So is the case of the thief on the cross the exception that nullifies all of these words spoken by Christ and His apostles - or could we be missing something?

If you were to guess the identity of the World’s most famous thief, who would it be?

While such a dubious title as "The World’s Most Famous Thief" perhaps could be awarded to any of these, I think that there is a much more likely candidate right under our noses if we’ll just think about it.

No, this guy wouldn’t be famous for the amount he stole. In fact, we don’t even know how much he stole – or for that matter, what he stole. He won’t be remembered for his ability to elude the law because he was arrested and executed for his crime. His name will never be in the Guinness Book of Records. We don’t even know his name. Yet his story, though ever so briefly, is told in the best-selling book of all time. Can you guess where I’m going with this? I’m referring to the thief on the Cross.

As we’ve been recently considering the events surrounding Jesus’ death on the cross, I thought it would be good, before we move on to something else, since we’re already familiar with the context, to take a quick look at the thief’s story.

You may already know that his story is a controversial one. In fact, it shapes critical doctrine for many people. The way in which the thief was saved is indeed an important subject for every lover of God’s Scripture to consider. Let’s begin with the simple question:

The man we’re talking about was one of two robbers crucified on either side of Jesus. Matthew speaks briefly of these two.

Later though, Luke tells us that one of these men – the one we’re talking about - had a change of heart.

Those last words in verse 43, "today you shall be with Me in Paradise," indicate most certainly, it seems to me, that Jesus forgave this man’s sins committed during his lifetime. Since Jesus didn’t ascend back into heaven until 40 days after His resurrection, I take the word "Paradise" here, along with the fact that Jesus promised this man that he would be there that same day, to refer to that region described by Jesus in Luke 16:22 as "Abraham’s bosom." It is my understanding that this was Jesus’ immediate destination(1) and that the thief joined the Lord there on the same day as the crucifixion. Then later, after Jesus had risen, the thief, along with the spirits of others from that place, ascended(2) into presence of God. Since this part of my explanation is beyond the scope of this study, I’ll have to leave it at that. I believe that those of us who make it to heaven will someday meet this thief there.

I could stop right here and we would be blessed in our understanding. To realize that Jesus cared enough about this man to forgive him at this late hour of his life when he could do nothing that cannot be done while confined to a cross, is a remarkable point. But that would not solve the problems that have arisen from this passage, so we’ll move on to the more pertinent issue:

This is the issue that is so controversial. Let’s look more closely at the text in Luke.

The first thing evident about this man was his faith. In verse 40 he acknowledges the existence of God: "Do you not even fear God?" In verse 41 he indicates his faith in the innocence of Jesus: "this man has done nothing wrong." In verse 42 he expresses his faith in Jesus’ ability live beyond the crucifixion and come in His kingdom: "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom." Obviously he considered Jesus to be more than a mere man.

Also seen here is the thief’s willingness to confess these beliefs. In fact, had he not confessed them, we would have no knowledge of what was in his heart.

Finally seen here is evidence of this man’s repentance. Repentance is a change of mind about the direction one is going. It is a decision to turn away from the wrong way and toward the right way. When this man was first put on the cross, he railed at Jesus just like the others. Then he had a change of heart that caused him to verbally defend Jesus.

So if what Luke records here is all we have to go on when we consider what this man did in order to be saved, then we see evidence of faith, confession, and repentance.

But from there, the controversy begins. Luke gives no indication that this man was baptized. Yet New Testament teaching clearly indicates that baptism is required for salvation.

So is the case of the thief on the cross the exception that nullifies all of these words spoken by Christ and His apostles - or could we be missing something? Perhaps we should first ask:

You may recall that John the Baptist, the man sent by God to prepare the way for Christ, was baptizing people before Jesus started His ministry. Mark tells us in the Mark 1:4-5: "John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins."

"All the country of Judea" and "all the people of Jerusalem" were being baptized by John. That’s a pretty effective ministry! Probably the word "all" here should not be taken as an absolute, but rather that many people, perhaps even the majority of them, were being baptized by John. Luke tells us in the parallel passage in Luke 3:7 that, "multitudes… were going out to be baptized by him…."

Also to note from the passage in Mark is that John’s baptism was "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." Paul explains how this could be true before Jesus actually died. In Acts 19:4 when he says, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus."(3)

John baptized multitudes of people, but he wasn’t the only one baptizing people in those days. John 3:22 tells us that "After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing."

