The Thief on the Cross

Mike Johnson

The Bible teaches that baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), washes away sins (Acts 22:16), saves (1 Pet. 3:21, Mk. 16:16), and puts people into Christ (Rom. 6:3, Gal. 3:27).  After listening to this teaching, some may ask, “What about the thief on the cross?”  Just before His death, Jesus did tell the thief, “. . . Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:43).  They might further contend that since the thief was not baptized, baptism is not essential today.

We must keep in mind that the Bible does not contradict itself.  A person making this assertion must explain the passages listed above, which describe baptism’s purpose.  Putting one passage against another without an explanation makes it appear to others that the Bible contradicts itself.

We do not know whether the thief was baptized or not.  John baptized a lot of people in Jerusalem (Mk. 1:1-4), and the disciples of Jesus also baptized many (Jn. 4:1-3).  The possibility exists that the thief was among some of those baptized earlier.  Also, the thief did know about the kingdom (Lk. 23:39-42), possibly indicating he had been a disciple at some previous point.  Someone who uses the thief argument against the Bible’s teaching on baptism should at least prove that the thief was never baptized.  In reality, however, it is not essential to ascertain whether the thief received baptism, as we will see.

The thief’s salvation actually has nothing to do with our salvation today.  His case is not applicable because he lived under a different law than us.  He lived under the Law of Moses — we live under Christ’s law.  To see that the requirements differed from today, one only needs to read the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, which requires such things as animal sacrifices and incense burning.  The old law lasted until Christ died (Heb. 9:16, 17; Col. 2:14-17).  The baptism spoken of in the Great Commission (Mk. 16:16, Mt. 28:18-20) and preached to the early church is for us today.  We are under the Law of Christ, the perfect law of liberty (Jas. 1:25), and not Moses’s Law.  One might argue that Moses or Abraham was saved without baptism to claim it of the thief.

Consider the following illustration.  Today, many laws in our country did not apply to our ancestors.  For example, many did not pay income taxes because the income tax amendment was not passed until 1913.  Can we say that citizens do not need to pay certain taxes because some of our ancestors did not?  Indeed, we cannot as we live under a different law than them.  However, such is the kind of reasoning used with the thief argument.  Regardless of what the thief did nor did not do, the Bible teaches that we must hear God’s Word (Rom. 10:17), believe (Heb. 11:6), repent (Acts 2:38), confess Christ (Rom. 10:10), and be baptized (Mk. 16:16) to be saved.