Passover

Definition and Meaning

The Korean name for Passover, yuwoljeol (踰越節), means "the feast of passing over" and renders the Hebrew Pesach. The name comes from the account in Exodus 12. When God brought the final plague upon Egypt, he "passed over" the houses of Israel whose doorposts had been marked with the blood of a lamb. On the day after Passover, the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread begins, during which bread made without leaven (matzah) is eaten. For this reason, the two festivals are sometimes referred to together.

Biblical and Historical Background

The Law of Moses prescribes that Passover be kept on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month (Abib, later called Nisan) (Exodus 12:1-14; Leviticus 23:5-6). The people roasted a lamb and ate it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs in remembrance of their deliverance. Passover later became a pilgrimage festival celebrated at the Temple in Jerusalem. After the destruction of the Temple, Judaism continued the observance in the form of the Seder, a household meal during which the story of the Exodus is recited.

The New Testament reports that Jesus' Last Supper took place around the time of Passover (Matthew 26:17-19; Luke 22:15). Paul called Christ "our passover" (1 Corinthians 5:7), and the Gospel of John presents Jesus as "the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). On the basis of such texts, Christianity has interpreted Passover as an event that foreshadowed Christ's death on the cross and his atonement. In the early church, there was controversy over whether Easter should be fixed to the fourteenth of Nisan in the Jewish calendar. This question is also reported to have been discussed at the Council of Nicaea.

Practice in the Korean Church

Most Korean Protestant denominations do not observe Passover as a separate church festival. Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, and Full Gospel churches, among others, regard Passover as fulfilled in Christ and address its meaning in connection with the Lord's Supper and in sermons during Holy Week and on Easter. Denominations differ in how they understand the meaning of the Lord's Supper (see Eucharistic controversies). Some churches hold a "Passover meal" during Holy Week that reenacts a Jewish Passover meal as an educational event.

The World Mission Society Church of God calls this festival the "New Covenant Passover." The group claims that salvation requires keeping the Passover instituted by Jesus and that it has restored the truth of the early church. The general assemblies of several denominations, including the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), have declared the group heretical. These denominations hold that making Passover observance a condition of salvation is inconsistent with a proper interpretation of Scripture.