Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 12:2

I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such a one caught up to the third heaven.

2. I knew a man ] That this is the Apostle is proved by 2Co 12:7. The word knew should, both here and in 2Co 12:3, be rendered know.

in Christ ] i.e. after his conversion, when he had become united to Christ.

above fourteen years ago ] And yet, as Chrysostom and Calvin remark, he had kept silence about it all this time. The secret raptures of the soul should be matters between it and God, not subjects of boasting save where necessity compels it. After all the main point ( 2Co 12:6) is what a man is, not what he has seen, even of things beyond the sphere of sense. Whether this were the ‘revelation’ spoken of in Gal 1:12; Gal 2:2, we cannot tell. St Paul had many such revelations (see note on 1Co 9:1), and he gives here no distinct intimation of the time at which the vision occurred.

whether out of the body ] “The Apostle here by implication acknowledges the possibility of consciousness and receptivity in a disembodied state.” Alford.

I cannot tell ] The fact of the vision was certain enough. He saw clearly what God gave him permission to see, but whether the soul was rapt from his body left without life, or whether body and soul were caught up together to the third heaven and to Paradise, was known only to God.

the third heaven ] Some commentators have explained this passage by the Jewish tradition (see Dean Stanley in loc.) of seven heavens. But if St Paul had this in his mind, he here meant the clouds, a notion combated by Irenaeus, who (see next note) had unusually good opportunities of knowing the Apostle’s meaning. He says distinctly ( Adv. Haer. ii. 30) that the third heaven is regarded by St Paul as a place preeminently exalted, and he rejects the idea of the seven heavens as taught by the Valentinian heretics, regarding it as absurd to suppose that four heavens remained as yet unexplored by St Paul. Some of the Jewish teachers held that there were two, others that there were seven heavens. So in Chagigah f. 12 b, “R. Jehuda said there are two heavens, as it is said in Deu 10:14, ‘the heavens and the heaven of heavens.’ Rish Lakish said there were seven, &c.” See also Debarim Rabba, 2, fol. 253. 1. Rashi on Isa 44:8 says, “ye are my witnesses because I have opened to you the seven heavens (firmaments),” i.e. I have disclosed to you all that pertains to the knowledge of God.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I knew a man in Christ – I was acquainted with a Christian; the phrase in Christ meaning nothing more than that he was united to Christ or was a Christian; see Rom 16:7. The reason why Paul did not speak of this directly as a vision which he had himself seen was probably that he was accused of boasting, and he had admitted that it did not become him to glory. But though it did not become him to boast directly, yet he could tell them of a man concerning whom there would be no impropriety evidently in boasting. It is not uncommon, moreover, for a man to speak of himself in the third person. Thus, Caesar in his Commentaries uniformly speaks of himself. And so John in his Gospel speaks of himself, Joh 13:23-24; Joh 19:26; Joh 21:20. John did it on account of his modesty, because he would not appear to put himself forward, and because the mention of his own name as connected with the friendship of the Saviour in the remarkable manner in which he enjoyed it, might have savored of pride. For a similar reason Paul may have been unwilling to mention his own name here; and he may have abstained from referring to this occurrence elsewhere, because it might savor of pride, and might also excite the envy or ill-will of others. Those who have been most favored with spiritual enjoyments will not be the most ready to proclaim it. They will cherish the remembrance in order to excite gratitude in their own hearts and support them in trial; they will not emblazon it abroad as if they were more the favorites of heaven than others are. That this refers to Paul himself is evident for the following reasons:

(1) His argument required that he should mention something that had occurred to himself. Anything that had occurred to another would not have been pertinent.

(2) He applies it directly to himself 2Co 12:7, when he says that God took effectual measures that he should not be unduly exalted in view of the abundant revelations bestowed on him.

About fourteen years ago – On what occasion or where this occurred, or why he concealed the remarkable fact so long, and why there is no other allusion to it, is unknown; and conjecture is useless. If this Epistle was written, as is commonly supposed, about the year 58 a.d., then this occurrence must have happened about the year 44 ad. This was several years after his conversion, and of course this does not refer to the trance mentioned in Act 9:9, at the time when he was converted. Dr. Benson supposes that this vision was made to him when he was praying in the temple after his return to Jerusalem, when he was directed to go from Jerusalem to the Gentiles Act 22:17, and that it was intended to support him in the trials which he was about to endure. There can belittle danger of error in supposing that its object was to support him in those remarkable trials, and that God designed to impart to him such views of heaven and its glory, and of the certainty that he would soon be admitted there, as to support him in his sufferings, and make him willing to bear all that should be laid upon him. God often gives to his people some clear and elevated spiritual comforts before they enter into trials as well as while in them; he prepares them for them before they come. This vision Paul had kept secret for fourteen years. He had doubtless often thought of it; and the remembrance of that glorious hour was doubtless one of the reasons why he bore trials so patiently and was willing to endure so much. But before this he had had no occasion to mention it. He had other proofs in abundance that he was called to the work of an apostle; and to mention this would savor of pride and ostentation. It was only when he was compelled to refer to the evidences of his apostolic mission that he refers to it here.

Whether in the body, I cannot tell – That is, I do not pretend to explain it. I do not know how it occurred. With the fact he was acquainted; but how it was brought about he did not know. Whether the body was caught up to heaven; whether the soul was for a time separated from the body; or whether the scene passed before the mind in a vision, so that he seemed to have been caught up to heaven, he does not pretend to know. The evident idea is, that at the time he was in a state of insensibility in regard to surrounding objects, and was unconscious of what was occurring, as if he had been dead. Where Paul confesses his own ignorance of what occurred to himself it would be vain for us to inquire; and the question how this was done is immaterial. No one can doubt that God had power if he chose to transport the body to heaven; or that he had power for a time to separate the soul front the body; or that he had power to represent to the mind so clearly the view of the heavenly world that he would appear to see it; see Act 7:56. It is clear only that he lost all consciousness of anything about him at that time, and that he saw only the things in heaven. It may be added here, however, that Paul evidently supposed that his soul might be taken to heaven without the body, and that it might have separate consciousness and a separate existence. He was not, therefore, a materialist, and he did not believe that the existence and consciousness of the soul was dependent on the body.

God knoweth – With the mode in which it was done God only could be acquainted. Paul did not attempt to explain that. That was to him of comparatively little consequence, and he did not lose his time in a vain attempt to explain it. How happy would it be if all theologians were as ready to be satisfied with the knowledge of a fact, and to leave the mode of explaining it with God, as this prince of theologians was. Many a man would have busied himself with a vain speculation about the way in which it was done; Paul was contented with the fact that it had occurred.

Such an one caught up – The word which is used here ( harpazo) means, to seize upon, to snatch away, as wolves do their prey (Joh 12:10); or to seize with avidity or eagerness Mat 11:12; or to carry away, to hurry off by force or involuntarily; see Joh 6:15; Act 7:39; Act 23:10. In the case before us there is implied the idea that Paul was conveyed by a foreign force; or that he was suddenly seized and snatched up to heaven. The word expresses the suddenness and the rapidity with which it was done. Probably it was instantaneous, so that he appeared at once to be in heaven. Of the mode in which it was done Paul has given no explanations; and conjecture would be useless.

To the third heaven – The Jews sometimes speak of seven heavens, and Muhammed has borrowed this idea from the Jews. But the Bible speaks of but three heavens, and among the Jews in the apostolic ages also the heavens were divided into three:

(1) The aerial, including the clouds and the atmosphere, the heavens above us, until we come to the stars.

