PARADISE
The Greek word pa·raʹdei·sos occurs three times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7) Greek writers as far back as Xenophon (c. 434-355 B.C.E.) used the word and attribute it to Persian sources. Some lexicographers would derive the Hebrew word par·desʹ (meaning, basically, a park) from the same source. But since Solomon (of the eleventh century B.C.E.) used par·desʹ in his writings whereas existing Persian writings go back only to about the sixth century B.C.E., such derivation of the Hebrew term is only conjectural. (Eccl. 2:5; Song of Sol. 4:13) The remaining use of par·desʹ is at Nehemiah 2:8, where reference is made to a royal wooded park of Persian King Artaxerxes (Longimanus), in the fifth century B.C.E.—See PARK.
The three terms (Hebrew par·desʹ, Persian pairidaeza, and Greek pa·raʹdei·sos), however, all convey the basic idea of a beautiful park or parklike garden. The first such park was that made by man’s Creator, Jehovah God, in Eden. (Gen. 2:8, 9, 15) It is called a gan, or “garden,” in Hebrew but was obviously parklike in size and nature. (See EDEN No. 1; GARDEN [Garden of Eden].) Adam lost his right to live in that paradise due to sin and lost his opportunity to gain the right to everlasting life, which right was represented in the fruit of a divinely designated tree in the center of the garden. The garden of Eden may have been enclosed in some way, since it was necessary to place angelic guards only at the east side thereof to prevent human entrance.—Gen. 3:22-24.
JESUS’ PROMISE TO THE WRONGDOER
Luke’s account shows that an evildoer, being executed alongside Jesus Christ, spoke words in Jesus’ defense and requested that Jesus remember him when he ‘got into his kingdom.’ Jesus’ reply was: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43) The punctuation shown in the rendering of these words must, of course, depend on the translator’s understanding of the sense of Jesus’ words. For in the original Greek text no punctuation was employed, punctuation in the modern style not becoming common until about the ninth century C.E. Whereas many translations place a comma before the word “today” and thereby give the impression that the evildoer entered Paradise that same day, there is nothing in the rest of the Scriptures to support this. Jesus himself was dead and in the tomb until the third day and was then resurrected as the “first fruits” of the resurrection. (Acts 10:40; 1 Cor. 15:20; Col. 1:18) He ascended to heaven forty days later.—John 20:17; Acts 1:1-3, 9.
The evidence is, therefore, that Jesus’ use of the word “today” was not to give the time of the evildoer’s being in Paradise, but, rather, to call attention to the time in which the promise was being made and in which the evildoer had shown a measure of faith in Jesus. It was a day when Jesus had been rejected and condemned by the highest-ranking religious leaders of his own people and was thereafter sentenced to die by Roman authority. He had become an object of scorn and ridicule. So the wrongdoer alongside him had shown a notable quality and commendable heart attitude in not going along with the crowd but, rather, speaking out in Jesus’ behalf and expressing belief in his coming kingship. Recognizing that the emphasis is correctly placed on the time of the promise’s being made rather than on the time of its fulfillment, other translations, such as those by Rotherham and Lamsa, as also the German translation by Reinhardt, render the text similarly to the rendering in the New World Translation, quoted herein.
As to the identification of the Paradise of which Jesus spoke, it is clearly not synonymous with the heavenly kingdom of Christ. Earlier that day entry into that heavenly kingdom had been held out as a prospect for Jesus’ faithful disciples but on the basis of their having ‘stuck with him in his trials,’ something the evildoer had never done, his dying on a stake alongside Jesus being Purely for his own criminal acts. (Luke 22:28-30; 23:40, 41) The evildoer obviously had not been “born again” of water and spirit, which Jesus showed was a prerequisite to entry into the kingdom of the heavens. (John 3:3-6) Nor was the evildoer one of the ‘conquerors’ that the glorified Christ Jesus stated would be with him on his heavenly throne, and that have a share in the “first resurrection.”—Rev. 3:11, 12, 21; 12:10, 11; 14:1-4; 20:4-6.
Some reference works present the view that Jesus was referring to a paradise location in Hades or Sheol, supposedly a compartment or division thereof for those approved by God. The claim is made that the Jewish rabbis of that time taught the existence of such a paradise for those who had died and were awaiting a resurrection. An examination of the evidence gives little support to this theory. As Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible states: “The Rabbinical theology as it has come down to us exhibits an extraordinary medley of ideas on these questions, and in the case of many of them it is difficult to determine the dates to which they should be assigned. . . . Taking the literature as it is, it might appear that Paradise was regarded by some as on earth itself, by others as forming part of Sheol, by others still as neither on earth nor under earth, but in heaven. . . . But there is some doubt as repects, at least, part of this. These various conceptions are found indeed in later Judaism. They appear most precisely and most in detail in the mediaeval Cabbalistic Judaism. . . . But it is uncertain how far back these things can be carried. The older Jewish theology at least . . . seems to give little or no place to the idea of an intermediate Paradise. It speaks of a Gehinnom for the wicked, and a Gan Eden, or garden of Eden, for the just. It is questionable whether it goes beyond these conceptions and affirms a Paradise in Sheol.”—Vol. III, pp. 669, 670.
