The Crucifixion Not Friday

[FireDragon76]

The Jews used inclusive reckoning, so then "any part" of the included would then be accounted as all of it. So three days and nights would be different than 56 hours.

Proof of this can be seen in Luke 24. That chapter says this is Sunday - the first day of the week - it also says it is "the third day".

And they said to Him, “Those about Jesus the Nazarene, who proved to be a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

Saturday afternoon would be the first day "since" that Friday afternoon event without inclusive reckoning, but with inclusive reckoning then Friday is day 1 and Saturday is day 2. That makes Sunday (the first day of the week according to Luke 24) -- the 3rd day.

1 Cor 15:4 says He was raised "on the third day" which agrees with what we find in Luke 24.



And it is near/at evening on the first day of the week when they said that.

Most ancient people in the Mediterranean counted the same way. That is something I remember from my HS Latin class.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Scripture, at least twice, tells us our Lord was crucified on a Friday.

"Then he took [the body of Jesus] down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid Him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning." - Luke 23:53-54

That really ends any possible debate there could even be. Jesus was crucified on the day before the Sabbath, on the day when Jews were preparing for the Sabbath to begin, that's Friday, specifically Friday before sunset. It was nearing sundown on Friday, because it says "the Sabbath was beginning"--the Sabbath begins sundown Friday and ends sundown Saturday.

Our second text is also from Luke's Gospel,

"And He said to them, 'What things?' and they said to Him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened." - Luke 23:19-21

"The third day since these things happened"

Sunday = Third day
Saturday = Second day
Friday = First day

Jesus died and was buried before sunset on Friday. Jesus spent the entirety of the Sabbath in the grave. And then early Sunday morning He rose from the dead.

Christians celebrate the Lord's resurrection as the Christian Passover, called Pascha in Greek. Early Christians were divided in their customs on whether to celebrate this Feast at the same time as the Jewish Passover (Nisan 14th), a position known as Quartodecimanism (literally Fourteenism); or whether the Feast should always be celebrated on the Lord's Day (aka Sunday). Over time the Quartodeciman position became less popular, and appears to have largely only been retained by a handful of schismatic and heretical groups when at the Council of Nicea, as a periphery issue, resolved to standardize the timing of the Feast.

The gathered bishops came to agree that it would be a good thing if Christians were celebrating the Paschal Feast together, at the same time, and so a method of calculation, which was already in practice in the Church of Alexandria and the other Egyptian churches. This method of computation has continued to be how we do things.

In English-speaking places we usually call the Paschal Feast by the name "Easter", which goes back to when the Anglo-Saxons who invaded Britain were converted to Christianity, and they began to refer to the Paschal Feast by the name of the month it occurred in: Eostermonath; thus referring to the Feast as "Eostre". The only similar thing we see is that in standard German the Paschal Feast is called by the cognate, Ostern. However in some parts of Germany and in regional German dialects the word Paasken (Pascha) is preferred.

The Paschal Feast is the day on which Christians have celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the oldest day on the Christian calendar, and probably emerged among the first Christian communities even during the lifetime of the Apostles--the use of the word Pascha (Passover) clues us in on this. And common sense would tell us that the most central and important event in the Christian religion would be the thing to be given its own celebration.

Overtime the entire week leading up to the Paschal Feast became important, Holy Week or Passion Week, beginning on the day we call Palm Sunday, and concluding on Holy Saturday, also called the Great Sabbath (for Christ our Lord was at rest in His tomb). Between Palm Sunday and Holy Saturday we also remember the Institution of the Holy Eucharist (Maundy Thursday) and the Friday of His death, Good Friday.

Historically and biblically we know the Lord was crucified on a Friday, we remember this and observe this every year as Good Friday. And the Feast of the Lord's Resurrection, the great and holy Feast of Pascha, the Day of Days, is the day we celebrate and declare with our loudest song, praise, and words: Christos anesti! Alithos anesti! Christ is risen! Amen He is risen!

-CryptoLutheran

 

[John G.]

Agreed but the calculation for Easter is different for Orthodox than for Catholics and Protestants.
The former celebrate after the Jewish Passover.
This year Orthodox Easter falls on 5 May.

 

[BobRyan]

Scripture, at least twice, tells us our Lord was crucified on a Friday.

