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Good Friday and Easter

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 16, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 11.

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Good Friday and Easter

By Arthur L. Manous

Historical Facts Concerning These Church Festivals
By Arthur L. Manous
1. What is said of the name “Good Friday” and its origin?
a. “Good Friday, the name applied by the Church of England to the Friday before Easter, sacred as commemorating the crucifixion of our Lord.”—“The Americana,” article “Good Friday.”
b. “Good Friday, the usual English name for the day observed throughout a great part of Christendom as the anniversary of the passion and death of Christ. . . . The origin of the custom of a yearly commemoration of the crucifixion is involved in some obscurity.”—“Encyclopædia Britannica,” the New Warner edition, 1903, volume 10, page 774, article “Good Friday.”

A FAST DAY

2. What is “Good Friday” said to be?
a. “Good Friday, a fast of the Christian church, in memory of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ.”—“Buck’s Theological Dictionary,” article “Good Friday.”
b. “At present, in the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, Good Friday is a solemn fast.”—“The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia,” 1906, volume 3, page 2378, article “Good Friday.”

WHEN OBSERVED

3. When is this “Good Friday” fast observed?
a. “The Friday before Easter, observed in commemoration of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.”—“The Columbian Encyclopedia.”
b. “It is observed on Friday in Passion Week, and is called, by way of eminence, ‘good,’ because of the good effects of our Saviour’s sufferings.”—“Buck’s Theological Dictionary,” article “Good Friday.”

THE DAY OF THE WEEK

4. What day of the week is Friday?
a. “Friday. The sixth day of the week, following Thursday and preceding Saturday.”—Webster’s dictionary, article “Friday.”
b. “Good Friday, the sixth day of the week before Easter, called Good Friday in acknowledgment of the benefit derived from the death of Christ. Among the Saxons it was denominated Long Friday, perhaps in allusion to the length of the fast.”—McClintock and Strong’s “Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature,” volume 3, page 923, article “Good Friday.”

THE PREPARATION DAY

5. What were God’s people anciently instructed to do on the sixth day of the week?
“On the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” Ex. 16:5.
6. For whom was this Bible instruction written?
a. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” Rom. 15:4.
b. “They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10:11.
7. On which day of the week was Christ crucified?
“It was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath.” Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54-56.
8. Because it was the preparation and the day before the Sabbath, what did the Jews say?
“And because it was the preparation [that is, Friday, margin], the Jews said: These bodies must not remain all night upon the cross: because the Sabbath was dawning [or, coming on, margin]; and the day of that Sabbath was a great day,” etc. John 19:31; Murdock’s Syriac Translation.
9. When Jesus was crucified on the preparation day, what did His followers do?
“They returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56; Ex. 20:8-11.
10. What is further said of the sixth day of the week, Friday, as a preparation day?
a. “Preparation, or preparation day, is the term for Friday, because on that day preparation was made and meals cooked for the Sabbath.”—Schaff’s “Bible Dictionary,” article “Preparation.”
b. “Preparation . . . (Greek, paraskeue, making ready), is the term used for Friday, because that on that day preparation was made and meals cooked for the Sabbath.”—“The Popular and Critical Bible Cyclopedia,” article “Preparation.”
c. “Good Friday. The liturgical of Good Friday, especially among the Latins, is ‘day of preparation.’ Among the Jews that was the name of every Friday as the day of preparation for the following Sabbath.”—“The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,” article “Holy Week.”

EASTER SUNDAY

A CHURCH FESTIVAL

11. What is Easter said to be?
a. “It is the chief feast of the whole year, as being the solemnity of our Lord’s resurrection.”—“Catholic Christian Instructed,” page 260.
b. “Easter, the greatest festival of Christendom, observed in commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Elias B. Sanford’s “Cyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,” page 269, article “Easter.”
c. “Easter, the annual festival observed throughout Christendom in commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—“Encyclopædia Britannica,” the New Warner edition, 1903, volume 7, page 614, article “Easter.”
d. “An annual church festival commemorating Christ’s resurrection, and occurring on Sunday, the second day after Good Friday. It corresponds to Pascha or Passover of the Jews.”—Webster’s International Dictionary, article “Easter.”

