The Thief on the cross destroy's ROYS/works salvation

sandman

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There appears to be much speculation that has stemmed from the OP. ....I prefer to go with what we know from the Word of God …..

What we don’t know ….we simply don’t know ….and speculation doesn’t make it true or false.

Starting off ….It was one of the malefactors (not one of the thieves (robbers)) who was given the assurance of Paradise.

Luk 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

Mat 27:44 The thieves (robbers) also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.

The KJV has thieves, which is a horrible translation (many other versions got it right). The Greeks use an entirely different word for a thief which is kleptes…. and it means, one who acts stealthily. The word lēstēs = robber, and is used throughout this account of the crucifixion. A robber is one who openly plans his dirty work using violence if necessary.

dyo - Greek = Two

lēstēs
– Greek = Robber(s)

kakourgos
- Greek = Malefactor(s)

As you will see from Luke there were two malefactors (dyo kakourgos) crucified with Jesus and later after an unknown amount of time, two thieves (robbers) (dyo lēstēs) were brought to be put to death.

I know… that is not what most of you were taught or what you believe … But that is what the Word states.

As for the malefactors' salvation… He wasn’t saved by the grace that we enjoy …because it wasn’t available yet, and Jesus stated that the malefactor would be with Him in paradise ….which brings up another point of contention.

Where did Jesus go after giving up his life. The Word states He was in the heart of the earth for three days and 3 nights. Jesus did not go to paradise and neither did the malefactor….they were both in sheol the grave.

I submit to you …that the comma …. a simple comma added by translators… put both of them in paradise that day.
All punctuation has been added …it’s helpful, but not trustworthy as it is mans’ interpretation.

Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

If you remove the comma from after “thee” and place it after “today” …or remove it all together and read what we know to be true from the Word we will have the correct rendering.

Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee To day, thou shalt be with me in paradise.

“I say unto thee” was a common idiom used some 20 times in the Word…..

But what do we know of Paradise? …Well, it’s a short word study, used only 3x. Once here, once where Paul was caught up in a vision, (2Co 12:4) which he could not talk about …(that being for his own exhortation). And Rev 2:7 where John is speaking of the vision. Which …. by the Bible’s own definition, paradise is going to be here on earth… in the future….which is when the malefactor will be resurrected from the grave to be with Jesus.

Paradise is not heaven it is not Abrahams bosom and it’s not seen in the dashboard lights (Meatloaf )
 
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Basil the Great

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The case of the thief on the cross represents a most rare situation, so I do not think it wise to presume that said example can be applied to everyone else, regardless of what they may or may not have done. After all, stealing can hardly be compared to mass murder.
 
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Erik Nelson

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From my experience it appears that Hades only refers to the place of suffering in Sheol as opposed to Abraham’s bosom which is the place of paradise in Sheol. But I do agree that the thief didn’t go to heaven, he went to Abraham’s bosom until Christ’s resurrection.
That agrees with the following IBC article on the very same topic :)
 
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