"Then he took [the body of Jesus] down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid Him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning." - Luke 23:53-54

That really ends any possible debate there could even be. Jesus was crucified on the day before the Sabbath, on the day when Jews were preparing for the Sabbath to begin, that's Friday, specifically Friday before sunset. It was nearing sundown on Friday, because it says "the Sabbath was beginning"--the Sabbath begins sundown Friday and ends sundown Saturday.

True -- very good point

Our second text is also from Luke's Gospel,

"And He said to them, 'What things?' and they said to Him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened." - Luke 23:19-21

"The third day since these things happened"

Sunday = Third day
Saturday = Second day
Friday = First day

yes - exactly. !

Jesus died and was buried before sunset on Friday. Jesus spent the entirety of the Sabbath in the grave. And then early Sunday morning He rose from the dead.

True that! He is alive.

And as often as we celebrate the communion service "we do declare the Lord's death until He comes" 1 Cor 11:25-26
25 In the same way He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

Christians celebrate the Lord's resurrection as the Christian Passover, called Pascha in Greek. Early Christians were divided in their customs on whether to celebrate this Feast at the same time as the Jewish Passover

That communion service was held repeatedly in the NT - not just once a year.

Sometimes they did it every day.

 

[prodromos]

Agreed but the calculation for Easter is different for Orthodox than for Catholics and Protestants.
The former celebrate after the Jewish Passover.

The Orthodox still calculate the date according to the Julian calendar, while Catholics and Protestants calculate according to the Gregorian calendar. The calculation is done independent of any Jewish calculations for Passover. We don't rely on the Jews for determining when to celebrate Pascha.
Though the calendars themselves are 13 days apart, the impact that can have on the calculation of the date can be anywhere from the same day to over a month apart.

Paschalion - OrthodoxWiki

orthodoxwiki.org

 

[John G.]

You inadvertently DO rely on the Jews - as you put it.
From the article you cited:

Pascha is always the Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon. Since the PFM is simply the 14th day of the Paschal lunar month, this means that Pascha is the third Sunday in the Paschal lunar month, and can fall on any date in the lunar month from the 15th (the day after the PFM) to the 21st (seven days after the PFM). That the structure of the Paschal lunar month is modelled on that of the scriptural month of 'Aviv (now called Nisan) should be clear. The Paschal lunar month is analogous to the month of 'Aviv. It is in effect a Christian 'Aviv or Nisan'. The 14th day, the Paschal Full Moon, is analogous to the day of the Passover sacrifice, and the third week, the 15th to the 21st, the week whose Lord's Day is Pascha, is analogous to the Week of Unleavened Bread.

 

[AFrazier]

I know it's "Good Friday" and many celebrate the crucifixion as being on a Friday, but it really couldn't have been because of the 3 days and 3 nights just wouldn't fit. You'd have 2 days and 2 nights only. Part of Friday before sundown could count as a day, then the night = 1 day, 1 night. Then Sabbath day and Sabbath night = 2 days, 2 nights, but then Jesus is already gone when the women get to the tomb on the first day of the week (Sunday) at or before dawn.
Even Matthew 28:1 shows it may have even been earlier than that: "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week"
Since the end of the Sabbath would be sundown on Saturday, some have made the supposition that they went to the tomb

"“as it began to dusk and come toward the first day of the week.” This event, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary coming to view the tomb, is not recorded in any Gospel but Matthew.

The translations differ about this verse, so to properly understand it we must pay strict attention to the Greek text, the Jewish customs, and the event itself. This event occurred on Saturday, Nisan 17, in the late evening, just as the Jewish day Sunday was “dawning,” i.e., starting, that is just before the Saturday Sabbath ended at sunset and Sunday, the first day of the week, began. The fact that Matthew records that the Sabbath was just ending at sunset tells us that Matthew is written from the point of view of Jewish timing, not Roman timing. The Jews began their new day at sunset, while the Romans began their new day at midnight (like Westerners still do). This verse is not speaking about Sunday morning when the sun came up, as many people believe.

