A Good Friday Crucifixion

Is totally Wrong!

As Easter 2026 approaches, many churches will observe Good Friday on April 3 and celebrate Easter Sunday on April 5. That tradition is widely accepted, deeply familiar, and rarely questioned. But when the biblical record is examined closely, the Friday crucifixion view falls apart. Jesus Christ did not die on Friday. He died on Wednesday, on the Passover, and the resurrection timeline only makes sense when the often-overlooked double Sabbath of that week is understood.

Jesus said He would be in the heart of the earth “three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40). A Friday crucifixion cannot produce three days and three nights before the tomb is found empty early on the first day of the week. The traditional view survives because church custom has been repeated more often than the Bible’s timeline has been carefully studied.

Jesus Died on the Passover: Nisan 14

The Bible is clear that Jesus died on the Passover. Leviticus 23:5 says, “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S Passover.” Jesus Christ, the true Passover Lamb, died on that appointed day.

That matters because the crucifixion was not tied to a Roman holiday system or later church tradition. It was tied to God’s calendar. The death of Christ took place on a specific feast day with prophetic precision.

Why Good Friday Does Not Work

The central problem with Good Friday is simple: it cannot satisfy the Lord’s own words. The traditional view says Jesus died on Friday afternoon, lay in the grave part of Friday, all day Saturday, and rose Sunday morning. But Jesus Himself gave the sign that would identify the truth of His death, burial, and resurrection:

“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

—Matthew 12:40 (KJV)

If Jesus died on Friday afternoon and rose before dawn on Sunday, where are the three nights?

At most, the Friday view gives:

· Friday night

· Saturday day

· Saturday night

That is not three days and three nights. It is not even close. The Friday tradition depends on treating the prophecy as though “three days and three nights” really means only parts of that amount of time. But Christ’s wording is direct, specific, and plain.

If you take the sign of Jonah seriously, Good Friday must be rejected.

The Key Most People Miss: There Were Two Sabbaths That Week

The main reason people get confused is that they assume the Sabbath after the crucifixion had to be the regular Saturday Sabbath.

But John 19:31 says otherwise: “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

That Sabbath was a high day. In other words, it was a special feast Sabbath, not the regular weekly Sabbath. That means the day immediately following the crucifixion was a special feast Sabbath, connected with Passover and Unleavened Bread. It was distinct from the ordinary weekly Sabbath.

So that week included:

· a high Sabbath connected with Passover and Unleavened Bread

· the regular weekly Sabbath on Saturday

Once you understand that point, the timeline becomes much easier to follow.

The Women and the Spices Prove Two Sabbaths

The Gospel accounts fit beautifully once you recognize the double Sabbath.

Mark 16:1 says: “And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.”

But Luke 23:56 says: “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.”

Read those verses carefully.

First, the women rested on a Sabbath. Then, after a Sabbath was past, they bought spices. Then they prepared those spices. Then they rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment.

That sequence makes no sense if there was only one Sabbath that week. It makes perfect sense if there were two.

A Wednesday crucifixion explains it naturally:

· Wednesday: Jesus dies and is buried before sunset

· Thursday: high Sabbath

· Friday: the women buy and prepare spices

· Saturday: the regular weekly Sabbath

· Sunday morning: the tomb is already empty

The Biblical Timeline Points to Wednesday

Here is the simplest way to see it.

Wednesday: Crucifixion and Burial

Jesus dies on Nisan 14, the Passover, and is buried before sunset.

Wednesday night / Thursday day

Night 1, Day 1

Thursday night / Friday day

Night 2, Day 2

Friday night / Saturday day

Night 3, Day 3

That gives the full three days and three nights Christ foretold in Matthew 12:40.

Then sometime after the weekly Sabbath closed, and before the women came to the tomb early on the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead.

He Rose Before Sunday Morning

John 20:1 says: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.”

The women did not arrive and then watch Jesus rise. They came while it was still dark and found the tomb already empty.

