Commentaries:
In Luke 23:43, Jesus Christ tells one of the criminals being crucified next to Him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." This statement forms the foundation of belief for the majority of professing Christians that they will go to heaven as soon as they die. The common interpretation is that Jesus promises the malefactor he would be with Him in "Paradise"—assumed to be heaven—later that day, after both had died. From this scenario, they extract the theory that all of the faithful are likewise caught up to heaven immediately upon death. This verse has become the modern pillar of the ancient pagan belief that our soul lives on after the death of the body and finds its way to heaven to be with God.
The only problem is that Luke 23:43 does not support this at all!
Jesus gave only one sign that He was the One He said He was: that He would be in the grave for three days and three nights:
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40, emphasis ours throughout)
If Jesus was not in the grave for three days and three nights, He is not our Savior! But since we know He was telling the truth, He must have been in the grave for exactly three days and three nights—thus, He could not have been in Paradise that day. Following this through, if He was not in Paradise on the day He died, neither was the criminal hanging next to Him.
The apostle Paul corroborates that Jesus did in fact fulfill His prophecy. In I Corinthians 15:3-4, he tells Christians: "For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures." Notice that Paul says Jesus was buried, not that the body was buried and His consciousness went to Paradise. It reads that He—Jesus, Himself, entirely—was buried. He was dead for three days. He died for our sins, was in the grave for 72 hours, then came back to life after being resurrected by the Father.
John gives further proof of where Jesus was: "Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there [in the tomb, the grave] they laid Jesus . . ." (John 19:41-42). Similarly, Peter told those present on Pentecost, "[David], foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption." (Acts 2:31) This states that Jesus' body and soul were in "Hades" (the grave) before His resurrection, not in Paradise.
Jesus Himself tells us He was not simultaneously in the grave and in Paradise. When Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb, she encountered the resurrected Savior (John 20:14). After He identified Himself (verse 16), He told her plainly where He had not been: "Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God."'" (John 20:17). Clearly, He had not been in Paradise with the Father during the time He was in the grave, thus the criminal was not either!
David C. Grabbe
What Happened to the Thief on the Cross? (Part One)
What exactly is the "Paradise" Jesus was talking about? The Greek word translated "Paradise"—used only three times in the New Testament—has the basic meaning of "park" or "garden." It describes an Eden-like setting. Additionally, by usage it is shown to indicate the presence of God's throne. This is seen in II Corinthians 12:1-5, where Paul relates the incident of "a man" (actually Paul himself) having a vision where he was "caught up to the third heaven . . . caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." "Paradise," then, refers to where God's throne is.
Revelation 2:7 also mentions Paradise: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." This gives us another indicator—the Tree of Life is shown to be in the Paradise of God just as it was in "Eden, the garden of God" (Genesis 2:8-9; this particular phrasing is used in Ezekiel 28:13).
Notice also Revelation 22:1-2:
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
The context of this is "a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. . . . Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God . . ." (Revelation 21:1-2). We see, then, that after the Millennium (see Revelation 20:1-5), the New Jerusalem descends, and it not only contains the Tree of Life, but also God's throne—for God Himself will be reigning on the new earth. This is (will be) Paradise, and the repentant criminal will be there with Jesus Christ.
David C. Grabbe
What Happened to the Thief on the Cross? (Part One)
Although interpreting Luke 23:43 to say that Jesus and the criminal would both be in Paradise that very day contradicts many clear scriptures, some still hold onto this idea because of the unique construction of the sentence. They point out that, while there are many places where Jesus begins an important statement with "Assuredly, I say to you" or "Verily, I say unto thee" (KJV) or "I tell you the truth" (NIV), in no other place is the phrase accompanied by an explanatory clause relating to time—yesterday, today, etc.
Structurally, these critics say, Christ's important statements always follow a set pattern: "Assuredly, I say to you, [important statement]." In this view, to include the word "today" with the phrase "assuredly, I say to you" creates a structural anomaly. They do not argue that the structure is wrong, only that it is unlikely to have been what Jesus meant because His many other emphatic statements in the New Testament all follow the same pattern. They allege the word "today" would be superfluous if it were added to the phrase "I say to you" because "I say" is already in the present tense, which implies "today" or "now."
However, this objection overlooks a foundational and crucial point. The use of "today" or "this day" is a common idiom used by both God and man in both Testaments. This idiom adds tremendous emphasis and gravity to the statement it accompanies. Consider Deuteronomy 4:26: "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed" (emphasis ours).
The Hebrew behind "this day" is translated in other places simply as "today." When used in this way, it is not intended to draw attention to the 24-hour period during which it was spoken, but rather to convey the significance and solemnity of the declaration. The chapter's preceding verses reveal that God is not drawing our attention to a specific day but is demonstrating the seriousness of what He is saying by using the Hebrew idiom "this day."
This peculiar idiom appears throughout the Bible—literally hundreds of times. It is frequently used when God is speaking about the commandments He has given and when He tells His people what He expects of them. Occasionally, "this day" or "today" is not idiomatic, as when the speaker is actually drawing attention to a specific day, such as a Sabbath or other holy day. However, for the most part, this term is intended to add emphasis, solemnity, and importance.
Moreover, the words in Luke 23:43 are spoken by the same Person who used this idiom repeatedly when addressing ancient Israel. When we understand this, we can see that the comma is misplaced, and to make His statement more easily understandable, the comma should follow the word "today": "Assuredly, I say to you today, you shall be with Me in Paradise." Jesus is adding solemn emphasis to His statement that at some point the criminal would be with Him in His Kingdom on earth.
