Does the thief on the cross serve as an example of how
men may be saved today?
As Jesus was hanging on the cross, he told one of the
thieves next to him, “Today, shalt thou be with me in paradise”
(Luke 23:43). What prompted Jesus to make this statement
to the thief? One is encouraged to read the context of this
passage beginning back in verse 39 of Luke 23.
Many today would use this account and make it a pattern
of how men may be saved today. However, such can’t
possibly be done. The thief lived under a different law
system than we do today. When Jesus was still alive, people
lived under the Mosaical Law. It was only after Jesus died
that his will and law went into effect (see Heb. 9:15-17). The
Law of Moses was still in effect while Jesus was hanging on
the cross. Those who repudiate baptism as being essential
to salvation will often bring up the example of the thief and
say, “The thief was not baptized and yet he was saved.”
Question: Did God require people to be baptized in order to
be saved under the Law of Moses? Do we read about baptism
anywhere in the Law of Moses? The answer is, “NO.” The
baptism Jesus set forth in Matt. 28:19 and Mark 16:16
occurred after he had resurrected. The thief didn’t even
know anything about the baptism of the great commission.
The thief does not serve as an example of how men may be
saved today. To use him as an example is to twist the
scriptures and to ignore the plain declarations that baptism
is indeed essential to salvation (see Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:
3; Gal. 3:27; I Pet. 3:21). Not only that, but they have not
rightly divided the Word of God by distinguishing between the
two law systems – namely the Law of Moses and the Law of
Christ and when the Law of Moses was in force and when it
ceased to be in force, and when the Law of Christ came into
effect and became operative.