Passover is the central redemptive event of the Old Testament — God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt through the blood of a slain lamb that protected the firstborn from the judgment of death. The Passover lamb had to be without blemish, slaughtered at twilight on the 14th of Nisan, its blood applied to the doorposts and lintels of every Israelite home. When the destroyer passed through Egypt, he "passed over" (protected) every home covered by the blood. Passover was not merely historical memory — it was to be commemorated annually as Israel's defining identity event. In the NT, Paul explicitly states: "Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed" (1 Cor 5:7). The Last Supper was a Passover Seder. Jesus died on Passover, at the hour the lambs were being slaughtered in the temple. The typological precision is staggering — every Passover for 1,500 years was preaching the cross.
PASS'OVER, noun A feast of the Jews, instituted to commemorate the providential escape of the Hebrews in Egypt, when God, smiting the first-born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites which were marked with the blood of the paschal lamb. The paschal lamb was itself called the passover.
"Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Webster's note: The Passover was the most important of the Jewish festivals. It was a type of the atoning sacrifice of Christ, whose blood applied to the believer secures his exemption from the wrath of God.
• Exodus 12:13 — "The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you."
• 1 Corinthians 5:7 — "For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed."
• John 1:29 — "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
• Luke 22:15 — "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer."
• 1 Peter 1:18–19 — "You were ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."
H6453 — pesach (פֶּסַח): Passover, the Passover sacrifice; 49 uses in OT; from pasach (H6452) = to pass over, to spare, to protect; the verb occurs in Isa 31:5 where God "passes over" and protects Jerusalem as a bird protects its young.
G3957 — pascha (πάσχα): Passover, the Passover lamb; 29 uses in NT; Paul's use in 1 Cor 5:7 ("Christ our pascha") is the definitive NT statement of Passover fulfillment.
The Passover lamb requirements (Exod 12): year-old male, without blemish, selected on the 10th of Nisan, slaughtered on the 14th, not a bone broken. Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan (Triumphal Entry), was crucified on the 14th (Preparation Day), not a bone was broken (John 19:36, fulfilling Exod 12:46).
Modern Christianity has largely severed the Lord's Supper from its Passover roots, reducing it to a symbolic ritual stripped of its OT context. When Paul says "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed," he is making a claim about typological fulfillment that demands the entire Exodus narrative as its interpretive frame: Egypt = bondage to sin; Pharaoh = Satan; the plagues = God's escalating judgment; the lamb = substitutionary death; the blood on the doorpost = faith applied. To receive communion without this context is to eat a meal without reading the menu. The Replacement Theology tendency to "move past" the OT robs Christianity of the full weight of what Christ accomplished. He did not abolish the Passover — he became it.
Hebrew פֶּסַח (pesach, H6453)
Root פָּסַח (pasach, H6452):
Primary meaning: to pass over, to spare (Exod 12:13,23,27)
Secondary meaning: to limp (1 Kgs 18:21 — Elijah: "how long will you limp/vacillate?")
The "limping" meaning may relate to the angel "stopping" at marked houses
Isa 31:5 uses pasach = a bird hovering protectively = shielding, not merely skipping
Greek πάσχα (pascha) — from Hebrew pesach via Aramaic
Not related to the Greek word paschō (πάσχω = to suffer)
Though early church fathers saw a beautiful resonance:
Christ's pascha (Passover) accomplished through his paschō (suffering)
Easter etymology:
German Ostern / Old English Ēastre — possibly from Proto-Germanic dawn goddess
The underlying event is still Passover/Resurrection — "paschal mystery"
Paul's "Christ our Passover" (1 Cor 5:7) is the theological anchor regardless of name
• "The blood was on the outside of the door — visible to God, not to the family inside. Faith is not about feeling safe; it's about being covered. The family inside had to trust what was on the door."
• "Not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken (Exod 12:46). Not a bone of Jesus was broken (John 19:36). The soldiers were unwittingly fulfilling 1,500-year-old liturgy."
• "Jesus took the Passover cup — the cup of salvation — and said, 'This is my blood of the new covenant.' He is not replacing the Passover. He is completing it. The meal that began in Egypt ends at the cross."