Why is Good Friday called Good?
Good Friday is a term selected by early Christians to describe how the suffering and death of Christ on the cross benefitted believers. As Christians we mourn that our Savior suffered, because the suffering He took was in our place. Christ who was born of a virgin was not only completely sinless, but he lived obeying God from the heart in every aspect of His life. Christ, the God/Man never sinned in thought, word, or deed the entire time He was on earth. As a perfect Man Christ fulfilled His role as the second Adam, where the first Adam failed to obey God, Christ, the second Adam, obeyed God perfectly. His perfect obedience made Him the Lamb without spot or blemish, and He was able to represent believers on the cross. If Jesus had sinned just once His sacrifice would have been for Himself and couldn’t have died for anyone else. For the wages of sin is death.
Just as Adam’s sinful nature has been transferred to us by imputation and everyone, everywhere sins, in a similar way Christ’s righteousness has been transferred to us and God has declared, in the court of heaven, that true believers have the righteousness of Christ. We stand not only forgiven, but righteous in the sight of God almighty. This is why the early Christians called the day Jesus died, Good Friday.
How does an unrighteous unbeliever become righteous in the sight of God? There is only one way to secure Christ’s righteousness and that is by Grace through Faith. Grace is unmerited favor, meaning that there is nothing you can do to earn it. It doesn’t matter if you have gone to church your whole life, or that you have given to the poor and have been honest in all your dealings, it cannot earn you one day in heaven. Heaven equals eternal life, and no one has ever earned it, it comes only through God’s favor, Grace.
The Bible teaches that Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God (Christ) Romans 10:17. If you hear the Gospel preached and the Holy Spirit applies the Word to your heart, you begin to see that the Gospel is true and that your sins have separated you from God. Once you believe the Gospel is true, then you must completely trust Christ to save you, not based on anything that you have done, but based only on His death, burial, and resurrection to pay for your sins, thus Christ allows you access to God.
The Bible states: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord (Not just His title, but your complete submission to Him as Master of your life) and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (saved… forgiveness of all your sins and eternal Life)
If a person does this he is “Born from Above,” and has a new nature that can obey God from the heart. Jesus said, “you will not get bad fruit from a good tree,” meaning once you have been Born Again you will begin to live righteously and bear good fruit. If a person isn’t born again, he remains in his corrupt nature and the Bible says, even his “good works” are as filthy rags, for faith without (good) works is dead. Even the prayers of the unbelievers are an abomination in God’s sight. There is only one prayer that God will listen to from a non-believer and that is a prayer of repentance, asking for forgiveness.
Believers as you celebrate Good Friday, and hopeful with communion, remember how much Christ suffered for you and how He demonstrated His love for you by laying down His life, so you could be forgiven and live with Him in eternity. That’s Good News from Good Friday, now go out and do good!
John, a slave of Christ
