICAL GREEK LEXICON, page 197, is:
"PRESENT, INFINITIVE, PASSIVE."
     The ending to this word is ESTHAI, please keep that in mind. 
Now once more we shall go to the book ESSENTIALS OF NEW TESTAMENT
GREEK by Summers. Lesson 3 under, Verbs: Present Active
Indicative, we learn this about the present tense: "The
present tense indicates progressive action at the present time -
' he is loosing.'  "   
     That is the BASIC meaning of the Present tense. There can be
more to it as we learn from The Analytical Greek Lexicon. Under
section 29 (The Use of the Tenses) we read: "The use of the
present and future tenses is sufficiently explained by their
names. But the present is sometimes used as a lively expression
of a past action as.....John 9:13......"
     In John 9:13 Berry translates it as: "They bring him to the
Pharisees...."  The word for "they bring"(Agousi) is Present,
Indicative, Active (Analytical Greek Lex. page 5).  Here
we have a Present tense used as a lively expression of a past
action - "They bring (as if present time but really an action of
the past) him to the Pharisees."
     John was writing some years AFTER the event. He is relating
it to us, and he takes himself back in time as if he was writing
it at the PRESENT time of it happening. Writing as if he was
standing there as a reporter writing it down as it happened , in
the present time of it happening. So then he uses a PRESENT tense
- " And presently they are bringing him to the Pharisees, the one
who was once blind."

     Back to our phrase "to be killed" or "be killed" in Luke
22:7.  We have seen the basic use of the Present tense. This
Greek is also PASSIVE.  From Lesson 6 by Summers, page 35, we
learn: "......Present active...' I am loosing ' ; present
passive...' I am being loosed. '  Thus the present passive
pictures continued action received by the subject in the present
time.
     This Greek word is also INFINITIVE.  Lesson 12, page 51, 52,
by Summers  we read: ".......(4) Present Infinitive: The
infinitive is a verbal noun. This means that it partakes of the
nature of a verb and the nature of a noun in its function....The
Present middle and passive infinitive ending is - esthai.  Thus
the middle and passive infinitives will be Luesthai, Blepesthai,
ginoskesthai, etc..........The passive voice indicates that the
subject is being acted upon........' I am beginning to be loosed
by the man.' ........."

     Oh, I've probably lost most of you, but I will try to put it
all together for you in simple language.

     The subject of  the Greek word "to be killed" is the
Passover, of Luke 22:7.  The subject is being acted upon. 
Something is being done to it.  The word "be killed" or "to
be killed" is a verbal noun. We know a verb is a doing word, an
action word. We have ACTION here upon the SUBJECT, which is the
Passover.  This action is also in the PRESENT tense - a
progressive action in the present time.  But was this action
going on while Luke was writing these words many years AFTER the
actual day he was writing about?  No, of course not! 

     We will remember what we also learned. Present tense can
also be used, is sometimes used as a lively expression of a PAST
action as in John 9:13.

     Luke puts himself at the scene of the day, as if he was
standing there, reporting it WHILE IT HAPPENED!  He did not
choose to do as Mark did, use the IMPERFECT TENSE,  report about
a recurrent action in past time. Luke takes himself back as if
there at the time all this was happening and gives it to us in
the PRESENT PROGRESSIVE action as the subject, the Passover was
BEGINNING to be ACTED upon with CONTINUED ACTION.   

     So to try to put all this into English for you, it would be
like this:  "And came the day of unleavened in which it was
obligatory(mandatory, compulsory) TO BE BEGINNING AT THE PRESENT
TIME TO CONTINUOUSLY (until finished) BE KILLING THE PASSOVER."

     Luke as if standing there right on the spot, right at the
beginning of the 14th day, when it had arrived, and the time had
come to START AND CONTINUE KILLING the Passover lambs until it
was over, until DUSK had turned into NIGHT, when "between the
two evenings" had ended and it was now full moon blackness. He
writes as IF IN THE PRESENT continuous action upon the
subject(the Passover) was taking place as he was writing it all
down.

     Oh, the tools of written language, vast and intricate,
involved and sophisticated they can be at times. Yet the
wonderful truth they hold is for us to find and search out as
the pearl of great price. And as the sure "word of prophecy
whereunto you do well to take heed, as unto a light that shines
in a dark place......."(2 Pet.1:19).
   
     Ah, how it all fits so nicely and so perfectly together,
when we forget about Jewish Pharisaical traditions and customs.
Let them alone. Let them follow their late 14th Passover, going
on into the 15th Sabbath day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Let them alone. By using the Bible ONLY we see that between the
two evenings was DUSK time, the beginning of the new day, from
sunset to the black of night. We see that the lambs in Exodus 12
were slain at the BEGINNING of the 14th. They were up most of the
night of that 14th day. They moved out of Goshen with their herds
and cattle(that do not walk very fast), spoiling the Egyptians
along the way. They arrive some early some later in the city of
Rameses during the day of the 14th, a work day, not a Sabbath
day. They assemble, get organized, ready to leave Rameses at the
beginning of the 15th, the night of the 15th. They travel
probably only a short distance and pitch their tents - Succoth -
meaning tent. There they rest on the Sabbath of the 15th, a rest
they now needed and enjoyed.
     

