English · KJV

Luke 23:33

“The Crucifixion”Luke 23:32–43

King James Version
And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
And G2532 when G3753 they were come G565 to G1909 the place G5117, which G3588 is called G2564 Calvary G2898, there G1563 they crucified G4717 him G846, and G2532 the malefactors G2557, one G3739 G3303 on G1537 the right hand G1188, and G1161 the other G3739 on G1537 the left G710.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
And when they came unto the place which is called The skull, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
And when they were come to the place, which is called Caluarie, there they crucified him, and the euill doers: one at the right hand, and the other at the left.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
and when they came to the place that is called Skull, there they crucified him and the evil-doers, one on the right hand and one on the left.

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
23 Greek words
  1. καὶkaiAndG2532CONJConjunction
  2. ὅτεhotewhenG3753CONJConjunction
  3. ἦλθονēlthonthey cameG2064V-2AAI-3PVerb 2nd Aorist Active Indicative 3rd Plural
  4. ἐπὶepitoG1909PREPPreposition
  5. τὸνtontheG3588T-ASMDefinite article Accusative Singular Masculine
  6. τόπονtoponplaceG5117N-ASMNoun Accusative Singular Masculine
  7. τὸνtonwhichG3588T-ASMDefinite article Accusative Singular Masculine
  8. καλούμενονkaloumenonis being calledG2564V-PPP-ASMVerb Present Passive Participle Accusative Singular Masculine
  9. ΚρανίονKranion[The] SkullG2898N-ASN-LNoun Accusative Singular Neuter Location
  10. ἐκεῖekeithereG1563ADVAdverb
  11. ἐσταύρωσανestaurōsanthey crucifiedG4717V-AAI-3PVerb Aorist Active Indicative 3rd Plural
  12. αὐτὸνautonHimG846P-ASMPersonal pronoun Accusative Singular Masculine
  13. καὶkaiandG2532CONJConjunction
  14. τοὺςtoustheG3588T-APMDefinite article Accusative Plural Masculine
  15. κακούργουςkakourgouscriminalsG2557A-APMAdjective Accusative Plural Masculine
  16. ὃνhontheG3739R-ASMRelative pronoun Accusative Singular Masculine
  17. μὲνmenoneG3303PRTParticle or Disjunctive
  18. ἐκekon [the]G1537PREPPreposition
  19. δεξιῶνdexiōnrightG1188A-GPNAdjective Genitive Plural Neuter
  20. ὃνhonanotherG3739R-ASMRelative pronoun Accusative Singular Masculine
  21. δὲdeandG1161CONJConjunction
  22. ἐξexonG1537PREPPreposition
  23. ἀριστερῶνaristerōn[the] leftG710A-GPNAdjective Genitive Plural Neuter
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Greek, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Greek word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Greek word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “charity” where the gloss reads “love”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

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This verse

At the place called Calvary, the place of a skull, Jesus is crucified with one criminal on his right hand and the other on his left, numbered with the transgressors as Isaiah foretold.

“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary,”

The way from the city to the place of execution was short and hard, and it was itself part of the public shame.

“there they crucified him,”

Luke says it in a few words. Crucifixion was a slow, agonizing death.

“and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.”

Jesus hangs in the middle, and the two beside him will answer him in opposite ways.

Passage studyLuke 23:32–43

Crucified Among Criminals, Jesus Opens Paradise

Summary

Jesus is led out to Calvary with two criminals and crucified between them, numbered with the transgressors as Isaiah foretold. His first words from the cross are a prayer that the Father forgive the men who put him there. Around him the people stand and watch, the rulers sneer, the soldiers mock him with sour wine, and a title in three languages names him King of the Jews. One of the criminals joins the taunt. The other fears God, owns that his own sentence is just, declares that Jesus has done nothing amiss, and asks to be remembered in his kingdom. Jesus answers, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” In these verses the innocent Son of God is counted among the guilty, prays for his enemies, refuses the dare to save himself so that he can save others, and opens paradise to a dying man who brought him only his faith.

Numbered with the transgressors

“And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.” Just before this, Simon of Cyrene had been made to carry the cross, and Jesus had turned to the women of Jerusalem who wept for him and warned them of the judgment coming on their city (Luke 23:26–31). Now he goes out to die with two condemned men beside him, and the rest of Luke 23 follows him to his death.

The word for malefactor, kakoûrgos, is made from the words for bad and for work, and it means an evildoer, a criminal. Luke calls the two men by this word (kakourgoi in the plural) on the road, at the cross and when one of them rails at Jesus. They had done serious wrong, and one of them will say that he deserves his punishment (verse 41). Pilate had found Jesus innocent, and he is marched out among the guilty and treated as one of them.

They are “led”, ágō, the ordinary verb for leading, bringing or driving, used here of prisoners moved under guard. Jesus goes where his captors take him, and he goes willingly, because this road is his Father’s will for him. “To be put to death” translates anairéō, a verb that means to take up and, by implication, to take away by violence, to kill. It names the purpose of the march, and the sentence hangs over all three men alike.

“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left” (verse 33). The verb is stauróō, to crucify, to fix a man to a cross by nails or by binding, and “they” are the Roman soldiers carrying out the sentence. Every Gospel records the two men. Matthew calls them thieves (Matthew 27:38), Mark calls them robbers (Mark 15:27–28), and John says there were two others, one on either side (John 19:18).

Roman crucifixion was public and brutal. It was meant to cause as much pain and shame as possible and to warn others against crime and rebellion, and it was kept for slaves, rebels, the lowest classes and the most dangerous criminals. Several men were often crucified at once, at a place outside the city walls where all could see. To hang Jesus between two criminals was to humble him before the crowd and to class him with the worst of men.

God meant it for far more. Isaiah had said of the Servant of the LORD that “he was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12), and that is what happens here. The sinless one is counted among sinners because he has come to stand in their place. He came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and in his last hours he is found among the lost, close enough to speak to them as they die. Paul describes the same descent when he says that Christ, being in the form of God, “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,” and humbled himself even to death on a cross (Philippians 2:5–8).

