Places & biblical world
Paradise
A word associated with a garden, used in the New Testament for being with Jesus and the place of the tree of life.
Also called · garden of God
What it means
The Greek word for paradise can also mean a garden or park. Genesis 2 describes God planting a garden in Eden, with the tree of life among its trees.
In Luke 23, the criminal beside Jesus acknowledges that his own sentence is deserved and asks to be remembered when Jesus comes into his Kingdom. Jesus promises that he will be with him in Paradise that day.
How it appears in the Bible
2 Corinthians 12 describes a man caught up fourteen years earlier who heard unspeakable words in Paradise. The account says God knows whether this happened in or outside the body; the speaker does not. Revelation 2 promises fruit from the tree of life in God’s Paradise to the one who overcomes.
Translation note
Read Luke’s promise, the account of a vision in Corinthians, and Revelation’s message to the assembly in their own settings, rather than deriving a precise map or timetable from one expression.