The Comma That Changed Theology: What Really Happened When Jesus Spoke to the Thief on the Cross?

When you open your time of gathering with a word of prayer, you are immediately reminded of the great salvation that has been provided for you. You thank your gracious God and Father for sending His Son into this world to be nailed to a cross, to bleed, to die, to be buried, and to be raised the third day again according to the scriptures. You recognize that on that cross, Jesus was able to declare, “It is finished.” The work is complete, and mankind has been saved. You understand that the work of the cross is not a work of vanity; it is the completed work of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God who is love. As you pray for those gathered with you, you ask that your time in the Word would be a time of blessing, edification, and encouragement.

Yet, as you look around at the world, you realize that today is the day the world celebrates “bunny and egg day.” It is also the day the religious world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While it is a nice thought, you have likely noticed that it has become so monetized that the real meaning is entirely lost in the fanfare and meaningless activities that surround this day. But for you, the resurrection is a biblical reality. Its relevance is not wasted on just one day out of the year. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is relevant to you every single day of the year because of the finality of what was accomplished there. This truth affects you daily. It is a living reality that propels and moves you forward regardless of all the obstacles you are confronted with every day.

You must understand that the resurrection is not something you get to choose whether or not to participate in. It is something God is in control of, regardless of your personal views on it. The resurrection of all mankind is predicated upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ Himself. He was the first one to rise from the dead to never see corruption again. When you read Acts chapter 13, you see this beautifully articulated: “Concerning that he raised him from the dead, now no more to return to corruption; he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he whom God raised again saw no corruption.”

You know that other people in the Bible were raised from the dead, but they died again and saw corruption. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was fundamentally different. He was the forerunner, the prototype for everyone else who will experience the resurrection.

The Walking Tomb and the Inevitability of Sin

As you navigate your daily life, you can deeply relate to the struggle the Apostle Paul writes about in Romans chapter 7 regarding his flesh and its inability to do what it is supposed to do. You know that even Paul struggled. You read his words in Romans 7:18: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” You might have encountered people who think they are inherently good, but you know the biblical truth: there is nothing good in your flesh. Paul continues, “For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

You hear the phrase all the time: “You were born with a sin nature.” You know this is true; you are born with an Adamic sin nature. But then, the very same people who understand that you have a sin nature will turn around and say, “Well, you chose to sin.” If you are born with a sin nature, and the very propensity of that nature is to sin, do you really choose to sin? Is that really a choice you make, or is it something that inevitably happens to you because you were born into this world—a world that God Himself subjected to vanity?

When you are honest with yourself, you realize the answer is clear: you will inevitably sin because you are born into this world with a sin nature.

This realization brings you to a very discouraging place. In Romans 7:24, Paul asks the ultimate question: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” You need to pause and grasp the weight of this. This is the question of all questions. Frankly, it is the goal of the entire human race. Who shall deliver you from the body of this death? How do you get out of this body? Every single one of us should be asking ourselves this question because one day, you are getting out of this body. That happens at the resurrection. The beautiful thing is that no one is being left out of the resurrection.

Notice carefully that Paul does not ask, “Who shall save me from death?” No one is going to escape death. Instead, he asks who shall deliver him from the body of this death. When you think about it, your body is a walking tomb. You are a walking casket. The very moment you took your first breath when you entered this life, at that exact moment, you began to die. Sure, you grow up, but as you are growing up, you age, and you age, and you age, until you arrive at that door that all of us will one day have to walk through.

The Uncharted Territory Conquered

The good news is that there is one who walked through that door before you. He made the way clear, and He made the way plain. When you read Romans 14:9, you find the ultimate purpose: “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.”

Think about this verse for a second. Why did Christ die, rise, and live again? So that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. You might wonder, what does that mean? The dead are dead; how can the dead have a Lord over them? Why do the dead need a Lord? They need a Lord to guarantee that even while they are in that state where the Bible says “the dead know not anything,” they have a Lord who is looking over them. Even in that state, think about it, they are being looked over and taken care of. No detail of the human experience has been left out by your omniscient, all-loving God. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the dead.

Remember Lazarus in John chapter 11? When Jesus Christ called him forth out of the grave, “Lazarus, come forth!” That is the most beautiful picture in the Word of God you will ever see of the resurrection of the dead. And when He does that for the rest of us, it will be because He is the Lord of the dead.