Why was the place called Calvary?

Calvary is the Latin name, from Calvaria, a skull. Luke’s Greek word is kraníon, a skull, and the Aramaic name, Golgotha, means the place of a skull. It may have been named for its shape, a rounded rocky rise like the top of a skull, or because the skulls and bones of executed men were left lying there. Either way it was an execution ground outside the walls of Jerusalem, and its name speaks of death, the wages of sin. Jesus died there, outside the city, as the law’s sin offering was carried outside the camp to be burned (Leviticus 16:27), and so he died as the true offering for sin.

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”

The first words Luke records from the cross are a prayer, and it is for others. “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (verse 34). In his agony he still calls God “Father” and speaks to him as the Son. The verb for forgive, aphíēmi, means to send away, let go, release, and when it is used of sins or debts it means to cancel them. Jesus asks the Father to release these men from the guilt of what they are doing to him, while they are still doing it.

Those he prays for are the soldiers who drove the nails, and with them the leaders and all who had a hand in his death. He had taught his disciples to love their enemies and to pray for those who mistreat them (Luke 6:27–28, Matthew 5:44), and on the cross he does what he taught. This is how God loves sinners. God shows his love toward us in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). The same Jesus who prays for his enemies here goes on praying for his people, for we have “an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).

“For they know not what they do.” The verb for know is eídō, which properly means to see and, in the form used here, to know. They saw plainly what their hands were doing and were blind to whom they were doing it to. Most of them were unaware that they were crucifying the Christ, the Son of God. Their ignorance leaves them in need of forgiveness, which is why Jesus prays for it, and it makes them objects of pity to whom mercy can still come. Had they known fully who he was, their sin would have been greater still. Peter later told the people of Jerusalem that they and their rulers had acted in ignorance when they killed Jesus (Acts 3:17).

Was everyone at the cross forgiven by this prayer?

Jesus’ prayer opens the way to forgiveness for everyone who had a part in his death, and each of them receives it by turning from sin and believing in him. The prayer shows his heart toward them and his desire that they be saved. It also shows that even the killing of God’s Son can be forgiven when the sinner turns to him. Soon afterwards, when Peter preached the crucified and risen Christ in Jerusalem, many who heard were “pricked in their heart,” repented and were baptized (Acts 2:37–41), and the prayer from the cross was answered in them.

The soldiers part his raiment

“And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” While Jesus prays, the soldiers share out his clothes. Executioners took the condemned man’s clothing as their due, and casting lots, much like throwing dice, decided who got what. The verb for parted, diamerízō, means to divide up, to share out among several, and the lots were cast for his inner tunic, which was woven without a seam.

A psalm had said it long before: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psalm 22:18). The soldiers were thinking only of what they could carry away, and they did exactly what God’s word had said of the Messiah, down to his clothes. God rules over the smallest acts of careless men and works his purpose through them. Luke sets the gambling right beside the prayer, so that we see the Son asking pardon for his killers while they divide what he leaves behind. Stripped of the last things he owned, he gives himself so that those he saves are clothed in his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“He saved others; let him save himself”

“And the people stood beholding” (verse 35). The crowd watches. Luke keeps them apart from the rulers, who “also with them derided him.” The rulers are the Jewish leaders, the chief priests, scribes and elders, who had brought about his arrest, trial and condemnation and now stand at the cross. They counted him a blasphemer and a threat to their authority, and they wanted his name ruined along with his life. Derided is ekmyktērízō, a verb built from turning up the nose. It means to sneer outright, to scoff openly.

Their words are “He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.” The verb sōzō means to save, deliver, protect or make whole. It is used of rescue and healing, and of salvation from sin. The rulers admit what everyone knew, that Jesus had healed and delivered many. Then they demand that he do the same for himself, as proof that he is the Messiah. “The chosen of God” uses eklektós, chosen or elect, a title of special appointment by God. God speaks of his Servant in the same way: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth” (Isaiah 42:1). The rulers mock him with the very title he is fulfilling, for he was chosen for this obedient suffering.

Many in Israel looked for a Messiah who would conquer, drive out Rome and reign as an earthly king. The prophets had also spoken of the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, “despised and rejected of men” (Isaiah 53:3), and that was the Messiah the rulers could not see.

“And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar” (verse 36). Soldier is stratiṓtēs, a common fighting man, here the Roman troops who carried out Rome’s sentence. To mock, empaízō, is built from the words for in and to play. It means to jeer, to make sport of someone, and these soldiers came right up to him to do it. Soldiers had already mocked his kingship with a purple robe and a crown of thorns (Matthew 27:27–31, Mark 15:16–20), and to them a crucified man called a king was a joke.

The vinegar, óxos, from a word meaning sharp, was sour wine, the cheap drink of Roman soldiers and labourers, called posca in Latin and often mixed with water. A drink like this could be given in pity, and Luke ties this one to their mocking, so here it is a jest made out of his thirst. A psalm of the suffering righteous man says, “in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21).

“And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself” (verse 37). Légō, the common verb for saying, joins their words to what they were doing. “If”, ei, puts his claim in doubt and dares him to prove it. The soldiers take their words straight from the charge written over his head (verse 38). The rulers had said “save himself,” the soldiers say “save thyself,” and soon one of the criminals will say it too. Matthew records the chief priests’ version of the same taunt (Matthew 27:42).

Why did Jesus not save himself?

Jesus stayed on the cross because he had come to save others, and saving himself would have meant abandoning them. He had the power. He could have prayed to his Father for “more than twelve legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53), and he had saved many. Before he was born the angel said, “he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21), and he came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). From the time he first told his disciples that he must suffer and be killed (Matthew 16:21–23), the cross was the road he had taken up.

