Did both thieves revile Christ?
Both did at first; then one repented as they hung there, and Luke tells of the change.
The Passages
Matthew 27:44
Luke 23:39-43
See Also
Mark 15:32
The Difficulty
Matthew says, “The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth” (Matthew 27:44), and Mark, “they that were crucified with him reviled him” (Mark 15:32). Luke says that “one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him,” and the other rebuked him, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” and asked, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:39–42).
The Answer
Preferred: Both reviled Him at first, and one of them repented while they hung there. Matthew and Mark tell what was done at the first; Luke tells what came after, when one still railed and the other had come to fear God. The hours were long, from the third hour to the ninth (Mark 15:25, 34), and the thief who heard Christ pray for those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34) had time to turn.
Also given: Gill takes Matthew’s “the thieves” as a Hebrew way of speaking of one of a pair without naming which, as Jonah went down “into the sides of the ship,” into one side of it (Jonah 1:5). He gives the first answer too, as held by some.
Sources
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One or other of them, not both; an Hebrew way of speaking, as Drusius has observed … for it was but one of them; see Luke xxiii. 39. unless it can be thought, as it is by some, that they both at first reviled him; but one being quickly convinced of his evil, ceased, and rebuked his fellow-sufferer, confessed his sin, bore a testimony to the innocence of Christ, and desired to be remembered by him in his kingdom.
Checked against: Internet Archive scan of the first edition, 2026-10-28
