The popular interpretation of Christ's language to the thief thus utterly failing, we are thrown back upon the text for some other explanation of the phraseology there used: "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”
There are but two probable ways in which this language can be interpreted: One is, to let the phrase “today” refer to the time to which the thief had reference in his request. He said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” He looked forward to the day when Christ should come into his kingdom. And if the "to-day" in Christ's answer refers to this time, then the sense would be, “Verily I say unto thee, To-day, or this day, the day to which you refer, when I come into my kingdom, thou shalt be with me in paradise.” The word "to-day" is from the Greek semeron; and all the definitions we find of it would seem to confine it to present time, excluding an application of it to the future. This interpretation, therefore, we think cannot be urged.
The other, and only remaining method of interpreting the passage, is to place the comma after “to-day,” making to-day an adverb qualifying the word “say.” The sense would then be, “Verily I say unto thee to-day, Thou shalt be with me in paradise,” at that period in the future when I shall come in my kingdom. This method of punctuation, if it is allowable, clears the subject of all difficulty. Let us, then, candidly consider what objections can be urged against it.
As to the punctuation itself, we all know that this is not the work of inspiration; and withal that it is of recent origin, the comma in its present form not having been invented till the year A. D. 1490, by Manutius, a learned printer of Venice. It is therefore allowable to change this in any manner that the sense of the passage, the context, or even other portions of the Scriptures, may demand. So the Bible Societies (Ives, p. 66) have found it necessary to change the punctuation of Matt. 19:20, and other passages are still in question. But the objector accuses us of making sad nonsense of the text by this change; and he asks in bitter irony, "Didn’t the thief know it was that day without Christ's telling him?" Very true as a matter of fact; but let the objector beware lest his sarcasm fall upon the Scriptures themselves: for such very expressions do occur therein. See Zech. 9:12: “Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.” Transposing this sentence, without altering the sense, we have phraseology similar to that of Luke 23:43; namely, “I declare unto you even to-day, I will render double unto thee.” The events threatened here were to take place in the future, when the Lord should bend Judah, etc. (See context.) So the phrase "to-day" could not qualify the "rendering double," etc., but only the verb "declare."
Here, then, is an expression exactly parallel with that in Luke, and the same irony is applicable; thus, “Did not the prisoners of hope know it was that day when the declaration was made to them?" But let our opponents now discard their unworthy weapon; for here it is leveled against the words of inspiration itself. (See also Deut. 8:19; 15:15; 30:16; Acts 26:29.)
But when we take into consideration the circumstances of the case, we see a force and propriety in the Saviour's making his declaration emphatically upon that day. He had been preaching the advent of the kingdom of heaven to listening multitudes. He had promised a kingdom to his followers. But the powers of death and darkness had apparently triumphed, and were crushing into the very grave both his prospects, and his promises. He who was expected to be the king of the coming kingdom, stretched upon the shameful cross, was expiring in ignominy and reproach; his disciples were scattered; and where now was the prospect of that kingdom which had been preached and promised? But amid the supernatural influences at work upon that memorable day, a ray of divine illumination may have flashed in upon the soul of the poor thief, traveling the same road of death beside his Lord. A conviction of the truthfulness of his claims as the Messiah, the Son of God, may have entered into his mind; and a desire have sprung up in his heart to trust his lot in his hands, leading him to put up a sincere petition, Lord, in mercy remember me when the days of thy triumph and glory shall come. Yes, says the suffering Saviour, in the hearing of the mocking multitude, I say unto thee to-day, to-day, in this hour of my darkness and agony, to-day, when the fatal cross is apparently giving the lie to all my pretensions —to-day, a day of forlorn prospects and withered hopes, so far as human eyes can see, -verily, to-day I say unto thee, thou shalt be with me in paradise, when my kingdom shall be established in triumph and glory.
Thus there is a divine force and beauty in these words of our Lord, as uttered on that occasion. How like a sun at midnight would they have broken in upon the gloom that enshrouded the sorrowing hearts of the disciples, had they fathomed their import! For who had occasion to sink in despair, if not He upon whom all depended, and that, too, when expiring under the agonies of the cross? But lo! no cloud of gloom is sufficient to fix its shadows upon his serene brow. His divine foresight, riding calmly over the events of the present, fixes itself upon that coming period of glory, when he shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. There, in the hour of his deepest humility, he points them to the joys of paradise.
Thus, by a simple removal of the comma one word forward, the stone of stumbling is taken out of this text, by making it harmonize with other scriptures; and thus the promise, by having reference to something in the future, and not to anything to be performed on that day, contains no affirmation of consciousness in death.
There is another objection, equally valid, against the idea that Christ and the thief went to paradise that day, and that is that the thief did not die that day. It was a Jewish law that no criminal should hang upon the cross over the Sabbath day. John 19:31. Therefore, if the criminal was alive when the time came to take him down from the cross, they broke his legs so that he could not escape, and then took him down. This was found to be the case with the thieves, when the time came to take the bodies from the cross. They were alive, and so their legs were broken. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was dead already, they brake not his legs. John 19:32, 33. Now if any one can maintain that Christ and the thief went to paradise that day, in face of these two facts, first, that Christ expressly declares that he did not go to paradise that day, and secondly, that the thief did not die that day, he shows that he is governed by prejudice and caprice and not by reason.
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Excellent article. But it seems to be part II of something longer. Where is part i?
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