What’s so “Good” about Good Friday?

by Admin · Published April 18, 2025 · Updated April 17, 2025

Jesus is taken off the cross, depicted in a painting by French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

Question: Why is Good Friday called “good” when something so bad happened that day?

Answer: The question could also be asked about the Afrikaans term for Good Friday, “Goeie Vrydag”, which derives from the Dutch “Goede Vrijdag”.

The term has been used since at least the 14th century, but the exact origin of the name “Good Friday” is unclear. It replaced the term “Long Friday” (langa frigedæg), introduced by the Anglo-Saxons, variations of which are still used in Scandinavia.

There are some who suggest that the term “good” is applied to the day of the Lord’s crucifixion because through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus paid the price for humanity’s sins and offered the possibility of redemption and eternal life — which is indeed a good thing. But etymologists don’t buy into that theory.

Others argue that the term “Good Friday” derives from “God’s Friday”, similar to how the farewell greeting “goodbye” is a contraction of “God be with you”. The Catholic Encyclopedia used to state that theory, claiming that it was derived from the German “Gottes Freitag”. The problem with that idea is that Good Friday in German is not “Gottes Freitag”, but “Karfreitag” (the prefix “Kar” means lament or sorrow).

The most plausible explanation, and the one most widely accepted by etymologists, is that the term “good” in this context comes from the Old English word “god”, which means holy. The term “the Good Book” to describe the Bible draws from the same etymology, meaning “the holy book”.

So “Good Friday” basically means “Holy Friday”, which makes perfect sense and is consistent with the names for the day in other languages, all of which refer to holiness, sorrow or the Passion of the Lord.

Moreover, the day in Holy Week known as Holy Wednesday, which recalls Judas’ betrayal, used to be known as Good Wednesday. It is not clear why the word “good” became “holy” on Wednesday but not on Friday.

Since Dutch is also a Germanic language, it seems likely that the Afrikaans term “Goeie Vrydag” has a similar etymology to the English “Good Friday”.