What did Jesus mean when he said 'Today you will be with me in Paradise'?
Jesus promised the criminal on the cross that he would be in Paradise — the place of God's direct presence — that same day, the day of the crucifixion. The Greek word 'semeron' (today) modifies the promise, not the speech-act, which is consistent with all 75 other uses of 'Truly I say to you' in the Gospels.
Jesus meant exactly what the straightforward reading says: the man dying next to him would be in Paradise that very day, the same day they were crucified.
"Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." — Luke 23:43
Some have proposed a different punctuation: "Truly I say to you today — you will be with me in Paradise" (sometime in the future). The idea is that "today" goes with the speech-act ("I'm telling you this today") rather than with the promise. But that reading runs against how the Greek works. The word semeron (σήμερον, G4594, "today") appears 12 times in Luke, and its natural function is to modify what follows — the state or action it's attached to. The formula "Truly I say to you" (amen lego soi) appears roughly 75 times in the Gospels. In every other instance, the adverb after it modifies the promise, not the formula. Moving "today" to the speech-act is a Hebrew oath pattern that doesn't appear in Greek usage. And John 19:31–32 confirms the criminal died before sundown — his legs were broken to hasten death. He did go to Paradise that day.
The word paradeisos (παράδεισος, G3857, "paradise") appears only three times in the entire New Testament. Paul uses it when he describes being "caught up to Paradise" — which he equates with "the third heaven" (2 Cor 12:2–4). Revelation 2:7 places "the tree of life" there. The background is the Garden of Eden, the place where God walked with his people without barrier. Paradise is not a waiting room. It is the place of God's unmediated presence.
So Jesus' promise carries full weight: within hours, a man who had done nothing but ask to be remembered would be standing in the presence of God. That's what the word means, and that's what the grammar requires.
What does 'absent from the body, present with the Lord' actually mean?
Paul uses two compound verbs — ekdemeo (to be away from home) and endemeo (to be at home) — to set departure from the body and arrival with the Lord as a single paired transition with no gap between them.
Do the dead know nothing? What does Ecclesiastes 9:5 mean?
Ecclesiastes 9:5 operates within the Preacher's declared frame of 'under the sun' — what can be observed within the natural order. Within that frame the dead have no share in earthly activity, but the same book also says the spirit returns to God (Ecc 12:7).
Does 'sleep' in the Bible mean the soul is unconscious after death?
No. John 11:11–14 explicitly glosses the metaphor: Jesus says Lazarus 'has fallen asleep' and then immediately clarifies 'Lazarus has died.' The sleep language describes the outward appearance of the body, not the inner state of the person.