Jesus Christ was crucified, died and rose again after 3 days. Friday to Sunday? Is the Bible correct? A statement that is only controversial if you ignore ancient “norms” and want to apply today’s standards.
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Pre-programmed confusion
The course of the weekdays during the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ obviously offers great potential for confusion, whether intentional or unintentional. “Crucified and raised on the third day” is a very common expression. The first problems begin with this simple sentence. Furthermore, theses can be heard or read that Jesus Christ was resurrected on Saturday and this would have happened on the Sabbath. Many such misconceptions are probably based on a lack of consideration of the different divisions of the 24-hour day from today’s perspective and the Hebrew division of time at that time.
True to the motto, “What is valid today must have been valid then”, the days, hours and, above all, thought patterns and sayings of today are applied to the time around 2,000 years ago.
Language and writing “only” 450 years ago
A small excerpt from “Martin Luther’s Table Talks”, episode VIII, from 1569, page 185b:
“Das ich wündsche / und wold / das ich diese Sache nie nicht angefangen hette. Item / ich wolt lieber tod sein / denn dass ich die verachtung Gottes Worts und seiner trewen Diener sehen sol.“
The modern spelling:
“Ich wünschte, und wollte, dass ich diese Sache nie begonnen hätte. Deshalb wollte ich lieber tot sein als, dass ich die Worte Gottes und seine treuen Diener sehen soll.“
(“I wish and wanted I had never started this thing. Therefore I would rather be dead than see the words of God and his faithful servants.“)
And? “Subtle” differences noticeable?
This writing, choice of words and formulations by Martin Luther are “only” around 450 years old. Now the New Testament of the Bible is a writing that was written down a good 1,950 years ago. Even at the time of the ancient Romans, in the Middle East, also in a different culture. Can’t one then assume that their thought patterns, habits and sayings were “somewhat” different than ours today? If you use the postmodern era and “our” values and thought patterns as a benchmark for times long past and across all cultures and declare this to be universally valid, then the shipwreck of misunderstanding is inevitable.
Today’s “norms” superimposed on old rules
It is obvious that today we are shaped by our views and norms. “It’s just so!”. However, this was not always the case and certainly not in other regions of this planet. This applies above all to the division of times of day, days of the week (calendar) and also the expressions about the sequence of days or events. Although the New Testament was written by the apostles in Greek, it is still influenced by Hebrew culture. For historical reasons, Greek was virtually the “official language” alongside Latin.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. Today we tend to automatically associate every single day with 24 hours. So it would seem “logical” that day 1 has 24 hours, day 2 also has 24 hours and day 3 also has 24 hours. All in all 72 hours. According to this calculation, if Jesus Christ died on Friday afternoon, he would have risen again on Monday afternoon. But this was not so. But Jesus Christ rose significantly earlier. The conclusion: “The Bible is at least inaccurate, if not actually flawed.”
The resurrection of Jesus Christ’s resurrection occurred so early that this event even fell on Saturday. And there is already proof that Jesus Christ was resurrected on the Sabbath, since Saturday is, after all, the Sabbath. However, there is a “small” error in reasoning here.
Such conclusions are not uncommon. The fact that you are wrong because of a false assumption would not be so dramatic. This error can finally be eliminated. What is much more problematic is that today people are much more likely to stick to “modern knowledge” and declare the Bible unreliable, instead of investigating whether an error in reasoning somewhere could have led to this result.
“First Day – Third Day”
Even today, the expression “on the first day” does not automatically mean a period of 24 hours. A simple example is traveling to another country for a scheduled 3 days. Even if the traveler enters the country at 10:30 p.m., they will receive a same-day stamp in their passport. This is the “entry day” or the “first day” in the country. This also applies if the “next day” begins after 1.5 hours, i.e. at midnight. The traveler then stays in the country for a full (calendar) day. On the next and last day, departure takes place at, for example, 3:00 a.m. early in the morning. This is the departure day or “the third” day. So three (calendar) days in the country. But not 3 times 24 hours, or 3 full days.
So Jesus Christ was crucified on the “first day” and resurrected on the “third day”, while He rested in the grave on the “second day”. Jesus Christ Himself said that He would “rise again after 3 days”, not according to the 21st century saying, but according to His time according to the custom of the Hebrews. The Hebrew also counted a period of darkness during a “day’s portion” as a night.
Confused with Friday, Saturday, Sunday
The “Christian world” is shaped by the sequence of days at Easter. As early as 325, at the Council of Nicaea, the Church of Rome established “Easter Sunday” as the Resurrection Day and the “Day of the Lord”. This is arbitrary anyway and has nothing in common with the gospel, but this is a different topic (more info here).
