p. 9 | The Dying Thief

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 7, 1904

The Dying Thief

For several weeks a correspondence has been going on in the Church Family Newspaper on the state of the dead, and a great variety of views has been presented. An interesting letter appeared in the last issue, containing the following:—

“As so much stress has been laid upon Christ’s reply to the penitent thief in this controversy, it may be of interest to call attention to the rendering of the ‘Curetonian’ MS. of the Syriac Version, made in the second century, and now in the British Museum. It is there given as follows:—

“‘And he said, “Jesus my lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.” Jesus said to him, “Verily, I say to thee to-day that with me thou shalt be in the Eden’s garden.”’”

“If this is correct (and there are good reasons for believing it is), it shows the translators to be at fault in their punctuation of the verse, and puts a meaning to Christ’s reply which is in harmony with the request made, but certainly no support to the argument for the consciousness of the dead (compare Deut. 8:19, where the same word is used in the Septuagint).”

This is evidently the correct understanding of Christ’s words to the dying thief; for if we leave the comma in the place where the Authorized Version has it, it makes the Saviour’s language inconsistent with other clear statements.

Christ did not go to paradise on that day. He was laid in the grave (hades) until his resurrection on the third day. Acts 2:27, 31. On the morning of that day he stated plainly that he had not yet ascended to his Father. John 20:17. It is evident from this that the Saviour had not been in paradise. Paradise is heaven, the dwelling-place of God, where the tree of life grows over the river that flows from the throne. 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Rev. 2:7.

At the resurrection of the just, the unconverted thief will be called from the grave, immortal. Then will be fulfilled to him the promise of the dying Saviour that he should be with his Lord in paradise.

When the New Testament was written, there were no commas. These were invented in the fifteenth century, and when the Bible was rendered into English, the translators put the commas where they seemed to fit. Occasionally their own ideas of a certain passage suggested the placing of a comma, and in more than one instance the position has had to be changed in later years.—Present Truth.