(2) The starry heavens, the heavens in which the sun, moon, and stars appear to be situated.

(3) The heavens beyond the stars. That heaven was supposed to be the residence of God, of angels, and of holy spirits. It was this upper heaven, the dwelling-place of God, to which Paul was taken, and whose wonders he was permitted to behold – this region where God dwelt; where Christ was seated at the right hand of the Father, and where the spirits of the just were assembled. The fanciful opinions of the Jews about seven heavens may be seen detailed in Schoettgen or in Wetstein, by whom the principal passages from the Jewish writings relating to the subject have been collected. As their opinions throw no light on this passage, it is unnecessary to detail them here.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

2Co 12:2

I knew a man in Christ.

Seven blessings of being in Christ

I. Deliverance from the deadly curse which sin entails (Rom 8:1). In Noahs ark there was no deluge; in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation.

II. Everlasting life. Of this Christ is the single source. Paul addresses the Church at Rome as alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Master said, Because I live ye shall live also. It is not I, said Paul, but Christ that liveth in me. If the nurseryman inserts the graft of a golden pippin into an apple tree, that graft might say truly, It is not I that live, but the whole tree liveth in me. So Divine a thing is this life that it is described as–

III. A new creation. This word new signifies also what is fresh, and unimpaired, and unworn, like a bright garment from its makers hand. How imperative is it that we keep this unspotted by the world! Not for ornament merely is it given, but for use.

IV. Acceptance in the beloved. If we are received into favour, it is solely for Christs sake.

V. Peace (Php 4:7).

VI. Fulness of spiritual supply (Col 2:10). Ye are filled full in Christ. Why need I hunger when in my fathers house and in my Saviours heart are such wealth beyond a whole universe to drain?

VII. Triumph Thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ! This is the believers battle-cry and paean of victory. Jesus gives the victory, and will bring us off more than conquerors. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)

I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be.—

Visible character, not private vision, the Christian mark

That we may reach the apostles meaning here it is needful to look at what he writes immediately before our text. The favour which certain false teachers had met with in the Church at Corinth had compelled Paul, out of regard for the safety of the believers there, to remind them, by direct assertion, of his own superior claim. Such self-assertion was not agreeable to his own feelings. Yet his was not the self-assertion of vainglory. First and last he gives God the praise. He rejoices not, nor glories, in his strength, but in his infirmities; for it is through his human infirmities that Divine grace and power become more clearly manifest. These very weaknesses are turned to highest account. As a ground of glorying and of claim to their regard, he might urge the visions and revelations of the Lord with which he had been favoured, but he forbears. Meantime, we must note the fact of these visions and revelations. They point to intimate spiritual communications–openings, so to speak, into the higher sphere of Gods thought and presence, so bright as to cast into the shade, for the time being, all consciousness connected with the lower sphere of bodily existence. Any philosophy, or way of conceiving of things, which throws doubt on the spiritual contact of God with man, is fatal to spiritual life and growth. For such a way of thinking involves a partial dethronement of the universal God. Never in any age of the world does He shut Himself off from contact with His children. In dealing with claims to spiritual enlightenment and influence, it behoves us to consider them cautiously. And even when we feel sure of them it becomes us to be modest in the assertion thereof. If others assert such claims on their own behalf, we are in nowise bound either to admit or deny them. No man is authorised to demand from others respect for such claims except in so far as he can support them by outward evidence. It becomes us, then, to forbear as the Apostle Paul did. Visions and revelations from the Lord we may have–rapt and ecstatic states of mind–sweet and strengthening hours of devout meditation and prayer; but of these it becomes us not to speak in the way of mere assertion as ground of boasting or superiority. From whatever point we approach the matter we find that the last test of true religion is to be found in its manifestation in character and life. By their fruits ye shall know them, said Jesus. This is the Christian mark. All divinely inspired prophets and apostles speak in the same strain. If the word revealed within is as the candle of the Lord shining there, lighting up truth, justice, and love clearly to our apprehension, it must be borne in mind that such a light has not been given for private and selfish use. If this be forgotten, the light within becomes darkness. The ambition which seeks the regard of others beyond that which its actual merits justify is the sure token of spiritual poverty and vanity. I forbear, says the great apostle, lest any man should think of me above which he seeth me to be. And so let every man forbear from boastful reference to his superior illumination and cherish that wholesome fear that he should be judged worthy beyond the measure which his actual life testifies. For to this end was such vision given–that its light should shine by its good works, and God our heavenly Father be glorified in the lives of His faithful children. (John Cordner.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 2. I knew a man in Christ] I knew a Christian, or a Christian man; for to such alone God now revealed himself, for vision and prophecy had been shut up from the Jews.

Fourteen years ago] On what occasion or in what place this transaction took place we cannot tell; there are many conjectures among learned men concerning it, but of what utility can they be when every thing is so palpably uncertain? Allowing this epistle to have been written some time in the year 57, fourteen years counted backward will lead this transaction to the year 42 or 43, which was about the time that Barnabas brought Paul from Tarsus to Antioch, Ac 11:25-26, and when he and Paul were sent by the Church of Antioch with alms to the poor Christians at Jerusalem. It is very possible that, on this journey, or while in Jerusalem, he had this vision, which was intended to be the means of establishing him in the faith, and supporting him in the many trials and difficulties through which he was to pass. This vision the apostle had kept secret for fourteen years.

Whether in the body I cannot tell] That the apostle was in an ecstasy or trance, something like that of Peter, Ac 10:9, c., there is reason to believe but we know that being carried literally into heaven was possible to the Almighty. But as he could not decide himself, it would be ridiculous in us to attempt it.

Caught up to the third heaven.] He appeared to have been carried up to this place; but whether bodily he could not tell, or whether the spirit were not separated for the time, and taken up to the third heaven, he could not tell.

The third heaven-The Jews talk of seven heavens, and Mohammed has received the same from them; but these are not only fabulous but absurd. I shall enumerate those of the Jews.

1. The YELUM, or curtain, – ” Which in the morning is folded up, and in the evening stretched out.” Isa 40:22: He stretcheth out the heavens as a CURTAIN, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.

2. The firmament, or EXPANSE, – “In which the sun, moon, stars, and constellations are fixed.” Ge 1:17: And God placed them in the FIRMAMENT of heaven.

3. The CLOUDS, or AETHER, – “Where the mill-stones are which grind the manna for the righteous.” Ps 78:23, c.: Though he had commended the CLOUDS from above, and opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna, c.

4. The HABITATION, – “Where Jerusalem, and the temple, and the altar, were constructed and where Michael the great prince stands and offers sacrifices.” 1Kgs 8:13: I have surely built thee a HOUSE TO DWELL IN, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever. “But where is heaven so called?” Answer: In Isa 63:15: Look down from HEAVEN, and behold from the HABITATION, , of thy holiness.

5. The DWELLING-PLACE, – “Where the troops of angels sing throughout the night, but are silent in the day time, because of the glory of the Israelites.” Ps 42:8: The Lord will command his loving-kindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me. “But how is it proved that this means heaven? “Answer: From De 26:15. Look down from thy holy habitation, , the DWELLING-PLACE of thy holiness and from heaven, , and bless thy people Israel.

6. The FIXED RESIDENCE, – “Where are the treasures of snow and hail, the repository of noxious dews, of drops, and whirlwinds; the grotto of exhalations,” c. “But where are the heavens thus denominated?” Answer: In 1Kgs 8:39; 1Kgs 8:49, c.: Then hear thou in HEAVEN thy DWELLING-PLACE, , thy FIXED RESIDENCE.