So today it is “completely normal” that Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday and rose again on Sunday. The problem at this point is that the Bible doesn’t even know the terms “Friday, Saturday, Sunday” or the other days of the week. In addition, it was not the Gregorian calendar that was in use today, but rather the Hebrew calendar. According to the Hebrew calendar sequence, but implemented with our modern calendar, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ would fall on any day of the week every year. In addition, the Hebrews did not count the new day from midnight, but from sunset.
That sounds like a lot of confusion. And that is what it is, as can be seen in the confusion of today’s interpretations according to the Roman Catholic template.
Simply equating the day of Jesus’ crucifixion with Friday and the day of the resurrection with Sunday can lead to a mistake. It would be better to describe the day of the crucifixion with the “sixth day” of the week and the day of the resurrection with the “first day” of the week and to do so explicitly according to the Hebrew calendar with the beginning of the day after sunset.
Different day plans
Another peculiarity of the Hebrews of that time was the indication of the hours of the day. Today we are used to seeing midnight as the “zero” hour. We get up at 7 a.m., have breakfast at 8 a.m. and have lunch at 12 p.m. A snack follows at 3 p.m. The Hebrew would have used the following timings: “At the first hour there is rising, at the second hour there is breakfast, at the sixth hour there is lunch. At the ninth hour there is a snack.” Here 6 o’clock is the base.
A similar way of counting the hours of the day still exists today. For example, in traditional use in Thailand.
What the Bible says about it
The Bible itself indirectly but clearly states that Jesus Christ was crucified on the sixth day of the week (“Preparation Day”), rested in the grave during the Sabbath (7th day of the week), and was resurrected on the first day of the week (info about Sabbath – here).
Matthew 27:45-50:
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.“
According to today’s time of day, the “sixth hour” means “from 12 p.m.”. Accordingly, Jesus Christ died at the “ninth hour”, i.e. at around 3 p.m.
Matthew 27:57-60:
“When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.“
Jesus Christ was to be laid in the grave before sunset. The wealthy Joseph made sure that he could persuade Pontius Pilate to allow Jesus Christ to be buried before the beginning of the Sabbath. According to the law, the Sabbath is a day of rest and a day of remembrance of God and His creation.
Luke 23:56:
“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.“
One of the clearest statements in the Bible is that Jesus Christ rested on the Sabbath. Here, the Sabbath (Hebrew calendar) cannot automatically be fully equated with Saturday (today’s calendar).
Luke 24:1:
“Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.“
This verse also clearly states that the two women went to the tomb on the “first day of the week,” that is, after the end of the Sabbath. Here, too, the Hebrew first day may not be completely replaced with today’s Sunday.
Hebrew Days – Today’s Calendar Days
Probably the biggest sticking point that always leads to confusion is the offset between the Hebrew calendar and today’s calendar for the beginning of the day. The following overview illustrates the striking difference between the “language of the Bible” and the “ideas of our time.”
From this overview you can clearly see that Jesus Christ’s resurrection certainly happened on the first day of the week, but according to today’s (!) calendar, this could still have been Saturday. But that doesn’t change the fact that the resurrection happened after the Sabbath, since it ended after sunset. And today the Sabbath begins after sunset on Fridays and ends after sunset on Saturdays.
The confusion over this is entirely due to the “calendar initiatives” of the Roman Catholic Church. Around 2,000 years ago, the Hebrew calendar was used in this region and this culture. Different weekday names, different day divisions. Then the Church of Rome decided to adopt the Julian calendar and enforced it. Pope Gregory XIII had it reformed without further ado in the 16th century. And today we act and think according to this calendar.
Norms can change at any time
If you were born today at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning according to the current calendar, then with a fictitious view of the future this does not necessarily have to be the case after another 2,000 years. In the meantime, a random pope comes up with the idea of carrying out another calendar reform. And you are already born on “Horus Day” because it replaces the previous “Seth Day” after sunrise. New weekday names, new day division. But this is just a pure hypothesis (Revelation 18).
What seems important here is that the Bible also provides reliable information on the topic of the chronological sequence and days of the week for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You just have to pay attention to the idioms, traditions and “units” used back then and not use today’s “norms” as the only valid standard. If you want to measure a piece of wood that is 180 centimeters long, you will get a completely different number using the inch scale. Either … or!
And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luke 24:46-47
Bible verses from King James Version
