Reading… and Thinking

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don't you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

– Luke 23:39-43 (NIV)

The last sentence of this passage is one of the key passages cited by those who believe faithful people go to heaven immediately when they die. Of course it doesn't say that, and this meaning depends entirely on how the sentence is punctuated, which comes from the translators, not from the text. (Other translators put the punctuation like this: “I tell you the truth today, you will be with me in paradise.” This is just as valid a rendering.) When you're looking at it with a filter of pre-conception in place, I guess it seems very clear. But a re-think might be in order.

There are problems for the believer in the immortal soul, aside from the dependence on punctuation. For one thing, “paradise” means “garden”. What garden was Jesus in that day? Only the one that held his tomb. But the crucified criminal wasn't in that garden – Jesus was there only because of the generosity of Joseph of Arimathaea. So what other garden might he mean? Heaven is never called a garden in the Bible. Probably the best answer is Eden. Access to that garden was denied after Adam and Eve sinned, but the way to the tree of life was “kept” (Gen 3:23-24). Through his death, Jesus was re-opening access to that garden, where the Tree of Life was. This is a much more satisfying answer. Eden, of course, was on the earth.

Another problem arises when 1 Peter 3:19 is added to the mix. This is the odd passage about “preaching to spirits in prison”. The interpretation of those who believe in an immortal soul is that this means Jesus went to hell to preach to those who died without ever having a chance to know about him. But of course if he was in hell preaching, then he wasn't in heaven with the repentant criminal!

It's unfortunate that this passage has been misunderstood, because the misunderstanding clouds one of the most beautiful confessions of faith we find anywhere in the Bible. When you understand that death really means death, and that the only hope of salvation is in resurrection, then this brief exchange between the criminal and the Lord Jesus reveals a man of phenomenal faith.

The few short sentences spoken by the criminal reveal that he understood and believed:

• Messiah would come.
• Jesus was the Messiah.
• Messiah had to die for the sins of the world.
• After dying, he would have to be raised from the dead.
• He would return as King.
• He would have the power to raise the dead.
• Sinners deserve to die, and we’re all sinners.
• But by confession and faith in Jesus, sinners can be saved.

At this point, the twelve did not have this degree of understanding! We aren't told where this man learned all of this. Perhaps he had been a disciple who followed John the Baptist, or one who had followed Jesus earlier in his ministry. Probably he had not put all of this together beforehand. It was while he was hanging there that he worked out in his own mind that Jesus was without sin, that the miracles proved he was from God, that the only explanation for what was happening was that Jesus was offering his life as a sacrifice, and that this was the means by which God was providing salvation for sinners.

This unnamed man is one of the most powerful examples of faith found anywhere in Scripture. No wonder Jesus assured him that he would join his Lord in paradise!