UPON DEATH, DID JESUS PROMISE THE THIEF THAT HE WOULD JOIN HIM IN PARADISE THE SAME DAY?

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The Bible reference is Luke 23:42-43: “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, Today shall you be with Me in paradise.”

Upon death, did Christ go directly to "paradise" in heaven? Did He promise the thief that he would join Him there the same day?

Before continuing in Luke 23, read John 20:17. Christ told Mary Magdalene, four days after Luke 23:43 occurred, that He had still not been to heaven! Could He have so quickly forgotten what He told the thief?

(John 20:17 KJV) Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. 

Reread Luke 23:43, but now read it with the comma after the word “today” and not before. The Greek is best understood as “Verily I say unto you today, shall you be with Me in paradise.” In verse 42, the thief said, “remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” He would not say “remember me,” unless he correctly recognized that much time would pass before Christ could fulfill this promise. Christ used the word “today” as if to say, “Right now, even while we are dying on a stake, I can tell you with certainty that you shall be with Me in paradise.”

Christ could not have literally meant the same day, since He would not be resurrected until three days and three nights after burial (Matt. 12:40). Obviously, at the point Christ said this, He had not yet died. The three days and three nights had not even started. Since God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), and Christ and the Father are of the same mind (John 10:30), He was not telling the thief that he would be with Him “in heaven” that same day.

The meaning of the Luke 23 account is distorted largely because of a simple error in grammar. The comma, which follows Christ’s lead-in statement, “Assuredly, I say to you…” was inserted and misplaced by men. It changed His entire meaning. The original Greek, the language of the New Testament, did not use certain punctuation, such as commas and quotation marks. Translators using their own discretion added them later. The correct rendering is, “Assuredly, I say to you today [in other words, “I tell you right now”], you shall be with Me in Paradise.”




Source: David C. Pack

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