By Rod Chaney and Mike Lii
INTRODUCTION
Is there a perfect evangelistic book? Since the Bible is the only perfect book ever written, then logically, that is where we should look to find the perfect evangelistic book. Is there a book in the Bible specifically written to lead people to believe in Jesus for the absolutely free gift of everlasting life?
The answer is, yes. The Gospel of John is the perfect evangelistic book—the greatest evangelistic book ever written. How do we know that the Gospel of John is evangelistic? The Apostle John tells us that it is! John 20:30–31 states the specific purpose of John’s Gospel:
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
The events in the Gospel of John were written to lead people to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. By believing this saving truth, that Jesus is the Guarantor of everlasting life to every believer in Him (the meaning of “the Christ, the Son of God”), a person instantaneously receives everlasting life that can never be lost.i
Jesus’ conversation with the thief on the cross (hereafter, the thief), recorded in Luke 23:32-43, is popularly used to illustrate the truth that one does not need to be baptized or go to church in order to be saved. The thief is used to make the point that salvation is not by works, but by faith alone. However, is it true that the thief was devoid of good works? Is Jesus promising the thief nothing more than entrance into His kingdom, or is He promising something even greater?ii
Though many preachers and teachers use the story of the thief when they evangelize, it is significant that the Gospel of John omits the story, other than mentioning that Jesus was crucified between two others (John 19:18). All four Gospels include the two thieves in the crucifixion account (Matt 27:38; Mark 15:27; Luke 23:33; John 19:18), but John’s Gospel gives them the least attention. If Jesus’ interchange with the thief is such a powerful evangelistic tool, why did John omit this dialogue from his Gospel? If the thief is an example of conversion through faith in Jesus for everlasting life, why did John not say more about this incident? Do the preachers and teachers who use the story of the thief in their evangelistic presentations know something the Apostle John did not?
ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE
Sometimes, the absence of evidence is crucial for proper understanding and interpretation. In Conan Doyle’s mystery, The Adventure of Silver Blaze, a watchdog—contrary to the typical behavior of watchdogs—did not bark at the yet-to-be identified thief. The absence of the dog barking is crucial in leading Sherlock Holmes to deduce that the thief was no stranger to the dog. The absence of repentance in the Gospel of John is crucial to our understanding that in order to receive the gift of everlasting life, one need only believe in Jesus for it.iii Why are the thief’s words absent from the Gospel of John, but included in the Gospel of Luke? How does this impact our understanding of the dialogue between Jesus and the thief?
PROBLEMS WITH EVANGELISTIC USE OF THE THIEF ON THE CROSSIV
There are several problems with using this incident in evangelism. Luke’s record of the interchange between the thief and the Lord Jesus (23:32-43) never mentions faith, believe, belief, everlasting life, or life. Furthermore, the notion that the thief lacked good works is untrue. The thief confessed Jesus as Lord and publicly acknowledged His coming kingdom, even when some of Jesus’ closest disciples had abandoned Him. In the presence of extreme hostility, the thief gave a powerful vocal testimony to the innocence as well as the true identity and position of Jesus. Confessing Christ, especially when others are silent because of fear, is a good work.v As the Gospel of John makes abundantly clear, we receive everlasting life by believing in Jesus for it (John 3:16, 5:24, 6:47 and 11:25-27), not by confessing Him or asking Him for everlasting life.
WOULD THE APOSTLE JOHN HAVE KNOWN ABOUT JESUS’ CONVERSATION WITH THE THIEF ON THE CROSS?
One might argue that John failed to include this dialogue in his Gospel simply because he was not present when it took place. However, John 19:26–27 gives evidence that John was, in fact, present:
“When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!”
The “disciple whom He loved” is understood to be the Apostle John, author of the Gospel of John. The Apostle John did not abandon Jesus while He was on the cross. John was there with Jesus’ mother. Given the proximity needed in order to hear Jesus’ words to His mother and to him, John, in all likelihood, also heard the conversation between Jesus and the thief. Therefore, instead of omitting the dialogue with the thief out of ignorance, John’s omission of the conversation was purposeful.
Where did Luke get his information regarding the conversation between the thieves and Jesus? While there is no evidence that Luke was an eyewitness to the Crucifixion, his Gospel was based on eyewitness testimony (Luke 1:2). Who provided Luke with the account of the dialogue with the thief? The account must have come from someone whom Luke considered authoritative and who was close enough to the cross to have heard the interchange. John seems the most likely candidate. He was near enough to take the charge from Jesus to care for His mother, and, as one of the Eleven, would have had gravitas that Luke would consider authoritative.
