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THE THIEF ON THE CROSS
Luke 23.39-43
Luke 23.39-43
“And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed (kept on railing)
on Him saying, “If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us.”
But the other answering rebuked him, saying,
“Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:
but this Man hath done nothing amiss.”
And He said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me
when Thou comest (shalt have come) into Thy Kingdom.”
And Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say unto thee,
today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
(Luke 23:39-43)
“I say unto thee, Today” = “I say unto thee to day “.
“Today” is connected with “I say”, to emphasise the solemnity of the occasion; not with, “shalt thou be”.
“This day” - is a solemn idiom used for great emphasis, occurring 42 times in Deuteronomy, and it is this Old Testament idiom that is used in Luke 23. 43.
The interpretation of this verse depends entirely on punctuation, which rests wholly on human authority, the Greek manuscripts having no punctuation of any kind till the ninth century, and then it is only a dot ( in the middle of the line) separating each word.
The verb “to say”, when followed by (hoti), (hoti = “that“), introduces the (opsissima verba) of what is said; and answers to our quotation marks. So here (in Luke 23. 43), in the absence of hoti, there may be a doubt as to the actual words included in the independent clause. But the doubt is resolved, by the common Hebrew idiom, “I say unto thee this day”, which is constantly used for very solemn emphasis; as well as, by the usage observable in other passages where the verb is connected with the Greek (semeron) = “today”. eg.,
1. With (hoti)
Mark 14.30: “Verily I say unto thee, that (hoti) this day....thou shalt deny be thrice.”
Luke 4. 21: “And He began to say unto them, that (hoti) this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Luke 2. 26: “saying (hoti = that), We have seen strange things to-day.”
Luke 19. 9: “Jesus said unto him that (hoti), this day is salvation come to this house.”
For other examples of the verb “to say”, followed by hoti, but not connected with semeron “to-day“, see,
Matt. - 14.26; 21.3; 36.34; 27.47
Mark - 1.40; 6.14, 15, 18, 35; 9.26; 14.25.
Luke - 4.24, 41; 15.27; 17.10; 19.7.
2. Without hoti,
On the other hand, in the absence of hoti “that” the relation of the word “to-day” must be determined by the context.
Luke 22.34: “And he said, ‘I tell thee, Peter, in no wise shall a cock crow to-day before thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.”
Here the word “today” is connected with the verb “crow”, because the context requires it. Compare Heb. 4:7.
It is the same in Luke 23:43: “And Jesus said to him ‘Verily I say unto thee today [* or this day, when, though they were about to die, this man had expressed so great faith in Messiah’s coming Kingdom, and therefore in the Lord’s resurrection to be its King - now, under such solemn circumstances] thou shalt be, with me, in paradise.” For, when Messiah shall reign, His Kingdom will convert the promised land into a Paradise. Read Isa. 35, and Ecc. 2:5.
We must notice also the Article before “Paradise”. It is “THE Paradise”, viz. the paradise of which the prophets tell in such glowing language, when the Lord shall come in His Kingdom. See Ps. 67:4,6;72:6,7,16,17;
Isa. 4:2; 30:23,24; 35:1,2,5,6; 41:18,20;
Jer. 315,12;
Ezek. 34:25-27; 36:29,30; 47:8,9,12;
Hos. 2:18,21,22.
Joel 3:18;
Amos 9:13-15
Zech. 8:12;
It has no connexion with Babylonian, Jewish, and Romish tradition, but is a direct answer to the malefactor’s prayer. His prayer referred to the Lord’s coming and His Kingdom; and if the Lord’s answer was direct, the promise must have referred to that coming and to that Kingdom, and not to anything that was to happen on the day on which the words were being spoken.
It is alleged that the Lord’s promise was a reply to the man’s thought; but this is an assumption or which no justification can be found. Moreover, how can we know what his thought was, except by the words he uttered?
The Lewis Codex of the Syrian N.T. reads in v.39: ”save Thyself and us today”. So the Lord’s word “today” may have reference to the reviling's of the one, as well as to the request of the other.
‘Companion Bible Appendix - 173 “TO-DAY”’
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