What about the Thief?
By: Brian Holdsworth
As you probably know, Christianity is not easily identified by a particular group of people. There are many sects, churches, and denominations within Christianity that disagree about various beliefs. Some are separated by substantial differences and some by what may seem like minor details. Some of the core disagreements which divide protestant Christianity from Catholic Christianity apply to Salvation. Salvation doctrines describe mankind’s opportunity and hope for eternal life in Heaven with God. So, in other words, if there is a formula for getting to Heaven, there is fundamental disagreement on what makes up that formula.
A large portion of Protestant Christianity believes that Salvation is attained through a simple act of faith. Specifically, it takes the form of acknowledging and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour and repenting of past sins. This is what`s commonly referred to as "being saved". Once this profession takes place, the individual is assured of their reservation at God`s banquet. The basis for this belief is that Salvation is attained through faith alone, which was a fundamental doctrine of the protestant reformation. Not all of protestant Christianity would align with this version of Salvation or this particular way of demonstrating that an adequate act of faith has been displayed, but this does characterize a large portion of Evangelical Christianity and it is this expression that I would like to speak to.
This belief, for me, has always been a stumbling block towards the protestant beliefs of Salvation because based on it, many believe that they can know with absolute certainty if someone is going to Heaven or Hell at a given point in their life. This evaluation is satisfied by the answer to the question of whether or not a person has been saved according to the above criteria. The reason this has always bothered me is because rarely in life, if ever, do we have anything resembling absolute certainty to accompany our beliefs. Even in the smallest examples. There is not absolute assurance that my toilet will flush when I push the handle. In fact, the consequences of the alternative are quite undesirable, but I still hit the lever in the hopes that everything will act as expected. Most of the time it does. How then, do we feel we are entitled to certainty with respect to the most fundamental question of our spiritual well being? We have no certainty of how our mortal lives will conclude; I don’t understand why we would presume to know exactly how our eternal lives will conclude. St. Paul tells us to work out our Salvation with "fear and trembling" in Philippians 2:12,13. This seems to me to be a sharp contrast from the many who describe themselves as "saved" who must consider themselves living, walking saints.
One of the least attractive qualities of this formula, I think, stems from the apparent ability to determine if someone is going to Hell. I myself have been told more than once that I’m on my way there for being Catholic. To me this is not compatible with things that Jesus himself said. Jesus said, “Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.” (Luke 6:37). I expect that we are told not to condemn because this is only within the realm of God’s authority. But this formula of Salvation contradicts that and tells us that we are able to condemn someone. To me, this is a strong indication that there is a logical mistake being made.
Protestant theologians will often support their arguments by citing the story of the thief on the cross who was told by Jesus that he would be with Him in His kingdom that very day. As the story goes, the thief was being crucified alongside Jesus and asked Him to remember him when He arrived in His Kingdom (Luke 23:42). Because of his admittance that Jesus was The Lord and would be coming into His kingdom, they believe that this proves that a simple confession of faith at any point in your life is all it takes to be guaranteed your salvation. They also believed that the thief would be going straight there because Jesus replied to him that “This day, you will be with me in paradise”. As we know, Jesus didn’t go straight to Heaven; however. In fact, the Bible tells us that during the three day interval before His resurrection that He was preaching to the dead and offering them an opportunity for Salvation (1 Peter 3:19). It wasn’t until long after His resurrection that He finally ascended into Heaven. So Jesus must have not meant a literal 24 hour period.
Getting back to the thief on the cross. My issue with the comparison of this man’s actions to the protestant formula of salvation is that this is another example of judging someone’s ultimate outcome based on very little knowledge of what else may have contributed to that outcome. How do we know that this man wasn’t righteous to begin with? Yes, he was condemned as a thief, but if Jesus’ condemnation was any example, we can be assured that the Roman Empire was not 100% accurate in condemning guilty parties to death. None the less, let’s assume that he was guilty as charged. We seem to be overlooking a very significant detail if we assume that all it took was this man’s simple confession of faith. That detail is the fact that this man was in the process of being CRUCIFIED. How many times have we been told that Jesus saves us from our sins by enduring the punishment due for sin? He was tortured and crucified to atone for our sins. But the thief is enduring the exact same punishment for his own sins.
Jesus told us that we must carry our own cross in order to be His disciple (Luke 14:27). Here is a man that literally accomplished this task. He bore the punishment of his own sins, as we are told Jesus did for ours, and on top of that repented and confessed that Jesus was his Lord. Somehow it seems strange that we would equate this man’s courageous and humble actions to a simple confession of faith at a Sunday service alter call.