The taunt “save thyself” is the temptation he met in the wilderness, where the devil urged him to use his power for himself if he was the Son of God (Luke 4:1–13, Matthew 4:1–11). He met it again in Gethsemane, where he gave up his own will to the Father’s (Luke 22:42). He learned obedience by the things he suffered and so became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him (Hebrews 5:7–9). The rulers’ words were truer than they knew. Because he stayed there, he saves others. To those who perish the preaching of the cross is foolishness, and to us who are saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Was the vinegar the same drink he was offered before?

This was a second drink, given while he hung on the cross. Before he was crucified he was offered wine mixed with gall (Matthew 27:34), or with myrrh as Mark says (Mark 15:23), most likely to dull the pain, and he refused it. The sour wine of this verse came later, during his suffering, and Luke presents it as part of the soldiers’ mockery. John tells of sour wine given to him near the end, after he said, “I thirst” (John 19:28–30).

The title over the cross

“And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (verse 38). The superscription, epigraphḗ, from a verb meaning to write upon, was the placard the Romans called a titulus, fixed to a cross to state the crime of the man who hung there. It warned others and gave the sentence its legal ground. “Written” is gráphō, the ordinary verb to write. Pilate, as governor, had the authority to decide what it said, and Matthew records the same accusation set over his head (Matthew 27:37).

The three languages made sure everyone could read it. Greek was the common language of trade and travel in the eastern part of the empire, and Latin was the language of Rome’s government and law. Hebrew, which here most likely means Aramaic, the everyday speech of Judea, was the language of the Jews of the city and of the pilgrims who had come up for Passover. Roman officials, local people and visitors from abroad could all read the charge.

Pilate’s motives were probably mixed. The title gave the political charge, that Jesus died for setting himself up as a king against Rome, which was what the leaders had pressed. When they asked him to change it to say only that Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews, he answered, “What I have written I have written” (John 19:19–22). That shows stubbornness, and perhaps a dig at leaders who had handed over their own king.

King is basileús, one with authority to rule. Pilate wrote it as an accusation, and it was the truth. Gabriel had said before his birth that he would reign over the house of Jacob for ever (Luke 1:33), and Jesus had owned before Pilate that he was a king (Luke 23:3). God vindicated the title when Jesus rose from the dead (Luke 24:6–7) and was carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50–51, Acts 1:9–11), and Revelation names him “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). The three languages fit the message that would go out from Jerusalem, of repentance and remission of sins “among all nations” (Luke 24:47), and the song of those redeemed by his blood “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

Two criminals, two answers

“And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us” (verse 39). To rail is blasphēméō, to vilify, to speak impiously, to blaspheme. This man’s insult is aimed at Jesus’ claim to come from God. He takes up the words of the rulers and soldiers and adds himself to the demand: “and us.” He wants to come down from his cross alive, and he treats Jesus as a failed Messiah who might yet be provoked into a show of power.

His words come from the same picture of the Messiah as the rulers’ words, a conquering king like the one Isaiah foretold on David’s throne (Isaiah 9:6–7). A Messiah hanging on a tree, under the curse the law pronounced on such a man (Deuteronomy 21:23), was a scandal to him as to many. Paul says that Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, and to those who are called he is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:22–24).

Luke alone records what happened next (Luke 23:39–43). “But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” (verse 40). To rebuke, epitimáō, is to express strong disapproval, and it can carry a warning. The second criminal silences his companion’s mockery. His question turns on fear, phobéō, which can mean to be afraid and also to be in awe, to revere. Both senses belong here. Both men are about to die and meet God, which should make anyone afraid to mock, and should bring them to reverence before his holiness and his judgment. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10, and see Proverbs 1:7), and Jesus told his disciples to fear the one who can destroy both soul and body (Matthew 10:28).

“The same condemnation” uses kríma, a decision, verdict or sentence. He reminds his companion that he hangs under the same sentence, with death and God’s judgment only hours away. Then he goes further: “And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss” (verse 41). “Justly”, dikaíōs, means rightly, as is fair. “The due reward” puts together apolambánō, to receive back what is owed, and áxios, worthy or deserving, so that the two men are getting what their deeds deserve. He owns his guilt plainly, before God and before the law.

He turns from himself to Jesus: “this man hath done nothing amiss.” The word átopos, with oudeís, means out of place, improper, wrong. He declares Jesus wholly innocent and his suffering wholly undeserved. A condemned criminal becomes one more witness to Jesus’ innocence, beside Pilate, who said he found no fault in him (John 19:4), and the centurion, who after Jesus died called him a righteous man (Luke 23:47). The prophet had said the Servant “had done no violence” (Isaiah 53:9), and Peter calls Christ a lamb “without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).

In a few words this man holds the whole gospel. The guilty receive what they deserve, for “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and the innocent one suffers beside them and for them. He fears God, owns his sin, confesses Christ’s innocence and then turns to Christ for mercy, which is repentance and faith at their plainest.

“Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom”

“And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (verse 42). He calls Jesus kýrios, Lord, a word for one supreme in authority, a master, and he says it to a man nailed beside him. “Remember”, mnáomai, means to bear in mind, to recall, and by implication to act on what is remembered, to reward. He is asking Jesus to think of him for good and to give him a place in his reign. “Kingdom” is basileía, royal rule, a realm, formed from basileús, the word for king written over the cross.

The rulers had mocked him as Christ, the soldiers had mocked him as king, and the other criminal had mocked him as Christ. This man believes he is a king who will come into his kingdom. He watches Jesus dying and still expects him to reign, which means a kingdom on the far side of death. Jesus had said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), and this criminal grasps the same truth from his cross. He asks very little, only to be remembered, and that plea from a man whose hands were nailed down is faith.

Was the thief saved without baptism or good works?

The thief was truly saved, by grace through faith, and Jesus’ answer in the next verse settles it. His whole remaining life was a few hours on a cross, so good works and baptism were out of his reach. Baptism is an important act of obedience and a public confession of faith, and his salvation rested on his repentance and on his faith in Jesus as Lord and King. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Paul says that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we shall be saved (Romans 10:9–10), and the thief confessed Jesus as Lord with his mouth in this very verse.

