Every few months, debates flare online about the thief on the cross. Was he saved without works? Was baptism necessary? Did he truly repent? Most miss the real lesson. When the thief said, “Remember me when You come into Your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42), he referenced the very message Jesus preached from the beginning: the coming Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14–15; Luke 4:43). Even in His…
Story Tag: ThiefOnTheCross
A Comma, a Cross, and a Kingdom truthsum.org
TS Writer
3 months ago in Translation Issues, Bible
When Jesus turned to the thief beside Him and said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), it has long been read as proof that believers go directly to heaven at death. But could this hinge on nothing more than a translator’s comma? The earliest Greek manuscripts had no punctuation. Word-for-word, the verse reads: “Truly I say…