While this work thereafter refers to certain apocryphal works, investigation here likewise reveals no clear support for the claim that the concept of a paradise in Sheol was commonly believed or prominently taught by the Jewish rabbis in Jesus’ day. Nor does Josephus’ brief reference to a religious belief in the “punishments and rewards in Hades.” (Wars of the Jews, Book II, chap. VIII, par. 14) Even if such were the case, it would be most unreasonable to believe that Jesus would propagate such concept, in view of his condemnation of the non-Biblical religious traditions of the Jewish religious leaders. (Matt. 15:3-9) Likely the paradise truly familiar to the Jewish malefactor to whom Jesus spoke was the earthly paradise described in the first book of the Hebrew Scriptures, the paradise of Eden. That being so, Jesus’ promise would reasonably point to a restoration of such earthly paradisaic condition. His promise to the wrongdoer would therefore give assured hope of a resurrection of such unrighteous one to an opportunity to life in that restored paradise.—Compare Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:12, 13; 21:1-5; Matthew 6:10.
A SPIRITUAL PARADISE
Throughout many of the prophetic books of the Bible divine promises are found regarding the restoration of Israel from the lands of its exile to its desolated homeland. God would cause that abandoned land to be tilled and sown, to produce richly and to abound with humankind and animalkind; the cities would be rebuilt and inhabited and people would say: “That land yonder which was laid desolate has become like the garden of Eden.” (Ezek. 36:6-11, 29, 30, 33-35; compare Isaiah 51:3; Jeremiah 31:10-12; Ezekiel 34:25-27.) However, these prophecies also show that paradise conditions related to the people themselves, who, by faithfulness to God, could now “sprout” and flourish as “trees of righteousness,” enjoying beautiful spiritual prosperity like a “well-watered garden,” showered by bounteous blessings from God due to having his favor. (Isa. 58:11; 61:3, 11; Jer. 31:12; 32:41; compare Psalm 1:3; 72:3, 6-8, 16; 85:10-13; Isaiah 44:3, 4.) The people of Israel had been God’s vineyard, his planting, but their badness and apostasy from true worship had caused a figurative ‘withering away’ of their spiritual field, even before the literal desolation of their land took place.—Compare Exodus 15:17; Isaiah 5:1-8; Jeremiah 2:21.
This undoubtedly provides the key for understanding Paul’s description of the vision (evidently had by him, since it forms part of his defense of his own apostleship) referred to at 2 Corinthians 12:1-7. Caught away to the “third heaven” (see HEAVEN [Third Heaven]), the vision viewer entered “paradise” and heard unutterable words. That this paradise envisioned could refer to a spiritual state among God’s people, as in the case of fleshly Israel, can be seen from the fact that the Christian congregation was also God’s “field under cultivation,” his spiritual vineyard, rooted in Christ Jesus and bearing fruit to God’s praise. (1 Cor. 3:9; John 15:1-8) As such it had replaced the nation of Israel in God’s favor. (Compare Matthew 21:33-43.) Paul’s vision, nevertheless, must logically have applied to some future time, so as to constitute a ‘revelation.’ (2 Cor. 12:1) An apostasy was due to set in among the Christian congregation, was already working in Paul’s day, and would result in a condition like that of a field oversown with weeds. (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; Acts 20:29; 2 Thess. 2:3, 7; compare Hebrews 6:7, 8.) So, Paul’s paradise vision would not reasonably apply while such was the case but would evidently relate to the time of the “harvest season” when the genuine Christians would be gathered by the angelic reapers and would enjoy rich blessings and spiritual prosperity from God.
EATING OF THE “TREE OF LIFE” IN THE “PARADISE OF GOD”
Revelation 2:7 mentions this “tree of life” in the “paradise of God,” the eating from it being the privilege of “him that conquers.” Since other promises given in this section of Revelation to such conquering ones clearly relate to their gaining a heavenly inheritance (Rev. 2:26-28; 3:12, 21), it seems evident that the “paradise of God” in this case is a heavenly one. The word “tree” here translates the Greek word xyʹlon, which literally means “wood,” and could therefore refer to an orchard of trees. In the earthly paradise of Eden, eating of the tree of life would have meant living forever for man. (Gen. 3:22-24) Even the fruit of the other trees of the garden would have been life-sustaining for man as long as he continued obedient. So, the partaking of the “tree [or trees] of life” in the “paradise of God” evidently relates to the divine provision for sustained life granted the Christian conquerors, other texts showing that they receive the prize of immortality and incorruptibility along with their heavenly Head and Lord, Christ Jesus.—1 Cor. 15:50-54; 1 Pet. 1:3, 4.