7. The ARABOTH, – Where are justice, judgment, mercy, the treasures of life peace and blessedness the souls of the righteous, the souls and spirits which are reserved for the bodies yet to be formed, and the dew by which God is to vivify the dead.” Ps 89:14, Isa 59:17; Ps 36:9, Jdg 6:24; Ps 24:4; 1Sa 25:29; Isa 57:20: All of which are termed Araboth, Ps 68:4. Extol him who rideth on the heavens, ba ARABOTH, by his name Jah.

All this is sufficiently unphilosophical, and in several cases ridiculous.

In the sacred writings three heavens only are mentioned. The first is the atmosphere, what appears to be intended by rekia, the firmament or expansion, Ge 1:6. The second, the starry heaven; where are the sun, moon, planets, and stars; but these two are often expressed under the one term shamayim, the two heavens, or expansions, and in Ge 1:17, they appear to be both expressed by rekia hashshamayim, the firmament of heaven. And, thirdly, the place of the blessed, or the throne of the Divine glory, probably expressed by the words shemei hashshamayim, the heavens of heavens. But on these subjects the Scripture affords us but little light; and on this distinction the reader is not desired to rely.

Much more may be seen in Schoettgen, who has exhausted the subject; and who has shown that ascending to heaven, or being caught up to heaven, is a form of speech among the Jewish writers to express the highest degrees of inspiration. They often say of Moses that he ascended on high, ascended on the firmament, ascended to heaven; where it is evident they mean only by it that he was favoured with the nearest intimacy with God, and the highest revelations relative to his will, c. If we may understand St. Paul thus, it will remove much of the difficulty from this place and perhaps the unspeakable words, 2Co 12:4, are thus to be understood. He had the most sublime communications from God, such as would be improper to mention, though it is very likely that we have the substance of these in his epistles. Indeed, the two epistles before us seem, in many places, to be the effect of most extraordinary revelations.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Some doubt whether , in this place, be so well translated

in Christ, ( so signifying, that the person spoken of was a Christian, one that had embraced the gospel), as by Christ, (as the particle is sometimes used), so signifying, that this vision was given to him by the grace and favour of Christ. The

man he speaketh of was, doubtless, himself, otherwise it had been to him no cause or ground of glorying at all. Thus several times in Scripture, the penmen thereof speaking in commendation of themselves, they speak in the third person instead of the first. In his saying, it was

about fourteen years ago, and in that we do not read that he did ever before publish it, he avoids the imputation of any boasting and glorying; and showeth, that had he not been now constrained, for the glory of God, and the vindication of his own reputation, to have spoken of it, he would not now have mentioned it.

Whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body. I cannot tell: what the circumstances of the apostle were in this ecstasy, he professeth not to know; and therefore it seems too bold for us curiously to inquire, or positively to determine about it. It is not very probable that his soul was separated from his body; but whether his body was, by some angel, carried up to the sight of this vision, or things absent were made present to him, the apostle himself, being deprived of the use of his senses, could not tell. But

such an one (he saith) he knew,

caught up to the third heaven; by which he means the highest heavens, where God most manifesteth his glory, where the blessed angels see his face, and where are the just souls made perfect. The Scripture, dividing the world into the earth and the heavens, calleth all heaven that is not earth or water; hence it mentioneth an aerial heaven (which is all that space between the earth and the place where the planets and fixed stars are); hence we read of the fowls of the heaven, Dan 4:12, of the windows of heaven, Gen 7:11, of a starry heaven, where the stars are, which are therefore called the stars of the heaven, Gen 22:17; and then the highest heaven; which was meant in the Lords prayer, when we pray: Our Father which art in heaven; and is called the heaven of heavens. This is the heaven here spoken of.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. Translate, “I know,”not “I knew.”

a manmeaning himself.But he purposely thus distinguishes between the rapt and glorifiedperson of 2Co 12:2; 2Co 12:4,and himself the infirmity-laden victim of the “thorn inthe flesh” (2Co 12:7).Such glory belonged not to him, but the weakness did.Nay, he did not even know whether he was in or out of the body whenthe glory was put upon him, so far was the glory from being his[ALFORD]. His spiritualself was his highest and truest self: the flesh with its infirmitymerely his temporary self (Ro7:25). Here, however, the latter is the prominent thought.

in Christa Christian(Ro 16:7).

aboverather, simply”fourteen years ago.” This Epistle was written A.D.55-57. Fourteen years before will bring the vision to A.D.41-43, the time of his second visit to Jerusalem (Ac22:17). He had long been intimate with the Corinthians, yet hadnever mentioned this revelation before: it was not a matter lightlyto be spoken of.

I cannot tellrather asGreek, “I know not.” If in the body, he musthave been caught up bodily; if out of the body, as seems to bePaul’s opinion, his spirit must have been caught up out of thebody. At all events he recognizes the possibility of consciousreceptivity in disembodied spirits.

caught up (Ac8:39).

to the third heavenevento, c. These raptures (note the plural, “visions,””revelations,” 2Co 12:1)had two degrees: first he was caught up “to the thirdheaven,” and from thence to “Paradise” (2Co12:4) [CLEMENT OFALEXANDRIA, Miscellanies,5.427], which seems to denote an inner recess of the third heaven[BENGEL] (Luk 23:43Rev 2:7). Paul was permitted notonly to “hear” the things of Paradise, but to see also insome degree the things of the third heaven (compare “visions,”2Co 12:1). The occurrence TWICEof “whether in the body . . . I know not, God knoweth,” andof “lest I should be exalted above measure,” marks twostages in the revelation. “Ignorance of the mode does notset aside the certain knowledge of the fact. The apostles wereignorant of many things” [BENGEL].The first heaven is that of the clouds, the air; the second,that of the stars, the sky; the third is spiritual (Eph4:10).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago,…. Which is to be understood of himself, as appears from 2Co 12:7, where he speaks in the first person; and the reason why he here speaks in the third, is to show his modesty and humility, and how much he declined vain glory and popular applause; and whilst he is speaking of himself, studies as it were to conceal himself from being the person designed, and to draw off the mind of the reader from him to another person; though another cannot be intended, for it would not have been to his purpose, yea, quite beside it, when he proposes to come to visions and revelations he had of the Lord, to have instanced in the rapture of another. Moreover, the full and certain knowledge he had of this man, of the place he was caught up to, and of the things he there heard, best agrees with him; as also his attesting, in such a solemn way, his ignorance of the manner of this rapture, whether in the body or out of the body, and which he repeats and refers to the knowledge of God, clearly shows he must mean himself; besides, it would otherwise have been no instance of any vision of his, nor would the rapture of another have at all affected his character, commendation, and praise, or given him any occasion of glorying as this did: though he did not choose to take it, as is clear by his saying that if he gloried of it he should not be a fool, yet forbore, lest others should entertain too high an opinion of him; and after all, he was in some danger of being elated with this vision along with others, that the following sore temptation was permitted, to prevent his being exalted with it above measure: and when he calls this person, meaning himself, a “man”, it is not to distinguish him from an angel, whose habitation is in the third heaven, and so no wonderful thing to be found there; or from any other creature; nor perhaps only to express his sex, a man, and not a woman, though the Syriac version uses the word , peculiar to the masculine sex; but merely to design a person, and it is all one as if it had been said, I knew a person, or I knew one in Christ: and the phrase “in Christ”, is not to be connected with the word “know”, as if the sense was, that he called Christ to witness the truth of what he was about to say, and that what he should say was not with a view to his own glory, but to the glory and honour of Christ only; but it is to be connected with the word “man”, and denotes his being in Christ, and that either, as Dr. Hammond thinks, in a singular and extraordinary manner; as John is said to be “in the spirit”, Re 1:10, that is, in an ecstasy; and so here this man was in the Spirit of Christ, and transported by him to see visions, and have revelations; or rather it intends a spiritual being in Christ, union to him, the effect of which is communion with him. The date of