     So it was when the Passover day started for Jesus' last
Passover meal and celebration on this earth, until He returns in
glory. 
     The sun had set and still the disciples had not been told
where they should prepare for the celebration of the Passover.
They could wait no longer as the sun sank behind the horizon.
With urgency they came to Jesus asking Him where the place would
be. He sent two of them to a man in town that had a room all
ready. The home owner did not seemed shocked at all to learn
Jesus and His inner 12 men would celebrate at His home. The hour
came and they were together in the upper room.
     That evening was to be like no other. Jesus was to introduce
something new, in fact a number of new things. First he answered
their argument as to who was the greatest among them, by SERVING
them, in washing their feet, and telling them He had set them an
example that they should do likewise and serve each other. Then
He takes some bread, breaks it, and tells them to eat it, for it
will represent His broken body. He then take the fruit of the
vine, and has them drink it, telling them it will represent His
blood of the New Testament, shed for many.

     After that Passover, well into the night of the 14th, they
go to the garden, where Jesus pours out His heart and soul to the
Father in heaven. He has much work to yet go through. It is not a
Sabbath day, and so much toil, sweat, pain, and suffering, awaits
Him. He knows what the prophets have written. He knows the type
of death He will face before it is finished. Before freedom from
the bondage of sin could be secured.  But it was secured. Jesus
was obedient even unto death, the death of the cross. Even the
Father could not help in the last seconds. Jesus cried " My God,
MY God, why have you forsaken me?"  It was needful. For He had to
take the sins of the world completely on Himself and so die, that
for those who would accept His sacrifice, the Father's Passover
sacrifice, they could be free to live for God and enter the
promised land of the Eternal Kingdom. Free to be led into
righteousness and life everlasting.

     Jesus died close to the end of that 14th day. They hurriedly
took Him from the tree, anointed His body with myrrh and aloes,
wound it in linen clothes, and placed Him in the tomb.

     Christ rested on the 15th day of the month of Abid, as did
Israel after coming out of Egypt from Rameses.  Jesus rested for
two more days, for a total of THREE, the number used by God for
"resurrection" (that is another fascinating subject - the
arithmetic of God - for another study at another time). After he
arose from the dead, the first human ever to be raised to eternal
glorified life, He presented Himself to the Father on the
morning of the first day of the week. It was the first day after
the weekly Sabbath during the feast of Unleavened Bread. The very
day that the wave sheaf was offered in Israel(according to how
the Sadducees read the scriptures, and they were correct in that
particular case). 
     Jesus was accepted officially by the Father as the FIRST OF
THE FIRSTFRUITS, of the first harvest of the land (1
Cor.15:20-23).
     
     Those who will heed the calling, who will repent of their
sins, of being sinners, who will accept Jesus as their personal
savior, who will yield to the righteousness of God through the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They can be firstfruits and not
only be with Christ at His coming, but also look like Him, for
they shall see Him as He is (1 Cor.15:23; James 1:18; 1 John
3:1-3).

     What JOY and what GLORY that will be!!  The Passover Lamb is
sacrificed for us, let us therefore KEEP the feast, not with old
leaven, neither, with the leaven bread of malice and wickedness,
but with the Unleavened  Bread  of sincerity and truth (1 Cor.5:
7,8).


     " Let a man EXAMINE himself, and so let him eat of that
bread, and drink of that cup" (1 Cor.11:28).

     Here we are ONCE MORE coming to the Passover Day and that
special ceremony. It's time again to start to examine ourselves
for that very sacred service and night of the 14th day of the
first month.

                  ...........................      

How many Lambs slain at Passover?

How many Lambs slain in the Temple?

