Wilson Paroschi
And He [Jesus] said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43.
Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross in Luke 23:43 has traditionally been used as a major proof for the immortality of the soul; that is, the belief that the spirit or soul of the faithful dead has conscious existence in heaven before the resurrection. According to this view, which is shared by the vast majority of Christians, when the penitent criminal asked Jesus to be remembered in His kingdom, he was assured that he would be in paradise that very day.
The punctuation of the text – The problem depends on how Jesus’ statement is punctuated. If the comma is placed before “today,” as most translations do, then the passage reads: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” But if the comma is placed after “today,” then Jesus would simply have said: “Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.” What did Jesus actually mean?
In the early Christian centuries, New Testament manuscripts were written without separation between words and sentences, and little or no punctuation at all was used to indicate how the text should be read. The comma, for example, was introduced as late as the ninth century. In any case, the presence of a comma, or any other punctuation mark, in Greek manuscripts reveals only the current understanding of a passage’s meaning. Thus, when Luke 23:43 was punctuated, the comma was placed before “today” not for grammatical reasons, but for the theological conviction, prevailing at the time, that the final reward of the faithful who die comes at death.
The alternative translation – There is unequivocal evidence that this interpretation was not the only way this passage was understood in the early centuries of the church. Ancient translations, citations by church writers, and even specific signs in Greek manuscripts bear witness to the fact that the alternative reading had in fact several supporters in early Christianity (see box, p. 314). And contrary to what is often claimed, placing the comma after “today” does not make the word “today” superfluous. It has correctly been argued that the use of “today” to introduce or to close a statement is only a Semitic idiom intended to intensify the significance and solemnity of the statement that either will follow or has just been made. In fact, this idiom is rather common in Scripture; in Deuteronomy alone there are over forty examples of expressions such as, “I teach you today,” “I set before you today,” “I give you today,” “I command you today,” “I testify against you today,” and “I declare to you today” (e.g., 4:26; 6:6; 7:11; 8:19;11:26, 32;30:18, 19; 32:46; cf.; Acts 20:26; 26:2). This expression and other biblical Semitisms were familiar to Luke through the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by the early Christians.
Scriptural evidence – To establish the meaning of Jesus’ statement on the cross, it is important to look at the overall biblical teaching regarding the time when the saved will enter upon their reward in paradise. By “paradise,” there should be no question that Jesus meant heaven (2 Cor 12:2-4) or the eternal habitation of the redeemed in the New Jerusalem in which the tree of life and the throne of God will be found (Rev 2:7; 22:1-5). In another passage, Jesus refers to the many dwelling places in God’s house and to the time when He would come again to take His own to Himself (John 14:1-3). At that time, He would invite His followers to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the beginning of the world (Matt 25:31-34). This event will be a glorious moment of reunion in which the final and complete celebration of deliverance from sin will take place (Luke 22:14-18).
The reading “Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise” is found in the Curetonian Syriac, one of the earliest translations of the New Testament whose text goes back to the second century. It is also found in church writers, such as Ephraem of the fourth century, and Cassian and Hesychius of the fifth century. This reading is also found in two independent apocryphal works probably of the fourth century, the Acts of Pilate and Christ’s Descent into Hell.
The bestowal of immortality – Paul teaches that believers who die will come forth from their graves at Jesus’ second coming (1 Cor 15:20-23) when the gift of immortality will be bestowed on them (vv. 51-55). The resurrected righteous and the righteous living will then be caught up together to meet Jesus in the air, and so they will be with Him forever (1 Thess 4:17). It is important to notice that, according to Paul, it is Jesus’ resurrection, not His death, that gives the righteous hope for life after death (1 Cor 15:16-19; Rom 10:9). It would have been strange, therefore, if Jesus had promised the thief that they would be together in paradise that very day. Moreover, the Bible also clearly teaches that on the day He died, Christ went into the grave (Luke 23:50-54; Acts 2:31, 32; 13:29-31). To argue that only Christ’s body went into the grave while His Spirit ascended to heaven is to ignore that early in the resurrection morning Jesus told Mary not to hold on to Him because He had not yet gone to the Father (John 20:17).
The meaning of the passage – It does not seem appropriate, therefore, to conclude that Jesus promised that both He and the penitent thief would be together in paradise the day they died. If the comma is placed before “today” it becomes virtually impossible to reconcile this passage with what the Bible teaches elsewhere, including what Jesus Himself taught, concerning the time when the faithful dead receive their final reward. Placing the comma after “today” is a Semitic idiom emphasizing the significance of the announcement.
Finally, there is also ample historical evidence to demonstrate that this way of understanding the passage is neither new nor illegitimate. Important segments of the early church accepted the reading, “Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise,” even after belief in the immortality of the soul had become predominant in Christianity.
The thief asked Jesus to be remembered in His kingdom. Apart from his surrender to Jesus in the final moment of his life, there is nothing special in his request about Jesus’ kingdom. One should not make the mistake of thinking that he fully understood the teachings of Jesus on the subject. But, however basic his Messianic ideas may have been, Jesus did not promise him immediate and conscious fellowship in heaven after death. By using “today” after “I tell you,” the Savior made a solemn promise and so brought comfort and hope to that dying man’s heart but without specifying when that promise would be fulfilled.