Let’s go deeper:
LUKE 23:32-38 32
Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” . . . (verses 39-46 will be presented below)
So as we lead up to the verses concerning the “Good Thief” we again ask, does Luke’s account of the Good Thief teach us justification by faith ALONE?
It displays faith to be sure!
**But the Good Thief passages ALSO show . . . . **
But it also shows the good thief
hopes to go to Heaven – “Jesus remember me”.
The verses show the hope of the good thief here. He hopes to get to Heaven by the power of Jesus’ remembrance.
“Remember me” – I hope to go to Heaven.
ROMANS 8:24a 24 For in this hope we were saved. . . .
But it even shows more. It shows works!
The good thief now admonishes or rebukes the other thief for his reviling Jesus, even though before this,
he himself was reviling Jesus too!
Admonishing our fellow sinners
in love is a spiritual
work of mercy, but a “work” it is.
How many times have you heard someone use bad language and have not had the fortitude to admonish our fellow sinner? Or how often was someone else committing some other sinful act that you saw and you (or I) neglected to
rebuke or correct them?
Yet this good thief, with all of his suffering, finds the grace (given to him) to
rebuke a fellow sinner!
And yes there is even more.
The good thief “humbles himself” (as Jesus in Luke 18:14 taught us earlier with the repentant publican - “every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but
he who humbles himself will be exalted”).
The good thief says in verse 41 concerning their sinful DEEDS: “
And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds”.
This suggests a
repentance in the good thief as well (*which is itself COOPERATING with GRACE – see 2nd Timothy 2:25-26 to see “repentance” as cooperating with grace).
LUKE 23:39-46 39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40
But the other rebuked him, saying, “
Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41
And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, **remember me **when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.
So we’ve seen faith, hope, and a charitable work DEMONSTRATED from the good thief.
We’ve seen this man humbling himself and recalled Jesus’ words “every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted”.
We’ve seen a warning about sin and the recompense for sin, - “we are receiving the due reward of our deeds” (there is no evidence the “bad” thief ever repented).
We’ve also seen at least the suggestion of repentance in the good thief.
Far from teaching sola fide, this set of verses, if anything, refutes sola fide.
**The Good Thief DISPLAYS . . . **
- Good Work or Charity? Check.
- Repentance? Check.
- Faith? Check.
- Hope? Check.
- Humbling oneself? Check.
Someone might object and say: “Well this is all because of the guy’s faith.”
But notice they have to assert something that is NOT stated in Scripture.
Before it was: “This MUST be an illustration of sola fide as this guy didn’t have time for any good works”, BUT NOW it often gets turned into . . . “Well the good works came from his faith”.
The faith ALONE proponent must
ignore the Biblical aspects here of repentance, hope, and humbling himself (none of which fit into justification by faith ALONE) or try to assert these are mere “incidentals to the passages”.
The “Faith ALONE” teaching we may have gotten as kids, sometimes skews our reading of Scripture so bad that we can’t even see the “hope”, “charitable WORKS”, etc. DISPLAYED here by the Good Thief.
And the Good Thief even demonstrates his work BEFORE he demonstrates his faith (I am NOT asserting he can save himself from “his work”. I AM asserting “his work” is itself “a grace”, just like his “faith” is a “grace” too - Yet he COOPERATES with these GRACES).
NO SOLA FIDE HERE!
The synoptic passages concerning the Good Thief do not teach or suggest sola fide (nor is sola fide taught anywhere in Scripture. It is specifically taught against).
Thus
the Good Thief passages do not illustrate justification by faith ALONE unless you read-into these verses things that are not there and read-out of the passages things that ARE there.
. The atonement is considered to be a mystery, with various theories surrounding it. Terms like “ransom” are used figuratively, to emphasize the fact that man’s fallen state is an anomalous injustice in creation, one that must be dealt with once and for all in order for this injustice to be rectified.