fourteen years ago, may refer either to the time when the apostle first had the knowledge of his being in Christ, which was at his conversion; he was in Christ from all eternity, being given to him, chosen in him, loved by him; set as a seal upon his heart, as well as engraven on the palms of his hands, and represented by him, and in him, in the everlasting covenant; and so in time, at his crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God; in consequence of all which, when the set time was come, he became a new creature, was converted and believed in Christ, and then he knew himself to be in him; he was in him secretly before, now openly; and this was about fourteen years before the writing of this epistle; the exact time of his conversion might well be known and remembered by him, it being in such an extraordinary manner: or also this date may refer to the time of his rapture, which some have thought was some time within the three days after his conversion, when he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank; some have thought it to be eight years after his conversion; but the most probable opinion is, that it was not at Damascus, but when he was come again to Jerusalem, and was praying in the temple, and was in a trance or ecstasy, Ac 22:17, though the difference there is among chronologers, and the uncertainty of their conjectures, both as to the time of the apostle’s conversion, and the writing of this epistle, makes it very difficult to determine this point. They that make this rapture to be at the time of his conversion, seem to be furthest off of the truth of things; for whether his conversion be placed in the 34th year of Christ, as some, or in the 35th, as others, or in the 36th; and this epistle be thought to be written either in the 56th, or 58th, or 60th, the date of fourteen years will agree with neither: they indeed make things to agree together best, who place his conversion in the year 36, make this rapture to be eight years after, in the year 44, and this epistle to be written in the year 58. Dr. Lightfoot puts the conversion of the apostle in the year 34, the rapture of him into the third heaven, in the year 43, at the time of the famine in the reign of Claudius, Ac 11:28, when he was in a trance at Jerusalem, Ac 22:17, and the writing of this epistle in the year 57. That great chronologer, Bishop Usher, places Paul’s conversion in the year 35, his rapture in the year 46, and the writing of this epistle in the year 60. So that upon the whole it is hard to say when this rapture was; and it may be, it was at neither of the visions recorded in the Scripture, which the apostle had, but at some other time nowhere else made mention of: when, as he here says,

such an one was caught up to the third heaven, the seat of the divine Majesty, and the residence of the holy angels; where the souls of departed saints go immediately upon their dissolution; and the bodies and souls of those who have been translated, caught up, and raised already, are; and where the glorified body of Christ is and will be, until his second coming. This is called the “third” heaven, in respect to the airy and starry heavens. The apostle refers to a distinction among the Jews of

, “the supreme heaven, the middle heaven, and the lower heaven” f; and who also make a like division of worlds, and which they call , “the supreme world, and the middle world, and the lower world” g; and sometimes h the world of angels, the world of the orbs, and the world of them below; and accordingly the Cabalistic doctors talk of three worlds;

, “the third world”, they say i, is the supreme world, hidden, treasured, and shut up, which none can know; as it is written, “eye hath not seen”, c. and is the same with the apostle’s “third heaven”. The state and condition in which he was during this rapture is expressed by the following words, put into a parenthesis,

whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth: whether his soul remained in his body, and he was caught up soul and body into heaven, as Elijah was carried thither soul and body in a chariot with horses of fire or whether his soul was out of his body, and he was disembodied for a time, as Philo the Jew k says that Moses was , “without the body”, during his stay of forty days and as many nights in the mount; or whether this was not all in a visionary way, as John was “in the Spirit” on the Lord’s day, and Ezekiel was taken by a lock of his head, and lifted up by the Spirit between earth and heaven, and brought “in the visions of God to Jerusalem”, cannot be said. The apostle did not know himself, and much less can any other be able to say how it was; it is best with him to refer and leave it to the omniscient God; one of the four persons the Jews say entered into paradise, who are hereafter mentioned in [See comments on 2Co 12:4], is said to have his mind snatched away in a divine rapture l; that is, he was not himself, he knew not where he was, or whether in the body or out, as says the apostle.

f Targum in 2 Chron. vi. 18. g Tzeror Hammor, fol. 1. 4. & 3. 2, 3. h Tzeror Hammor, fol. 83. 2. i Zohar in Numb. fol. 66. 3. k De Somniis, p. 570. l Cosri, p. 3. sect. 65. fol. 190. 1. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

I know a man ( ). Paul singles out one incident of ecstasy in his own experience that he declines to describe. He alludes to it in this indirect way as if it were some other personality.

Fourteen years ago ( ). Idiomatic way of putting it, the preposition (before) before the date (Robertson, Grammar, p. 621f.) as in Joh 12:1. The date was probably while Paul was at Tarsus (Acts 9:30; Acts 11:25). We have no details of that period.

Caught up (). Second aorist passive participle of , to seize (see on Mt 11:12).

Even to the third heaven ( ). It is unlikely that Paul alludes to the idea of seven heavens held by some Jews (Test. of the Twelve Pat._, Levi ii. iii.). He seems to mean the highest heaven where God is (Plummer).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

l knew [] . Rev., correctly, I know.

Above fourteen years ago [ ] . Above, of A. V., is due to a misunderstanding of the Greek idiom. Lit., before fourteen years, that is, fourteen years ago, as Rev.

Caught up [] . Compare Dante :

“Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light” ” Paradiso, ” 1, 75.

The verb suits the swift, resistless, impetuous seizure of spiritual ecstasy. See on Mt 11:12; and compare Act 8:39; 1Th 4:17; Rev 12:5.

Third heaven. It is quite useless to attempt to explain this expression according to any scheme of celestial gradation. The conception of seven heavens was familiar to the Jews; but according to some of the Rabbins there were two heavens – the visible clouds and the sky; in which case the third heaven would be the invisible region beyond the sky. Some think that Paul describes two stages of his rapture; the first to the third heaven, from which he was borne, as if from a halting – point, up into Paradise.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “I knew a man in Christ,” (oida Anthropon en Christo) “I know a man in Christ,” (I know now) a man in Christ,

2) “Above fourteen years ago “ (pro eton Tekatessaron) “before fourteen years ago,” or who prior to fourteen years ago; This first mention of this matter shows how little Paul was given to boasting; Perhaps when stoned and left for dead at Lystra, Act 14:19-20; or after his escape from Damascus, Act 9:23-25.

3) “Whether in the body, I cannot tell,” (eite en somati ouk oida) “Whether in the body, I know not;” He is not certain whether he was caught up in the body or only in a figure, but he knows his being, his person was caught up, Act 8:39-40; Eze 8:3-4.

4) “Or whether out of the body,” (eite ektos tou somatos) “or outside the body;” Paul here acknowledges at least by implication or necessary inference that one may have or hold conscious existence in a disembodied state.

5) “I cannot tell; God knoweth; (ouk oida ho theos oiden) “God knows; I do not know,” or perceive, even all revealed to me, 1Co 13:9; 1Co 8:2.

