Family, today’s inspiration comes from something that I hear referenced often during conversations about the Bible or in Bible studies that involve things like the sinner’s prayer, whereChristians go when they die, and the necessity of baptism (or lack thereof). Of course, there are widely varying opinions about each of those topics, but they all seem to work their way around to referencing the “thief on the cross.”

 Many point to “the” thief on the cross as having been saved, without the ritual of baptism, and to having gone straight to heaven with Jesus upon their deaths. Have you ever heard anyof these positions? Do you advocate for any of them? Because I’ve heard these and other claims about the narrative, I thought it would make an excellent subject of study. Join me.

Works Cited Ceslas Spicq and James D. Ernest, Theological Lexiconof the New Testament (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers,1994), 241.

Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMGPublishers, 2000).

Allison A. Trites, William J. Larkin, CornerstoneBiblical Commentary, Vol 12: The Gospel of Luke and Acts (CarolStream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2006), 303.

Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 395.

Benjamin M. Austin, “Afterlife,” in Lexham Theological Wordbook, ed. Douglas Mangum et al., LexhamBible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

Robert H. Stein, Luke,vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 593.