“To day shalt thou be with me in paradise”

“And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (verse 43). The answer comes at once, from a man in the same agony, and it gives more than was asked. The thief asked to be remembered at some coming day. Jesus promises him his company today.

“Verily” is amḗn, from a Hebrew word meaning firm or sure, a strong affirmation: truly. Jesus often began his weightiest sayings with it, and it marks what follows as certain. “To day” is sḗmeron, the plain word for today, and it sets the promise on this day, the day both men would die. “With me” is the heart of it, because the joy of paradise is being with Christ.

Paradise, parádeisos, is a word from the East for an enclosed park or royal garden. In the Greek Old Testament it translates the Hebrew word for garden, used of the garden the LORD God planted in Eden (Genesis 2:8). In the New Testament it is the place of blessing where the righteous dead are with God, and the risen Christ promises to him that overcomes “to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). The word recalls what was lost in Eden, and the promise looks ahead to the new heaven and new earth, when God will dwell with his people (Revelation 21:1–4).

A dying man on a cross promises paradise to another dying man, and he can do it because he has authority over life and death. The promise rests on the death he is dying, through which the way into God’s presence is opened, and his resurrection soon after confirms it.

Did the thief go to be with Christ that day?

Jesus promised that he would, and Scripture speaks of the death of believers in the same way. Paul says that to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8), and he longed “to depart, and to be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23). Believers differ on whether, for some who die in God’s grace, a time of cleansing comes before they see God. Those who hold that it does read this promise as Christ’s gift to one forgiven man, given at once. Others take it as the pattern for every believer, who goes from death straight into Christ’s presence. On either reading, the man who asked only to be remembered was with Christ in paradise that day.

The innocent in the place of the guilty

Every part of this scene points to what Jesus was doing on the cross. He was led out with criminals, crucified between them and mocked as they were, and the penitent criminal said what was true of the three of them: the guilty receive “the due reward of our deeds,” while “this man hath done nothing amiss.” The innocent one bore what the guilty deserved. Isaiah saw it long before. The Servant “was wounded for our transgressions,” and “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:3–6). Paul says it in one sentence: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and he bore our sins in his own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). His blood is the blood of the new covenant, shed for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). God set him forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood (Romans 3:25), and he was offered once to bear the sins of many (Hebrews 9:28). On the cross that Rome meant for shame, he blotted out the handwriting that was against us and triumphed over principalities and powers (Colossians 2:14–15). He endured the cross and despised its shame, and he is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). The one they mocked as a powerless king is the one God has highly exalted, at whose name every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:9–11).

Mercy at the last hour

Two men hung beside Jesus, equally guilty and equally near death. One railed at him and asked to be saved from the cross. The other feared God, confessed his sin and asked to be remembered, and he heard Jesus promise him paradise. The cross sets the same two ways before everyone who hears of it.

This hour shows us who God is. His Son prays for those who kill him, and the Father answers that prayer in the repentance of many. He keeps his word down to the smallest detail, from the clothes divided by lot to the company of transgressors. He saves through the very weakness the world mocks, so that his love is seen most clearly where his Son looks most helpless. And his grace reaches a criminal in his last hours, who had only his guilt to bring and a request to be remembered. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

The Jesus who said “to day” to a dying thief is the risen King, raised from the dead so that those who belong to him walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). Whoever comes to him as the thief did, owning his sin and calling him Lord, is received as the thief was, and will be with him.

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Luke 23:32–43. He set out his notes in a four-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 12 verses
Passage under commentLuke 23:32–43
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details[1.] [2.] Fine details

In these verses we have,

I.Divers passages which we had before in Matthew and Mark concerning Christ's sufferings.

1.That there were two others, malefactors, led with him to the place of execution, who, it is probable, had been for some time under sentence of death, and were designed to be executed on this day, which was probably the pretence for making such haste in the prosecution of Christ, that he and these two malefactors might be executed together, and one solemnity might serve.

2.That he was crucified at a place called Calvary, Kranion, the Greek name for Golgotha - the place of a skull: an ignominious place, to add to the reproach of his sufferings, but significant, for there he triumphed over death as it were upon his own dunghill. He was crucified. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross as it lay upon the ground, and it was then lifted up, and fastened into the earth, or into some socket made to receive it. This was a painful and shameful death above any other.

3.That he was crucified in the midst between two thieves, as if he had been the worst of the three. Thus he was not only treated as a transgressor, but numbered with them, the worst of them.

4.That the soldiers who were employed in the execution seized his garments as their fee, and divided them among themselves by lot: They parted his raiment, and cast lots; it was worth so little that, if divided, it would come to next to nothing, and therefore they cast lots for it.

5.That he was reviled and reproached, and treated with all the scorn and contempt imaginable, when he was lifted up upon the cross. It was strange that so much barbarity should be found in the human nature: The people stood beholding, not at all concerned, but rather pleasing themselves with the spectacle; and the rulers, whom from their office one would take to be men of sense and men of honour, stood among the rabble, and derided him, to set those on that were about them to do so too; and they said, He saved others, let him save himself. Thus was he upbraided for the good works he had done, as if it were indeed for these that they crucified him. They triumphed over him as if they had conquered him, whereas he was himself then more than a conqueror; they challenged him to save himself from the cross, when he was saving others by the cross: If he be the Christ, the chosen of God, let him save himself. They knew that the Christ was the chosen of God, designed by him, and dear to him. "If he, as the Christ, would deliver our nation from the Romans (and they could not form any other idea than that of the Messiah), let him deliver himself from the Romans that have him now in their hands." Thus the Jewish rulers jeered him as subdued by the Romans, instead of subduing them. The Roman soldiers jeered him as the King of the Jews: "A people good enough for such a prince, and a prince good enough for such a people." They mocked him (Luke 23:36, Luke 23:37); they made sport with him, and made a jest of his sufferings; and when they were drinking sharp sour wine themselves, such as was generally allotted them, they triumphantly asked him if he would pledge them, or drink with them. And they said, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself; for, as the Jews prosecuted him under the notion of a pretended Messiah, so the Romans under the notion of a pretended king.

