Luke 23:43 – “Today you will be with me in paradise”
Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who was hanging there railed at him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 23:41 And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” 23:43 And Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
How could Jesus say that this repentant man would be in paradise ‘today’, when he himself would be in the grave for three days, and would not ascend to heaven until much later still?
There are several things to consider.
The question of grammar
Does ‘today’ qualify ‘I tell you’, or ‘you will be with me’? In other words, does Jesus mean ‘I tell you today’, or, ‘You will be with me today in paradise’? J.B. Green says that
‘although it is grammatically possible that “today” could be read with “I assure you,” its function as an adverb to denote when the criminal will join Jesus in Paradise is assured by Luke’s well-documented concern with the immediacy of salvation (e.g., Lk 4:21; 19:9). And, since “paradise” connotes the end-time dwelling of the righteous with God, Jesus promises an immediate transfer to life in God’s presence.’ (DJG [2nd ed.], art. ‘Heaven and Hell’)
The meaning of ‘Paradise’
According to HSB (along with many others), ‘paradise’ means heaven, and Jesus was, accordingly, in heaven before his ascension. His ‘preaching to the spirits in prison’ (1 Pet 3:19) was, if it was a pre-resurrection visit, may only have been very brief.
Archer (Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties) suggests that ‘paradise’ was not exalted to heaven until Easter Sunday. If ‘paradise’ is another name for ‘Abraham’s Bosom’ (Lk 16:19-31), then it have been that part of the abode of the dead (Hades/Sheol) which was reserved for the righteous. They would be admitted to the presence of God when the price of their redemption had been paid and when their Saviour was himself raised to life. Under this interpretation, our Lord’s ‘descent’ (Eph 4:8) was to the very place, and from their he led those held there up to glory. It must be admitted that this is somewhat conjectural.
Edwards regards ‘Paradise’ as the opposite of ‘Gehenna’, the place of condemnation and punishment. In Jewish thought, it is ‘a celestial Garden of Eden, reserved for the righteous after death’. It is not some lower, temporary state, but rather signifies ‘the full presence of God, the highest heaven’.
A hint of the intermediate state?
It is possible to see here a hint of a distinction between the intermediate state (that pertains to believers immediately following death) and the final state of the blessed (that pertains after the parousia). The former is intimate blessedness (it is being ‘with Christ’). The latter is cosmic blessedness (in the new heaven and the new earth).
Murray Harris:
‘Where was Jesus during the long intervals between his appearances? We know he was in paradise on the day of his death (Luke 23:43), and so we must assume his appearances were incursions from the heavenly realm where he had already been exalted to his Father’s right hand. His ascension into heaven after forty days was a visible dramatization of this invisible enthronement, and it marked the end of his earthly resurrection appearances.’ (Navigating Tough Texts, p51)
Perrin:
‘Because of the natural word order of the Greek and Luke’s thematic insistence that salvation is a matter of today (Lk 2:11; 4:21; 19:9), we conclude that Jesus expects to enter into some kind of intermediate state along with the now-forgiven malefactor—and to do so today.’
Joel Green (op. cit.) maintains that neither this passage nor Lk 16:19-31) testify to the idea of an ‘intermediate state’.
A theological, rather than a chronological ‘today’?
Some have thought that ‘today’ is to be interpreted theologically, rather than chronologically.
‘To the criminal’s vague “when” Jesus responded with a precise “today,” referring less to within the next twenty-four hours or before the sun goes down than to the realization of Jesus’ reign through his death, resurrection, and ascension. This day through Jesus’ death, salvation was being achieved, and the criminal would share in it. As a result even though this took place temporally that day, “Luke’s ‘today’ belongs … more to theology than to chronology.”’ (Stein, quoting Sabourin)
Similarly, the contributor to Harper’s Bible Commentary:
‘”today” does not mean ‘within a twenty-four-hour period, but in the “today” of the kingdom (Luke 4:21).’
Pate (40 Questions About the Historical Jesus) discusses the issue with regard to Jesus’ promise that he would be in his grave three days (or parts thereof). Whereas ‘today’ has traditionally been interpreted as referring to a 24-hour period, this would be in conflict with other Scriptures that teach that he first ‘descended’ to Hades after death (Mt 12:40; Acts 2:31; Rom 10:7). Thus, for Pate and some others, ‘today’ should be understood as eschatologically, rather than chronologically; it refers to ‘the day of salvation’ which would dawn when he was exalted at his resurrection.
Joel Green (op. cit.) suggests that
‘this passing of time could be a matter of perspective: the participation of the dead in the movement from this life to the next versus the perception of time by those who bury their dead and await the eschaton. If the dead experience eternity with God, then there is good basis for imagining that they are not governed by the passing of time as we experience it.’