As Jesus was dying on the cross, He said to one of the thieves next to him, “Today you will be with me in paradise”.

Luk 23:42  Then he [a thief] said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
Luk 23:43  And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Many people believe Jesus was saying, “I will be with you in heaven today”.  But is this really the case?  Whatever Jesus meant it must be consistent with the rest of Scripture.  Let’s take a closer look.

Death

Both Jesus and the thief were going to die that day.  What happened to them when they died?  Did Jesus preach to the demons in hell?  Did the thief go up to Paradise?  No!  They stopped doing anything because death is a cessation of thoughts and actions. 

Ecc 9:5  For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.

Ecc 9:10  Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

For more information on this see, “Do you have an immortal soul?”

Death is often described as “sleep”, because of the hope of the resurrection when the dead will be raised to life again.

Job 14:10  But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he?
Job 14:11  As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,
Job 14:12  So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep.

Act 13:36  “For [king] David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption;

1Th 4:13  But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
1Th 4:15  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

So when Jesus and the thief died, their thoughts and actions stopped.  They were “asleep”, waiting for their resurrection.  Concerning Jesus, we know He was resurrected three days and nights later and that He is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father.

1Co 15:3  For I [Paul] delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
1Co 15:4  and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

Mar 16:19  So then, after the Lord had spoken to them [His disciples], He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

But what about the thief on the cross?  When will he be resurrected?  Either it will be in the first resurrection, which happens at the return of Christ, and is a resurrection to eternal life as a spirit being in the kingdom of God.  (This seems unlikely as he was not a righteous man.)  Or it will be in the second resurrection, which happens at the end of the millennium, and is a resurrection to physical life with the opportunity for eternal life.  See “What are the Three Resurrections?”

Paradise

Jesus said the thief would be with Him in Paradise.  Does this word help clarify what Jesus meant?  The Greek word translated Paradise is paradeisos, which means a park or “Eden”.  The word only appears in two other places.  In 2 Corinthians, by Paul to describe a vision of Heaven.

2Co 12:4  how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

And in the book of Revelation to mention a garden where the tree of life is.

Rev 2:7  “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ‘

The condition of life in both the first and second resurrections could be described as “Paradise”, so this word doesn’t help clarify what Jesus meant.

Possible Explanations

From what the Bible teaches, we know for sure that neither Jesus nor the thief entered into any kind of Paradise the day they died.

Here are two possible explanations for what Jesus meant. 

Perhaps Jesus meant that when the thief enters Paradise it would seem to him to be the same day he died, because in death there is no awareness of the passage of time.

Another explanation is that the placing of the comma (done by the translators) is incorrect.  Instead of:

“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

It should be:

“Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise.”

Thus the time Jesus will be with the thief in Paradise is changed from today to some unspecified time.

Conclusion

Perhaps we cannot be sure what Jesus meant.  But we can be sure that Jesus did not mean that He and the thief would be together in Paradise the same day they died.