That matters because it means the resurrection took place before their arrival early Sunday morning. Scripture does not require us to place the resurrection at sunrise Sunday. It only requires that Christ was already risen by the time the women came.

That allows the three days and three nights to be completed first.

Good Friday Is Tradition, Not the Biblical Timeline

Good Friday remains popular because tradition is powerful. Once a custom becomes part of annual religious observance, most people never pause to test it carefully by Scripture.

So, the real issue is not whether Good Friday is ancient, popular, or widely observed. The real issue is whether it matches the Word of God.

It does not.



One of the arguments that comes up frequently among faith alone proponents is the number of passages that link faith and salvation together with no other condition explicitly mentioned. For example:

They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Acts 16:31

This is the “perfect” verse for pulling out of context and using to teach faith alone, since the jailer was told to believe. The argument is presented: Since faith is mentioned, and baptism is not, baptism is not necessary for salvation. With that logic, however, we are not saved by the blood of Jesus, since the redemptive blood is not mentioned in this verse. Beyond that, the jailer could continue living in sin, since repentance is not mentioned in this verse either.

Using this same method, one could use a number of verses to teach “salvation by X alone” doctrines. For instance, we could teach:

Repentance alone from 2 Corinthians 7:10

Baptism alone from Acts 22:16

The life of Christ alone from Romans 5:10

The blood of Christ alone from Revelation 1:5

The word of God alone from James 1:21

Obedience alone from Hebrews 5:9, and so on.

The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

Psalm 119:160

As the psalmist states, the sum of God’s word is truth, but when we make passages fight against each other, we are saying that only some of God’s word is truth.

As a side note, I have recently heard a few preachers say the contradictory statement, “You are saved by grace alone by faith alone.” If it is grace alone, faith cannot be included, since it is grace alone. The same is true if it is faith alone. Grace must be excluded. Of course, the preachers can probably explain themselves, but I’m primarily concerned with this: “grace alone by faith alone” is not in Scripture. Search and find out for yourself.

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.

John 9:1–7

Did the water heal the man? Could any blind person apply spittle and clay to their eyes and wash in the pool of Siloam and be healed? No. It was not the physical elements, but Jesus who healed the blind man. Even so, would the blind man have been healed if he were unwilling to go to the water? The passage says, “So he went away and washed, and came back seeing” (John 9:7). If this man were listed in Hebrews 11, it would say, “By faith he went and washed in the pool.” He would not have been healed if he had not washed, since it was a condition Christ put on his healing. When the critics came, they did not criticize the water; they criticized the Healer. Although it was necessary for his healing, the formerly blind man did not give credit to the pool for his health. He said, “He opened my eyes” (John 9:30), even while still recognizing that washing was part of the process.

He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.”

John 9:11

The water was necessary, but the power was not in the water; it was in the Healer. Likewise, the teaching of baptismal regeneration, (which, depending on who is teaching it, sometimes means baptism by itself will save someone) is utterly false. Yet, Christ does put baptism as a condition of one’s salvation, along with belief and repentance. When Jesus fulfills His promise of “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved,” it would make no sense to give praise to the water. All credit is due to the Healer of the soul, who always keeps His promises.

I’ve seen Romans 10:13 listed to validate the Sinner’s Prayer.

for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 10:13

If this passage means to say all you have to do is verbally call Christ “Lord,” it contradicts Jesus’ words elsewhere.

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

Matthew 7:21–23

How powerful, yet how terrifying! It is proper to call Jesus our Lord (see John 13:13); however, those who depend merely on that call (like the Sinner’s Prayer) will be sorely surprised on the day of judgment. Instead, we must be found “clothed…with Christ” (Galatians 3:26–28) and “in the Lord” (Revelation 14:13) while we “walk in the light” (1 John 1:5–10).

Why do you call Me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?

Luke 6:46

Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.

