And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Luke 23:43
There is some contention over this verse. Some find in it a contradiction they can use to repudiate the word of God. The comma is exactly where it is supposed to be. There is nothing contradictory about the passage.
Christ’s sacrifice, his death, paid for our sins. Once he died and entered hell, our sins were paid for. The resurrection was not part of the payment but the proof of his divinity and power. His resurrection is the hope for ours.
Psalms 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Romans 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Salvation is a two-part process, payment for sins is accomplished by Christ’s sacrifice, and forgiveness for sins, which is provided conditionally upon an individual’s faith in Christ. The thief met the condition in his request, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” So that day the thief’s sins were paid for by Christ’s atonement and he exercised faith in Jesus Christ.
That settles the first part, the thief was saved that day. He may very well have been the first person to receive full salvation. The OT saints had forgiveness of sins, but not payment for sins. They were reserved in Abraham’s bosom until Christ’s resurrection. I point out here that the thief did not have to be resurrected to be with Christ.
Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
We are in Christ’s, sitting with him in heavenly places now.
When Christ died his Spirit returned to God, his body went into the ground, and his soul went into hell and then over to Abraham’s bosom, paradise at this time. It is the Spirit that puts us in paradise with him. When the thief died, his sins were forgiven, and he entered Abraham’s bosom to await Christ’s resurrection and ascension. He could not have gone to heaven before Christ’s ascension. With us now, it is absent the body, death, present with the Lord, heaven.
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
This is my understanding.
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