As far as we know, he was the first Christian – the first one to believe in Jesus, even before His resurrection. He didn’t live very long as a Christian. He didn’t have time to straighten out his life. He never had a ministry. He didn’t read his Bible or even go to church. He didn’t have time for a recovery program. We can only speculate what his life might have been like, had he lived, but his death was pretty awesome. He died right next to Jesus and followed Him right into heaven. “Today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus said to him. What a way to go!
This was what you might call a “last breath” conversion. And just what did he say? Did he “pray the sinner’s prayer?” Did he “receive Jesus into his heart as his personal Lord and savior?” Did he “rededicate his life to Christ?” Did he agree to the four spiritual laws?
He simply said, “Remember me…” and that was good enough.
Think of that guy. There’s no way he could have known the profound significance of this particular death — that he was hanging next to the only begotten Son of God in the vortex of human history — that he was sharing something all the prophets pointed to, and all the apostles built upon.
All he knew was that Jesus was some sort of king, he had a kingdom that wasn’t of this world, he was dying as an innocent man, and he had just forgiven the ones who put him on the cross. From that he concluded that this man wasn’t like the rest of us. This man was different. He must really be a king. And so he said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
The first Christian was a scoundrel. He died a criminal. We don’t know what he did, but it was bad enough to draw the death penalty.
Actually, he’s not much different than the rest of us. Oh, we have a chance to make something of ourselves. We have a chance to reform ourselves – to “turn into something” like our fathers would say. But in the end, it’s not our life that will save us; it’s His death.
We all die a criminal death. That’s, in fact, why we die. We wouldn’t die if we weren’t criminals – all of us.
In essence, it’s all we need to pray: “Remember me,” because you know what… He will. Christ will remember us, too.
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John Fischer The Catch 
Nice image, John, to make it real about what Grace and Faith really are.
Hi John, thanks.
However, just out of interest, I’m not sure whether we can call the criminal “the first Christian” – ‘the first one to believe in Jesus’, as you define it.
I understand that you imply that Christ first must have finished His redemptive work before you can have Christians – but still – there were people who believed in Him before that, keeping in mind also that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8):
Mary, for example, who believed when the angel of God told her:
“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” (Luke 1:31-32)
Or Simeon, who said, when he saw the baby Jesus:
“For my eyes have seen your salvation” (Luke 2:30);
Or John the Baptist, who said, when he saw Jesus:
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Or Peter, the first to be called by Jesus (“Follow Me” – Mat 4:19) and who later said:
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)
Or even Moses, who said:
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
Or the Old Testament prophets in general, who in fact had “the Spirit of Christ” in them!:
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.” (1 Peter 1:10-11)
Or Abel (also a prophet)?
” Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift” (Genesis 4:4)
Anyway – the most important thing of course is that we, today, believe in Jesus, who gives us Resurrection Power and the promise of eternal life. Good News!
Happy Easter,
Blessings,
Hans
Yes, you are right… all people over all time who believe will be saved through what Christ did before or after because Christ’s death and resurrection covers all time and, in that sense, exists outside of time. I meant the thief was the “first” in relation to being the first to believe after Christ’s actual death in time and space.