THE DAY OF THE RESURRECTION

12. On which day of the week did Christ arise from the dead?
“Now when He [Christ] was risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.” Mark 16:9, A. R. V.
13. What is said of the resurrection day?
“The day of the resurrection assumed more and more the character of the Teutonic and Slavonic spring festival with all its pagan rites and festive symbols.”—“The Jewish Cyclopedia,” volume 5, page 29, article “Easter.”

NO SCRIPTURAL COMMAND

14. Does the New Testament speak of the celebration of an Easter institution?
a. “There is no trace of the celebration of Easter as a Christian festival in the New Testament or in the writings of the apostolic fathers.”—“Encyclopædia Britannica,” the New Warner edition, 1903, volume 7, page 614, article “Easter.”
b. “It was not until after apostolic times that this festival became an instituted observance of the Christian church.”—Elias B. Sanford’s “Cyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,” page 269, article “Easter.”
c. “The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (His. Eccl. 5:22) states with perfect truth that neither Christ nor His apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. ‘The apostles,’ he writes, ‘had no thought of appointing festival days, but of promoting a life of blamelessness and piety;’ and he attributes the introduction of the festival of Easter into the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, ‘just as many other customs have been established.’ This is doubtless the true statement of the case.”—“Encyclopædia Britannica,” the New Warner edition, 1903, volume 7, page 614, article “Easter.”

EASTER IN ACTS 12:4

“And when he [Herod] had apprehended him [Peter], he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter [the Passover, R. V.] to bring him forth to the people.” Acts 12:4.
15. What is said of Easter in this passage?
a. “There never was a more absurd or unhappy translation than this. The original is simply ‘after the Passover.’”—Barnes’s notes on Acts 12:4.
b. “Tyndale, in his translation of the Bible into English in 1526, used this word [Easter] instead of ‘Passover,’ and our English translators in 1611 retained it in their version. But there was no Christian feast called ‘Easter’ in the days of Peter. And the word Pascha, which is here translated ‘Easter,’ means Passover, and should have been so translated.”—Note on Acts 12:4, in the New Testament with notes, issued by the American Tract Society, 1862.
c. “Easter (Eastre, Saxon goddess). The day commemorative of Christ’s resurrection. Wrongly associated with the Saxon Easter festival, and the Jewish Passover feast, but corrected in R. V., Acts 12:4.”—James P. Boyd’s “Bible Dictionary,” article “Easter.”

THE WORD “EASTER”

16. What is said of the origin of the word “Easter”?
a. “‘Easter’ is a word of Saxon origin, and imports a goddess of the East.”—Watson’s “Theological Dictionary,” article “Easter.”
b. “Easter (originally the festival of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eastre), a mistranslation for ‘Passover,’ the Jewish feast. Acts 12:4.”—Schaff’s “Bible Dictionary,” article “Easter.”
c. “The word ‘Easter,’—Anglo-Saxon, Eastre, Easter; German, Ostern,—like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology.”—“Encyclopædia Britannica,” the New Warner edition, 1903, volume 7, page 613, article “Easter.”
d. “The word ‘Easter’ is of Saxon origin, and is supposed to be derived from Eastre, the goddess of love, or the Venus of the North, in honor of whom a festival was celebrated by our pagan ancestors in the month of April.”—Dr. Barnes’s notes on Acts 12:4.
Now, dear reader, these, in brief, are some of the principal historical facts regarding “Good Friday” and “Easter Sunday”; and they reveal the truth that these festival days were not established either by Christ or His apostles, but that they came into the church from paganism after the apostolic days, as have many other customs now among us. These days, and in fact, as we are told, all “Sundays and holidays all stand upon the same foundation, namely, the ordinance of the [Catholic] church.”—“Catholic Christian Instructed,” page 253.