John 4:1 further says, "Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John…."

If John was baptizing "multitudes" and Jesus was baptizing "more disciples than John," then I think it is safe to say that many, many people were baptized before Jesus was crucified. Could our thief have been among them?

But this thief wasn’t a religious person was he? After all, he was a thief! How likely would it be that he would come for baptism? Well, were there people coming out to be baptized by John and Jesus who were not the type normally considered "religious"?

Luke 3:12 says, of those being baptized by John, "And some tax-gatherers also came to be baptized…." Luke 7:29 says, "And when all the people and the tax-gatherers heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John." If you have read the gospels you know that "tax gatherers and sinners"(4) were considered the lowest of the low when it came to the likelihood that God might care about them. Yet these unlikely people, because of the power of John’s preaching, were coming to be baptized. It was as Jesus said in Mark 2:17: "I did not come to save the righteous, but sinners."

Could our thief have been among these unlikely people baptized with the baptism of John? We don’t know for sure that he was, but we also don’t know for sure that he wasn’t. It could be that he was baptized by John or Jesus’ disciples and then fell back into his life of crime. We just don’t know.

Further evidence that he could have been baptized by John or Jesus’ disciples is seen in how much he knew about Jesus when he was on the cross. Our text shows that He knew enough about Jesus to say that He had done nothing wrong. He knew enough to know that Jesus was going to set up a Kingdom – something that both John and Jesus had preached.(5) And since Jesus was dying, the thief obviously had some sort of concept that the Lord would go on living even after death, since He spoke of Jesus coming into His kingdom when all indications were that they were both headed for the grave. Where did the thief learn these things?

I showed you earlier that the Scripture teaches the necessity of baptism clearly and repeatedly. Yet some suggest that the thief provides the exception to nullify all of those verses I quoted. But I wonder. Is it worth the risk to disobey the clear commands of Christ and His apostles for an "exception" that may not be an exception at all?

The reason I ask this question is that we know that the thief did not live under the New Testament. His death probably took place after his legs were broken on the cross, shortly after Jesus died. We know that the New Covenant could begin only when Jesus was dead. That is spelled out clearly in Hebrews 9:15-17:

"And for this reason He [Jesus] is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives."

According to these verses, the New Covenant (New Testament) did not begin until Christ died: "…A covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives." Since the thief lived before Jesus’ death, and died very shortly thereafter(6), he lived under the Old Covenant. The normal means of justification for people living under the Old Testament was the Law of Moses. This is seen all across the gospels.

For people living in the thief’s generation, and everyone before the death of Christ all the way back to the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai, the means of justification was the Law of Moses. Any transgression of that Law required the offering of animal sacrifices.

So why didn’t Jesus bring up the Law of Moses when the thief asked Him to remember Him when He came in His kingdom? We presume that it was because Jesus was making an exception for this man, perhaps in order to teach us that things were about to change.

The thief was probably among those that Jesus referred to in Luke 16:16 as "forcing" their way into the kingdom since the coming of John.(8) The kingdom was not yet established, but it was being preached. Both John and Jesus were preaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and people were responding to it.

If the case of the thief was an exception though, it was an exception to the Old Testament Law, not the New Testament because that had not started yet.

"But doesn’t it show that justification is based on faith and not on law?" Yes, it does. But that still does not make this a New Testament example because the thief’s faith could not be the kind of faith that saves under the New Testament.

In Romans 10:9, Paul spoke of the necessity of faith and confession under the New Testament. He said, for people under the New Testament, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved…." The thief could not believe in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead because that had not happened yet and wouldn’t happen until after Jesus died.(9)

That the thief could not have met the terms of New Testament conversion is also seen in what Paul said about the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5:

The facts of the gospel are that Jesus died, was buried, and was raised on the third day. These had not yet transpired at the time of Christ’s conversation with the thief on the cross. Thus, while the thief might be an exception, he is not an exception under the New Testament. His example does not nullify the clear commands of Christ and the apostles, after Jesus’ resurrection, to repent and be baptized.

During Jesus’ lifetime, which was lived under the law of Moses(10), the Lord met and specially forgave a number of people who would normally have been judged by the Law of Moses. Here are three examples:

Perhaps like Mary who was specially chosen when God needed someone to give birth to His Son - or Lazarus, who was specially raised from the dead as a testimony of Jesus’ power over death - these people were specially used to show Christ’s power over the natural world, over sin, and over death. Our thief was one of these very special people used by God to help us understand the nature of Christ.

