One of the Bible passages most widely used to try to prove the immortality of the soul is Luke 23:43 — “He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (NRSV). Almost all Bible versions (with few exceptions) translate this text in a similar way, giving the impression that on the very day Christ died, Christ and the thief would be together in Paradise. This should not surprise us because those translations were made by biblical scholars who believe in the dogma of the natural immortality of the soul. But is this the best translation of the text?

 Compare Luke 23:43 with John 20:17 and John 14:1-3. How should the promise to the repentant thief on the cross be understood in light of Jesus’ words to Mary Magdalene and His promise to His disciples?

 The assumption that Christ and the thief went on that same day to Paradise (or heaven) contradicts Jesus’ words to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection, which affirm that He had not yet gone to the presence of His Father in heaven (John 20:17). This error, that both Jesus and the repentant thief went to heaven that day, also contradicts Jesus’ promise to His disciples that they would be taken to heaven only at His second coming (John 14:1-3).

 The issue in Luke 23:43 is whether the adverb “today” (Greek sēmeron) should be linked to the verb that follows it (“to be”) or to the verb that precedes it (“to tell”). Wilson Paroschi recognizes that “from the grammatical standpoint” it is virtually impossible to determine the correct alternative. “Luke, however, has a definite tendency of using this adverb with the preceding verb. This happens in 14 of the 20 occurrences of sēmeron in Luke and Acts.” — Wilson Paroschi, “The Significance of a Comma: An Analysis of Luke 23:43,” in Ministry, June 2013, p. 7.

 So, the most natural reading of Luke 23:43 would be “Truly I tell you today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” In this case, the idiomatic expression “I tell you today” emphasizes the relevance and solemnity of the statement “you will be with Me in Paradise.” In short, Jesus was promising him, right then and there, that he would be saved.