6.That the superscription over his head, setting forth his crime, was, This is the King of the Jews, Luke 23:38. He is put to death for pretending to be the king of the Jews; so they meant it; but God intended it to be a declaration of what he really was, notwithstanding his present disgrace: he is the king of the Jews, the king of the church, and his cross is the way to his crown. This was written in those that were called the three learned languages, Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, for those are best learned that have learned Christ. It was written in these three languages that it might be known and read of all men; but God designed by it to signify that the gospel of Christ should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and be read in all languages. The Gentile philosophy made the Greek tongue famous, the Roman laws and government made the Latin tongue so, and the Hebrew excelled them all for the sake of the Old Testament. In these three languages is Jesus Christ proclaimed king. Young scholars, that are taking pains at school to make themselves masters of these three languages, should aim at this, that in the use of them they may increase their acquaintance with Christ.

II.Here are two passages which we had not before, and they are very remarkable ones.

1.Christ's prayer for his enemies (Luke 23:34): Father, forgive them. Seven remarkable words Christ spoke after he was nailed to the cross, and before he died, and this is the first. One reason why he died the death of the cross was that he might have liberty of speech to the last, and so might glorify his Father and edify those about him. As soon as ever he was fastened to the cross, or while they were nailing him, he prayed this prayer, in which observe,

(1.)The petition: Father, forgive them. One would think that he should have prayed, "Father, consume them; the Lord look upon it, and requite it." The sin they were now guilty of might justly have been made unpardonable, and justly might they have been excepted by name out of the act of indemnity. No, these are particularly prayed for. Now he made intercession for transgressors, as was foretold (Isaiah 53:12), and it is to be added to his prayer (Jn. 17), to complete the specimen he gave of his intercession within the veil: that for saints, this for sinners. Now the sayings of Christ upon the cross as well as his sufferings had a further intention than they seemed to have. This was a mediatorial word, and explicatory of the intent and meaning of his death: "Father, forgive them, not only these, but all that shall repent, and believe the gospel;" and he did not intend that these should be forgiven upon any other terms. "Father, that which I am now suffering and dying for is in order to this, that poor sinners may be pardoned." Note,

[1.]The great thing which Christ died to purchase and procure for us is the forgiveness of sin.

[2.]This is that for which Christ intercedes for all that repent and believe in the virtue of his satisfaction; his blood speaks this: Father, forgive them.

[3.]The greatest sinners may, through Christ, upon their repentance, hope to find mercy. Though they were his persecutors and murderers, he prayed, Father, forgive them.

(2.)The plea: For they know not what they do; for, if they had known, they would not have crucified him, 1 Corinthians 2:8. There was a veil upon his glory and upon their understandings; and how could they see through two veils? They wished his blood on them and their children: but, had they known what they did, they would have unwished it again. Note,

[1.]The crucifiers of Christ know not what they do. They that speak ill or religion speak ill of that which they know not, and it is because they will not know it.

[2.]There is a kind of ignorance that does in part excuse sin: ignorance through want of the means of knowledge or of a capacity to receive instruction, through the infelicities of education, or inadvertency. The crucifiers of Christ were kept in ignorance by their rulers, and had prejudices against him instilled into them, so that in what they did against Christ and his doctrine they thought they did God service, John 16:2. Such as to be pitied and prayed for. This prayer of Christ was answered not long after, when many of those that had a hand in his death were converted by Peter's preaching. This is written also for example to us. First, We must in prayer call God Father, and come to him with reverence and confidence, as children to a father. Secondly, The great thing we must beg of God, both for ourselves and others, is the forgiveness of sins. Thirdly, We must pray for our enemies, and those that hate and persecute us, must extenuate their offences, and not aggravate them as we must our own (They know not what they do; peradventure it was an oversight); and we must be earnest with God in prayer for the forgiveness of their sins, their sins against us. This is Christ's example to his own rule (Matthew 5:44, Matthew 5:45, Love your enemies); and it very much strengthens the rule, for, if Christ loved and prayed for such enemies, what enemies can we have that we are not obliged to love and pray for?

2.The conversion of the thief upon the cross, which is an illustrious instance of Christ's triumphing over principalities and powers even when he seemed to be triumphed over by them. Christ was crucified between two thieves, and in them were represented the different effects which the cross of Christ would have upon the children of men, to whom it would be brought near in the preaching of the gospel. They were all malefactors, all guilty before God. Now the cross of Christ is to some a savour of life unto life, to others of death unto death. To them that perish it is foolishness, but to them that are saved it is the wisdom of God and the power of God.

(1.)Here was one of these malefactors that was hardened to the last. Near to the cross of Christ, he railed on him, as others did (Luke 23:39): he said, If thou be the Christ, as they say thou art, save thyself and us. Though he was now in pain and agony, and in the valley of the shadow of death, yet this did not humble his proud spirit, nor teach him to give good language, no, not to his fellow-sufferer. Though thou bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. No troubles will of themselves work a change in a wicked heart, but sometimes they irritate the corruption which one would think they should mortify. He challenges Christ to save both himself and them. Note, There are some that have the impudence to rail at Christ, and yet the confidence to expect to be saved by him; nay, and to conclude that, if he do not save them, he is not to be looked upon as the Saviour.

(2.)Here was the other of them that was softened at the last. It as said in Matthew and Mark that the thieves, even they that were crucified with him, reviled him, which some think is by a figure put for one of them, but others think that they both reviled him at first, till the heart of one of them was wonderfully changed, and with it his language on a sudden. This malefactor, when just ready to fall into the hands of Satan, was snatched as a brand out of the burning, and made a monument of divine mercy and grace, and Satan was left to roar as a lion disappointed of his prey. This gives no encouragement to any to put off their repentance to their death-bed, or to hope that then they shall find mercy; for, though it is certain that true repentance is never too late, it is as certain that late repentance is seldom true. None can be sure that they shall have time to repent at death, but every man may be sure that he cannot have the advantages that this penitent thief had, whose case was altogether extraordinary. He never had any offer of Christ, nor day of grace, before how: he was designed to be made a singular instance of the power of Christ's grace now at a time when he was crucified in weakness. Christ, having conquered Satan in the destruction of Judas and the preservation of Peter, erects this further trophy of his victory over him in the conversion of this malefactor, as a specimen of what he would do. We shall see the case to be extraordinary if we observe,

[1.]The extraordinary operations of God's grace upon him, which appeared in what he said. Here were so many evidences given in a short time of a blessed change wrought in him that more could not have been given in so little a compass.