COMPILED AND WRITTEN by Keith Hunt Those who think that Jesus died on the cross just WHEN they were killing the first Passover lambs in the Temple, and think it was all so "kinda prophetic" (but no OT prophecy ever stated this would be the case), and that this all took place at 3 p.m. in the afternoon of the 14th day.......Wellllllll, they better read carefully the following study. All CAPITAL WORDS are mine throughout for emphasis. FROM DR. SAMUELE BACCHIOCCHI'S book, "God's Festivals - part one - The Spring Festivals" Quote from pp. 42-43 Passover in the Temple Days Passover became most important to the Jews during the intertestament period (c.400 B.C. to A.D. 50), when they experienced persecution and oppression by their Gentile conquerors. These conditions spurred them to renewed spiritual fervor. During the period of the Roman occupation, the Messianic hope flared up and the Jews believed that deliverance from Roman oppression would occur MIRACULOUSLY at PASSOVER as had their past deliverance from Egypt. Hayyin SCHAUSS notes that: 'The Jews began to believe that the Messiah would be a second Moses and would free the Jews the selfsame eve, the eve of Pesach (Passover). So Pesach became the festival of the SECOND as well as the first REDEMPTION; in every part of the world where Jews lived, especially in Palestine, Jewish hearts beat faster on the eve of Pesach, beat with hope that this night the Jews would be freed from the bondage of Rome, just as their ancestors were released from Egyptian slavery (Hayyan Schauss, Guide to Jewish Holy Days: History and Observance - New York, 1962, pp. 46-47). This belief helps us understand WHY Passover BROUGHT MORE PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM THAN ANY OTHER FEAST. 'Jerusalem was NEVER so CROWDED as DURING Pesach (Passover) holiday. EVERY inn was FILLED to OVERFLOWING, and whoever had a BIT of room in his house made it available to the visiting pilgrims, never accepting any payment. It was customary, however, for the pilgrims to offer their hosts the skins of the animals they had sacrificed in the Temple. Many of the pilgrims set up tents in the squares and open places of town, living there during the entire pilgrimage. Jerusalem was so crowded at this period that the every fact that everybody was able to find accommodation somehow, somewhere, was declared to be on of the miracles of God' (Ibid., pp. 48-49). End Quote I shall now move to Dr. Sam's second chapter in his aforementioned book, pages 64 to 66. He has just stated that there is some evidence (Philo, DeSeptenario 18), that the slaughter of the lambs began SOON AFTER NOON (especially if Nisan 14th fell on a Friday). Then he follows with: Quote: The problem I see with this objection is that it ASSUMES that by anticipating the BEGINNING of the slaughtering of the paschal lambs about TWO HOURS, that is, moving it up from about 3: 30 p.m. to 1: 30 p.m. there would have been AMPLE time to slay all the lambs in the Temple court BEFORE the Sabbath began (Edersheim himself assumes this in his authoritative study on 'The Temple, Its Ministry and Services' - London, 1874, p. 190). Such an ASSUMPTION does not take into consideration the ACTUAL NUMBER of the lambs slaughtered in the Temple court and procedure that was followed there. JOSEPHUS informs us that the syrian Governor Cestius Gallus requested the high priest to take a census of Jerusalem to convince Nero of the importance of the city and of the Jewish nation. The method used by the high priest was to COUNT the NUMBER of lambs SLAIN at Passover, namely, 256,500. Then he multiplied that number by 10, the average number of persons served by each lamb. At the LOWEST computation of TEN person per lamb, this would give a population of 2,565,000 or, as Josephus himself puts it, 2, 700, 200 persons (Josephus, Jewish Wars 6, 9, 3). On an earlier occasion, Josephus computed the number of Jews present in Jerusalem at Passover to be not fewer than 3,000,000 (Ibid., 2, 14, 3). Time Needed to Sacrifice Passover Lambs How long would it take to slaughter a quarter-million lambs in the restricted area of the Temple court? The slaughtering took place in the so-called Court of the Priests and the court of Israel. The COMBINED SURFACE area of the TWO courts was LESS than 10,000 square feet. 'The Court of Israel was 135 cubits long and 11 cubits wide. Next was the Court of the Priests of the SAME SIZE as the Court of Israel ' (W. F. Stinespring, 'The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible - Nashville, 1962, vol. 4, p. 554). Since a cubit corresponds to about 20 inches, each court was approximately 225 feet long and 18 feet wide. Allowing 2 1/2 feet per person, the Court of Israel could accommodate at MOST a HUNDRED Jews at a time up shoulder to shoulder with their lambs. To estimate how long it would take for a hundred Jews to sacrifice their paschal lambs in the Temple Court, one must understand the elaborate ritual that was followed. EDERSHEIM offers us an INFORMATIVE description of the ritual. ' Each division (group of Jews allowed in the Temple Court at one time) must consist of not less than thirty persons (3x10, the symbolic number of the Divine and of completeness). Immediately the massive gates were closed behind them. The priests drew a threefold blast from their silver trumpets when the Passover lamb was slain. Altogether the scene was most impressive. All along the Court up to the altar of burnt-offering priests stood in two rows, the one holding the golden, the other, silver bowls. In these the blood of the Paschal lambs, which each Israelite slew for himself (as representative of his company at the Paschal Supper), was caught up by a priest, who handed it to his colleague, receiving back an empty bowl, and so the bowls with the blood were passed up to the priest at the altar, who jerked it in one jet at the base of the altar. while this was going on, a most solemn hymn of praise was raised, the Levites leading in song, and the offerers either repeating after them or merely responding.....This service of song consisted of the so-called Hallel, which comprises Psalms 113 to 118.....Next, the sacrifices were hung up on hooks along the court, or laid on staves which rested on the shoulders of two men (on Sabbath they were not laid on staves), then flayed, the entrails taken out and cleansed, and the inside fat separated, put in a dish, salted, and placed on the fire of the altar of burnt-offering. This completed the sacrifice.....the service being in each case conducted in precisely the same manner' (Alfred Edersheim - The Temple, Its Ministry and Services' - London 1874, pp. 191-193). Assuming that it took ONLY TEN minutes to fulfil this elaborate sacrificial ritual (a rather CONSERVATIVE estimate), means that in one