What Did The Lord Promise The Murderer On The Cross?

And He said to him: Verily, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.
Luke 23:43 (NBG51)

The placement of the comma here betrays the view of the Bible translators. The Greek source text has no punctuation marks. With equal right, one could have translated: “… I say to you today… you shall…”. The criminal asked: “Remember me when You come in Your Kingdom.” Well, Jesus says to the man: “I say to you today: you shall be with Me in Paradise.” By formulating it this way, Jesus places the emphasis on the day on which He makes this promise.

One thing is certain: on the day that He died, Jesus did not go to the Paradise that is above (2 Corinthians 12:2–4), but to “the realm of the dead below” (compare Acts 2:31 and Isaiah 14:9). Jesus Himself lay three days in the tomb – not merely His body (1 Corinthians 15:4).

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