Although many translations have the word “dawn,” in this verse, we must not confuse that with the Western view of “dawn,” i.e., when the sun comes up. To the Jews, a new day “dawned,” or started, at sunset. The Greek text reads in a way that seems very difficult when translated literally, which is due to the idioms involved. A very literal rendering of the Greek text is: “Now late of the [on the] Sabbaths, at the dawn toward the first of the Sabbaths.” This is a very difficult sentence, and to understand it we need to know two things: the first thing is that “Sabbaths” (the plural of Sabbath) was the regular Jewish idiom for a week. The second thing is that the word “dawned” is the Greek word epiphōskō (#2020 ἐπιφώσκω; pronounced eh-pee-'phōs-kō), which literally means, “to grow light,” and it was used of the “dawn” or “beginning” of something. In the United States, we have the same basic idiom and use “dawn” for the beginning of something. When something brand new is coming that will make significant changes, someone might say, “A new day is dawning,” even though it is technically not either a new “day,” nor is it “dawn.”

[For more on epiphōskō, see " style="color: rgb(45, 123, 255); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: inherit;">commentary on Luke 23:54.]

According to Jewish reckoning of time, the new day was beginning, or “dawning,” at sunset on the weekly Sabbath. Thus, sunset on Saturday started Sunday and the new week. Many English versions read “dawn” in this verse, but to understand the verse, we must realize that the sun is going down and the new day is starting; the verse is not saying that the sun is coming up. About this verse, Robertson writes: “This careful chronological statement according to Jewish days clearly means that before the Sabbath was over, that is before six PM, this visit by the women was made ‘to see the sepulcher.’”a Robertson is correct that this is a “careful chronological statement,” and not paying attention to it is one of the reasons people wrongly think the Bible contradicts itself in the timing of some of the events that occurred after the death of Jesus.

If we read the verse in an amplified form with notes included, we get: “Now late of the [on the] Sabbaths [the week, i.e., as the week was ending on Saturday night], at the dawn [the ‘beginning’] toward the first of the Sabbaths [i.e., at the beginning of the next week, which started at sunset Saturday night when Sunday, the next week began].”

Matthew 28:1, REV Bible and Commentary

Matthew 28:1 REV and Commentary - Now late on the Sabbath day, as it began to dusk and come toward the first day of the week - Bible verse

www.revisedenglishversion.com

There is this that supports a Thursday crucifixion, however, she does not take into consideration the "dawn" being Saturday at sundown:

"The Passover Sabbath
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, also known as the Feast of the Passover, was celebrated in remembrance of the Israelites being delivered from Egyptian bondage. This feast is set on Nisan 15 (Leviticus 23:6) and could fall on any day of the week. This feast day, preceded by a day of preparation, is a High Sabbath (a day of rest). It’s also called a High Day.

John 19:31 Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

John 19:31 says that Jesus was crucified on the Preparation Day before the High Day Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This places the date of Jesus’ crucifixion on Nisan 14. Since the Passover feast is set according to a specific date on the calendar, the question becomes, on what day of the week was the feast day that year?

Three Reasons for a Thursday Crucifixion​

I (Shari Abbott, Reasons for Hope* Jesus) hold to a Thursday crucifixion, and I will share three reasons and biblical support for this. I will also explain why a Wednesday or Friday crucifixion day does not fit with what the Bible reveals."

Was Jesus Crucified on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday?

Was Jesus crucified on a Friday? Did He die on Wednesday or Thursday? What does the Bible reveal? It might surprise you.

reasonsforhopejesus.com

And here is the Wednesday crucifixion, which I personally tend to believe is the likely one.
"The Bible indicates that Jesus had to be crucified on Wednesday and arose sometime in the Saturday evening hours before the end of the Sabbath, contrary to the popular belief that He was crucified on Friday. This is further supported by the fact that the Jewish day begins and ends at 6 P.M. (sunset), with the daytime hours beginning at the “First hour” from dawn until 8 A.M. and lasting through the “Twelfth hour” of 6 P.M. to sunset. Additionally, the six days of Passover were being observed, culminating with the yearly High Sabbath (Leviticus 23), a three-day feast beginning on Wednesday sunset."

Was Jesus Crucified on Friday or Wednesday?

Scripture trumps tradition when it comes to Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. The Bible states Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and arose Saturday.

mesabiblestudy.com

Wednesday is also taught in many Messianic assemblies.
Keep in mind also this:
Easter has nothing to do with Passover nor does Easter have anything to do with any of the Jewish festivals. Pesach or Passover is the word that should have been used in Acts 12:4.

But, bottom line with all this is the Gospel, that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. His death on the cross redeems us, His blood cleanses our sin; His resurrection justifies us (Romans 4:25)

This is really simple. Given the timeline of Passion week and the number of days definitively enumerated, if Jesus was crucified on Thursday, he would have ridden an ass on the Sabbath, in direct violation of one of the ten commandments. And with that act, he ceases to be a perfect lamb, and our entire faith goes down the toilet.

