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NASB | Luke 23:43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 23:43 Jesus said to him, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." [2 Cor 12:4; Rev 2:7] |
Subject: Is "Paradise" the same as heaven? |
Bible Note: Bibleteacher, Your statement that "Likely the paradise truly familiar to the Jewish malefactor to whom Jesus spoke was the earthly Paradise described in the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Paradise of Eden" seems a bit of a stretch. It neglects a straight-forward reading and meaning of the text! According to your rendition, Jesus promised the theifthat they would be together in Paradise of Eden? I don't buy it, my friend. The IVP Bible Background Commentary makes this observation: "Jewish literature typically contrasted “paradise” with “Gehenna,” or hell. Although Jewish texts disputed the location of paradise (e.g., in the third heaven; or on the perimeters of the circle of the earth—like a Greek view of the Elysian Fields), they often mentioned it as the abode of the righteous after death or after the resurrection. Thus both Jesus and this condemned man would proceed directly to the abode of the righteous after death." (Heaven) The late Greek Scholar, A.T. Robertson offers this insight: "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise [Semeron meth emou esei en toi paradeisoi]. However crude may have been the robber’s Messianic ideas Jesus clears the path for him. He promises him immediate and conscious fellowship after death with Christ in Paradise which is a Persian word and is used here not for any supposed intermediate state; but the very bliss of heaven itself. This Persian word was used for an enclosed park or pleasure ground (so Xenophon). The word occurs in two other passages in the N.T. (II Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7), in both of which the reference is plainly to heaven. Some Jews did use the word for the abode of the pious dead till the resurrection, interpreting “Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22f.) in this sense also. But the evidence for such an intermediate state is too weak to warrant belief in it." Speaking the Truth in Love, BradK |