Luke 23:43

23:43 And Jesus ¹  said to him, “I tell you the truth, ²  today ³  you will be with me in paradise.” ⁴ 

Luke 23:2

23:2 They ⁵  began to accuse ⁶  him, saying, “We found this man subverting ⁷  our nation, forbidding ⁸  us to pay the tribute tax ⁹  to Caesar ¹⁰  and claiming that he himself is Christ, ¹¹  a king.”

Colossians 1:4

1:4 since ¹²  we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints.

[23:43]  ¹ tn Grk “he.”

[23:43]  ² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:43]  ³ sn Jesus gives more than the criminal asked for, because the blessing will come today, not in the future. He will be among the righteous. See the note on today in 2:11.

[23:43]  ⁴ sn In the NT, paradise is mentioned three times. Here it refers to the abode of the righteous dead. In Rev 2:7 it refers to the restoration of Edenic paradise predicted in Isa 51:3 and Ezek 36:35. In 2 Cor 12:4 it probably refers to the “third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2) as the place where God dwells.

[23:2]  ⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:2]  ⁶ sn They began to accuse him. There were three charges: (1) disturbing Jewish peace; (2) fomenting rebellion through advocating not paying taxes (a lie – 20:20-26); and (3) claiming to be a political threat to Rome, by claiming to be a king, an allusion to Jesus’ messianic claims. The second and third charges were a direct challenge to Roman authority. Pilate would be forced to do something about them.

[23:2]  ⁷ tn On the use of the term διαστρέφω (diastrefw) here, see L&N 31.71 and 88.264.

[23:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “and forbidding.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated to suggest to the English reader that this and the following charge are specifics, while the previous charge was a summary one. See the note on the word “misleading” earlier in this verse.

[23:2]  ⁹ tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”

[23:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[23:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[1:4]  ¹² tn The adverbial participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is understood to be temporal and translated with “since.” A causal idea may also be in the apostle’s mind, but the context emphasizes temporal ideas, e.g., “from the day” (v. 6).