|
  
|
I occasionally receive questions from
people who visit my site. As I've said before, I always appreciate
the questions I receive from you. It shows me your interest in the
topics we study, and it often requires me to delve more deeply into the
word of God as I answer them. This study is beneficial for me, as
I hope it is for you.
Recently I received a question from a
student regarding the thief on the cross. The example of the thief
is frequently used as support for the doctrine stating that baptism is
unnecessary for salvation. Someone may say, "I want to be
saved like the thief on the cross." I believe they mean that
their desire is to have faith in God, and that faith leads God to grant
them salvation as they pray to Him and ask Jesus to come into their
hearts. What can we learn from the thief? In this study, I
will present the account of the interaction between Jesus and the thief,
address the period of time in which they lived, review the New Testament
teachings regarding salvation today, and summarize our study.
In preparation for this study I
searched the internet for teachings regarding the thief on the cross.
To my surprise I could find little erroneous information on this topic
(at least within the first few pages of results to my query). I
thought I would find many more pages teaching the idea that we can be
saved today like the thief was then. This finding heartened me.
I hope my study is of value to those who may have questions regarding
the thief.
First, lets look at the crucifixion
scene. We learn in Mark that Jesus was crucified with two thieves
(Mark
15:27). Also in Mark we learn that it had been prophesied that
Jesus would be crucified with transgressors (Mark
15:28, a reference to the prophecy recorded by Isaiah in chapter
53, verse 12). In John we learn that Jesus was crucified
between the two thieves (John
19:18, also recorded in Matthew
27:38, Mark
15:27, and Luke
23:33). Matthew's account of the thieves suggests that BOTH of
them were involved in mocking Jesus (Matthew
27:44, notice the use of the plural when referencing the thieves).
A transliteration of the Greek states, "And the same also the
thieves, the ones having been crucified with Him they were reproaching
Him" (Greek New Testament, UBS 4th edition, Nestle-Aland 26th
edition). But in Luke we see that one of them had a change of
heart as he was hanging on the cross along with Jesus. The other
thief (whom I'll call the second thief) continued his mocking, but the
first thief rebuked him (Luke
23:39-41). Luke records the first thief's dialogue with the
second thief and with Jesus. He asked the second thief, "Dost
not thou 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." (Luke
23:40,41). We have no record of the second thief's response to
this question. The first thief then turns to Jesus and says,
"Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." (Luke
23:42) To him Jesus said, "Verily I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke
23:43)
Before we can fully understand the
interaction between Jesus and the thief we must consider when they
lived. Please turn to Hebrews
9:15-17. Here we read, "And for this cause He is the
mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the
redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of
the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead:
otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."
From these verses we learn that the new testament (the new covenant) did
not go into effect until after Jesus' death. From these verses we
also learn that the blood of Jesus went back, to forgive the sins of
those who were obedient to the commandments given them under the old
covenant ("for the redemption of the transgressions that were under
the first testament"). We read again of this action of Jesus'
blood in Romans
3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;". Why was
it necessary for His blood to go back and forgive their sins?
Because they were not forgiven prior to His death! Hebrews
10:4 records, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins." So, the sins of the
people under the law of Moses were never forgiven, but were overlooked
by God through His forbearance. All who had faith in God
(manifested by the works in their lives, as with Abraham and his
willingness to offer Isaac) prior to Jesus' death were considered
righteous and were granted salvation, even though their sins weren't
forgiven. When Jesus died, those overlooked sins were forgiven.
When the thief was hanging on the cross with Jesus, they were both still
living under the law of Moses. Since Jesus hadn't yet died, the
new testament was not yet in effect. The thief demonstrated his
faith in God through his statement to Jesus on the cross. This
faith allowed God to overlook his sin, just as the sins of untold
numbers of people prior to him were overlooked. However, just as
with those before him, his sin was not yet forgiven. When Jesus
died, the sins of the thief and of all who had faith in God through the
prior centuries were forgiven. His faith allowed Jesus to state,
"Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."
The period of time under which Jesus
and the thief lived has passed forever. Now, God doesn't overlook
sin. He has given His Son for our redemption and instantaneous
forgiveness for those who are obedient. God has told us what we
must do to receive the forgiveness of our sin. In Colossians
1:13-15 we read, "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath
made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us
into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins:". Who is the
"whom" recorded by Paul in this verse? It is the
"dear Son" mentioned before the colon. Whose "dear
Son" was this? He is the Father's dear Son. Who is the
dear Son of the Father? Jesus Christ. But how does one get
"in" Jesus Christ to gain access to the forgiveness of sins
available through His blood? In Galatians
3:26,27 Paul tells us that, "For ye are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ." Notice the "into" in
this verse. How does Paul say that one gets "into"
Christ? Through baptism. How does one gain access to Jesus'
blood? By getting "into" Him. How does one gain
forgiveness of sin? Through the cleansing blood of Christ.
