Another frequently cited text that many assert teaches that people go straight to heaven or hell after death, is the story concerning the thief on the cross. During Yeshua's crucifixion, two individuals who were also convicted of crimes were placed on crosses to his left, and right. One of them mocks Yeshua, asking him to get them off these crosses if he really is the Son of G-d. On the other hand, the other criminal comes to his defense, saying that they deserve to be crucified, but Yeshua is an innocent man. After this, Yeshua then turned to him and said, "As I tell you today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). This phrase here has become very popular among Christians who hold the aforementioned position, and many use it as a key foundational verse to prove said doctrine. However, we need to examine this verse a lot more closely, as there are three big points that need to be considered:
Point Number One: Commas do not exist in the Greek language, thus all punctuation were added later on by the English translators of the Bible. The placement of the comma that we see in Luke 23:43 is very important, as it determines whether Yeshua was saying they would be together in Paradise that very day, or saying to him that day that they would be together in Paradise (at a later point in time). Let us explain. If the phrase were to read "truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise", it is clear that Yeshua is saying to him that on that very day he will be with him in Paradise. On the contrary, if the comma was placed as follows, "truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise", Yeshua is saying that day, that the thief will (future tense) be with him in paradise. The Greek word used for "today" is semeron, and it literally means "today", or "now". However, the Master was not going to be with him that day in paradise. In fact, that type of rendering of the passage would actually be incorrect. It is explicitly stated in 1st Corinthians 15:3-4:
"Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures". (1 Corr. 15:3-4)
Furthermore, Yeshua himself stated:
"For just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea monster for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights" (Matthew 12:40 NASB)
It is also recorded in the Apostles Creed (12) that:
"on the third day he rose again from the dead ascended into heaven"
The scriptures clearly teach that when Yeshua died, he descended into Sheol/Hades (the grave) where he remained for 3 days and 3 nights, and wasn't resurrected until after that point. Yeshua did not go to Paradise the day he said that-- But on that day, he told the thief that they would be together in paradise.
Yeshua's statement of being "3 days and 3 nights" in the heart of the earth is also consistent with the common Rabbinic understanding of the location of the soul after death. In the Midrash Rabbah, Rabbi Eleazar Ben Eleazar ha-Kappar(Aka Bar Kappara) explains that the duration of time after death in which the soul hovers over the grave is three days.
For three days, the soul is hovering over its grave, believing that it will return [to the body]. (Bereshit Rabbah 100:7)
Point Number Two: The second point we need to look at is the difference between paradise, and heaven. The "paradise" here being referenced is also mentioned in Revelation 2:7, and the LXX (Septuagint) translation of Genesis 2:8 utilizes the same Greek word paradisosis speaking of the garden of Eden. From what we can see from the scriptures, the thief on the cross is going to have part in a "paradise", ie a perfect world that will be inhabited by the elect (the messianic age and the olam ha'ba). This dismisses the idea that has come from Christianity that the thief is in heaven (the spiritual realm where the Father and son currently reside), and clarifies that the "paradise" Yeshua will be reunited with the thief in is the messianic era and the world to come.
Point Number Three: The third and final point we need to consider is what is stated by Yeshua himself in John 20:14-17. In this passage, he addresses Mary Magdelene where he says to her:
"stop clinging to me for I have not yet ascended to the Father"
Yeshua makes it very clear that after he died, he was not with the father, in heaven, or in paradise. Rather, he was in the grave. After he was resurrected, he still did not ascend to the Father, meaning he was present on the earth. In fact, when we read the book of Acts (1:9-11), he was with the disciples for 40 days after his resurrection before being taken up by a cloud to heaven, sitting down at the father's right hand. Further clarifying that Yeshua was not telling the thief that they would be in paradise that day. He, like all of the dead, are awaiting the resurrection.
In conclusion, though these verses are often cited to prove an immediate transfer of the soul to either heaven or hell upon death, these verses actually suggest quite the opposite when read within the historical and cultural frame of the Judaism that existed when they were written. Rather than the souls immediate transfer to the afterlife, it would seem that something else entirely occurs. The soul remains on this plain of existence (albeit inactive and unconscious - the sleep of death).
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