PURPOSE OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN VERSUS THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
The purpose of the Gospel of John is evangelism. By the time the thief asked, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42), he already knew he had everlasting life and would be with Jesus in His kingdom. He had come to believe that Jesus is the Christ—a belief also evidenced earlier when he rebuked his fellow thief for blaspheming Jesus regarding His identity as the Christ (Luke 23:39-41).vi We do not know how much earlier the thief believed in Jesus, but by the time of his rebuke of the other thief, he believed. Jesus did not promise the thief eternal life; the thief already knew he had that. Instead, Jesus promised the thief closeness to Him that very day: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). The thief would not only be in Paradise, but he would be with Jesus in a position of closeness.
Jesus granted the thief’s request: “Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). The thief asked Jesus to remember him for his good work, just as Joseph had asked the cupbearer to remember him for his good deed of interpreting the man’s dream (Genesis 40:14). The thief’s public confession of Jesus and subsequent request for the eternal reward of ruling and reigning in His kingdom (Luke 23:39-42) was granted, and the thief’s experience of eternal reward began that very day (Luke 23:43).
Although this interchange could be misunderstood as an evangelistic encounter, the Apostle John had no such misunderstanding. John knew what the thief was asking for and what Jesus promised to give him. The men chosen by God to be the authors of Scripture recorded absolute truth under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They would never have misrepresented an event or conversation in a misguided effort to teach a doctrinal truth.
In the Gospel of Luke, discipleship/eternal rewards is a constant theme. Luke includes a number of Jesus’ parables (e.g. Luke 8:4-15, 12:13-21, 19:11-27) and teachings on the cost of discipleship and the receipt of eternal rewards (Luke 9:23-26). Luke’s Gospel includes Jesus’ dialogue with the thief because the truths of this encounter fit the theme of following and confessing Jesus in discipleship and the subsequent receipt of eternal rewards in the kingdom. We know that Luke’s audience had been sitting under Christian instruction (Luke 1:4). His audience, therefore, consisted of believers who were already clear on the truth that eternal life is an absolutely free gift received through faith in Jesus.
CONCLUSION
Almost 2,000 years later, many misuse Luke’s narrative of the thief on the cross as one of the clearest examples of faith alone in Christ alone as the way to receive everlasting life. These same people would never tell someone to be saved by “asking Jesus to remember them.” By misusing the example of the thief, misguided evangelists eclipse most of the Gospel of John’s solid teaching about receiving everlasting life. While John almost certainly heard Jesus’ interchange with the thief, he chose not to include it in his perfect evangelistic book. It seems likely that John thought including this account would confuse, rather than clarify, how one obtains eternal life.
In the presence of extreme hostility—hostility that he had at first been a part of—the thief gave a powerful vocal testimony to Jesus’ innocence and true identity. Jesus promised the thief that he would have not only the gift of everlasting life, but also the honor of being remembered by Jesus and being with Him, in His entourage, when He entered Paradise that very day. Furthermore, the thief is, to this day, remembered in Scripture— and therefore by countless millions—because of his public confession. Let us use the narrative of the thief on the cross in the way Luke intended: to teach discipleship and eternal rewards. Let us avoid using it in a way it was never intended: to teach one how to receive eternal life.
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After graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary over 35 years ago, Rod and his wife Gayle moved to North Carolina with a desire to cultivate a faith community. In 1989, he planted Sunrise Church and has been the pastor ever since. He and Gayle have five children.
Mike Lii is a finance attorney. He and his wife, Letitia, a member of the GES board, live in Dallas. Their son, Payton, is a medical student at UT Rio Grande Valley. Mike and Letitia run the Zane Hodges Library online (zanehodges.org).
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i See John 11:25-27 for the meaning of the “Christ, the Son of God”.
ii Editor’s note: Of course, the kingdom will not come until after the Tribulation. But the thief was with Jesus in Paradise, the good part of Hades (Luke 16:19-31), that very day, before sundown. And he was guaranteed, as all believers are, that when Jesus returns and establishes His kingdom, he will be in the kingdom. And because he confessed Christ at the cross until he died, he will also rule with Christ in the kingdom (Matt 10:32-33; 2 Tim 2:12).
iii See YouTube video, Repentance Unfound in John: Direct Evidence, by John Niemelä. https://youtu.be/fIvsQ38ShxU
iv For a more complete discussion of problems with using the narrative of the thief on the cross evangelistically, see YouTube video, Asking Is Not Believing: The Thief on the Cross Asked for Eternal Reward Not Salvation, by Mike Lii. https://youtu.be/9qtQrhd5Xa4
v Even Roman Catholic apologists cite the thief on the cross as an example of good works being performed for salvation. See YouTube video, Catholic View of the Thief on the Cross on Salvation and Discipleship, by Bob Wilkin. https://youtu.be/YpVkg54RzsQ
vi At the start of their time on the cross, both thieves were mocking Jesus and denying that He was the Christ (Mark 15:32, Matt 27:44). Something happened during the thief’s time on the cross to move him from unbelief to belief.
