Untitled article by Dudley Marvin Canright

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, January 14, 1868

THE THIEF ON THE CROSS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Text. Luke xxiii. 43. “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

This is always quoted by those who advocate the conscious state of the dead as proof of that doctrine. It has been often explained by Advent writers, but I wish to give a few thoughts on it. “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” This, they say, proves that the thief had an immortal soul which would live after his body was dead. His body could not have gone to paradise that day; therefore it must have been his soul. This looks very plausible, and is worthy of our serious consideration.

What did Jesus mean by this declaration? In order to determine this, it will be necessary to know where paradise is. In 2 Cor. xii, 2, 4, Paul says that he knew a man who was “caught up into the third Heaven.” In verse 4 he says that he was caught up into para- dise; hence we learn from this, that paradise is in the third Heaven. In Rev. ii, 7, Jesus says that the tree of life is in the midst of the paradise of God. Then paradise is in the third Heaven, and the tree of life is in the midst of paradise. Rev. xxii, 1, 2, reads thus: “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life. This, then, is paradise; it is where the throne of God is; hence it must be in Heaven. Greenfield in his Greek Lexicon says, that paradise is “where God dwells.” It means a “park,” a “pleasant park,” “a garden of trees of various kinds,” “a delightful grove.” Eze. ii, 5; Cant. iv, 13. In the LXX, for the garden of Eden, or of delight, Gen. ii, 8. (Greenfield.)

Then the promise of Christ that he should be with him in paradise, was that he should be with him in Heaven, in his Father’s presence. He says, “Thou shalt be with me in paradise.” Not only must the thief be there, but Jesus himself must be there at the time promised. But three days after this, Jesus said to Mary, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” Jno. xx, 17. Here Jesus directly says that he has not yet been to paradise where his Father dwells.

Some object to this, that it means that his body had not yet ascended to Heaven. But compare the two, “Thou shalt be with me in paradise,” “Touch me not.” It is the same “me” in both places, be it either body or soul. From this we conclude that Christ did not mean to promise the thief that he should go to Heaven that very day in which they were on the cross. If he did, he certainly did not fulfil his promise.

Now, I have another question to ask: Did the thief himself die that day? All will acknowledge that his soul could not go to Heaven before his body died. I am of the opinion that he did not even die that day at all. I offer the following proof for this opinion:

1. The day, according to Bible time, ends at sunset. This is a fact acknowledged by all Biblical students. “Thus, the Sabbath commences with the sunset of Friday and ends at sunset Saturday. Indications of this primeval order exist among many nations. The reckoning of the first week of time must necessarily regulate those of all coming time.” Kitto. We read, “And the evening and the morning were the first day.” “And the evening and the morning were the second day,” &c. Thus we see that the twenty-four-hour day commences with the evening. In Lev. xxiii, 32, God said, “From evening unto evening shall ye celebrate your Sabbaths.” That the evening commences with the going down of the sun is proved by Deut. xvi, 6. “Thou shalt sacrifice the passover at evening, at the going down of the sun.” Many other evidences might be adduced on this point, but as all agree that the Bible day ends at sunset, we offer no further. Hence, if the term, this day, meant the day on which they were crucified, the thief would have to die and his soul be in paradise before the sun went down, but at the farthest, even according to Roman time, all this must take place before midnight.

2. By Matt. xxvii, 45, 46, we learn that they were crucified at noon, and that Jesus died at three o’clock in the afternoon, when the sun was about three hours high. “Christ having been nailed to the cross a little after midday, John xix, 14-17, and having expired about three o’clock, Mark xv, 33, the whole business was finished within the space of three hours, which Mark calls here the third hour.” Clarke on Mark xv, 35.

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross upon the Sabbath day (for that day was an high day) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” John xix.

Now, we have learned the following facts: First, They were crucified at noon. Second, Jesus did not die till about three o’clock. Third, The Jews besought Pilate that the legs of those which were crucified might be broken, and they taken down from the cross, because it was contrary to their law for a man to hang upon the cross on the Sabbath day. Pilate grants their request, and sends a body of soldiers to do it. Calvary was some way out of the city, hence it must have taken a considerable time to go into the city, order the soldiers, and have them go out to Mount Calvary. This must certainly have taken it well on toward night. When they arrived there, they found Jesus already dead, so they brake not his legs but pierced his side with the spear. But what did they do with the thieves? Did they kill them? No; they simply brake their legs and took them down from the cross, that they should not remain on the cross over the Sabbath.

