Comma? “Verily I say unto thee today, …” or “Verily I say unto thee, today…”

Question

The reading of Luke 23:43 differs depending on how we punctuate it:

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Or

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Given that the original text did not have punctuation, can we reach a conclusion about which is a better rendering of the Greek? What clues support one reading or the other?

Answer 1

While punctuation did not exist in the original manuscripts, there are good reasons for preferring in our translations the rendering, "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise."

Here are several arguments in support of this conclusion:

1. In "I say unto thee today," the word "today" is rather superfluous. Quite clearly Jesus is talking to him "today" and not "tomorrow." The only function it could have is to give weight to the statement; but in this case, the phrase translated "Verily" already serves this function.
2. As TRiG mentions, this is consistent with Jesus' use of "Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν" (translated as "Truly I say to you") in the rest of Luke's gospel. In 4:24, 9:27, 12:37, 12:44, 18:17, 18:29, 21:3, and 21:43. Jesus never adds the word "today" in any of these other instances. While this does not prove the case, we might reasonably expect that 23:43 follows this pattern of speech.
3. Similarly, this use of "today" would be consistent with its other uses in Luke's gospel. Luke's "today" has a theological meaning similar to "the hour" in John's gospel. Especially compare Luke 4:21, but also 2:11, 5:26, 13:32-33, 22:34, and 22:61. Consistently throughout the rest of Luke, "today" is used to emphasize the idea that something theologically significant is happening in the present.
4. Lastly, and building on point three, it helps to see that Jesus makes his statement in reply to the thief's request: "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom" (NET emphasis mine). The request is of an indefinite "when you come in your kingdom." It seems likely that Luke highlights this exchange not simply to stress the innocence of Jesus and show Jesus' compassion to the thief on the cross (though, he shows no less than these things); but also Luke uses Jesus' words to emphasize to his readers that the cross is the means by which Jesus comes in his kingdom. Hence, while the thief makes his request with a vague future expectation of Jesus coming in his kingdom, Jesus replies in such as way as to answer that today, via the cross, he is coming in his kingdom.

Answer 2

I've been studying this verse of late and noticed the only other occasion Christ made a similar remark emphasizing the timing was when He informed Peter that he'd deny Him thrice by cockcrow:

"Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." Matthew 26:34

"And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice." Mark 14:30

So I wonder if you think Luke 23:43 should have the comma after "today" emphasizing the timing of his declaration not the timing of the thief's translation into paradise then shouldn't these verses likewise be translated similarly for the sake of consistency ie "I tell you tonight, you'll deny me thrice by the time the cock crows" rather than "I tell you, tonight you'll deny me thrice by the time the cock crows."

At the same time I should say I personally don't believe that we remain conscious after death as I believe it is akin to sleep as Paul refers to it in his letters (1 Corinthians 11:30; 15:51), but this verse has made me wonder if maybe what Christ meant was that the thief would rest in Him upon his death like all who die in Christ are assured of salvation (1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:14).