Luke 23:43 (meaning of PARADEISOS)
Jonathan Burke
jburke at sprint.net.au
Fri Oct 4 03:40:52 EDT 2002
I see no great difficulty here. The PARADEISOS (literallly 'garden'), is a
concept which is found consistently in both Jewish and Christian thought.
- In the Old Testament Jewish eschatology, we find the
'reward-of-the-faithful' described as the earth as a restored Eden in the
age to come - what is called today Gan Eden (the garden of Eden), in the
Olam HaBa (the age to come).
- In the post-exilic and extra-Biblical 1st century texts, we find the same
concept
- In the New Testament Christian eschatology, we find the same concept
- In later Christian eschatology, down to the present, we find the same
concept
- In the later Jewish eschatology, down to the present, we find the same
concept
What interests me is that despite all the other bits and pieces of
eschatological and soteriological thought running around, this one concept
preceded the New Testament, endured throughout the 1st century, and was
perpetuated by *both* then Jewish and Christian communities, to this very
day.
For me, the PARADEISOS of Luke 23:43 is a clear reference to Gan Eden in the
Olam HaBa. This phrase would have had to have meant something to the thief
on the cross if it was to offer him any comfort, so Christ must have been
using a term in common currency. If he was coining a completely new term
with a completely new theological meaning, then this would not have been
transmitted to the thief by redefining without explanation or qualification
a word which was already in common eschatological currency. [1]
Jonathan Burke.
[1] I don't know if PARADEISOS was in common eschatological currency, but I
presume it to have been, for the very reason that Christ uses it in this
moment and context.
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