Absolution Paradise & Soul Sleep

Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors who was hanged railed on him saying If you be [the] Christ save yourself and us[1] 40: But the other answering rebuked him saying Do you not fear God [even now] seeing you are in the same condemnation 41: And we indeed [are] justly [condemned] for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man has done nothing wrong 42: And he said to Jesus Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom[2] 43: And Jesus said to him Assuredly I say to you Today shall you be with me in paradise[3] Luke 16:22 44: And it was about the sixth hour and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour 45: And the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was torn in half 46: And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice he said Father into your hands I entrust my spirit and having spoken thus he died[4]


[1] Anger, rebellion against God, and false expectation did not rescue this one who had not only experienced temporal suffering and death in his condemnation, but was about to serve an eternal sentence as well. He wanted absolution without repentance (only the Savior can absolve). He wanted the Savior to do his bidding—which was to rescue him from the consequences of his unrepentant sin—and then hated him when he would not.
[2] A broken and contrite heart HE will not despise. This criminal understood his sin, repented of it, and without ritual prayer, or ritual baptism, or any other religious trappings, stepped out of death into life everlasting with that simple confession of faith, “Lord, remember me….”
[3][3] This one statement, made by Jesus, obliterates any idea that the doctrine of soul sleep is scriptural. The man hanging on the cross next to Jesus was going to be in paradise with him that very day. Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
[4] The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to die without the comforting presence of God and hope of eternal life. That is the fate of all who die without Christ. God laid on Jesus the sins of us all. He died the lonely and terrifying death of those who die without having their sins forgiven. He who had no sin, endured this for us, so we would not have to. It was the dreadful prospect of this that caused his sweat to become as droplets of blood as he prayed in the garden. It was the devastating experience of this, on the cross, that caused him to cry out in stark terror, “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me!?” But he endured when he could have called 10,000 angels to his rescue. God laid on him the sins of us all, and he died in that condition. Jesus (who was fully human as well as fully God—we cannot fathom that infinite truth), as a human, died completely alone—for all humanity. He experienced for the first and only time in his life the shattering reality of separation from his father and his God. That is why his very last words were words of faith, entrusting his spirit to God.




Jocelyn Andersen is best known for her book, Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence.   For more information about her work, visit her website at www.JocelynAndersen.com


Special Features of the HHBC
The main body of scripture text in this commentary is based on the Received Text (Textus Receptus) of the NT and the Ben Chayyim Masoretic text of the OT as found in the Original *Strong’s Concordance, 1894, by James Strong, and compared diligently with the work of respected scholars.
Archaic language is updated in most cases, but The AV is followed unchanged where the language and sense of the translation is clear to the modern reader.
Where a Hebrew or Greek word has no good English equivalent, the original word is left untranslated, in italics, with the *Strong’s Greek [G] or Hebrew [H] reference number notated beside it.
Where the Old Covenant is quoted in the New Testament, the Hebrew words may be used and left untranslated
The words of Jesus are in bold print
Scripture cross-references are noted in line with the text
There is little punctuation used in the main body of the scripture-commentary text
Brackets [ ] indicate alternate rendering or short commentary
Longer commentary is located in footnotes

*20th Century editions of this work, such as, The New Updated Strong’s, and, The Strongest Strong’s, are not referenced in the HHBT as they do not relate to the Textus Receptus or the Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text this commentary is based upon.


List of Untranslated Words in this Passage
Theos G2316 Deity; god; The reason the word, Theos, is largely left untranslated in this commentary, is to put to rest erroneous teaching that the word must be prefaced by the definite article, “ho,” in order to be referring to Yahweh. In fact, most New Testament scripture references to Theos are not introduced using the definite article, “ho,” but even so, it cannot be argued when the Almighty is being referenced—especially in the case of John 1:1, where John, a Jew who would never commit blasphemy by following anyone who was called “A” god, calls Jesus God. John was specifically stating that Jesus is YHWH [Yahweh].

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