hour ONLY SIX groups of a hundred Jews could be admitted in the Temple court. Thus ONLY SIX HUNDRED lambs could be slain PER HOUR.....the slaying began earlier, at about 1: 30 p.m., and lasted until about 6: 00 p.m., FEWER THAN 3,000 lambs could be SLAIN in the Temple court in FOUR-AND-A-HALF HOURS. If the figure given by Josephus of 256,500 lambs slaughtered as Passover in the Temple Court is correct, IT WOULD TAKE OVER 417 HOURS (OVER 17 DAYS) NONSTOP to slaughter that many lambs. OBVIOUSLY this could NOT be accomplished in ONE AFTERNOON. We have reason to believe that the figures given by Josephus are HIGHLY INFLATED.....SUPPOSING the ACTUAL number of lambs slain at Passover was ONLY ONE TENTH of Josephus' figure, that is, ONLY 25,000, it would STILL TAKE OVER 40 HOURS to slaughter that many lambs in the Temple court at the rate of SIX HUNDRED lambs per HOUR. OBVIOUSLY, again, even 25,000 lambs COULD NOT be slain in ONE AFTERNOON......" End of quote from Dr. Bacciocchi Dr. Sam goes on to say that in the year Jesus died, they could well have started to slay the Passover lambs the day BEFORE the 14th of Nisan, in other words on the 13th day of Nisan. As to Josephus' computations of the population of Jerusalem and surrounding area being as high as 3,000,000 at Passover time, Edersheim has a foot note in his book "The Temple - Its Ministry and Services" that says: "These computations, being derived from official documents, can scarcely have been exaggerated. Indeed, Josephus expressly guards himself against this charge." Well for sure we know there would have been at least a FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND people added to the population of Jerusalem at Passover time, all coming from not only Palestine but from all areas of the Roman Empire where Jews were living. If we go with Dr. Sam's suggestion of about only 25,000 lambs slain in the Temple, we are talking about 250,000 persons (using 10 persons to share one lamb, being the overall average) that would have been in Jerusalem that observed the Pharisees teaching of slaying the lamb in the Temple and eating it at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan. 250,000 is certainly conservative for the number Jews from all parts of the Roman Empire, who were members of the Pharisees sect, and who would have been in Jerusalem for any given Passover. Hence going with Dr. Sam's thought of 25,000 lambs slain in the Temple at Passover time, is very realistic. And with what we have found from Edersheim, on how the Passover lamb was ritually slain in the Temple by the priests, and giving as Dr. Sam says 10 minutes for each lamb, they would have HAD to START slaying the lambs at least by the 13th of Nisan......and remember that would be NONE STOP, day and night, from the 13th day to about 6 p.m. on the 14th day. If we want to try and put the slaying of 25,000 lambs into the time frame of 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the afternoon of the 14th day, then they would have ritually slain 5,000 lambs AN HOUR, and you can soon figure how many wound had to have been ritually slain every minute...like running your Video or DVD movie on fast speed, all the way through. Given all these historic facts, we can now see that the idea of saying the slaying of the lambs started at 3 p.m. on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, the time that Christ is by many said to have died, is just not founded on any solid foundation at all, and is in truth a misguided idea that has sprung up from misinformed people, who themselves were probably parroting the misguided idea of some misinformed person who was misinformed by not knowing the historical facts of the whole numerics of the 14th Passover day, especially as taught and physically PRACTICED by the Pharisees and the priests in the Temple. All this just simply points out even in more detail, how the traditions of the Pharisees had got to the point where Jesus stated what He did in Mark 7: 1-13. They had first started a tradition of teaching the PRIESTS had to be a part of the ritual of slaying the Passover lamb, then adding to that, the tradition of saying the Passover lamb HAD TO BE SLAIN in the TEMPLE. Neither of the two above can be found to be required laws of the Passover in the books of Moses or the first five books of your Bible. When we understand the Passover lambs were slain in small PRIVATE groups (as Jesus and His 12 disciples did in Jesus' last Passover on earth), at the BEGINNING of the 14th day, in the evening of the 14th day of Nisan, WITHOUT having to go through ANY Temple ritual in the Temple, that included having a priest perform part of the ritual, THEN we could understand that Josephus may have been very correct in stating that the population of Jerusalem on the Passover day (the 14th) had in some years, reached as high as 3,000,000 people. Of course I realize the counter argument could say that most did not bother to go to the Temple and have their Passover lamb slain in a ritual manner, but did it themselves at the beginning of the 15th. This of course would mean they rejected, at least in part, the teaching of the Pharisees. Yet, even allowing for this argument, Edersheim still says in his aforementioned book on the Temple, that they moved up the evening sacrifice to about 1 p.m. and then immediately started the Passover lamb slaying. I guess you could argue that with all the private lambs slain in small groups at the beginning of the 14th and beginning of the 15th day (if you followed the Pharisees teaching) and who ignored anything to do with Temple ritual of slaying those lamds, you could get over 200,000 lambs slain within a 24 hour period, BUT that would not jive with Josephus claiming 256,000 plus lambs were slain in the TEMPLE court ritual itself. Josephus may have just mixed it all together and claimed it was all done in the Temple court, which as Dr. Sam has noted could not possibly be the case as it would have taken over 17 DAYS to kill that number of lambs in the Temple ritual, as outlined by Edersheim. This study is to merely show that the idea that the Passover lamb slaying in the Temple started at 3 p.m. when many state (no specific NT proof can be found - see my study called "How the NT uses 'hours'") Jesus died (just as they killed the first lamb in the Temple), has no basis in fact. Such an idea is a myth....may sound real nice, as if fulfilling some OT prophecy or "typology" type symbol (which is also not found in any part of the OT). But it is still a myth nevertheless. The truth of the matter is not always easy to admit, but as Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free".....of course you must want to be set free, to be free. Many are happy to remain in their deceived bondage. I hope you are not one of