6) “Such an one caught up to the third heaven, (arpeagenta ton tolouton heos tritou ouranou) “Such an one caught up as (far as the) third heaven, paradise,” the seat of God and abode of holy angels, Luk 23:43; 2Co 12:4; God’s abode is and has always been there; 1Co 2:6-9.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

2. I knew a man in Christ As he was desirous to restrain himself within bounds, he merely singles out one instance, and that, too, he handles in such a way as to show, that it is not from inclination that he brings it forward; for why does he speak in the person of another rather than in his own? It is as though he had said, “I should have preferred to be silent, I should have preferred to keep the whole matter suppressed within my own mind, but those persons (880) will not allow me. I shall mention it, therefore, as it were in a stammering way, that it may be seen that I speak through constraint.” Some think that the clause in Christ is introduced for the purpose of confirming what he says. I view it rather as referring to the disposition, so as to intimate that Paul has not here an eye to himself, but looks to Christ exclusively.

When he confesses, that he does not know whether he was in the body, or out of the body, he expresses thereby the more distinctly the greatness of the revelation. For he means, that God dealt with him in such a way, (881) that he did not himself understand the manner of it. Nor should this appear to us incredible, inasmuch as he sometimes manifests himself to us in such a way, that the manner of his doing so is, nevertheless, hid from our view. (882) At the same time, this does not, in any degree, detract from the assurance of faith, which rests simply on this single point — that we are aware that God speaks to us. Nay more, let us learn from this, that we must seek the knowledge of those things only that are necessary to be known, and leave other things to God. (Deu 29:29.) He says, then, that he does not know, whether he was wholly taken up — soul and body — into heaven, or whether it was his soul only, that was caught up

Fourteen years ago Some (883) enquire, also, as to the place, but it does not belong to us to satisfy their curiosity. (884) The Lord manifested himself to Paul in the beginning by a vision, when he designed to convert him from Judaism to the faith of the gospel, but he was not then admitted as yet into those secrets, as he needed even to be instructed by Ananias in the first rudiments. (885) (Act 9:12.) That vision, therefore, was nothing but a preparation, with the view of rendering him teachable. It may be, that, in this instance, he refers to that vision, of which he makes mention also, according to Luke’s narrative. (Act 22:17.) There is no occasion, however, for our giving ourselves much trouble as to these conjectures, as we see that Paul himself kept silence respecting it for fourteen years, (886) and would not have said one word in reference to it, had not the unreasonableness of malignant persons constrained him.

Even to the third heaven. He does not here distinguish between the different heavens in the manner of the philosophers, so as to assign to each planet its own heaven. On the other hand, the number three is made use of ( κατ ἐζοχὴν) by way of eminence, to denote what is highest and most complete. Nay more, the term heaven, taken by itself, denotes here the blessed and glorious kingdom of God, which is above all the spheres, (887) and the firmament itself, and even the entire frame-work of the world. Paul, however, not contenting himself with the simple term, (888) adds, that he had reached even the greatest height, and the innermost recesses. For our faith scales heaven and enters it, and those that are superior to others in knowledge get higher in degree and elevation, but to reach the third heavens has been granted to very few.

(880) “ Ces opiniastres ambitieux;” — “Those ambitious, obstinate persons.”

(881) “ Que Dieu a tellement besongne et precede enuers luy;” — That God had in such a manner wrought and acted towards him.”

(882) “ Est incomprehensible a nostre sens;” — “Is incomprehensible to our mind.”

(883) “ Ne se contentans point de ceci;” — “Not contenting themselves with this.”

(884) “ Mais nous n’auons point delibere, et aussi il n’est pas en nous de satisfaire a leur curiosite;” — “But we have not determined as to this, and it does not belong to us to satisfy their curiosity.”

(885) “ Es premiers commencemens de la religion;” — “In the first elements of religion.”

(886) “This vision Paul had kept secret for fourteen years. He had doubtless often thought of it; and the remembrance of that glorious hour was doubtless one of the reasons why he bore trials so patiently, and was willing to endure so much. But before this he had had no occasion to mention it. He had other proofs in abundance that he was called to the work of an Apostle; and to mention this would savour of pride and ostentation. It was only when he was compelled to refer to the evidences of his apostolic mission that he refers to it here.” — Barnes. — Ed.

(887) “ Par dessus tons les cieux;” — “Above all the heavens.”

(888) “ Non content de nommer simplement le ciel;” — “Not contented with simply employing the term heaven. ”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(2) I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago.Better, I know a man. The Greek verb, though a perfect tense in form, is invariably used with the force of a present. It is all but impossible to connect the facts that follow with any definite point of time in the Apostles life as recorded in the Acts. The date of the Epistle may be fixed, without much risk of error, in A.D. 57. Reckoning fourteen years back, we come to A.D. 43, which coincides with the period of unrecorded activity between St. Pauls departure from Jerusalem (Act. 9:30) and his arrival at Antioch (Act. 11:26). It would be giving, perhaps, too wide a margin to the words more than fourteen years ago to refer the visions and revelations of which he here speaks to those given him at the time of his conversion, in A.D. 37. The trance in the Temple (Act. 22:17) on his first visit to Jerusalem may, perhaps, be identified with them; but it seems best, on the whole, to refer them to the commencement of his work at Antioch, when they would have been unspeakably precious, as an encouragement in his arduous work. It may be noted that Gal. 2:2 specifically refers to one revelation at Antioch, and it may well have been preceded by others. The term a man in Christ, as a way of speaking of himself, is probably connected with the thought that if any man be in Christ he is a new creature (2Co. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). As one who lived and moved and had his being in Christ, he was raised to a higher region of experience than that in which he had lived before. It was in moments such as he describes that he became conscious of that new creation with a new and hitherto unknown experience.

Whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell.No words can describe more accurately the phenomena of consciousness in the state of trance or ecstasy. It is dead to the outer world. The body remains, sometimes standing, sometimes recumbent, but, in either case, motionless. The man may well doubt, on his return to the normal condition of his life, whether his spirit has actually passed into unknown regions in a separate and disembodied condition, or whether the body itself has been also a sharer in its experiences of the unseen. We, with our wider knowledge, have no hesitation in accepting the former alternative, or, perhaps, in reducing the whole revelation to an impression on the brain and the phenomena known as cataleptic. St. Paul, however, would naturally turn to such records as those of Ezekiels journey, in the visions of God, from the banks of Chebar to Jerusalem (Eze. 8:3; Eze. 11:1), and find in them the analogue, though, as he admits, not the solution, of his own experience. The lives of many of the great movers in the history of religious thought present, it may be noted, analogous phenomena. Of Epimenides, and Pythagoras, and Socrates, of Mahomet, of Francis of Assisi, and Thomas Aquinas, and Johannes Scotus, of George Fox, and Savonarola, and Swedenborg, it was alike true that to pass from time to time into the abnormal state of ecstasy was with them almost the normal order of their lives. (See article Trance in Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, by the present writer.)