The Substitution Fallacy: Dying For You, Not Instead of You

Now, before you go any further, you need to understand what did not happen at the cross. There is a huge misunderstanding in all of Christendom regarding what transpired there. Here is what did not happen: Jesus Christ did not take your place on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin.

What you have been taught for hundreds, if not thousands, of years is that Jesus Christ paid for your sin by dying in your place as your substitute. You have been told He took your penalty, died instead of you, and you walk away free. That has been programmed into your head. Unlearning this is not going to be easy, unless you simply believe the Bible.

Look closely at Romans 5:6-8. Does it say, “Christ died instead of us, became our substitute, and paid the penalty for our sins”? No. It says, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly… But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The doctrine of substitution, the way you have learned it, is lodged so deeply into your psyche that it is going to take a while to undo. But for today, just understanding that Jesus Christ died for you, and that He gave Himself as a sweet-smelling savor to God, is a good beginning. You can look at Leviticus to see how the sacrifice operated, and you will see exactly what happened at the cross. Jesus Christ died for you, not instead of you.

Tasting Death as Your Partner

When you turn to Hebrews chapter 2, you see this profound reality: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.” Think about that. He was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death. For this reason, Jesus Christ was born into this world. It was to this end—His death and resurrection—that He came.

Notice the next verse: “That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Not instead of every man. Not as every man’s substitute, but as every man’s partner. Jesus Christ is in this with you. Virtually, it is like He takes you by the hand and walks you through death. Verse 10 says, “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” Jesus Christ went through those sufferings, not as your substitute, but for you.

In verse 14, Paul writes to the Hebrews: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” This is how Jesus Christ was made Lord of the dead. He conquered death and became Lord over it by going through it. He is the One who went before you.

Now, picture this: Jesus Christ is waiting on the other side of death. He is waiting on the other side of that door to take your hand when you come through it yourself and say, “Come on over to the other side.” Verse 15 tells you exactly why He did this: “And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Death is a fearful thing in the human experience because of the unknown. It is especially unknown to people who do not understand the Bible. They come up with speculation and negative ideas—that death is the end, that there is nothing more. The most discouraging, hopeless concepts ever devised by the human brain are connected to the subject of death. But you have an advantage. You understand that the Word of God explains things and gives you enough information to be excited that death is not something you need to fear.

You might have known believers who are genuinely terrified of dying. This is why the teaching of the rapture is so compelling to so many people—they want to leave here without dying. While that is a great thought, when you understand the whole story, you realize it is a false hope. Death is a reality you will face, but you do not have to face it in bondage.

Angels could not have accomplished what Jesus did because angels do not have bodies. Jesus took on Himself the seed of Abraham; He took on a body. As Philippians 2 says, He was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the cross. He went first. You go second. The beauty of this subject is that death and the afterlife are not uncharted territory. Someone with the compass has gone before you.

The Thief on the Cross: A Question of Logic

With this foundation, you can now change direction slightly to look at an interesting narrative associated with the resurrection: Jesus’s conversation with the thief on the cross. Over the years, you have probably had people ask you what this conversation actually means. It is a question that comes up frequently.

The conversation is found in Luke chapter 23. One of the malefactors railed on Jesus, saying, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.” And he said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”

And Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

To understand verse 43, you have to look at it logically and with common sense. You need to structure your thoughts carefully. The first thing you know is that when Jesus Christ died, where did they put Him? They put Him in a grave. Joseph of Arimathaea gave up his grave for Jesus Christ. But exactly what went into the grave? Did His spirit go into the grave?

On the cross, Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” According to Ecclesiastes 12:7, you know that the dust returns to the earth, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. In the triune nature of man—spirit, soul, and body—the spirit (the breath) returns to God. That leaves two things: the soul and the body. Those are the two things that go to the grave. That is what the Bible teaches.

Unmasking “Hell” in the Scriptures

In Acts 2:22, Peter is speaking: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you…” Notice that it was not Jesus who did the miracles; God did the miracles through Him. Peter continues that Jesus was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, taken by wicked hands, and crucified and slain. Then comes verse 24: “Whom God hath raised, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”

Verses 22 to 24 are Peter looking back at the historical facts. But then, beginning at verse 25, Peter quotes David, who is looking forward to the death, burial, and resurrection. Notice verse 25 begins with the word “For.” You know that “for” is a word of explanation and amplification. Peter is going to explain what he just said by quoting David.