Therefore, what is absolutely necessary before one can be forgiven?
Baptism. Through baptism, we get into Christ (Gal 3:26,27).
By getting into Christ, we have access to His blood (Col 1:13-15).
His blood is able to wash away our sins (Col 1:13-15). The one who
fails to get "into" Jesus Christ has no access to the
redeeming power of His blood.
I have a simple analogy that I think
applies to our discussion above. I'm sure I'm not the only one to
ever use this analogy. It is fairly simplistic. When you
arose from bed this morning, you likely had the clothes you planned to
wear hanging in your closet or folded in your dresser. After
making the preparations necessary for dressing, you put on your
clothes. At what point in time were you in your clothes?
We all realize that we aren't in our clothing until after we have
put on our clothes. For the one who seeks salvation, at
what point in time are they in Christ, gaining access to the
redemption present through His blood? Not until after they
put Him on. We see in Galatians 3 that everyone who has been
baptized into Christ has put on Christ. Is one in
Christ before baptism? No. Just as we are not in our
clothing before we put on our clothing, we are not in
Christ until after we put Him on. The only way to put
on Christ is through baptism into Christ!
Today, can one who is unforgiven enter
heaven? No. Hebrews
10:26,27 shows us the fate of those who resume willful sin after
obedience--there is no more sacrifice for sin: "For if we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries." So one who has never been obedient has never
had access to the cleansing blood of Christ, and the one who has obeyed
but resumed willful sin has lost access to His blood. Those who
are unforgiven have only eternal damnation to look forward to. So,
can one who has refused baptism be saved? No. Without
baptism, one is not "in" Christ. Without being in
Christ, one cannot have access to His blood that washes away sin.
Without forgiveness of sin, one has only eternal damnation to look
forward to after death.
You know, if God allowed us today to
enter paradise in the same fashion as did the thief on the cross, He
owes Jesus a tremendous apology. By doing so God would be saying
to Jesus, "I had planned all along to allow them into paradise.
Really, your suffering and death were meaningless. If they just
ask me to overlook their sin, I'm happy to do it. Your blood
wasn't necessary for them to be righteous before Me." It
sounds crazy, doesn't it? But if all we had to do to be saved was
to pray a simple prayer to God, how are we any different than those who
lived before Jesus came to earth? As we saw with the thief, people
prior to His death were allowed into paradise despite being unforgiven.
If we are, in essence, no different than those people, why did Jesus
have to come to earth and die on the cross? The only answer must
be that something has changed for us. That "something"
is that we must now come into contact with something the people prior to
Jesus could never access: The cleansing blood of Jesus. So,
upon His death the possibility of entering paradise in a like fashion to
the thief ended forever.
In this brief study we have reviewed
the account of Jesus' dialogue with the penitent thief. We have
showed from the scriptures
that they both lived under the law of Moses. In the scriptures
we've seen that those under the law of Moses were granted access to
paradise, despite having sin that was unforgiven. During this
period of time, God overlooked sin through His forbearance. The
grace of overlooked sin was available only to those who were obedient.
When Jesus died on the cross, those overlooked sins were forgiven and
the law of Moses ceased being a valid covenant between God and man.
Upon His death, mankind entered a new covenant with God. This
covenant contains no provision for overlooked sin, since mankind now has
access to instantaneous forgiveness through obedience to the
commandments of God. God commands that we come in contact with the
cleansing blood of Christ, who has served as the propitiation
("mercy seat") for our sin. The path to access to the
blood of Christ has been clearly laid out for us in the scriptures:
We are redeemed through the blood of Christ, but have access to this
blood only if we are in Him. We put on Christ by being baptized
into Him. Therefore, today we CANNOT be saved in a fashion like
unto the thief on the cross.
I haven't addressed speculation
regarding the thief. Some approach the fact the thief was granted
access to paradise without being baptized with the statement, "How
do we know he wasn't baptized?" They reference the baptism of
John when making this statement, and the possibility the thief may have
been baptized under John's baptism. We don't know whether the
thief ever submitted to the baptism of John. The Bible doesn't
tell us. As we've seen, it is irrelevant whether he did or didn't.
People prior to John were granted access to paradise (Lazarus was
recorded as being in "Abraham's bosom" in Luke
16:23; Enoch was "translated that he should not see
death", recorded in Genesis
5:24 and Hebrews
11:5; Elijah was taken directly into heaven in a chariot of fire,
recorded in 2
Kings 2:11). None of these men (Abraham, Enoch, or Elijah)
ever had access to any form of water baptism. So, whether the
thief was baptized or not is irrelevant.
I hope this study has been of benefit
to you. As always, you are invited to e-mail me with questions
should they arise. I'll be happy to address them to the best of my
ability.
|
