Luke 23:43: Today in Paradise?
Jesus tells the thief on the cross, who has asked
to be remembered by Jesus when Jesus receives his kingdom, that he would
be in paradise with Jesus that very day. Yet was not Jesus in the tomb
for three days? And does not the Bible teach that he went to Hades between
his death and resurrection? Didn't he ascend to paradise only after the
resurrection? If this is true, how could he make such a promise to the
dying thief?
This question presupposes the answers to a number of questions. The first
of these is, Where was Jesus between his death and resurrection? It is
clear that his body was in the tomb. That is why all three Synoptic Gospels
mention the witness to the burial (Mt 27:61; Mk 15:47; Lk 23:55). Matthew
adds the story of the sealing of the tomb (Mt 27:62-65), letting us know
that until the resurrection the tomb remained shut with the body inside.
However, this says nothing about Jesus' spirit. When Paul contemplates
death in Philippians 1 or 2 Corinthians 5, he speaks of his immediate
presence after death before Christ (for Paul the important thing is not
being in heaven, but being with Jesus, so that is where he puts his stress).
He witnesses to the Christian and late Jewish belief that the spirit or
soul of a person has conscious existence somewhere between the person's
death and their resurrection. Thus what Jesus is talking about is where
his spirit and the spirit of the thief were to be.
Some Christian traditions have believed that Jesus' spirit was in Hades
(or hell) between his death and resurrection. This idea is based on 1
Peter 3:19 (and possibly 1 Pet 4:6) and Ephesians 4:4. However, such an
interpretation is not supported by these texts. While the Ephesians 4:9
text in the KJV seemed to say that Jesus descended into the lower regions
of the earth (which could be Hades), in the NIV we read the better translation:
"the lower, earthly regions." That is, this passage speaks of
Jesus' descent from heaven to earth, his incarnation, not his location
after death. The 1 Peter passage does speak of something happening after
Jesus was executed, but it does not tell us (1) what the spirits are which
are in prison, (2) where the prison is, (3) when this event took place
(other than after his death) or (4) how long it took. Let it suffice here
to indicate that (1) in my view the spirits are not the spiritual part
of dead humans, but the fallen angels of Genesis 6 (contrary to comment
on Gen 6:4), (2) the prison could be located below the earth, but there
is also a Jewish tradition that locates it in the second heaven, (3) the
event may have taken place before his resurrection or it may have been
part of Jesus' ascension, and (4) we have no idea if it took more time
than a single trumpeting announcement of his triumph, which could have
taken a minute or less. Assigning any length of time to this event is
pure speculation. (The preaching of the gospel to those now dead, 1 Pet
4:6, probably does not indicate an action of Jesus, but the preaching
of the gospel to people who believed and then died, but who still have
the same hope as the living Christians Peter is writing to.) My conclusion
is that there is no reason to believe that Jesus actually spent any significant
length of time in Hades or hell or wherever the "prison" was.
If it was a preresurrection trip, it didnot necessarily take a lot of
time.
The second of the assumptions is that paradise is another name for heaven
and Jesus was not in heaven until his ascension. The first part of this
assumption is probably true. While "paradise" is actually a
Persian term adopted by the Jews to indicate the Garden of Genesis 2,
in the New Testament it means something more than this. In 2 Corinthians
12:2-4 it indicates a place that Paul was "caught up" to, also
identified as the "third heaven" (which is the abode of God,
the first two being the place of the birds and the place of the stars).
This impression is confirmed by Revelation 2:7. So we are on firm ground
in that part of the assumption. Jesus is promising to be in heaven with
the thief on that day.
The second part of this assumption is not true. The only verse that could
indicate that Jesus was not in heaven until after the resurrection is
John 20:17, but there the issue is one of not holding on to Jesus physically
because he has not yet ascended to the Father. His physical absence from
the earth was necessary for the sending of the Spirit (Jn 16:7). He is
now physically present, and Mary must not hold on to him to keep him from
leaving. This passage says nothing about where the spirit of Jesus was
between his death and resurrection.
My conclusion, then, is that there is only one passage that tells us whether
or not Jesus was in heaven at some point between his death and resurrection,
and that is the passage we are discussing. Jesus promised that both he
and the thief would be together in paradise, which is heaven, on the day
they died ("day" probably indicating "when we die"
rath- er than the precise Jewish or Roman period of time, although all
of the traditions place both of their deaths before the end of the Jewish
day on which they were crucified). If Jesus was correct, he may have made
a proclamation in a "prison" on the way (or that proclamation
may have taken place later, at his ascension), but that would be where
he apparently spent most of the time between his death and resurrection.
If he was correct, it also explains his final words in Luke, "Father,
into your hands I commit my spirit," (Lk 23:46) for he was going
to his Father at his death. His work was complete; he did not have any
major work to do between his death and resurrection. Of course, if Jesus
was not correct, we have only theological speculation to rely on for where
Jesus was during this period of time, for there is no way to test this
claim without investigating the place itself. What is certain is that
the Gospel writers assume that he was correct about such matters.
When Jesus makes this promise to the thief, it does more than simply comfort
the dying man and promise him the reward of faith. What it does is to
announce the completion of salvation. Salvation was completed at the cross.
There were no more battles for Jesus to fight. Satan had met his match
at the cross. The victor, Jesus, could proceed to heaven and there await
the resurrection, when his triumph would be made known to the whole world.
See also comment on 1 PETER 3:19.
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