David speaks concerning Him—meaning this is what Jesus Christ is going to say or think from the cross as He moves into the chambers of death. Jesus knew exactly where He was going. He predicted His death and resurrection repeatedly in Matthew 16, Matthew 17, and Matthew 20. The fact that this is spoken of as prophetic by David demonstrates the omniscient knowledge and infinitude of God.

Now, look at what David says in Psalm 16, which Peter quotes in Acts 2:27: “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

You need to slow down here and understand something vital. In verse 27, the word “hell” is Hades. You know that Hades is the place of the unseen, which is the grave. Hell here is not a place of eternal conscious torment. If you hold to a strict, literal interpretation of the English King James Bible, you are forced to conclude that Jesus went to a literal, burning, fiery, torturous hell. But you know for a fact that Jesus Christ did not go to the devil’s hell to finish paying for the sins of mankind. He said, “It is finished” on the cross! Had He gone to hell to pay for mankind’s sin, His first words coming out of the grave would have been, “It is finished.” But He said it on the cross.

Therefore, you know He went to the grave, not a fiery torture chamber like much of Christendom teaches. To be fair, if someone tells you they don’t teach that Jesus went to a fiery torture chamber, they are admitting that this verse does not mean what the English punctuation implies. And that is exactly the point: this verse does not mean what it says in the English version because the original verse is in Greek. When you translate any language into English, you remove some of the integrity of the original language simply because English is not a perfected language. In both the Hebrew and the Greek, this verse says Jesus went to the place of the unseen—the grave.

Look at Psalm 16:10 in the Hebrew, where the word for hell is Sheol. Sheol means the same thing as its New Testament counterpart, Hades: the place of the unseen. When you drive by a cemetery today, you see the tombstones above the ground. You do not see the caskets below the surface. Those caskets are in the place of the unseen. Peter confirms this in Acts 2:31, where he explains that David spoke of the resurrection of Christ, “that his soul was not left in hell [Hades/the grave], neither his flesh did see corruption.”

The soul, which is part of the body giving it animation and emotion, goes into the grave along with the body. When the spirit returns to God, the soul ceases to function, and the body and soul go into the grave. Psalm 49:15 confirms this: “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave [Sheol].” This proves that the translators knew Sheol meant grave, not eternal conscious torment. Yet, inconsistently, they translated Sheol and Hades as “hell” in other places. Since the definition of eternal conscious torment is never found in the Bible to define hell, why did they do it?

The Agenda Behind the Translation

You have to ask yourself why certain groups favor the eternal conscious torment definition of Hades when the Bible doesn’t define it that way. While there is a certain darkness in the human heart that loves to debase God and make Him look like a monster—even though the Bible says God is love—you know that most people hold to this doctrine simply because of the stance they have taken on the infallibility of the English King James Bible.

When the Hebrew and Greek ended up in the hands of men, those men couldn’t keep their biases out of their translations. Every English translation has differences because the translators carried their own personal theological backgrounds and the narratives they were trying to protect.

When you look at the Greek word aion (often translated as eternal or everlasting), you find it actually means an age—a period of time that has a beginning and an end. Any honest lawyer would tell you that if there is a reasonable doubt about a word meaning “eternal,” you cannot use it to condemn someone to eternal conscious torment. God can do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think. You should think the very best, highest, and most noble thoughts of God, rather than attributing to Him the Augustinian thought of a monster who burns His creation for all of eternity.

If God had created such a place, He would have mentioned it in the six days of creation. To interject eternal conscious torment where God never did is to preach the devil’s message, not God’s message. In Genesis, God warned Adam, “In dying thou shalt die.” Not a word was spoken about burning for eternity.

The Power of One Misplaced Comma

Now, do not forget why you are looking at where Jesus went after He died. He went to the grave. And do not forget why you are looking at Luke 23:43, because this conversation answers the whole issue. Jesus said unto the thief, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Think about this carefully. You know that verse 43, as punctuated in the English Bible, cannot be right. On that day, when Jesus Christ hung on the cross and died, He did not go to paradise. He went to the grave. So what does verse 43 mean?