Such an one caught up to the third heaven.Rabbinic speculations on the subject of Heaven present two forms: one which, starting probably from the dual form of the Hebrew word, recognises but two heavens, both visiblethe lower region of the clouds and the upper firmament; and a later, which, under the influence of ideas from the further East, spoke of seven. A remarkable legend in the Talmud (Bereshith Rabba, 19, fol. 19, col. 3) relates how the Shechinah, or glory-cloud of the Divine Presence, retired step by step from earth, where it had dwelt before the sin of Adam, at every fresh development of evil; into the first heaven at the fall, into the second at the murder of Abel, and so on, till it reached the seventh heaven on Abrahams going down to Egypt, and descended again by successive steps from the birth of Isaac to the time of the Exodus, when it came once more to earth and dwelt in the Tabernacle with Moses. If we assume St. Paul to have accepted any such division, the third heaven would indicate little more than the region of the clouds and sky. It is more probable, however, from the tone in which he speaks, as clearly dwelling on the surpassing excellency of his visions, that he adopts the simpler classification, and thinks of himself as passing beyond the lower sky, beyond the firmament of heaven, into the third or yet higher heaven, where the presence of God was manifested. The seven heavens re-appear naturally in the legends of the Koran (Sura lxvii.) and in the speculations of medival theology as represented by Dante. We probably hear a far-off echo of the derision with which the announcement was received by the jesting Greeks of Corinth and by St. Pauls personal rivals in the dialogue ascribed to Lucian, and known as the Philopatris, in which St. Paul is represented as the Galilean, bald, with eagle nose, walking through the air to the third heaven.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. A man Commentators are agreed that the man was the apostle himself. This view is confirmed by 2Co 12:7.

Fourteen years ago As in the narrative just given, (2Co 11:32-33,) St. Paul recalls an instance of distant date, but not for the same reason. The reason here is his desire to separate the distant self, in whom he could glory, (see note, 2Co 12:5,) from his present self. Fourteen years would bring us back to A.D. 44, about the time of St. Paul’s first residence at Antioch. It was, at this present writing, about twenty years since his conversion.

In out of the body St. Paul’s doubt clearly shows that he held the soul to be fully capable of existing and acting separately from the body. He was no materialist. He believed in the twofold nature of man, bodily and spiritual. If he was in the body, then his body was translated for the time, like those of Enoch, Elijah, and Christ, to the abodes of the saints after their resurrection in the body. If out of the body then his soul alone was translated to that region, leaving the body still under the power of organic life. Paul does not decide whether he was in the body or out; nor, of course, can we. But we should imagine that he was in the body when he visited the resurrection state, and out of the body when he visited the abode of disembodied spirits.

Caught The usual word for a miraculous snatching up of the person by a divine power. Act 8:39; Rev 12:5 ; 1Th 4:17.

To the third heaven Greek, even to the third heaven, implying a greater height than simply into paradise, without the even. Grotius says, that the Jews “reckoned three heavens.” 1. The aerial, including the atmosphere occupied with the clouds; 2. The sidereal, or starry firmament; and, 3. The habitation of God and his angels. “But he quotes no authority, and the accuracy of his statement is questioned. Meyer. On the other hand, the Jewish number was the sacred seven; “God makes six heavens and dwells in the seventh.” Meyer thinks that St. Paul here recognises the seven, and so admits four heavens above the level of his ascent. Bengel ingeniously says, that the Hebrew dual shamaim supposes two heavens, and it was reserved to the gospel to reveal the third.

But, as is shown in M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopaedia, (on the word Heaven,) a classification of biblical texts shows well the three heavens in both the Old and New Testaments: “(1.) Under the first head, coelum nubiferum, ( the AERIAL HEAVEN,) the following phrases naturally fall ( a) ‘Fowl,’ or ‘fowls of the heaven, of the air,’ see Gen 2:19; Gen 7:3; Gen 7:23; Gen 9:2; Deu 4:17; Deu 28:26; 1Ki 21:24; Job 12:7; Job 28:21; Job 35:11; Psa 8:8; Psa 79:2; Psa 104:12; Jer 7:33 et passim; Eze 29:5 et passim; Dan 2:38; Hos 2:18; Hos 4:3; Hos 7:12; Zep 1:3; Mar 4:3, ( 😉 Luk 8:5; Luk 9:58; Luk 13:19; Act 10:12; Act 11:6 in all which passages the same original words in the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek Scriptures ( , ) are with equal propriety rendered indifferently ‘air’ and ‘ heaven ’ similarly we read of ‘the path of the eagle in the air,’

(Pro 30:19😉 of ‘the eagles of heaven,’ (Lam 4:19😉 of ‘the stork of the heaven,’ (Jer 8:7😉 and of ‘birds of heaven’ in general. Ecc 10:20; Jer 4:25. In addition to these zoological terms, we have meteorological facts included under the same original words: for example, ( b) ‘ The dew of heaven,’ (Gen 27:28; Gen 27:39😉 Deu 33:28; Dan 4:15 et passim; Hag 1:10; Zec 8:12🙂 ( c) ‘ The clouds of heaven,’ (1Ki 18:45; Psa 147:8; Dan 7:13; Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Mar 14:62🙂 ( d) ‘ The frost of heaven,’ (Job 38:29🙂 ( e) ‘ The winds of heaven,’ (1 Kings 18:55; Psa 78:26; Dan 8:8; Dan 11:4; Zec 2:6; Zec 6:5, [see margin;] Mat 24:31; Mar 13:27🙂 ( f) ‘ The rain of heaven,’ (Gen 8:2; Deu 11:11; Deu 28:12; Jer 14:22; Act 14:17, [ ;] Jas 5:18; Rev 18:6🙂 ( g) ‘ Lightning, with thunder,’ (Job 37:3-4; Luk 17:24.) (II.) Coelum astriferum, (ASTRAL HEAVEN) The vast spaces of which astronomy takes cognizance are frequently referred to: for example, ( a) in the phrase ‘ host of heaven,’ in Deu 17:3; Jer 8:2; Mat 24:29, [ ;] a sense which is obviously not to be confounded with another signification of the same phrase, as in Luk 2:13, [see ANGELS:] ( b) ‘Lights of heaven,’ (Gen 1:14-16; Eze 32:8🙂 ( c) ‘ Stars of heaven,’ (Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4; Exo 32:13; Deu 1:10; Deu 10:22; Deu 28:62; Jdg 5:20; Neh 9:23; Isa 13:10; Nah 3:16; Heb 11:12.) (III.) Coelum angeliferum, (ANGELIC HEAVEN.) It would exceed our limits if we were to collect the descriptive phrases which revelation has given us of heaven in its sublimest sense; we content ourselves with indicating one or two of the most obvious: ( a) ‘ The heaven of heavens,’ (Deu 10:14; 1Ki 8:27 , 2Ch 2:6; 2Ch 2:18; Neh 9:6; Psa 115:16; Psa 148:4🙂 ( b) ‘ The third heavens,’ (2Co 12:2🙂 ( c) ‘ The high and lofty’ [ place, ] (Isa 47:15🙂 ( d) ‘ The highest,’ (Mat 21:9; Mar 11:10; Luk 2:14, compared with Psa 148:1.) This heavenly sublimity was graciously brought down to Jewish apprehension in the sacred symbol of their tabernacle and temple, which they reverenced (especially in the adytum, of ‘the Holy of Holies’) as ‘the place where God’s honour dwelt,’ (Psa 26:8,) and amid the sculptured types of his celestial retinue, in the cherubim of the mercy-seat, (2Ki 19:15; Psa 80:1; Isa 37:16.)” This classification, in our view, furnishes the correct sense of St. Paul’s terms.

Yet it is to be noted that the first two of these heavens are perceptible to our senses, and known to science; while the third is but imagined in thought, without assignable locality. This is alike true of heaven, paradise, and hell. See note on Mar 16:19.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knows), such a one caught up even to the third heaven. And I know such a man (whether in the body, or apart from the body, I know not; God knows), how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.’