So I'm going to have to disagree with you.

 

[Aaron112]

Scripture, at least twice, tells us our Lord was crucified on a Friday.

Only in the western/english type of translation/thinking.

In Hebrew and Aramaic in the original this is totally different from centuries of tradition.

 

[Aaron112]

“Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”
—Mark 7:13

This would be referring to what ? The traditions of mankind, or other ?

 

[Aaron112]

The Jews used inclusive reckoning

maybe

 

[Aaron112]

So it's pretty ridiculous to claim that Easter has "nothing to do with Passover."

Yet truthful that the traditions of easter have nothing to do with either Scripture or Passover. The traditions have different starting point, different reasons, different motives and different results.

 

[prodromos]

Only in the western/english type of translation/thinking.

In Hebrew and Aramaic in the original this is totally different from centuries of tradition.

That's a meaningless assertion.

 

[cfposter]

That's just assuming the conclusion (that John isn't referring to the weekly Sabbath) and reading it into the text. You can't use this as an "example" of the day after Passover inherently being considered a Sabbath (whether or not it's on Saturday) because the very question at hand is whether that's what it's doing. John can just as easily be understood to mean that because this Sabbath (Saturday) also happened to fall on the day after Passover, it was of greater importance than a normal Sabbath, as you're getting two important holy days in one. And indeed, that was the common interpretation of it, that it was a "high day" because an important holy day happened to fall onto the Saturday Sabbath.

And that's the problem, once again. People claim the day after Passover was referred to as a Sabbath or high Sabbath, but examples of such aren't provided, aside from John 19:31 which is of no help because that's the exact verse whose interpretation is in question.

It was understood that a High Day was a Feast Day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Tabernacles all fell on the 15th of the month and was a High Day because it was also the weekly Sabbath Day.

 

[The Liturgist]

In Hebrew and Aramaic in the original this is totally different from centuries of tradition.

That’s not true. The largest remaining vernacular Aramaic speaking population, who use Aramaic as their primary or only language, are majority of the members of the Church of the East (around a million) , who speak and worship in Aramaic. The second largest remaining Aramaic speaking population are members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Antiochian Orthodox Church; the Syriac Orthodox worship in the Classical Syriac dialect of Aramaic, whereas the Antiochians are not particular about the language in which they worship, but in the town of Maaloula in Syria, which was occupied for many months by Al Qaeda during which time they desecrated the local churches, destroying the holy icons, and also held the nuns from the Convent of Mar Tekla captive, and I recall hearing that it has since emerged that Al Qaeda abused the nuns (at the time, the nuns were pressured to deny this abuse occurred), at any rate, all three of these churches, which were never under the control of the Pope of Rome, by the way, believe our Lord was crucified on a Friday.

These three churches also have the highest percentage of Jewish converts relative to their total population of any churches except for the Ethiopian and Eritrean Tewahedo Orthodox Churches (which are in full communion with the Syriac Orthodox Churches of Antioch and the three jurisdictions in India, which also historically spoke Syriac and are largely descended from the Kochin Jews of Kerala; the Holy Apostle Thomas was martyred in Kerala in 53 AD while preaching to the Jews and gentiles of Kerala, and for this reason the Christians of the Malabar Coast are called “Mar Thoma Christians.)” And the Syriac and Ethiopian churches, together with the Armenian and Coptic Orthodox churches, comprise the Oriental Orthodox, who our pious friend @dzheremi is a member of.

 

[The Liturgist]

In any case, my suggestion to anyone reading this thread is to read what our pious and excellent friends @HTacianas @ViaCrucis and @prodromos have written, since their arguments represent best the facts of the matter.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Only in the western/english type of translation/thinking.

In Hebrew and Aramaic in the original this is totally different from centuries of tradition.

Then explain why the Aramaic-speaking churches have always understood the same things I've said.

The only ones who question the traditional understanding are "western/english type" people.

That's two points against your assertion.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[cfposter]

Scripture, at least twice, tells us our Lord was crucified on a Friday.

"Then he took [the body of Jesus] down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid Him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning." - Luke 23:53-54

That really ends any possible debate there could even be. Jesus was crucified on the day before the Sabbath, on the day when Jews were preparing for the Sabbath to begin, that's Friday, specifically Friday before sunset. It was nearing sundown on Friday, because it says "the Sabbath was beginning"--the Sabbath begins sundown Friday and ends sundown Saturday.

