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].