them. .................................. January 2003 PASSOVER UNDERSTANDINGS THE TRUTH ABOUT 1 COR. 5: 7, 8 Written April 1997 by Keith Hunt  The plain truth about certain verses of the Bible have not been the exclusive right of understanding to just the leaders of Sabbath observing Churches of God. Some well known scholars from the Protestant world of Theology have also not only seen certain truths of the Word of the Lord, but have had the courage to proclaim them, write them, and even answer some arguments as they did so. Such is the case with 1 Corinthians 5:7,8. What I am going to give you in this study is from TWO well known scholars and what has become a classic of a work, in their book called THE LIFE AND EPISTLES of ST.PAUL. The two scholars are W.J. Conybeare, M.A. (Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge) and J.S. Howson, D.D. (Dean of Chester). The above book is published by Eerdmans Company, Grand Rapids, MI. I do recommend this book to all who want to seriously study the life of the apostle Paul. We shall begin their quote on page 381 as they introduce the First Epistle to the Corinthians. " 1 The date of this Epistle can be fixed with more precision than that of any other. It gives us the means of ascertaining, not merely the year, but even (with great probability) the month and week, in which it was written. (1) Apollos had been working at Corinth, and was now with St.Paul at Ephesus (1 Cor.1:12; 3:4, 22; 4:6; 16:12). This was the case during St. Paul's residence at Ephesus (Acts 19:1). (2) He wrote during THE DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, i.e. at Easter (1 Cor.5:7; see the note on that passage), and intended to remain at Ephesus till Pentecost (16:8, cf. 15:32)...................." These two scholars could see from 1 Cor.5:7,8 that It was during the Feast of Unleavened Bread that Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth. Now we shall pick up their comments for those two above verses in chapter five. All capitalization is mine. " In spite of the opinion of some eminent modern commentators, which is countenanced by Chrysostom, WE MUST ADHERE TO THE INTERPRETATION WHICH CONSIDERS THESE WORDS AS WRITTEN AT THE PASCHAL SEASON, AND SUGGESTED BY IT. The words leaven, lump, Paschal Lamb. and feast all AGREE NATURALLY WITH THIS VIEW. It has been objected, that St. Paul would not address the Corinthians as engaged in a feast which he, at Ephesus, was celebrating; because it would be over before his letter could reach them. Any one who has ever written a birthday letter to a friend in India will see the weakness of this objection. It has also been urged that he would not address a mixed church of Jews and gentiles as engaged in the celebration of a Jewish feast. Those who urge this objection must have forgotten that St. Paul addresses the Galatians (undoubtedly a mixed church) as if they had all been formerly idolaters (Gal.4:8); and addresses the romans, sometimes as if they were all Jews (Rom.7:1), sometimes as if they were Gentiles (Rom.11:18). It we take 'as ye are unleavened' in a METAPHORICAL sense, it is SCARCELY CONSISTENT with the previous 'cast out the old leaven' ; for the passage would then amount to saying. ' Be free from leaven (METAPHORICALLY) as you are free from leaven (METAPHORICALLY)' ; whereas on the other view, St. Paul says, ' Be free from leaven (METAPHORICALLY) as you are free from leaven (LITERALLY).' There seems no difficulty in supposing that the Gentile Christians JOINED WITH the Jewish Christians IN CELEBRATING THE PASCHAL FEAST AFTER THE JEWISH MANNER, AT LEAST TO THE EXTENT OF ABSTAINING FROM LEAVEN IN THE LOVE-FEASTS. AND WE SEE THAT ST. PAUL STILL OBSERVED THE 'DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD' AT THIS PERIOD OF HIS LIFE, FROM ACTS 20:6..............." Do you see the LOGIC and HONEST evaluation of those two verses that these two men of Theology learning, were willing to give and expound on this section a scripture. Verse 8 is an admonition by Paul to effect a correct and righteous attitude of mind and even certain literal church disciplines that needed to be exercised, so the feast they were observing could be kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. As Christ was the true Passover Lamb of God, as He had come and given Himself in sacrifice for sins, to put away sin, to free them from the bondage of sin (Egypt) and Pharaoh (Satan), and to lead them out of that bondage into the Promised land of TRUTH and RIGHTEOUSNESS and the KINGDOM (Moses being a type of Christ). Because of all that truth, they were to put away the evil that was as leaven in the bread, that would if not corrected eventually leaven with sin the whole lump of the local church(verses 1-8). Here they were as the people of God, celebrating the Passover and Unleavened Bread feast. They had the Passover memorial service ALL MESSED UP, some getting drunk on the wine, others making a huge meal out of it and not even sharing what they had with those who had nothing, as we see from the correction Paul gave them in chapter 11. And the feast of Unleavened Bread? Well instead of coming out of sin, they were allowing INCEST to take place, and everyone knew it. They were turning a blind eye to it, thinking that they were being KIND and MERCIFUL. Even PROUD about not doing anything in the way of discipline to the unrepentant sinner. Paul lays it on the line with them. He tells them there are some things in the church that they are TO JUDGE. God will judge those outside the church, but those open defiant sinners within the church THEY are to judge, and the leaven was to be put away. They were to observe the feast by putting open wickedness within the congregation away, and "Therefore LET US KEEP THE FEAST........WITH THE UNLEAVENED BREAD OF SINCERITY AND TRUTH." Those last words we shall look at in detail next time. ....................... PASSOVER UNDERSTANDINGS THE TRUTH ABOUT 1 COR. 5: 7, 8   Continued Paul had written to the church at Corinth concerning what action they should take in regards to a man practicing INCEST within the very congregation. They all KNEW it was happening, even took some pride in being kind and merciful to the man. Probably thought if they took no action but showed how patient they were towards him and his open sin, he would come to see he should not be doing such evil, and withdraw from it all by himself. Paul thought no such thing, and was very open to show them their error on the matter. He told them he had judged the situation as if he was right there with them. He told them that with the power of Jesus Christ and in His very name, together with Paul in spirit among them, they should disfellowship the un-repentant sinner from their congregation(1 Cor.5:1-5). To glory in doing it any other