Our second text is also from Luke's Gospel,

"And He said to them, 'What things?' and they said to Him, 'Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened." - Luke 23:19-21

"The third day since these things happened"

Sunday = Third day
Saturday = Second day
Friday = First day

Jesus died and was buried before sunset on Friday. Jesus spent the entirety of the Sabbath in the grave. And then early Sunday morning He rose from the dead.

Christians celebrate the Lord's resurrection as the Christian Passover, called Pascha in Greek. Early Christians were divided in their customs on whether to celebrate this Feast at the same time as the Jewish Passover (Nisan 14th), a position known as Quartodecimanism (literally Fourteenism); or whether the Feast should always be celebrated on the Lord's Day (aka Sunday). Over time the Quartodeciman position became less popular, and appears to have largely only been retained by a handful of schismatic and heretical groups when at the Council of Nicea, as a periphery issue, resolved to standardize the timing of the Feast.

The gathered bishops came to agree that it would be a good thing if Christians were celebrating the Paschal Feast together, at the same time, and so a method of calculation, which was already in practice in the Church of Alexandria and the other Egyptian churches. This method of computation has continued to be how we do things.

In English-speaking places we usually call the Paschal Feast by the name "Easter", which goes back to when the Anglo-Saxons who invaded Britain were converted to Christianity, and they began to refer to the Paschal Feast by the name of the month it occurred in: Eostermonath; thus referring to the Feast as "Eostre". The only similar thing we see is that in standard German the Paschal Feast is called by the cognate, Ostern. However in some parts of Germany and in regional German dialects the word Paasken (Pascha) is preferred.

The Paschal Feast is the day on which Christians have celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the oldest day on the Christian calendar, and probably emerged among the first Christian communities even during the lifetime of the Apostles--the use of the word Pascha (Passover) clues us in on this. And common sense would tell us that the most central and important event in the Christian religion would be the thing to be given its own celebration.

Overtime the entire week leading up to the Paschal Feast became important, Holy Week or Passion Week, beginning on the day we call Palm Sunday, and concluding on Holy Saturday, also called the Great Sabbath (for Christ our Lord was at rest in His tomb). Between Palm Sunday and Holy Saturday we also remember the Institution of the Holy Eucharist (Maundy Thursday) and the Friday of His death, Good Friday.

Historically and biblically we know the Lord was crucified on a Friday, we remember this and observe this every year as Good Friday. And the Feast of the Lord's Resurrection, the great and holy Feast of Pascha, the Day of Days, is the day we celebrate and declare with our loudest song, praise, and words: Christos anesti! Alithos anesti! Christ is risen! Amen He is risen!

-CryptoLutheran

"Friday" doesn't mean "Friday" as it does today. In other words, they had to afix the 6th day or PREPARATION day to a fixed day of the solar week. That day would be 'Friday'. However, the day in which Jesus was crucified was NOT the solar day Friday even though it was the Preparation day (Hence Friday by interpretation).

The Sabbath days were by the lunar weeks (not the Solar weeks). Therefore, the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the lunar month were the weekly Sabbath days. Therefore, a Sabbath day can fall on any of the solar days (Sunday through Saturday).

 

[prodromos]

The Sabbath days were by the lunar weeks (not the Solar weeks). Therefore, the 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th of the lunar month were the weekly Sabbath days. Therefore, a Sabbath day can fall on any of the solar days (Sunday through Saturday).

As far as I can remember, you've only given one 'scholar' as a source for the above claim, and as far as I can tell there is no one else who gives any credence to the claims.

 

[cfposter]

As far as I can remember, you've only given one 'scholar' as a source for the above claim, and as far as I can tell there is no one else who gives any credence to the claims.

You mean Philo of Alexandria? The same person the Jews sent to Rome because he was elite in his understanding of Jewish Law that they sent him to consult the Roman Government on Jewish traditions?

More on that - Philo and the Weekly Sabbath

 

[cfposter]

As far as I can remember, you've only given one 'scholar' as a source for the above claim, and as far as I can tell there is no one else who gives any credence to the claims.

Also, I want to point out the Didascalia Apostolorum. After all, it shows the order of the days from the eye witnesses (Apostles) that were present.