Why is Friday so Good?

This was published in the April 2009 edition of Broadway Christian Church's newspaper, The Harbinger:

With so much focus on Easter, it seems worthwhile to write a little expose about what happened on Good Friday. Christians recognize Good Friday as being the day on which Jesus Christ gave his life for all mankind so that they might have the opportunity of spending eternity with both their Creator and their Savior. Christians also understand that Jesus Christ had to go to the cross because of sin, mine, yours, etc.

Jesus Christ died in our place at the cross, but what exactly did God accomplish through Jesus Christ on Good Friday? In theological circles, scholars enjoy debating and answering questions such as these; basically what it amounts to is an argument over the application of words to ascribe significance to something biblical. On this topic, one popular debate centers around the words propitiation and expiation.

Since these are not words used in the everyday vernacular, prudence demands that they be defined before going any further. Theologian Leon Morris defines propitiation to mean, “the turning away of anger.” Another theologian, John Stott defines it to mean, “appeasing or pacifying one’s anger.” Expiation, on the other hand, according to Morris, means, “making amends for a wrong.” Webster’s defines it, “extinguishing the guilt incurred.”

Some argue that sinners were propitiated at the cross. While others argue that sinners were expiated at the cross. When one argues that Christians are propitiated, this argument focuses on the believers being spared God’s wrath as a result of the cross. When one argues that Christians are expiated at the cross, they are saying that the sins of mankind were removed at the cross.

Both propitiation and expiation apply to the cross; though propitiation applies more directly than does expiation. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice was a propitiatory offering on our behalf. We learn from the Old Testament, illustrated best in the Passover story, that the turning away of God’s wrath required the shedding of blood. That was never more true than at the cross. Jesus’ death at the cross pacified God’s anger; however, people are not made righteous until they accept what Jesus achieved at Calvary as the only road into eternity with the divine. Our sins are not expiated until our justification, which occurs at baptism. The propitiation made the expiation of our sins possible and that is why Friday was so good for us.