Some will ask, “How
can the Lord say to the thief, Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise,
when Paul said that none of the saints had received the promise?” (see Heb.
11:39) Some say that the Apostle was not referring to all the saints when he
said that none of them had received the promise, but was speaking only of those
whom he there enumerated. Though he listed many, the good thief was not among
them. Listen to the words that Paul uses, And these all . . . By this he
refers expressly, they say, to those whom he had just enumerated, and the thief
was not one of those. Others have said that the thief has not yet attained the life
in paradise, yet the Lord could still say, Today shalt thou be with Me in
paradise, because His promise is immovable and irrevocable. For the Lord,
they explain, often employs this kind of speech when He speaks of things that
will be as if they had already occurred. For example, the Lord says, He that
believeth not is condemned already; Jn 3:18) and again, He that heareth
My word, and believeth . . . shall not come into condemnation, but hath passed from
death unto life. (Jn 5:24) Others have done violence to the context of
these words, pausing after today, so that it might read, Verily I say
unto thee today, Thou shalt be with Me in paradise. Others, who appear to have hit the mark,
explain it this way: the good things which are promised to us are not a life in
paradise, or a return to paradise, but instead the kingdom of heaven. This is
why we pray, Thy kingdom come, and not, “May we live in paradise.” Let
no one say to me that paradise and the kingdom are one and the same. For eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have ascended into the heart of man, the
good things of the kingdom. (See I Cor. 2:9) But the eyes of Adam saw paradise,
and his ear heard the words, Of every tree which is in paradise thou mayest eat
for good. (Gen. 2:16) Even if you say, “Yes, but one tree was denied to him,”
still he could see it, and he did hear about it, and delight in it rose up in
his heart. And Adam had every reason to be delighted; for was not this tree
both his work and his pleasure, as a husbandman of paradise? Therefore, the Lord
does not contradict what Paul says. The repentant thief did obtain paradise,
but he has not yet obtained the kingdom. But he will obtain the kingdom, along
with all those Paul enumerated. In the meantime he has paradise, which is a
place of spiritual rest. Many have spoken about these things. We may add that
even if the kingdom of heaven and paradise are one and the same, this does not
prevent the Lord’s words and Paul from being in agreement. For the good thief
is in paradise, that is, in the kingdom, and not only he, but all those mentioned
by Paul. But he does not yet enjoy the full inheritance of all things. It is
not the condemned who live in kingly palaces, for these are locked in prisons
where they await their appointed punishments. It is, rather, men of honor and
nobility who enter palaces and pass their time within them. Thus, when the time
is at hand for the distribution of royal gifts, they are found worth of them.
So too with the saints: although they do not yet enjoy their reward in full,
nevertheless in the meanwhile they pass their time in places of light, of fragrance,
of royalty, in short, in the tabernacles of the righteous, although they are
not yet entitled to the full measure of the gifts of the kingdom. Therefore the
thief was in paradise, and yet did not enjoy completion, so that he without
us should not be made complete. (Heb. 11:40) This, I think, is the truest
understanding of all. If it were the cause that the gifts of the saints in
paradise were as complete as the gifts they will enjoy in heaven, then [what
will those who confuse paradise with heaven say when] I remind them that the
saints likewise received gifts during their life on earth as they worked
miracles? [Will they say that life on earth is the same as life in paradise?]
In truth all those who were found worthy of spiritual gifts received those
gifts already in this life as an earnest and pledge of the Holy Spirit. They are
in paradise, although they have not yet been brought to completion and
perfection and have not yet received the kingdom. As Paul says in the same
Letter to the Hebrews, that these all . . . have not yet received the
promise. (Heb. 11:39) When he says the promise he means “the whole
promise.” These saints, therefore, have not yet received the full promise, although
they are in the kingdom and in paradise. Marvel at this, O reader, that just as
a victorious king returns in triumph from his conquest, bringing with him the
best of his spoils, so too the Lord, having despoiled the devil of the best of
the devil’s own plunder, brings it with Him as He returns into man’s ancient
homeland, I mean, paradise. For [after His death as a man], the Lord was present
in paradise not only as God, but also by reason of His human soul endowed with
logos and mind. He was in paradise with His mind, and [simultaneously] He
descended into hades with HIs soul. By saving the thief, HE also bound the
devil, the vessel of evil, as the Lord foretold when He said that one must
first bind the strong man and only then can he plunder the strong man’s goods.
(See Mt. 12:29) (Theophylact, The Explanation of the Holy
Gospel According to Luke [Blessed Theophylact’s Explanation of the New
Testament 3; Platina, Calif.: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2020], 310-12)
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