First, See what he said to the other malefactor, Luke 23:40, Luke 23:41. 1. He reproved him for railing at Christ, as destitute of the fear of God, and having no sense at all of religion: Dost not thou fear God? This implies that it was the fear of God which restrained him from following the multitude to do this evil. "I fear God, and therefore dare not do it; and dost not thou?" All that have their eyes opened see this to be at the bottom of the wickedness of the wicked, that they have not the fear of God before their eyes. "If thou hadst any humanity in thee, thou wouldest not insult over one that is thy fellow-sufferer; thou art in the same condition; thou art a dying man too, and therefore, whatever these wicked people do, it ill becomes thee to abuse a dying man." 2. He owns that he deserves what was done to him: We indeed justly. It is probable that they both suffered for one and the same crime, and therefore he spoke with the more assurance, We received the due reward of our deeds. This magnifies divine grace, as acting in a distinguishing way. These two have been comrades in sin and suffering, and yet one is saved and the other perishes; two that had gone together all along hitherto, and yet now one taken and the other left. He does not say, Thou indeed justly, but We. Note, True penitents acknowledge the justice of God in all the punishments of their sin. God has done right, but we have done wickedly. 3. He believes Christ to have suffered wrongfully. Though he was condemned in two courts, and run upon as if he had been the worst of malefactors, yet this penitent thief is convinced, by his conduct in his sufferings, that he has done nothing amiss, ouden atopon - nothing absurd, or unbecoming his character. The chief priests would have him crucified between the malefactors, as one of them; but this thief has more sense than they, and owns he is not one of them. Whether he had before heard of Christ and of his wonderous works does not appear, but the Spirit of grace enlightened him with this knowledge, and enabled him to say, This man has done nothing amiss.

Secondly, See what he said to our Lord Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, Luke 23:42. This is the prayer of a dying sinner to a dying Saviour. It was the honour of Christ to be thus prayed to, though he was upon the cross reproached and reviled. It was the happiness of the thief thus to pray; perhaps he never prayed before, and yet now was heard, and saved at the last gasp. While there is life there is hope, and while there is hope there is room for prayer. 1. Observe his faith in this prayer. In his confession of sin (Luke 23:41) he discovered repentance towards God. In this petition he discovered faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. He owns him to be Lord, and to have a kingdom, and that he was going to that kingdom, that he should have authority in that kingdom, and that those should be happy whom he favoured; and to believe and confess all this was a great thing at this time of day. Christ was now in the depth of disgrace, deserted by his own disciples, reviled by his own nation, suffering as a pretender, and not delivered by his Father He made this profession before those prodigies happened which put honour upon his sufferings, and which startled the centurion; yet verily we have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. He believed another life after this, and desired to be happy in that life, not as the other thief, to be saved from the cross, but to be well provided for when the cross had done its worst. 2. Observe his humility in this prayer. All his request is, Lord, remember me. He does not pray, Lord, prefer me (as they did, Matthew 20:21), though, having the honour as none of the disciples had to drink of Christ's cup and to be baptized with his baptism either on his right hand or on his left in his sufferings when his own disciples had deserted him he might have had some colour to ask as they did to sit on his right hand and on his left in his kingdom. Acquaintance in sufferings has sometimes gained such a point, Jeremiah 52:31, Jeremiah 52:32. But he is far from the thought of it. All he begs is, Lord, remember me, referring himself to Christ in what way to remember him. It is a request like that of Joseph to the chief butler, Think on me (Genesis 40:14), and it sped better; the chief butler forgot Joseph, but Christ remembered this thief. 3. There is an air of importunity and fervency in this prayer. He does, as it were, breathe out his soul in it: "Lord, remember me, and I have enough; I desire no more; into thy hands I commit my case." Note, To be remembered by Christ, now that he is in his kingdom, is what we should earnestly desire and pray for, and it will be enough to secure our welfare living and dying. Christ is in his kingdom, interceding. "Lord, remember me, and intercede for me." He is there ruling. "Lord, remember me, and rule in me by thy Spirit." He is there preparing places for those that are his. "Lord, remember me, and prepare a place for me; remember me at death, remember me in the resurrection." See Job 14:13.

[2.]The extraordinary grants of Christ's favour to him: Jesus said unto him, in answer to his prayer, "Verily I say unto thee, I the Amen, the faithful Witness, I say Amen to this prayer, put my fiat to it: nay, thou shalt have more than thou didst ask, This day thou shalt be with me in paradise," Luke 23:43. Observe,

First, To whom this was spoken: to the penitent thief, to him, and not to his companion. Christ upon the cross is like Christ upon the throne; for now is the judgment of this world: one departs with a curse, the other with a blessing. Though Christ himself was now in the greatest struggle and agony, yet he had a word of comfort to speak to a poor penitent that committed himself to him. Note, Even great sinners, if they be true penitents, shall, through Christ, obtain not only the pardon of their sins, but a place in the paradise of God, Hebrews 9:15. This magnifies the riches of free grace, that rebels and traitors shall not only be pardoned, but preferred, thus preferred.

