Picking On Luke
Up to this point I have been giving Luke a pass on his account of the death and resurrection of Jesus. In this post, I will introduce the most prominently suspicious difference in his narrative and follow up with the results of my personal investigation.
The Two Thieves
All four gospels mention that there were two other men crucified with Jesus. John mentions them in passing:
There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. (Joh 19:18 NAU)
Mark provides a little more detail:
They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. … Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. (Mar 15:27-32 NAU)
Matthew, in this case, does not deviate from Mark’s account:
At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. … The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words. (Mat 27:38-44 NAU)
But now we come to Luke:
Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. (Luk 23:32 NAU)
One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? "And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luk 23:39-43 NAU)
Applying my rules-of-thumb, this passage is subject to investigation:
1) No such conversation is recorded in John or Mark
2) It even contradicts Mark’s account a bit, for Mark (along with Matthew) states that both men insulted Jesus
3) The repentant thief is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament
In order to be consistent in the application of my rules-of-thumb, I should side with the earlier gospels and find Luke in error from the standpoint of historical accuracy. I should find it unlikely that one of the thieves was repentant and that the other was not. However, the opposite could be true: that Mark got it wrong and Luke was correcting the record.
Setting up the Paradise Investigation
This account in Luke is unique in that it introduces a place in the afterlife called “Paradise”. These are the two most popular interpretations of what Paradise is:
1) Paradise is another name for Heaven (the most popular interpretation)
2) Paradise refers to a region of Sheol (a minority opinion embraced by W. Lee and others)
To this list, I must be fair and add a third possibility, based upon the above analysis:
3) Luke introduced an error into his gospel, and there is no place in the afterlife called “Paradise”
This topic will be the subject of the next series of posts, and I will defer the analysis of the Gospels until this important investigation is discussed.
Spoiler alert: ultimately I side with Witness Lee (
) and go with #2. I have come to the conclusion that, while the conversation on the cross may not have happened as Luke described, the doctrine of Paradise as a place in the afterlife is confirmed.