Acts 22:16

The above verse demonstrates that responding to the gospel through baptism is calling on the Lord’s name. Likewise, all aspects of “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” in Acts 2:21 can also be found in the commandment a few verses later: “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).

Everyone/each of you

Call on the name of the Lord/be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

What about those who die outside of the Lord?

While reading through Paul’s writings, it is hard to miss his frequent references to blessings found in Christ. For instance, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and salvation are all found “in Christ” (see Romans 6:23; Colossians 1:13–14; and 2 Timothy 2:10).

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

2 Corinthians 5:17

The apostle John also shows us the imagery of someone being in the Lord.

And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

Revelation 14:13

Those who die in the Lord are blessed. This is in contrast to those who die in their sins (see John 8:24). This raises the question: How are we placed into Christ? How are we transferred

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:26–28

You could do what so many people do with this passage: quote verse 26 by itself. Paul wasn’t finished speaking at verse 26. Were these Galatians saved by faith alone? No! The word for at the beginning of verse 27 is telling. Their faith was validated and completed through their baptism.

The way to be placed into Christ is through faithful obedience to Christ in baptism. To say that we do not need to be baptized to receive Christ’s salvation is to say that we can be saved outside of Christ and without eternal life, forgiveness of sins, or eternal salvation, since those blessings are only found in Christ.

It’s common today to attempt to have a “relationship with Jesus Christ” without being associated with His church. That is scripturally impossible. In the New Testament, the church was made up of the saved, and the saved made up the church (see Acts 2:40–47).

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:22–23

For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.

Ephesians 5:23

Jesus is the Savior of His body, the church. As above, if you were to ask a first-century Christian, “Did you become saved first, or did you become a part of the church first?” he would respond with his own question: “Huh?” Salvation and entrance into the church happened at the same time, as Christ is “the Savior of the body.” How does one enter the body of Christ?

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:12–13

Those who teach salvation by faith alone offer a “salvation” outside of the body of Christ and devoid of God’s Spirit.

I am aware there are some teachers who, while trying to avoid the truth about baptism, will claim that the verses that link baptism to salvation are not talking about water baptism. They’re just talking about metaphorically being surrounded or immersed in Christ. However, by the time Paul wrote Ephesians in about A.D. 63, he could confidently teach that there is “one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). Even after the Gentiles were baptized with the Holy Spirit, they were commanded to be baptized into Christ through water (see Acts 10:44–48). Baptism in water and into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is the only baptism that is commanded of the audience of the gospel throughout the New Testament.

Don’t let anyone try to tell you that the baptism in Acts 2:38 (or other passages that link baptism and salvation) is not water baptism. Peter tells the audience on that occasion to “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” The same Peter later says of Cornelius’ household:

“Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Acts 10:47–48

According to Scripture, baptism in the name of Jesus Christ requires water.

In James 2, James explains to his audience that laziness in Christ will not suffice. God expects His people to prove their faith in obedient service and righteousness.

You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

James 2:19–20

I understand that James is not teaching someone how to be saved. He is writing to Christians, those who have already been saved. To help prove his point that Christians should be working for Christ, he says demons believe in God. Are those who profess faith alone going to be consistent and teach that demons are saved?

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

James 2:24

Many people who teach salvation by faith alone teach that as soon as you believe in your heart, and before you repent of your sins, you are forgiven. Otherwise, if they taught salvation through repentance, then it wouldn’t be by faith alone anymore. Notice what Paul said:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11

Paul boldly claims that those living unrighteous lives will not inherit the kingdom of God. Doubtless, he was elated to be able to say, “Such were some of you.” These Corinthians had changed their ways. God had washed them and given them a sanctified life in His Spirit, which, he explains a few chapters later, happened at their baptism (see 1 Corinthians 12:12–13). Godly sorrow produces a repentance to salvation. Would those who teach faith alone also teach one can remain in his or her sins and be saved?

