{Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise} (S(886d)eron met'
emou es(8869) en t(9369) paradeis(9369)). However crude may have been the
robber's Messianic ideas Jesus clears the path for him. He
promises him immediate and conscious fellowship after death with
Christ in Paradise which is a Persian word and is used here not
for any supposed intermediate state; but the very bliss of heaven
itself. This Persian word was used for an enclosed park or
pleasure ground (so Xenophon). The word occurs in two other
passages in the N.T. ( 2Co 12:4  Re 2:7 ), in both of which the
reference is plainly to heaven. Some Jews did use the word for
the abode of the pious dead till the resurrection, interpreting
"Abraham's bosom" ( Lu 16:22f. ) in this sense also. But the
evidence for such an intermediate state is too weak to warrant
belief in it.