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FRIDAY
ance of Christ and the nature of
His atonement. Sorne have said He
was merely a roan, and therefore,
of course. His death did not atone
for mankind's sins. Instead, ac–
cording to tnis way of thinking.
His death was at most an example,
or it was merely a fulfillment of
prophecy or a sacrificial type, or a
necessity to allow time to go on. or
to allow the miracle of the resur–
rection to occur.
Most Christians, on the other
hand, have accepted Him as pre–
existen! and divine, and have seen
in His death a true propitiation of
the wrath of God against all
human sins. Being God. His death
was of more value than thc wagcs
of all the sins (Rom. 6:23) of all
created humanity put together,
and more than paid the pricc.
Sydney Carter's hymn chal–
lenges this traditional understand–
ing of the atonement by implying
that man is not the sinner- that
OR
WEDNESDAY?
perhaps God was the
sinner because He was
the One who created
mankind with the ten–
dency toward sin and
"The controversia/ h¡:mn 'lt Was on
a Friday Morning'.wi/1 not be in·
cluded in any future editions of the
new U.S. military forces' hymnal,
according to a statement released
jointly by Secretary of Defense
Dona/d Rumsfeld and the chief of
chaplains. The hymn has generated
thousands of letters of protest"
(Christianity Today,
December 17,
1976, pp. 39-40).
l
t has been only months since the
argument raged over thc "con–
troversia! hymn" which at–
tributed the crucifixion of Jesus of
Nazareth toa Friday morning. But
it has been long enough to evi–
dence that the real difficulty in this
"heretical" hymn- as the chief of
chaplains of the Yeterans Admin–
istration called it
(The Christian
Century,
October 6. 1976. p. 827)–
will not be faced.
Since the days of Arius and Ath–
anasius in the fourth century-and
indeed before- theologians have
argued the question of the proven-
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1977
its resultant sulfering.
It
was God
who created Adam and Eve, that
"apple." and even (supposedly)
the devil. (Write for our free book–
let
Did God Create a Devil?
to
tearn the truth.) Therefore. so says
the hymn. "It's God they ought to
crucify,'' attributing the thought to
one of the thieves on the cross as
he addressed his fellow sulferer,
the carpenter Jesus Christ.
The crux of the matter is that
God the Son really did die. For
Christ
was
God. (Request our free
reprint article " ls Jesus God?" for
more information.) Regardless of
the question of whether it was be–
cause He was to blame, or whether
He was lovingly fulfilling His great
and glorious original plan for sav–
ing. revivifying and elevating mor–
tal, fallible man to the very heights
of Godhood itself, it was God the
Son who died and paid the penalty
of our sins. (Want more informa–
tion about that surpassing plan?
Reread "Just What Do You
Mean - Born Again?" in the
February
Plain Truth,
or simply
write for our booklet on the
subject.)
The implication of the hymn
"It
Was on a Friday Moming" was
really not heretical. suggests the
Century
editor. but true. And truly
it might be. depending on how you
view God's responsibility. But two
things you must not do: you must
not impute to God blame in the
sense of guilt: and you must not
misunderstand so as to assume
that the death and shed blood of
Jesus Christ. who was Eterna! God
changed into flesh. has any effi–
cacy except for those who willingly
accept it and strive to qualify to
receive ultimate salvation . This
last rules out the baseless theories
of universal salvationists.
The really blatant heresy in the
questionable hymn. however, has
gone unchallenged by the churches
and clergy which unfortunately be–
lieve in that error. That is the as–
sumption that the crucifixion and
death of Jesus took place on the
sixth day of the wcek. Did Jesus
die on Friday? Is that what the
New Testament teaches?
Christ stated repeatedly, and
long in advance of that fatal Pass–
over season, that He would be
dead three days. He also stated
that the only proof He would give
that He was the Messiah was that
just "as Jonas (Jonah] was three
days and three nights in the
whale's [or great fish's] belly," so
He would be in His tomb (Matt.
12:40).
Can you count three days
ANO
three nights between a late-Friday–
aflernoon burial and an early-Sun–
day-morning resurrection? I can't.
The New Testament does say
that the crucifixion and death took
place on "the preparation." But
was that preparation on Friday?
Or was it the preparation for the
Passover-on a completely differ–
ent day of the week? I'll give you
just a hint of the answer here: see
John 19:14. But write for our free
booklet
The Resurrection Was Not
on Sunday,
and discover the real
truth.
Lawson
C.
Briggs
l7