But what right did Jesus have to make such exceptions to the way things were? Why do that for a thief and not for us? The easy answer to that is that He is God. He can do whatever He chooses within the realm of His own creation or among His created. But it is also true that He doesn’t break his own laws, so how can we explain these apparent exceptions where people under the Old Covenant were saved without keeping the law of Moses?

Remember the passage we read in Hebrews 9:15-17 that reminded us that for a covenant to be in force, the one making it must first die? The closest thing we have to such a covenant or testament (the words mean the same thing) is our making a will or, more properly, a "last will and testament." If you have a will, you know that it is an agreement (covenant) you make that spells out what will become of your property when you die. It comes into effect only when you die. It is not in effect while you are still living.

You all know I like fly fishing, so let’s use me as an imaginary example. Suppose someone I know has a priceless antique bamboo fly rod built by a well-known British maker of 150 years ago. Believe it or not, such a piece (which I will probably never own in this life) because of its rarity, can cost as much as $10,000. Suppose the person who has this expensive fishing rod has told me a couple of times that when he dies he would like to give it to me. However, I know for a fact that he has never put it into his will. I also know that he has a couple of nephews who can hardly wait for him to die so they can get their hands on his stuff, so I really don’t get my hopes up. Suppose one day he shows up at my office with a long leather tube in his hand. He comes in, unbuckles the straps that hold it closed, and pulls out that fishing rod. "Dave, I’ve decided to give this to you before I die because I know you will appreciate it and my relatives will only sell it for pennies on the dollar. I don’t want them to have it. Here you go. It’s yours." Wow! It would be one of my most prized earthly possessions.

Now suppose a year later, my friend has a heart attack and dies. A few weeks after the funeral his two nephews show up at my office and say, "We’ve come to get that fly rod our uncle gave to you. We’re the heirs of his estate. All his property is ours. Hand it over." Am I required to give it to them? That depends. I ask, "Did he put it into the will?" The answer comes back, "No, but we want it anyway. It’s ours. Hand it over." Sorry. It’s mine and not yours. Why? Because when my friend was alive, he was not bound by the terms of the will. He could do anything he wanted to do with his own property. He gave it to me. Now that he is dead, the only way that anyone can get his stuff, is to meet the terms of the will. If the fly rod isn’t a part of the will, and he gave it to me while he was still living, then his relatives have no right to it.

When Jesus was on earth, He could dispense forgiveness to whomever He wished – and He did. But after He died, the only way anyone can receive what He left behind is to meet the qualifications of His will – the New Testament. As gracious as the gift of eternal life was for the thief on the cross, that same gift was not given to us as it was to him.

My friends, you and I will be judged by the terms of the New Testament – the terms that became law after He died. We must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.(11) We must "confess with our mouths Jesus as Lord, and believe that God raised Him from the dead."(12) We must "repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of ours sins."(13) And we must be faithful unto death so that He can give us the crown of life.(14)

Someday you and I and everyone else will see one of the two thieves that hung on their crosses beside Jesus. Which one we see will depend upon whether we meet the terms of the Jesus' will - New Testament. If you are a believer, that’s good. But you still must repent and be baptized to have your sin forgiven.

Footnotes: Use your back button to return to your place.

1. 1 Peter 3:18-19
2. Ephesians 4:8-10
3. Perhaps this is what Jesus referred to when He said in Luke 16:16: "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one is forcing his way into it."
4. Luke 15:1-2; 18:10-13
5. Matthew 3:2; 4:17
6. I heard it suggested one time that since the thief briefly "made it" into the New Testament period because he lived a short time after Jesus, he should be considered a New Testament example of conversion. However, we must consider that Jesus pronounced this man’s destination before He (Jesus) died.
7. Mark 16:15-16
8. Luke 16:16: "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one is forcing his way into it." I suspect that this means that men were so anxious to be justified under the gospel rather than the law (which really justified no one) that they were doing all they could to get in even though it had not officially begun yet.
9. This is also seen also in Colossians 2:14 where Paul tells us Jesus abolished the old law through putting it to death on the cross. Prior to that time, the law (the Old Covenant) was alive and valid.
10. Galatians 4:4
11. Galatians 4:4
12. Romans 10:9
13. Acts 2:38
14. Revelation 2:10

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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