There the record ends. Now where is the proof that the thief died that day? There is none. The man that says that he did die that day cannot prove it. But what are the probabilities of the case? They strongly indicate that they did not die that day. Simply their legs were broken and they were taken down from the cross. Now it does not kill a man to break his legs. We have all seen men with their legs broken, and even entirely amputated, and yet have seen them live for years. If the intention of the soldiers had been to kill the thieves, they certainly would have taken a different course from this. Why did they not break their skulls, or cut their throats, or pierce their hearts with the spear? Reason would teach us that they would have done something like this if they had designed to kill them. Mark what it says with regard to Jesus, “When they saw that he was dead, they did not break his legs, but pierced his side with a spear,” thus implying that they would not have done this if he had been alive. Then what was their object in breaking their legs? It was that they might be left at the foot of the cross over the Sabbath without danger of getting away. When the Sabbath was past, if they were still alive, they probably would be hung up again to remain till they did die. History informs us that persons usually lived several days on the cross before they died. Simply driving nails into a man’s hands

and feet would not cause his death for a long time. Commonly they would live upon the cross in this condition several days.

Nevins, in his Biblical Antiquities, chap. 216, says: “In this awful situation, the victim of the cross was left to suffer till death came to relieve him from his dreadful suffering. This did not take place commonly till the third day, and frequently till the fourth or fifth day.”

The Union Bible Dictionary says: “Those who were fastened upon the cross lived in that condition several days, and sometimes a week or more. Hence Pilate was amazed at our Saviour’s dying so soon, because that naturally he must have lived much longer.”

Buck’s Theological Dictionary says: “Sometimes they who were fastened upon the cross lived a good while in that condition. Some have remained three days alive upon it.”

Eusebius speaks of certain martyrs who were kept upon the cross till they were starved to death. Pilate was amazed at Jesus Christ’s dying so soon, because that naturally he must have lived longer, if it had not been in his power to lay down his life and to take it up again.

Dr. Adam Clarke, in his comments on Matt. xxvii, 35, says: “This punishment will appear dreadful enough when it is considered that the person was permitted to hang (the whole weight of his body borne up by his nailed hands and the projecting piece between his thighs) till he perished there. Some, we are informed, have lived three days in this state. It is true that in some cases there was a kind of mercy shown to the sufferer which will appear sufficiently horrid when it is known that it consisted in the breaking of the bones of the legs and thighs with large hammers, in order to put the sufferer out of pain. Such a coup de grace as this could only spring from those tender mercies which God represents as cruelty. Some were permitted to hang on the cross till eaten by the birds of prey, which often began to tear them before life was extinguished.”

From these evidences we see that it was common for criminals to live on the cross several days, even till they died from hunger and thirst. Now, this thief was crucified about noon, and in ordinary circumstances he would have lived three or four days or more. At three o’clock Jesus died, and Pilate learning this was amazed. Some time after this, or well on toward sunset, the soldiers came and brake the legs of the thieves and took them down from the cross. They did this in order that they should not remain on the cross over the Sabbath which was contrary to the Jewish law.

Now, the question again recurs in the light of all these facts, whether the thief died that day or not. The day would end at sunset, hence if he died that day, he must have died within six hours from the time that he was crucified, and within an hour or so from the time that his legs were broken. It does not say that he did die that day, nor that he did not die; but the probabilities appear to me to indicate very strongly that he did not die that day, nor, perhaps, even the next.

Now, when men assert so confidently that the thief’s soul went to Heaven that day, we modestly request them to prove that he even did die on that or the following day. They cannot prove it. We have already seen that Jesus did not go to paradise for three days after he made this promise. And now we have learned that it is very probable that the thief was not even dead at the expiration of that day.

Then what did Jesus mean by the promise, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise?” It will be seen that this language was spoken in answer to the request which the thief made to Jesus. The thief said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” What was the thief’s request? “Lord, remember me”—When? when our souls leave our bodies? No; but he sets the time when he wishes to be remembered. “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Here the thief in anticipation looked forward to the day when Jesus should come to take his kingdom, and requests that at that time he might be remembered.

By the question, it will be seen that the thief had no idea of going to Heaven when he died. Hence he had no idea of the conscious state of the dead. Now the answer of Jesus to the thief’s request relates to the very time that the thief had mentioned, “Verily, I say unto thee, To-day,” or this day, the day which you have mentioned, you shall be with me in paradise. The Greek word here rendered to-day is semeron, which Greenfield defines to mean, “to-day, or this day.” The Emphatic Diaglott renders it, “This day.” The same word is used in Psalms ii, 7: “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” Was Christ begotten on the day that the Psalmist said, This day have I begotten thee? No one will contend that he was; but the term, this day, looks forward several hundred years to the time when Jesus was begotten. So the term “this day,” in Luke xxiii, 43, refers to the future, to the time of which the thief had spoken. When will Jesus come into his kingdom? Paul says, “I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” 2 Tim. iv, 1. It is when he comes the second time. “I will come again and receive you unto myself.” This is the time to which the thief referred when he said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus promises him that then he should be with him in paradise.

Thus it will be seen that this text does not support the theory of the conscious state of the dead, as many suppose. I see no necessity for removing the comma and placing it after to-day, as some do. It reads just right as it is.