way he told them was NOT GOOD(verse 6). It was the days of Unleavened Bread. They had put physical leaven out of their homes. They were unleavened in that area and sense of their lives. Now they were to get out the spiritual UNleavened bread of open sin that was taking place among them, and that would IF NOT CORRECT eventually spread like a cancer until the whole was leavened with sin and wickedness. He reminds them that Christ the Passover was sacrificed. That sacrifice was not taken upon Himself so we could wilfully, casually, openly, with a care free attitude, just sin to our hearts content, so God's grace could be further magnified and glorified(Rom.6:1-6). Christ did not come and die as the Passover Lamb so we could continue in sin. He died to save us FROM sin, to put away sin, to have us live not after sin but after righteousness. Yet here they were allowing open un- repentant sin to be practiced within their fellowship. The very feast they were observing was to teach them that sin MUST BE PUT AWAY, CLEARED OUT OF OUR LIVES, AND TRUTH AND SINCERITY WAS TO ENTER. Paul said to them: "Therefore(because Christ is our Passover, and what that means) LET US KEEP THE FEAST........" The Greek TENSE for the words "let us keep" is FIRST PERSON, PLURAL, PRESENT, SUBJUNCTIVE. You can find this on page 148 of the ANALYTICAL GREEK LEXICON. The FIRST PERSON PLURAL is readily seen in the words "let us" - very personal and plural. He was telling them as a group of persons, as Christians, THEY, US, should do something. They were actually at the very time of his writing DOING SOMETHING. They were observing the feast of the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. They had put away physical leaven, now it was time for THEM(plural) to put away the spiritual leaven of open sin. Then we have the PRESENT TENSE. From the book ESSENTIALS OF NEW TESTAMENT GREEK, Lesson three, page 11, by Summers, we read: "The present tense indicates PROGRESSIVE action at the PRESENT time - 'he is loosing' ........." They were at the time Paul was writing PROGRESSIVELY DOING OR OBSERVING the feast of Unleavened Bread. Yet this PRESENT tense is also SUBJUNCTIVE. This will take a little more study and investigation, but the time and trouble will pay off in fully understanding the thoughts and wishes of Paul for the church at Corinth. Lesson 26 in the book ESSENTIALS OF NT GREEK, is called "The Subjunctive Mood: Conditional Sentences. Page 105, under Grammatical Study we read: "(1) The forms of the subjunctive mood: Except for some very rare occurrences in the perfect tense the subjunctive mood is used only in the present and the aorist in New Testament Greek................. Page 106,107 under: (2) The function of the subjunctive mood: In grammatical study mood is defined as the affirmation of the relation of action to reality. Is the action actually taking place, or is it only potential?........the real and the potential. In NT Greek there are FOUR TRUE mood; one expresses real action (indicative), THREE express potential action (subjunctive, optative, and imperative). IN OTHER WORDS, action which is viewed by the speaker as real is expressed by the indicative mood; action which is viewed by the speaker as POSSIBLE, contingent upon CERTAIN CONDITIONS, is expressed by ONE of the POTENTIAL moods.......four English sentences illustrate this principle: Indicative mood: THE CHILD RUNS. This expresses action which is really taking place. Subjunctive mood: IF THE CHILD RUN, he will escape. This expresses action which is not really taking place but which is objectively possible. The child has the ability to run. This of all the potential moods is nearest to reality. Optative mood: OH, THAT THE CHILD WOULD RUN!.........one step further away than the subjunctive. Imperative mood: RUN, CHILD..........It is the furthest removed from the real action of the indicative mood..........." Let's stop there for a moment. Our phrase "let us keep" is present progressive subjunctive. And subjunctive is action that is objectively possible, contingent upon certain conditions. It is the NEAREST to the actual reality of the thing in question(the action) taking place. Now stop and think about the context of 1 Cor.5:7,8. And the very context of verse 8 itself. Paul WANTED THEM TO TAKE ACTION AND PERFORM SOMETHING AS THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD WAS IN PROGRESS, AS THEY HAD UNLEAVENED THEMSELVES PHYSICALLY, THEY SHOULD(ACTION) UNLEAVEN THEMSELVES SPIRITUALLY FROM SIN AND WICKEDNESS(BY DOING A LITERAL ACT OF PUTTING AN UNREPENTANT OPEN SINNER OUT OF THEIR FELLOWSHIP). Action then that was POTENTIAL UPON THEM MEETING CERTAIN CONDITIONS. IF THEY WOULD START TO KEEP THE FEAST WITH SINCERITY AND TRUTH THEY WOULD PUT AWAY THE LEAVEN OF SIN(SPECIFICALLY THE MAN PRACTICING INCEST). Hold on to all that, we shall come back to it very shortly, but I want to give a little more from lesson 26 of Summers' book. Page 108. "1. The HORTATORY subjunctive is the use of the FIRST PERSON PLURAL to EXHORT OTHERS TO JOIN US IN AN ACTION......'Let us go into the house.'............" Remember our phrase in the Greek "LET US KEEP" is in the FIRST PERSON PLURAL, PRESENT. SUNJUNCTIVE. So first of all, Paul was EXHORTING OTHERS TO JOIN IN AN ACTION WITH HIMSELF. He had already told them he had judged the matter, and what they should do when they came together with him there in spirit, was what he personally had judged - the sinner was to be put out of their fellowship. In so doing they were being exhorted to CONTINUE PROGRESSIVELY(present tense) to unleaven themselves spiritually from sin and wickedness, as they had unleavened themselves physically from leaven. Yet them doing this was SUBJUNCTIVE action they had NOT REALLY YET actually done, but it was the closest to the reality. Hence Paul did not use the Present Indicative mood(action actually taking place), for they had not yet received his letter that was exhorting them to take the action he was encouraging them to take - disfellowship the open unrepentant sinner. Their action was not YET reality, but it was the closest to it. It was action viewed by the speaker Paul as POSSIBLE, contingent upon CERTAIN CONDITIONS. To progressively(present tense) continue keeping the feast of Unleavened Bread in the true spirit of no leaven of wickedness, but the unleavened of righteousness and truth, THEY would have to fulfil and meet the conditions of putting away this blatant sinner from their fellowship. When that was done then the present SUBJUNCTIVE, would become the present INDICATIVE - action on their part that was literally and actually taking place. Let me once more try to put it all into simple English. Paul had received news about MANY problems the church at Corinth was having. One was the problem of an