Secondly, By whom this was spoken. This was another mediatorial word which Christ spoke, though upon a particular occasion, yet with a general intention to explain the true intent and meaning of his sufferings; as he died to purchase the forgiveness of sins for us (Luke 23:34), so also to purchase eternal life for us. By this word we are given to understand that Jesus Christ died to open the kingdom of heaven to all penitent obedient believers. 1. Christ here lets us know that he was going to paradise himself, to hades - the invisible world. His human soul was removing to the place of separate souls; not to the place of the damned, but to paradise, the place of the blessed. By this he assures us that his satisfaction was accepted, and the Father was well pleased in him, else he had not gone to paradise; that was the beginning of the joy set before him, with the prospect of which he comforted himself. He went by the cross to the crown, and we must not think of going any other way, or of being perfected but by sufferings. 2. He lets all penitent believers know that when they die they shall go to be with him there. He was now, as a priest, purchasing this happiness for them, and is ready, as a king, to confer it upon them when they are prepared and made ready for it. See here how the happiness of heaven is set forth to us. (1.) It is paradise, a garden of pleasure, the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7), alluding to the garden of Eden, in which our first parents were placed when they were innocent. In the second Adam we are restored to all we lost in the first Adam, and more, to a heavenly paradise instead of an earthly one. (2.) It is being with Christ there. That is the happiness of heaven, to see Christ, and sit with him, and share in his glory, John 17:24. (3.) It is immediate upon death: This day shalt thou be with me, tonight, before tomorrow. Thou souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, immediately are in joy and felicity; the spirits of just men are immediately made perfect. Lazarus departs, and is immediately comforted; Paul departs, and is immediately with Christ, Philippians 1:23.

Historical interpretation

Nine Centuries of Reception

14 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.

14 quotes · AD 220–1107
Ante-NicenePost-NiceneEarly MedievalMedieval
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Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.

d. AD 220TertullianAnte-NiceneSourceAgainst Marcion Book IV
Moreover two malefactors are crucified around Him, in order that He might be reckoned amongst the transgressors. Although His raiment was, without doubt, parted among the soldiers, and partly distributed by lot, yet Marcion has erased it all (from his Gospel), for he had his eye upon the Psalm: "They parted my garments amongst them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
d. AD 339Eusebius of Caesareaas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
But if, on the contrary, after His intercourse with men, He suddenly disappeared, flying away to avoid death, He might be likened by man to a phantom. And just as if any one wished to exhibit some incombustible vessel, which triumphed over the nature of fire, he would put it into the flame, and then directly draw it out from the flame unharmed; so the Word of God, wishing to show that the instrument which He used for the salvation of men was superior to death, exposed His mortal body to death to manifest His nature, then after a little rescued it from death by the force of His divine power. This is indeed the first cause of Christ's death. But the second is the manifestation of the divine power of Christ inhabiting a body. For seeing that men of old deified those who were destined to a like end with themselves, and whom they called Heroes and Gods, He taught that He alone of the dead must be acknowledged the true God, who having vanquished death is adorned with the rewards of victory, having trodden death under His feet. The third reason is, that a victim must be slain for the whole race of mankind, which being offered, the whole power of the evil spirits was destroyed, and every error put to silence. There is also another cause of the healthgiving death, that the disciples with secret faith might behold the resurrection after death. Whereunto they were taught to lift up their own hopes, that despising death they might embark cheerfully in the conflict with error.
d. AD 373Athanasius of Alexandriaas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Hom. in Pass. Dom.) When mankind became corrupted, then Christ manifested His own body, that where corruption has been seen, there might spring up incorruption. Wherefore He is crucified in the place of Calvary; which place the Jewish doctors say was the burial-place of Adam.

(de Inc. Verb. Dei.) Now our Saviour came to accomplish not His own death, but that of man, for He experienced not death who is Life. Therefore not by His own death did He put off the body, but He endured that which was inflicted by men. But although His body had been afflicted, and was loosed in the sight of all men, yet was it not fitting that He who should heal the sicknesses of others should have His own body visited with sickness. But yet if without any disease He had put off His body apart in some remote place, He would not be believed when speaking of His resurrection. For death must precede resurrection; why then should He openly proclaim His resurrection, but die in secret? Surely if these things had happened secretly, what calumnies would unbelieving men have invented? How would the victory of Christ over death appear, unless undergoing it in the sight of all men He had proved it to be swallowed up by the incorruption of His body? But you will say, At least He ought to have devised for Himself a glorious death, to have avoided the death of the cross. But if He had done this, He would have made Himself suspected of not having power over every kind of death. As then the champion by laying prostrate whomsoever the enemy has opposed to him is shown to be superior to all, so the Life of all men took upon Him that death which His enemies inflicted, because it was the most dreadful and shameful, the abominable death upon the cross, that having destroyed it, the dominion of death might be entirely overthrown. Wherefore His head is not cut off as John's was; He was not sawn asunder as Isaiah, that He might preserve His body entire, and indivisible to death, and not become an excuse to those who would divide the Church. For He wished to bear the curse of sin which we had incurred, by taking upon Him the accursed death of the cross, as it is said, Cursed is he that hangeth upon a tree. He dies also on the cross with outstretched hands, that with one indeed He may draw to Him the ancient people, with the other the Gentiles, joining both to Himself. Dying also on the cross He purges the air of evil spirits, and prepares for us an ascent into heaven.
d. AD 395Gregory of Nyssaas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Orat. 1. de Res. Christ.) But the figure of the cross from one centre of contact branching out into four separate terminations, signifies the power and providence of Him who hung upon it extending every where.
d. AD 397Ambrose of MilanPost-NiceneSourceEXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 10.114
But the very place of the cross, either in the middle, as visible to all, or above Adam, as the Hebrews argue, for burial. For it was fitting that there our first-fruits of life should be placed, where the beginnings of death had been.
d. AD 407John Chrysostomas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Hom. 87. in Matt.) Two thieves also they crucified on the two sides, that He might be a partaker of their reproach; as it follows, And the thieves one on his right hand, the other on his left. But it did not so turn out. For of them nothing is said, but His cross is every where honoured. Kings, laying aside their crowns, assume the cross on their purple, on their diadems, on their arms. On the consecrated table, throughout the whole earth, the cross glitters. Such things are not of men. For even in their lifetime those who have acted nobly are mocked by their own actions, and when they perish their actions perish also. But in Christ it is quite different. For before the cross all things were gloomy, after it all things are joyful and glorious, that you may know that not a mere man was crucified.
d. AD 430Augustine of Hippoas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(de Gr. Nov. Test. Ep. 140.) For not without reason did He choose this kind of death, in order that He might be the master of breadth and length, and heighth and depth. For breadth lies in that cross piece of wood which is fastened from above. This belongs to good works, because on it the hands are outstretched. Length lies in that which is seen reaching from the former piece to the ground, for there in a certain manner we stand, that is, abide firm or persevere. And this is applied to longsuffering. Heighth is in that piece of wood which is left reaching upwards from that which is fixed across, that is, to the head of the Crucified; for the expectation of those who hope for better things is upward. Again, that part of the wood which is fixed hidden in the ground, signifies the depth of unrestrained grace.
d. AD 444Cyril of Alexandriaas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
The only-begotten Son of God did not Himself in His own nature in which He is God suffer the things which belong to the body, but rather in His earthly nature. For of one and the same Son both may be affirmed, namely, that He doth not suffer in His divine nature, and that He suffered in His human.
d. AD 444Cyril of AlexandriaPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 153
By becoming like us and bearing our sufferings for our sakes, Christ restores human nature to how it was in the beginning. The first man was certainly in the Paradise of delight in the beginning. The absence of suffering and of corruption exalted him. He despised the commandment given to him and fell under a curse, condemnation and the snare of death by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. By the very same thing, Christ restores him to his original condition. He became the fruit of the tree by enduring the precious cross for our sakes, that he might destroy death, which by means of the tree [of Adam] had invaded the bodies of humankind.
d. AD 444Cyril of AlexandriaPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 153
When he hung on the precious cross, two thieves were hung with him. What comes from this? It was truly a mockery as far as the plan of the Jews, but it was also the commemoration of prophecy. It is written, “He was also numbered with the transgressors.” For our sakes, he became a curse. That is, he became accursed. It is written again, “Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.” His act did away with the curse that was on us. We are blessed with him and because of him. Knowing this, blessed David says, “Blessed are we of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Blessings descend to us by his sufferings. He paid our debts in our place. He bore our sins. He was stricken in our place, as it is written. He took our sins in his own body on the tree, because it is true that his bruises heal us. He also was sick because of our sins, and we are delivered from the sicknesses of the soul.
d. AD 735Bedeas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Early MedievalSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
Or else, without the gate were the places where the heads of condemned criminals were cut off, and they received the name of Calvary, that is, beheaded. Thus for the salvation of all men the innocent is crucified among the guilty, that where sin abounded, there grace might much more abound.

