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BIBLICAL CRITICISM.
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Jgssay on Lulte xxiii . 43 , by the late Rev . J . Simpson . Rearsb y > Oct . 19 , 1815 . Sir , HAVING found among my father ' s papers the following
interpretation of Luke xxiii . 43 , and conceiving that on account of its brevity , it is more suited to the pages of the Monthly Repository than to a separate publication , I take the liberty of requesting the insertion of a faithful copy of the original .
I am , Sir , Yours most respectfully , J . W . SIMPSON . Luke xxiii . 43 , " Verily I say unto thee , to-day {< rr ^^ ov ) shalt thou be with me in paradise . '
By paradise , here , is meant the State of the righteous dead , which the Jews imagined to be a state of conscious happiness . If ( rypegov be understood of the time when the event will take place , it must signify either the real , or the apparent time , either a specific , fixed period , or an undetermined period .
If CYjiAegov be interpreted literall y * that on the very day when Christ spake the words , the malefactor should be in a state of conscious happiness , this would not accord with the image
under which our Lord represents death , namely , as being a state of sleep , out of which he says , that he shall awake mankind at the general resurrection . John v . 25 , 28 , £ 9 . xi . 11—14 . Luke viii . 52 , 53 . Nor
would an assertion , that the man should on that very day be in a state of conscious happiness , correspond with his being with Christy for the mentions that Christ alone
history was in a sepulchre till the third day after this . Not the least intimation is given in it that he left the sepulchre during that time . Nor do either he or his
apostles give any reason to suppose he did , though every thing they say upon the subject expresses , or seems evidently to imply , the contrary . Jesus himself says to Mary , soon after his resurrection , * ' I do not yet ascend to my Father , but go to my brethren , and say unto them , I asaend to my Father and your Father *
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and my God and your God / Join xx . 17- Further , as the apostles will not be with Christ till his second coming , we cannot suppose the malefactor will be with him till that time . See John xiv . 2 , £ > . be to
If o-Yj ^ egov tsiken denote only that it would appe ar to the man to be on the same day , \ > ecause while sleeping in the grave h-e would not be conscious of a moment elapsing between his death and hist resurrection to life ; it may be objected , that the previous ideas of the malefactor would not lead
him to understand it in this sense \ for the Jews and the Gentiles , both thought that the state of the righteous dead was a condition of conscious happiness immediately after their
departure from this life . And , in order to Answer the purpose for which Jesus spake , the man must of course comprehend the meaning of his words . As such great difficulties attend the
interpretation of c ^ b ^ oy to expres s the time when * let us inquire for some other meaning of the word that accords with the context , and with Jewish phraseology . Our Lord ' s discourses at different times , and upon different occasions , were all consistent with each other .
Also , whatever he introduced with the word verily , was always distinct , pointed , just and important . W $ may conclude , then , that the sentence which we are considering , especially as it was a consolatory address to a man , dying in agony , would be strictly true , and be clearly comprehended by him *
Now , in the prophetic style , futiwc events are often represented as present , or as having actually taken place , in order to denote the certain accomplishment of a prediction . Thus Isaiah Ix . 1 , " Arise , be thou enlighteued , for thy light is come : and
the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee . Isaiah ix . % u The people that walked in darkness , have seen a great light , they that dwelled in the land of the shadow of death , unto
them hath the light 3 hined . " Ver . 9 , " Unto us a child is born , unto us » son is given . ' Also lxv . 17 , lxv ' 2 % liii . 2—9 , lv . 4 , xlix . 7 , 1 . 6 , xl . 1 , 2 , 3 , 9 , aud Isaiah * triumph
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Biblical Criticism.
BIBLICAL CRITICISM .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1815, page 714, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1766/page/50/
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