open unrepentant sinner practicing incest within their midst. He had heard they were doing nothing about it, and even glorying in the mercy they were showing this person by saying and doing nothing to correct him. Paul did not agree with this kind of closed eye mercy or favor. He had judged the matter very differently. He tells them in his reply what they should be doing about this condition and the Godly discipline they should exercise, by disfellowshipping this man. As it was the feast of the days of Unleavened Bread, as they had physically unleavened themselves in their homes, as they knew that Christ was the Passover Lamb, and that He died to save us FROM sin not IN our sins, not so we could continue to sin freely and openly to our hearts content. As it was the feast that pictured PUTTING AWAY SIN, the old leaven of wickedness, and putting on the unleavened of truth and holiness and right acting, he then EXHORTS them to do as he would, to go forward in the progressiveness of the feast they were celebrating, by taking the right action, based upon meeting the conditions of demonstrating that right action, which was the judging of this man to be such a sinner that it was needful to put him out of their fellowship, until he had repented of his malodorous, gross, unmistakable open sin of incest. What was the outcome to all this some may ask? Ah, it was a good outcome for EVERYONE in the end. We find in Paul's second letter we have preserved for us ( 2 Corinthians) in the first number of chapters, the answer. The church did take action, the correct discipline on this matter. The sinner was put away from them, with much sorrow(for such action by a congregation should never be a joy to do in one sense). The sinner did in much grief come to heart felt repentance over his practice. And Paul tells them because of these good results from this action, to re-instate the man back to full brotherhood and fellowship (2 Cor.2:1-11, see such translations as the Amplified Bible). Oh, what great lessons we are given in the word of the Lord concerning His wonderful and meaningful FEASTS. What a BLESSING they are! What a GREAT PLAN of Salvation, Truth, Justice, Mercy, and Love, are ours through the knowledge of the Feasts of the Eternal. Let us never take them for granted, but let us REMEMBER them. Let us MEDITATE upon them. Let us CONTINUE TO OBSERVE them in SINCERITY AND IN TRUTH. In our next study we shall look at 1 Corinthians 11:20-34. .......................... PASSOVER UNDERSTANDINGS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON 1 COR.11:20-34 It will take more than one study to cover all the things that need to be examined in this section of scripture. So let's begin. Verse 20 and the phrase "When you come together" is often explained, depending who is doing the explaining, as ONCE a day, ONCE a week, ONCE a month, THREE or FOUR times a year, and other various times, many or few. How can we know HOW MANY TIMES a year we are to observe the memorial of our Lord's death that this section of the letter to the Corinthian church is giving instructions upon? First, we need to acknowledge that the NT Greek did have words that it used elsewhere for out English words of "day" - "week" - "every Sabbath" - "each month" - "every three months" - "two memorials a year" etc. It would have been very easy for the Holy Spirit to have inspired Paul to use such language here, IF God has wanted to tell us that the memorial of our Savior's death was to be observed MORE THAN ONCE a year. This would have been an excellent place in the NT to have so instructed us. But Paul did not use any such language, or Greek phrases as above. Verse 20 by itself CANNOT prove anything about how often to observe the NT symbols of Christ's death. Yet, we are not left completely in the dark regarding the answer to our question. The CONTEXT must be taken into consideration. They were as Paul knew COMING TOGETHER! They were meeting together as a group of people, in ONE place. They were from the context pretending to observe the death of Jesus. Oh, they were doing it WRONG and with MANY errors involved that Paul corrected them on, but they were claiming to observe the Lord's death, and Paul was talking about the observance of the memorial of the Lord's death. All I believe agree on that point. Paul within this context, in verse 23, gives us the key as to how many times a day, week, month, or year, he expected them to observe this memorial. He had received it RIGHT FROM THE LORD HIMSELF, and which he had at one time before this letter was written, INSTRUCTED THEM upon. It was the NIGHT that Jesus was betrayed that the NT symbols were introduced for the NT remembrance of Christ's death. We have seen in our past studies that THAT NIGHT was the Passover night of the 14th of the first month. At the VERY BEGINNING of the 14th, NOT the end of the day but the START of the day, the NIGHT of the 14th. We have seen that the Gospels(all of them) make this truth VERY CLEAR! And we have seen from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that is was indeed the PASSOVER meal, the Passover supper meal, that Jesus with His disciples DID OBSERVE! We have seen they DID PREPARE AND EAT IT THAT NIGHT OF THE 14TH! We can search the NT from front to back and we shall never find ANY scripture to say that the ONCE A YEAR observation of the Passover/True Lamb of God, memorial service, was ever CHANGED from once a year celebration to more than once a year. We can see from the Gospels and from this passage we are studying, that the SYMBOLS were changed, that Jesus indeed changed it from a supper meal to a simple bread and wine and foot washing service, BUT the time of day and how many times a year it was to be observed was NEVER changed. Some will immediately cry out verse 26 and the phrase "For as OFTEN as you eat....." and say it can be observed as often we like to observe it. Well I shall come to that verse later with some in depth comments and we shall see from the Greek, that is not what it means. But in our next study for that. Back to verse 20 through to 22. They were indeed coming together to observe the Lord's death. It is clear from these verses they were MAKING A LARGE MEAL of it. And what a mess they were making of even that fact. Some who had much were bringing their own meal, some who had little or even nothing could not bring anything, and those who had much WOULD NOT EVEN SHARE with those who had nothing! So some went hungry. Then add injury to insult, some were drinking so much wine that they were literally GETTING DRUNK! They were DOING, ACTING, literally in a wrong manner. I want you to remember this, for we shall come back to it when I comment on verse 27,29, in connection with observing "unworthily" which has caused some misunderstanding in