But the two robbers crucified with Christ signify those who under the faith of Christ undergo either the pains of martyrdom, or the rules of a still stricter continence. But they do this for eternal glory, who imitate the actions of the thief on the right hand; while they who do it to gain the praise of men, imitate the thief on the left hand.
d. AD 735BedeEarly MedievalSourceOn the Gospel of Luke
And after they came to the place that is called Calvary, there they crucified him. Outside the city of Jerusalem and outside the gate there were places where they beheaded the condemned, and they took the name Calvary, that is, of the beheaded. Therefore the Lord was crucified there, so that where the area of the condemned had been before, the standards of martyrdom might be raised. And just as he was made a curse for us on the cross, and was scourged, and crucified, so for the salvation of all he was crucified among the guilty as if he were guilty, so that where sin abounded, grace might abound all the more. Certainly, how the Lord was placed on the cross, and what the position of that most sacred body signifies in itself as a royal type, Sedulius beautifully expressed in verses in his Paschal poem: "That no one may be unaware of the form of the cross to be revered, which carried the Lord exultantly with powerful reasoning, gathering the four regions of the squared world. The resplendent East shines from the head of the creator, the sacred feet are bathed by the star of the West. The right hand holds the North, the left elevates the middle axis, and the entire nature of the creator lives from the members. And Christ controls the world, embraced by the cross, everywhere." The Apostle also describes the moral figure of the most holy cross, where he says: "Rooted and grounded in love, that you might comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, to know also the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3). In the breadth indeed he signifies good works of charity, in the length the perseverance of a holy life unto the end, in the height the hope of heavenly rewards, in the depth the unsearchable judgments of God, from which this grace comes to men. And these are so connected to the sacrament of the cross, that in the breadth it is understood the transverse beam to which the hands are outstretched, for the signification of works. In the length, from itself down to the earth, where the whole crucified body seems to stand, which signifies persistence, that is, long perseverance. In the height, from the same transverse beam upwards, which stands out toward the head, because of the expectation of what is on high, lest those good works and perseverance in them are believed to be done for earthly and temporary benefits of God, but rather for that which faith, working through love, hopes eternally from above. In the depth also, the part of the wood that is hidden and fixed in the ground, but from which all that emerges arises, just as from the hidden will of God man is called to the participation of so great a grace in one way or another, but above all the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, where indeed there is that peace which surpasses all understanding.
d. AD 735BedeEarly MedievalSourceOn the Gospel of Luke
And the thieves, one on the right and the other on the left. The thieves who are crucified with the Lord on either side signify those who, under the faith and confession of Christ, either undergo the struggle of martyrdom or the discipline of stricter continence. But as many as do these things solely for eternal and heavenly glory, these are rightly designated by the merit and faith of the right-hand thief. But those who renounce the world either with a view to human praise or for any less worthy intention, not unreasonably imitate the mind and actions of the blasphemous and left-hand thief. Of such the Apostle says: If I give my body to be burned, if I give all my goods to feed the poor, if I do many other things, but have not charity, it profits me nothing (I Cor. XIII). But blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. V).
d. AD 1107Theophylact of Ohridas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274MedievalSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
But the Devil, desiring to engender an evil opinion of our Lord, caused robbers also to be crucified with Him; whence it follows, And there were two other malefactors led with him to be put to death.

Because also by a tree death bad entered, it must needs be that by a tree it should be abolished, and that the Lord passing unconquered through the pains of a tree should subdue the pleasures which flow from a tree.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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