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

2 Corinthians 7:10

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 2:38

Faith alone means exactly that—faith, and nothing else.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1–3

Although not directly related to the salvation of the soul, this Scripture claims, “if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” Meaning, in order for us to amount to something in the eyes of God, we need at least faith and love. Faith alone will not cut it.

The Standard Manual for Baptist Churches claims:

Baptism is not essential to salvation, for our churches utterly repudiate the dogma of “baptismal regeneration”; but it is essential to obedience, since Christ has commanded it.

Salvation by baptism alone, which some versions of baptismal regeneration teach, is certainly false. But so is salvation by faith alone. On this, Edward Hiscox, the author of the manual, is correct. However, I cannot agree with his conclusion. Hiscox says that Baptist churches believe obedience is not essential to salvation, which is the opposite of what the Holy Spirit teaches.

Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.

Hebrews 5:8–9

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

John 3:36

Faith alone claims that Christ judges the soul by merely what the person holds in the heart. Examine the passages that actually explain how Christ will judge when He appears.

 

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.” 

Matthew 16:24–27

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.

Romans 2:9–11

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

2 Corinthians 5:10

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.

2 Thessalonians 1:6–9

Honestly, the number of passages that mentions deeds and works as they relate to judgment surprises me. There are dozens more not listed above. I encourage you to search them out yourself. Our response to God’s free gift should be obedient, faithful love and reverence. Of course, this does not mean we earn our salvation by doing good deeds. Ephesians 2:8–10 and Romans 6:23 still hold true. However, to teach that deeds and works are irrelevant to eternal salvation and judgment would also be a mistake.

The most common description of baptism that I have heard from faith alone proponents is baptism is “an outward symbol [or sign] of an inward salvation [or grace].” My question is simple: Where do the Scriptures say that? It cannot be found.

Baptism itself is nothing without faith in the subject’s heart and the promises and working of God to back it up. There’s nothing miraculous about water that can cleanse the soul by itself, otherwise, we should be busy grabbing all unbelievers and dunking them, even against their will. Interestingly, that’s similar to what some practice in infant baptism: baptizing without personal faith or repentance. God, however, has deemed baptism in water as the way that He connects a faithful, penitent person with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That is the reference point that is lacking in faith alone, which men have replaced with the Sinner’s Prayer. Baptism is when God circumcises the heart without hands, when He forgives all transgressions, and when He raises up the person who has been granted a new life through the resurrection of Jesus.

And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.

Colossians 2:11–13

Corresponding to that [the water that saved Noah and his family], baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:21

The fact that God works through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus during baptism is an important point to remember when speaking with people on this topic. The poster child for faith alone is the thief on the cross in Luke 23:39–43. Some people claim that he was promised paradise on the basis of his faith alone. However, no one knows whether or not the thief was ever baptized. Some assert he was likely baptized, as “all the country of Judea was going out to him [John], and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him” (Mark 1:5), yet we are still left guessing if this man was part of that group.

The more important point is that Jesus did not institute new covenant baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit until after His resurrection (which happened well after the thief in question entered paradise on that day). Jesus waited to command this baptism, because it is what unites someone with His death, burial, and resurrection, and thus, is when someone contacts the forgiving blood of the covenant, as we see in Romans 6:1–7. It would have been impossible for anyone—including the thief on the cross—to be baptized into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ without the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ having already happened. The thief on the cross lived and died under the Old Testament system, not the gospel system (see Hebrews 9:15–17).

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.

Romans 6:3–7

If so, go ahead and trust in the man-made doctrine of faith alone and the Sinner’s Prayer. Or would you like to trust in God’s plan that says, “if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection”? If that’s what you want, I beg of you: obey God today!

If you have trusted in faith alone or the Sinner’s Prayer to save you, I hope you have considered these passages carefully. I challenge you to go back to the Scriptures. Put down the commentaries and other man-made writings (including this one). Don’t look on the internet for your answers. Read the entire New Testament, and see what God has been saying all along. Once you do, do not hesitate to trust and obey Him.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

2 Peter 1:2–3