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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] |
Bible Question: Jesus tells the thief "Today you will be with me in paradise". Some say that this means that Jesus went to heaven before He went to hell to "get the keys". In light of Matt 12:39b-40 "no sign will be give to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be 3 days and nights in the heart of the earth". These verses show that Jesus spent the 3 days and nights before His resurrection in the heart of the earth. He couldn't of gone to heaven to be with the thief there - the thief had to of gone with Him to the heart of the earth which means that paradise is in Hades. Comments? |
Bible Answer: Better late than never, but hopefully you've found the truth by now. Ancient Greek did not have puncuation as in modern languages such as English. Translators must supply such consistent with the original language meaning as understood in context. As you correctly state, Jesus was in the grave, Hades, for parts of 3 days so he couldn't be in heaven. Some have fabricated a notion based on apostate Judiasm of an "abode of dead souls," half of which is hot for the sinners and half of which is cozy for the righteous. But to this criminal, the notion of paradise would have conjerred up visions of God's origin Garden of Eden. In addition, the evildoer did not meet the requirements to go to heaven even at some later time. He was not “born again”—being neither baptized in water nor begotten by God’s spirit. Holy spirit was not poured out upon Jesus’ disciples until more than 50 days after the evildoer’s death. (John 3:3, 5; Acts 2:1-4) On the day of his death, Jesus had made with those ‘who had stuck with him in his trials’ a covenant for a heavenly kingdom. The evildoer had no such record of faithfulness and was not included.—Luke 22:28-30. Thus a more correct translation would be: "Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise." (See Mark 14:30 for similar wording.) Hope you get this. |