The Greatest Promise: Luke 23:43

Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise!” This statement, by the Lord on the cross, is often quoted with much being made of the wonderful nature of the announcement. The Lord promised a repentant criminal that they were to meet in Paradise that very same day! But our Lord spent the next three days in a tomb!

“Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in Paradise!” However, what a difference the position of the comma makes! The Lord’s use of the idiom “Truly I tell you today”, has the man meeting the Lord in Paradise not that day, but at some future time.

In this study, the author considers both positions of the comma with regard to …

the historical facts as presented in the Bible, and
the use of this idiom in other parts of Scripture.