The traditional customs surrounding lent have an ancient origin, but also carry a deep lesson concerning repentance. Should Christians observe them?
At the beginning of each year, millions upon millions of people who claim to be Christians observe the religious customs and festivities of Lent. Does the Bible command it? Where did it come from and what does it mean?
Lent comes from an Old English word Lencten, meaning “spring.” The root of the word is most likely the same as for the word long and refers to the lengthening days.
The Lenten season runs for a period of 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. Its traditional purpose was to prepare people for Easter through self-denial and penance. During this time, many deny the self through “fasting” (abstinence from rich foods such as meat, dairy, fats and sugar) or giving up certain luxuries as a form of remorse.
“As long as the perfection of the primitive church remained inviolable,” wrote Cassian in the fifth century, “there was no observance of Lent; but when men began to decline from the apostolical fervour of devotion … then the priests in general agreed to recall them from secular cares by a canonical indiction of fasting …” (Antiquities of the Christian Church, Book 21, chapter 1, emphasis added throughout). Collier’s Encyclopedia says of Lent that it is “Admittedly not of Apostolic origin.” It did not originate with Christ or the early Church but entered into the Christianity of the Roman world in the second century, at the same time Easter did. Lent has always been associated with the pagan Easter celebrations.
Where did the springtime celebration of Lent actually originate? The answer may surprise you.
Worshiping the Risen Lord?
Lent immediately precedes the celebration of a supposedly Sunday resurrection of Christ. But Christ was not resurrected on Sunday! (For proof of this, request our free reprint articles “From Good Friday to Easter Sunday” and “Is Sunday the Lord’s Day?”) More importantly, nowhere in the New Testament are Christians commanded to observe the resurrection of Christ! Instead, we are to memorialize His death (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25). The early Church did observe that memorial, but never Easter or Lent.
Jesus was resurrected, according to the Bible, not on a Sunday morning, but on Saturday evening after he had been in the tomb three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40). No wonder the apostles did not teach the early spirit-filled New Testament Church of God to observe these traditions of men! Lent and Easter celebrate the supposed resurrection of a fake Christ—a false Messiah from Babylon.
“Even if Easter and Lent are ancient pagan festivals, isn’t it all right nevertheless if used to honor Christ?” many ask. That is the way human beings reason. How would God answer that question? The Bible contains many warnings to not follow after the customs of the heathen. “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them … and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31).
What people think doesn’t matter. Here is how God views it! What He thinks does matter, and He calls these pagan customs abominable.
The Prophet Jeremiah likewise recorded: “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain …” (Jeremiah 10:2-3). No wonder neither Christ nor the apostles ever taught the early New Testament Church to observe these traditions of men. The Apostle Paul forbade the saints of the first century to observe these pagan “times” or “seasons” (Galatians 4:9-10).
Timing of Lent
In both Latin and Greek, the term used for Lent means “count 40.” Regardless of the duration, it was always called the celebration of 40 days. Why, then, wasn’t it until the eighth century a.d. that the definitive number of 40 days’ abstinence became an established fact? While the traditional Christian world wants you to believe it was because of the 40 days of Christ’s fasting in preparation for the titanic battle with Satan (Matthew 4), the answer is very different.
Christ fasted at the start of His ministry, before He began preaching the Kingdom of God (Matthew 4:17). His ministry started in the fall, lasted 3½ years and ended in the spring. That means there is no similarity in the timing with Lent whatsoever.
But among the pagans, abstinence was known as “count 40” because of the duration of their spring festival.
In Egyptian Antiquities, the historian Wilkinson records how pagans kept “fasts, many of which lasted from seven to 42 days, and sometimes even a longer period.” Yet the original length of the fast can be traced back some 4,000 years to ancient Babylon, where a 40-day fast took place in the spring of the year, as Sir Austen Henry Layard records in his writings.
Over time, nations slowly changed the duration of the celebration but maintained the same name. Professing Christians began to adopt the customs of their surroundings. This explains the confusion over Lent’s duration.
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