There are some very good sermons doing the rounds these days which point out just how little one of the thieves on the cross knew or did before Jesus said to him that he would be with Him in Paradise that day. He hadn’t gone to a NT church, read the Scriptures (certainly not the New Testament anyway), nor attended bible studies or conferences that we know of.
(The story and dialogue of the thief on the cross appear primarily in Luke 23:32-43, with additional background in Matthew 27:38-44 and Mark 15:27-32).
The sermons I have heard all beg the question as to how much then do we need to do to be saved? It is interesting to me that the answer to that question never seems to be “nothing” in Scripture. Probably the shortest answer is given in Acts 16:31: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”
It is clear from the dialogue between the “good” thief and Jesus and the “bad” thief that the “good” thief very emphatically believed in Jesus. He believed in His innocence, kingship, power and rule over death itself.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:39-43
It is not at all clear to me how many of us in the same position of agony would have confessed the same things.
Paul writes in Romans 10:9 that we need to do two things to be saved: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The good thief obviously did both those things. Well, nearly anyway. It is probably not a good idea to be too pedantic about the fact that Jesus hadn’t yet been raised from the dead.
It also appears that the spirit and soul resurrection of Jesus was going to happen that day and the bodily resurrection three days later (see Ephesians 4:8 and 1 Peter 3:19).
Just don’t make the mistake of thinking that you don’t have to do anything and you will still be saved.