The first thing you must acknowledge is that in the original Hebrew and Greek, there is no punctuation. Punctuation does not exist. Notice that in the King James Bible, the comma follows the word “thee”: “Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” The comma means pause.

But what happens if you simply move the comma? Read it like this: “Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “I am telling you this today, that in the future, you will be with me in paradise.” That is what He was trying to make this man understand. Jesus Christ knew He was going into the grave in a very short while. He knew He was not going to paradise.

One stupid little punctuation mistake has created a heresy about where Jesus Christ went after He died. If you hold to the infallibility of the King James translation, you are stuck in a rut here. Because of this abominable, repulsive, God-dishonoring heresy, you should be correcting the text and stop protecting an error made by clergymen from the Church of England.

The Theological Gymnastics of Abraham’s Bosom

To protect this heresy, people have had to line up with crazy teachings like those of Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, who teach that Jesus went to hell to fight the devil. To escape this, the King James-only camp had to invent another compartment in hell called “paradise.” They call it the “paradise side of hell.”

You have to be honest with yourself: a separate paradise compartment attached to a burning furnace of eternal conscious torment is total insanity. If there were such a place as eternal conscious torment, there would be no “nice side” to it, not even for Abraham.

They also call this paradise “Abraham’s Bosom.” But the Bible never mentions Abraham’s bosom as a physical place. You might remember reading about it in Luke 16:23, where the rich man in hell (Hades/the grave) lifts his eyes and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. In no way does this say there is a place in hell called Abraham’s bosom. Furthermore, the word “hell” in that verse is Hades, which means the grave. The rich man is in the grave! That is why Luke 16 is a parable, not a literal story of a man being burned for all eternity.

To add something to the Bible that is never spoken of anywhere in the Word of God—is that the right thing to do? Never is there a mention of a place of eternal conscious torment that has a compartment of perfect peace attached to it. It is a massive stretch to fabricate such a place, especially for those who preach the divinely preserved Word of God found only in the King James Bible. If you hold to that view, verse 43 puts you in an arena of cult-like, heretical teaching.

To make this fabricated “paradise compartment” work, they then had to invent a doctrine that, after Christ was raised from the dead, this paradise was moved to heaven. But why move it? If it were a paradise, a place of peace, why change it? Why move it from hell to heaven? Why would God put it next to a burning fiery furnace in the first place, instead of just putting it in heaven from the beginning?

They use 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 to justify this move, where Paul speaks of a man caught up to the third heaven, into paradise. (As a side note, this man was not Paul himself in the third person; it was John Mark, the writer of Revelation, who traveled with Paul and had received the signified book of prophecy). But the fact remains: there is no place of eternal conscious torment, and there is no chamber attached to it called paradise or Abraham’s bosom.

When you read Genesis 25, you see exactly what happened to Abraham. He died at 175 years old, gave up the ghost, and was gathered to his people. His sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah. Abraham was buried in a field. That field was never called paradise. It was never called Abraham’s bosom.

Human Inventions vs. God’s Finished Work

As you process all of this, you are reminded of Ecclesiastes 7:29: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”

What is an invention? It is a process or method created through human ingenuity and effort. Nothing requires more human ingenuity and effort than inventing a place attached to a burning furnace called paradise, and then inventing a reason to move that place to heaven after the resurrection. Men have sought out many inventions, and this invention of a paradise attached to eternal conscious torment is one of the most damaging.

Why is it so damaging? Because the underlying motive of inventing “Abraham’s Bosom” called paradise undermines the teaching that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. It attacks the ultimate victory of the cross.

As you go about your day, spending time with your family and friends, you might be tempted to get drawn into deep theological debates or political arguments. If you want a hint on how to handle these moments: stay away from politics. When it comes to religion, the only thing you can safely and powerfully say is that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ fixed everything.

Everything is going to be okay. That should be the end of the conversation. You do not have to explain it. You do not have to argue about it. Just the thought of the finished work of Christ is a big enough seed to help anyone go further into understanding what God has done for mankind than any sermon any preacher could ever preach.

You do not need to fear death, and you certainly do not need to fear the manipulative, invented doctrines of men that try to make God look like a monster. The territory of the grave is not uncharted. Your Captain of Salvation walked through it, cleared the path, and is waiting for you on the other side. That is the true, unfiltered reality of the resurrection. Amen

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