Fourteen years ago he had had an experience that went beyond all experiences. It was the very basis of his unique Apostleship. He does not know whether it happened to him physically, or whether he was lifted out of his body spiritually. God is the only One Who knows that. But he knows that it happened, and that it happened ‘in Christ’. He was caught up into ‘the third heaven’, into Paradise itself. Not just the heavens above, nor the heavens where spiritual activity is taking place, but the very presence of God Himself. And there he heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter (compare Rev 10:4). He received revelations which he cannot mention or describe. He was given a unique insight into God and His ways. He was made uniquely aware of the glory of God. And they were things which were for him alone and of which he has no right to speak. If his opponents had had an experience such as that they too would have been unwilling to talk about it. For it was God-forbidden.

It is doubtful whether this refers to his experience on the Damascus Road. Indeed part of the reason for his previous mention of his escape from Damascus may have been to cancel out such an idea. For there the words he heard were made known. And then he was not ‘a man in Christ’. This was something so profound in this experience that it was the highpoint of his spiritual life. But he mentions it to keep his opponents’ claims in perspective. They boast of visions and revelations. Then let them know that he has had such which were far more excessive than anything they had ever known.

But his refusal to say more not only brings out the awesomeness of his experience, but also illustrates the fact that he is not prepared to compare visions blow by blow. The fact is that if they had had a vision like his they would not talk about it. That puts all their boasts in perspective. In his presence let them keep quiet. Compared with his their experiences are paltry.

Paul certainly had other visions and revelations. See Act 9:3-19; Act 16:9; Act 18:9-10; Act 22:17-21. But compared with this one they were as nothing. He did not even release details of it to Luke. And even here, having established the fact, he leaves it there. He will not supply the detail of that particular experience to bolster his case. It was completely other-worldly.

‘A man in Christ.’ This was important. His experience was as a result of his being ‘in Christ’. It was no pagan experience or connected with the mysteries. It was because of his closeness to the living Christ that he had had the experience. All that had happened to him then was ‘In Christ’.

‘Caught up.’ Only used twice by Paul (compare 1Th 4:17). It was to be taken out of the material world into a heavenly dimension to meet with God or with Christ. It was to be caught up to the realm beyond the known.

‘Whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knows.’ This is repeated twice which stresses its importance. He does not want this experience to be used theologically, or to be seen in the light of the experience of others. It must not be used to argue that such experiences can only happen outside the body, but nor must it be used to declare that a man cannot operate apart from his body. It must not be used to suggest that the body is somehow evil in itself. It must not be compared with the ascension of Jesus, or the taking up of Elijah.

But nor must it be interpreted as just some venture from the body, like Ezekiel’s, or as an experience of dying and then returning to his body as described by many. It was not that kind of experience at all. It just happened and he does not know how it happened. And, he says, it must be left there. It cannot be used to deny a bodily resurrection, or indeed to teach it. He does not want to liken it to any other experience. It was wholly mysterious, unlike those of his opponents which they could explain without difficulty.

‘The third heaven.’ Possibly to be seen as the result of his meditation on 1Ki 8:27 where Solomon speaks of ‘heaven and the heaven of heavens’, and based on Biblical uses of the term ‘heavens’ for the skies which includes sun, moon and stars (part of creation – Genesis 1); for that which lies beyond the skies, where angels might be and God can be reached (1Ki 8:13 and often); and for the private abode of God Himself, (he may have had in mind here the outer and inner sanctuary in the Temple, the latter limited to God in His unapproachable glory, with His attendant cherubim). And all this thought of vaguely in spacial terms, although not specifically stated to be so, without being too specific. To them it was the world which was the universe. All else was ‘outside’. What was outside it was what we would call another ‘dimension’. Even today most people find it difficult to think in solely philosophical terms of not here nor there, but ‘outside’ space (we have not even the ready language for it), and it was no different then.

But we must ever remember that ‘three’ conveyed the idea of completeness and totality. The ‘third’ heaven would thus sum up the perfection of Heaven. In other literature this expands to five, seven and ten heavens, but that is more speculative. Paul is not being speculative (‘I cannot tell’).

‘Paradise.’ The word comes from the Persian meaning an enclosed park, such as the gardens of the Persian kings. In LXX it was used to translate ‘the fruitful plain of Eden’. But in the Old Testament it never refers to anything outside this world. In the New Testament it was used by Jesus, if we interpret strictly, of the place to which men go after death and where He would be prior to His resurrection (Luk 23:43). It is probably in mind in Luk 16:19-31, the place of the righteous dead. But it is doubtful whether we are to so limit it. The idea is probably mainly that such people are with God. It is used in Jewish literature of where God is. In Rev 2:7 it is the reward for overcomers, and there they will eat of the tree of life. In Rev 21:1-5 this clearly has in mind our eternal dwellingplace in the glorious presence of God, depicted in terms of a more wonderful, ‘heavenly’ Eden of which God Himself is the light. Here in Paul it probably equates with the third Heaven, where God dwells in His indescribable glory.

‘And heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.’ Words which cannot be spoken, and which commentators have been trying to fathom ever since. The idea is probably that they were awe-inspiring and beyond man’s grasp and capability, so that if their ideas were conveyed man would be unable to bear the result. They are similar to His unapproachable light (1Ti 6:16). It is noteworthy that like Isaiah before him (Isa 6:1-4) he does not try to describe God. He is lost in the indescribable. He describes only ‘unutterable sayings’ (compare the ‘voice from the throne’ which issues in the end – Rev 19:5), and that in terms of the unspeakable. All that is of God is too holy to be fathomed by man, or to be heard and seen.

What Paul is really saying is that he was caught up into the presence of God and for that brief time was caught up in such an indescribable heavenly experience in His presence that he could neither describe nor relate it, nor would want to, and that it would be blasphemy to make the attempt. He knew that what he had experienced was nothing to do with man while on this earth. But it had almost certainly affected the whole of his thinking from then on. It could hardly do otherwise. No longer for him the philosophical arguments about God, or the godly speculation. Even though he could not describe it, it affected all his thinking, all his doctrine and the whole of his ministry and life. And we must see such phrases as ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God’ (2Co 4:6) in that context. We are probably to see ‘is not lawful’ to mean not so much forbidden by God’s edict as forbidden by its very nature.

Let these pseudo-apostles with their constant speculation think on that. And let the Corinthians themselves recognise that they must choose between one who has met God in full intimacy, and cannot speak of it because of its awesomeness and its holiness, and those who claim to be aware of God through whatever method of obtaining such knowledge they used, and constantly speak of it. If they had really met God as they had said they would remember the words of Ecc 5:2, ‘Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and you are on the earth, therefore let your words be few.’ Such experience can only result in humility.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

2Co 12:2. I know a man in Christ St. Paul must undoubtedly mean himself, or the whole article had been quite foreign to his purpose. It hence appears, that the Apostle had concealed this extraordinary event fourteen years; and if this Epistle was written about the year 58, as is supposed, this vision must have fallen out in the year 44, which was so long after his conversion as to prove it quite different from the trance mentioned, Act 9:9. Some think that this glorious representation was made to him in the temple, on the journey mentioned, Act 9:30; Act 22:17 and intended to encourage him against the difficulties which he was to encounter in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. Whether in the body or out of the body, must mean, “I know not whether he was then in the body, during that extraordinary extacy, or for a time taken out of the body, so that only the principle of animal life remained in him.” As St. Paul must have known that his body was not actually dead during this trance, but that the animal motion of his lungs and heart continued, it tends to prove that he really considered the principle of animal life to be something distinct from the rational soul. See Bishop Brown’s distinction of Spirit, Soul, and Body, in his “Procedure of the Understanding,” b. 2 Chronicles 10. Castalio and Bengelius translate the beginning of this verse, I know a Christian caught up fourteen years ago, &c. Instead of I cannot tell, here and 2Co 12:3 some read, I know not.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

2Co 12:2 . He now quotes instar omnium a single event of such a nature, specially memorable to him and probably unique in his experience, 2Co 12:2-4 .