the minds of too many sincere Christians. I will cover that in our next study. WERE THEY TO EAT THE LORD'S SUPPER? IS THIS SERVICE CALLED "THE LORD'S SUPPER"? Here we have two questions. Both of them need to be answered. We need to note the phrase as it is in the KJV "this is not to eat the Lord's supper." In the Greek/English INTERLINEAR by Berry it reads literally as: "IT IS NOT LORD'S SUPPER TO EAT." The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE also gives a true translation from the Greek: "Therefore when you meet together, IT IS NOT TO EAT THE LORD'S SUPPER." VERY FEW have really seen what Paul was saying here in this verse to them. They were making a SUPPER meal of the NT memorial service of Christ's death. Jesus on the last night that He partook of the Passover/True Lamb of God, memorial service DID EAT A MEAL. It was the Passover meal supper - roast lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. During that meal Jesus introduced the NT symbols of His broken body and shed blood for the New Covenant service, as Paul points out to the church at Corinth in the section we are now studying. It was a MEAL that Jesus did observe on that NIGHT, but it is clear from the Gospels by what Christ DID and TAUGHT, and by what Paul(who said he was taught and instructed by Jesus) had delivered to them beforehand(verse 23), IT WAS NO LONGER TO BE A MEAL!! It was to be BREAD and the CUP. Doing THIS was showing or remembering the Lord's death till He come(verses 24-28). Those were NOW the TWO basic parts and symbols to this remembrance NIGHT service of Christ's death, to be observed on the NIGHT in which Jesus was betrayed(verse 23). IT WAS NOT TO BE A MEAL!! Hence Paul said: "Coming together therefore you into one place, it is not Lord's supper to eat" (Greek/English Interlinear by Berry). To even get into this still more from a technical point of view I will quote at length from the book by Fred Coulter THE CHRISTIAN PASSOVER, pages 211-213. Quote: ".......Paul begins by correcting the Corinthians for their heretical observance of the Christian Passover...........As we shall see, one of the heresies which had taken root in the Corinthian church was the practice of calling the NT Passover the 'Lord's Supper.' The Corinthians had apparently adopted the practice of eating the OT Passover meal in conjunction with the NT Passover! This heresy is still with us to this day! People commonly call the Christian Passover the 'Lord's supper,' and there are those who still celebrate it with a meal. However, Paul strictly forbids both such practices in no uncertain terms........'Therefore, when you come together into one place, it is not to eat the Lord's supper!' (1 Cor.11:20, author's translation - FC). Can anything be clearer?.......If they were not to come together to eat the Lord's supper, then the NT Passover should not be called the 'Lord's Supper'! This fact is made abundantly clear in the Greek text. Paul used the Greek negative adverb ouk to emphasize that they were 'not to eat the Lord's Supper.' The word ouk denotes the IMPOSSIBILITY of eating the Lord's supper! Ouk is ' an objective negative adverb denying the reality of an alleged fact ' (Arndt & Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament)......... Based upon this direct condemnation by the apostle Paul, the NT Passover should never be called the ' Lord's Supper.' ............From the very tenor of Paul's rebuke, it is apparent that this problem was not a minor misunderstanding. Paul's writings are simple and plain. The NT Passover is not the Lord's supper; therefore it should not be called the Lord's Supper.............The NT Passover is not a meal. The NT Passover is a solemn ceremony, not a festive meal..............To end this gross misobservance, Paul made it clear that whatever meals they desired to eat should be eaten at home before assembling to partake of the NT Passover ceremony......(verse 22)..........Paul was not dealing with a single heresy, but multiple heresies. In fact, the entire epistle of First Corinthians addresses one heresy after another in Paul's attempt to turn the Corinthians from these most unChristian practices...........Jesus clearly nullified the observance of the OT Passover with the introduction of the new symbols. The footwashing and the new symbols of the unleavened bread and wine have replaced the former paschal meal of the lamb and bitter herbs. The ceremony and meaning were changed by Jesus Christ Himself at His last Passover. As the Son of God , He had the authority to change it! However the Passover day itself was not changed. The Scriptures in both OT and NT show that it was and is the 14th day of the 1st month............Paul had previously taught the Corinthians the proper observance of the NT Passover, but they apparently had decided that they could improve upon those original instructions. The traditions of men are always hailed as better than God's way. Heresy is always called an 'improvement'! False doctrine is always touted as 'new revelation.' .............Yes, the brethren at Corinth had been taught the proper way to observe the NT Passover. Paul had previously instructed them (1 Cor.11:23). They knew what was right and good, but they were not doing it............As the apostle James declared, ' Therefore, to the one who knows to do good, and is not practicing it, TO HIM IT IS SIN ' (James 4:17, author's translation - FC)............Can there be any higher authority than the direct teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely not!..........." Fred Coulter then proceeds to quote Paul from verse 23-26. You will notice in those verses the phrase as it is in the KJV, "in remembrance of me." The Greek is even more SPECIFIC. There is the definite article "the" in the Greek. It is: Tau as in tale. Eta as in obey. Nu as in no. A three letter word, that is translated MANY times in the NT as "the." So the Greek is: "....this do in THE remembrance of me." Then looking up the Greek word for "remembrance" in the Analytical Greek Lexicon, page 24, we discover that the root to this word means: remembrance; a commemoration; memorial. The OT Passover was actually God's true Lamb, that was slain from the foundation of the world(in His Plan from the very beginning). It was THE MEMORIAL of the death of the one who would come to die for the sins of the whole world, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have EVERLASTING LIFE! What a memorial! It is THE MEMORIAL, THE REMEMBRANCE NIGHT of the year. No other night in the entire year is quite like the NT PASSOVER NIGHT. Let's never take it for granted. Let's observe it in the correct manner. Let a man/woman EXAMINE THEMSELVES and so let them eat of that bread and drink of that cup (1 Cor.11:28). ..........................