From an 1882 Pamphlet
Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Luke xxiii. 43.
This is often quoted as conclusive evidence that the righteous, at death, go immediately into heaven to dwell with Christ. But, strange as it may appear, this evidence hangs on the position of the little comma placed before the word to-day, making the word to-day qualify the verb shall be, in the second member of the sentence. Now, suppose we move the place of the comma, so as to make it read— Verily, I say unto thee to-day, shalt thou be with me in Paradise—This destroys the evidence that good men go to heaven at death. Now, the location of the comma is no part of inspired testimony, but is a thing of modern invention. But, says one, if the word to-day is made a part of the first member of the sentence, and qualifies the verb say, instead of shall be, it is not good sense; for the thief could not think Christ was saying it yesterday or to-morrow. This leads us to examine more closely the word. It is not a noun, in the original; but an adverb, semeron, and does qualify the first expression—I say, and is the same in other instances translated now; which is frequently used without the least regard to definite time. As I should say to my opponent—Now, you are mistaken with regard to what the Saviour said to the thief. Here I do not use the word now, to let my opponent understand he was not mistaken yesterday, to-day or to-morrow; but to give a force to that indicative form of expression. This appears to be the use of the word semeron in the text. Now verily, I say unto thee shalt thou be with me in paradise. When? Listen to the thief's prayer, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Not when thou goest into thy kingdom, at death. But when thou comest into it." Now, according to the assurance Christ gave the thief, when he comes in his kingdom, the thief must be with him. And, when will that be—at the death of a Christian? No. Read Matt. xxv. 31 to 34.
There are other instances where the word To-day and this day are used without regard to definite time. In Deut. xxvii. 8: This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. But God declares them his people long before that, in many places, Exod. v. 1—Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, let my people go. Deut. ix. 1—Hear, O Israel! Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself. It was many months after this before they passed over Jordan.
Now whether the thief and our Saviour were together, in paradise, on the precise day this promise was made, depends on other circumstances of more importance than the comma. One we shall notice. Our Saviour died on a certain day, at three o'clock, P. M., or the ninth hour of the Jewish day, and the two thieves did not die until the next day. Here it should be borne in mind, that the evening and the morning made the day, and that the day commenced at evening, at six o'clock, P. M., our time. Now since our Saviour died at three o'clock, P. M., three hours more finished that day, and another commenced at six o'clock or evening, and this was the preparation day, the day before the Sabbath. That the legs of the two thieves were broken on the preparation day, to hasten their death, is evident from John xix. 31 to 33. And that the Saviour was dead before the preparation day commenced, is also evident from Mark xv. 42 to 44. Joseph of Arimathea did not beg the body until the evening of the preparation day, and it had certainly been dead at least three hours before that day commenced, which was at six o'clock in the afternoon, our time, and Christ died the day before at three o'clock in the afternoon, our time.
Again, according to the sign he gave the Jews of his Messiahship, he was to be in the grave three nights and three days. But if he died on Friday, the day the two thieves did, he was but two nights in the grave, which would not prove him the Messiah; but he died on our Thursday, and was in the grave that night and the two following, which proved him the true Messiah according to the sign he gave. Matt. xii. 39, 40.
See also More on the New World Translation and Luke 23:43
No comments:
Post a Comment