David C. Grabbe
What Happened to the Thief on the Cross? (Part Four)
If the thief on the cross lived again the day that he was crucified, ascending to heaven, not only would he have gone there without Jesus Christ, but he also would have been a jarring exception to the Bible's clear statements about when the resurrection takes place. For example, John 3:13 clearly reads, "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man" (our emphasis throughout). What about all of the Old Testament saints? What about all of the "heroes of faith" of Hebrews 11? Most people assume they are in heaven in the presence of God, yet if we are willing to believe Jesus' plain statement, we know that cannot be the case.
Where is King David, a "man after God's heart"? The Bible tells us where he is not: "For David did not ascend into the heavens" (Acts 2:34)! Where is he? The answer is found a few verses before: "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (verse 29). King David is not in heaven but dead and buried, sleeping until the resurrection from the dead.
Is it logical that the thief on the cross would go to heaven, when Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and all the rest in Hebrews 11 were not accorded that honor? No, the end of the chapter even addresses that:
And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. (Hebrews 11:39-40)
These heroes of faith did not receive the promises because God planned that both they and the audience of the book of Hebrews would "be made perfect" together—at the same time. "Going to heaven" was never an Old Testament promise, nor is it a New Testament promise. What God promises is our being "made perfect," and the Old Testament saints will be made perfect at the same time as the New Testament saints. Philippians 3:10-12 explains that this "perfection" happens only at the resurrection of the dead, while John 3:13 and Acts 2:34 both show that this does not occur when each individual dies. Instead, in I Corinthians 15:50-54, Paul writes that it is not until the last trumpet that the saints will be resurrected and made perfect:
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
"The dead will be raised" only when the last trumpet sounds, and those saints still living will be changed into spirit beings immediately thereafter. That last trumpet is shown to take place when Christ returns (see I Thessalonians 4:15-17). What this means is that the resurrection to immortal life—the perfecting of the saints—does not take place until Christ comes back to establish His Kingdom on this earth. The only exception to this has been Jesus Christ Himself. As Hebrews 11:40 shows, the thief on the cross could not have been "made perfect"—resurrected with an incorruptible spirit body—ahead of all of the saints of God. He most certainly could not have been made perfect before Christ!
Much of the misunderstanding of this verse stems from the placement of the comma. Modern translations predominately place a comma after the word "you," giving the impression that the remaining phrase—"today you will be with Me in Paradise"—means that the criminal to whom Jesus was speaking would be with Him in Paradise later that day. However, it must be remembered that none of the ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament contain any punctuation—various translators added it centuries later. Thus, without punctuation, Luke 23:43 reads, "And Jesus said to him assuredly I say to you today you will be with Me in Paradise."
On the surface, putting a comma after the word "you" seems harmless enough. However, if He indeed had meant that the criminal would be in Paradise with Him that very day, He would have contradicted Himself and the Bible on numerous accounts! Jesus Himself was not in Paradise that day but was dead and buried, awaiting His resurrection three days and three nights later. However, this apparent dilemma is easily resolved if the comma is placed after the word "today." Properly punctuated, Luke 23:43 reads, "And Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise.'"
David C. Grabbe
What Happened to the Thief on the Cross? (Part Three)
When we understand that Jesus' words to the thief contain a Hebrew idiom that uses "I say to you today" to add emphasis and solemnity to a statement - and that the God of the Old Testament used this formula frequently in speaking to Israel - moving the comma after "today" makes more sense. But this begs the question: Why does Jesus speak so emphatically? The answer can be found in the unique qualities of the book of Luke. He is the only gospel writer who includes this encounter, so it is tied to his own distinct perspective.
Throughout his gospel, Luke emphasizes the fact that Christ was a man, while the other writers emphasize His kingship (Matthew), His servitude (Mark), or His divinity (John). Luke stresses Christ's humble beginnings in a manger, surrounded by shepherds and common people. He shows Jesus going through the same human experiences that everyone around Him went through. He highlights His humanity and the fact that He is the Savior of all mankind, not just of Israel. Luke, a Gentile himself, writes for other Gentiles, which is why many of his descriptions of events omit details that non-Israelites would not relate to, while emphasizing the things that all people could connect with. In Luke's writing, Jesus is depicted as the universal Man, Someone every person could identify with and respect.
This helps to explain Jesus' words to the criminal. Here is a common thug—having been caught in a crime against the state and paying the price for it—who has the audacity to beseech the dying Messiah for favor. Yet the Son of Man, the perfect Man that He is, does not brush him aside or castigate him. Instead, He recognizes that the criminal is expressing faith, however rudimentary, in the coming Kingdom of God, as well as in the fact that Jesus would not be held down by death—for the only way He could come into His Kingdom is through a resurrection from the dead.
The criminal has the eyes to see Jesus Christ for who He is. He can comprehend what would happen after Christ died. He understands that, when Jesus returns in His Kingdom, He would remember the criminal and act in a way that would be beneficial to him. Taking this a step farther, the criminal knows what condition he would be in himself—he would be dead. Thus, he knows that Christ's remembrance of him will have to begin with his own resurrection. Jesus is able to assure him that he will indeed be with Him at some point in Paradise.
Luke highlights Christ's willingness, even as His own life is draining out, to give comfort and encouragement to the man dying next to Him that he would live again and be with the Son of God in Paradise. However, He does not say this to the criminal alone. His declaration is underlined with a Hebrew idiom that is solemn and emphatic yet also universally encouraging. As long as we have not turned away, He is speaking to us also when He says, "Truly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise."
David C. Grabbe
What Happened to the Thief on the Cross? (Part Four)
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Luke 23:43:
Ezekiel 45:21-22
Ezekiel 45:21-22
Luke 23:43
Luke 23:43
Luke 23:43
Luke 23:43
Luke 23:43
Luke 23:43