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"But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art
in the same condemnation?"
What did this man mean when he said "the same condemnation"? Did he mean the
same condemnation that he himself was in, or did he look at the dying Saviour and say in
effect "we are all being treated alike, we are in the same condemnation"? There seems to
be no point in this rebuke unless it refers to the crucifixion of Christ. Both the Holy
Saviour and the guilty sinners were "in the same condemnation", the One being reckoned
with the transgressors, the others, as the malefactor continued:
"And we indeed justly. We receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath
done nothing amiss" (Luke 23: 41).
Here is a series of statements, each of which foreshadow the great doctrine of the
epistles of Paul. They can be arranged under the following heads:
(1)
Both the Lord and the malefactors were in the same condemnation.
(2)
In the case of the malefactors, this condemnation was a just reward for their
deeds.
(3)
But "this Man" had done nothing amiss, and so was either:
(a)
Suffering because of a miscarriage of human justice; or
(b)
Suffering as a Substitute; or
(c)
Suffering both because of a miscarriage of human justice, and at the same time
by Divine appointment.
"Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2: 23).
"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" (II Cor. 5: 21).
While, therefore, the first use of sustauroo "crucify with" meant only physical
association, it becomes apparent as the record proceeds, that one of these dying
malefactors becomes the first great type of believer, who by faith is "reckoned" to have
died with Christ the great Substitute and Head. If this be so, we must become more fully
acquainted with the transaction recorded in Luke 23: 41-43, before we turn to the
two passages in Paul's epistles, where the doctrine of crucifixion with Christ is fully
enunciated.
Having made the threefold confession concerning his own condemnation, the
sinlessness of the Saviour, and yet the sharing with them of the same condemnation, the
dying malefactor turned to "this Man", this forsaken, crucified Man, Who had been
"numbered with the transgressors", Who had saved others, but refused to save Himself,
he turned and addressed this dying Man of Nazareth as "Lord"; he saw beyond the crown
of thorns and the mockery of the superscription that He was indeed "King". The words
"when Thou comest into Thy kingdom", should be translated "when Thou comest in Thy
Kingdom", even as Matt. 25: 31 "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory". The
verb "comest" is the chief word of this clause, and the words "in Thy Kingdom" the