. . .] I know a man who was snatched away . Paul speaks of himself as of a third person, because he wishes to adduce something in which no part of the glory at all falls on the Ego proper. And how suitable in reality was the nature of such an event to the modest mode of representation, excluding all self-glory! In that ecstasy the Ego had indeed really ceased to be the subject of its own activity , and had become quite the object of the activity of others , so that Paul in his usual condition came before himself as other than he had been in the ecstasy, and his I , considered from the standpoint of that ecstasy, appeared as a he .

] a man to be found in Christ (as the element of life), 1Co 1:30 , a Christian ; not: “quod in Christo dico, i.e. quod sine ambitione dictum velim,” Beza, connecting it with (comp. Emmerling).

] belongs to , from which it is separated by the parenthesis. We may add that this note of time is already decisive against those, who either find in this incident the conversion of the apostle (or at least something connected therewith), as Damasus, Thomas, Lyra, L. Capellus, Grotius, Oeder, Keil, Opusc . p. 318 ff.; Matthaei, Religionsgl . I. p. 610 ff., and others, including Bretschneider and Reiche, and quite recently Stlting, Beitr. z. Exeg. d. Paul. Br . 1869, p. 173 or identify it with the appearance in the temple, Act 22:17 ff., as Calvin (but uncertainly), Spanheim, Lightfoot, J. Capellus, Rinck, Schrader, and others; comp. also Schott, Errt . p. 100 ff.; Wurm in the Tb. Zeitschr. 1833, 1, p. 41 ff.; Wieseler, p. 165, and on Gal. p. 591 ff.; Osiander. The conversion was upwards of twenty years earlier than this Epistle (see on Acts, Introd. 4). See, besides, Estius and Fritzsche, Diss. I. p. 58 ff.; Anger, rat. temp. p. 164 ff. In fact, even if the definition of the time of this event could be reconciled with that of the appearance in the temple , Act 22:17 ff., still the narrative of this passage (see especially 2Co 12:4 : . . .) is at any rate so essentially different from that in Act 22 , that the identity is not to be assumed. [354] The connection which Wieseler assumes with the Damascene history does not exist in reality (comp. on 2Co 11:32 f.), but with 2Co 12:1 there begins something new . The event here mentioned, which falls in point of time to the stay at Antioch or to the end of the stay at Tarsus (Act 11:25 ), is to us quite unknown otherwise . The reason , however, why Paul added the definition of time is, according to Chrysostom, Pelagius, Theodoret, and others, given thus: “videmus Paulum ipsum per annos quatuordecim tacuisse, nec verbum fuisse facturum, nisi importunitas malignorum cogisset,” Calvin. But how purely arbitrary! And whence is it known that he had been so long silent regarding the ecstasy? No; the specification of time flowed without special design just as naturally from the pre-eminently remarkable character which the event had for Paul, as from the mode of the representation, according to which he speaks of himself as of a third person, in whose case the notice of an already long past suggested itself spontaneously; for “ longo tempore alius a se ipso quisque factus videtur ” (Bengel).

] sc. from what follows. Regarding , whether or , see Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 202 f., also Dissen, ad Dem. de Cor. p. 224. He puts the two cases as quite equal as respects possibility, not the first as more probable; hence with the second no is added; see Dissen. In that ecstasy his lower consciousness had so utterly fallen into abeyance, that he could not afterwards tell (according to Athan. c. Ar. Serm. 4 : dared not tell) whether this had taken place by means of a temporary withdrawal of his spirit out of the body, or whether his whole person, the body included ( ), had been snatched away. By this alternative he expresses simply the utter incomprehensibleness for him of the manner of the occurrence. It is to him as if either the one or the other had taken place, but he knows neither the former nor the latter; hence he is not to be made responsible for the possibility or eventual mode of the one or other. “Ignoratio modi non tollit certain rei scientiam,” Bengel. Following Augustine, Genes. ad lit. xii. 5, Thomas and Estius explained : anima in corpore manente , so that Paul would say that he does not know whether it took place in a vision ( ) or by an actual snatching away of the spirit ( .). But if he had been uncertain, and had wished to represent himself as uncertain, whether the matter were only a seeing and perceiving by means of the spiritual senses or a real snatching away , it would not have had at all the great importance which it is held to have in the context, and he would only have exposed to his rivals a weak point, seeing that inward visions of the supernatural, although in the form of divinely presented apparitions, had not the quite extraordinary character which Paul manifestly wishes to ascribe to the event described. This also in opposition to Beyschlag, 1864, p. 207, who explains the alternative only as the bestowal of a marvellous “range” and “reach” of the inward senses in spite of the . Moreover, we must not ascribe to the apostle the Rabbinical opinion (in Schoettgen, Hor. p. 697) that he who is caught into paradise puts off his body and is clothed with an ethereal body; because otherwise he could not have put the case . [355] So much, however, is clear, that for such a divine purpose he held as possible a temporary miraculous withdrawal of the spirit from the body without death. [356] The mode [357] in which this conceived possibility was to take place must be left undetermined, and is not to be brought under the point of view of the separability of the bare (without the ) from the body (Osiander); for spirit and soul form inseparably the Ego even in the trichotomistic expression of 1Th 5:23 , as likewise Heb 4:12 (see Lnemann in loc. ). Comp. also Calovius against Cameron. Hence also it is not to be said with Lactantius: “abit animus , manet anima .”

The anarthrous means bodily , and that his own body was meant by it, and with the article is not anything different, was obvious of itself to the reader; did not need the article, Stallbaum, ad Plat. Phaed. p. 83 C.

] the stated word used of sudden, involuntary raptures. See Act 8:39 ; Rev 12:5 ; 1Th 4:17 . The form of the 2d aorist belongs to the deteriorated Greek. See Thomas Mag. p. 424; Buttmann, I. p. 381.

] summing up again (Khner, II. p. 330): such an one , with whom it was so. Comp. 1Co 5:5 .

. ] thus, through the first and second heaven into the third. [358] As the conception of several heavens pervades the whole of the O. and N. T. (see especially, Eph 4:10 ; Heb 4:14 ); as the Rabbins almost unanimously (Rabbi Juda assumed only two) reckon seven heavens (see the many passages in Wetstein, Schoettgen, Hor. p. 718 ff.; comp. also Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenth. I. p. 460; Hahn, Theol. d. N. T. I. p. 247); and as Paul here names a definite number, without the doctrine of only three heavens occurring elsewhere; as he also in 2Co 12:4 specifies yet a higher locality situated beyond the third heaven: it is quite arbitrary to deny that he had the conception of seven heavens, as was done by Origen, contra Celsum , vi. p 289: , , . The rationalistic explanations of more recent expositors, such as that of Billroth (following Schoettgen): that he only meant by this figurative (?) expression to express the nearness in which his spirit found itself to God, have as little exegetical warrant as the explanation of Calvin, Calovius, and others, that the holy number three stands pro summo et perfectissimo , so that denotes “the highest and most perfect sphere of the higher world” (Osiander); [359] or as the assertion of others (Estius, Clericus, Bengel, and others), that it is a doctrine of Scripture that there are only three heavens (the heaven of clouds, the heaven of stars, and the empyrean; according to Damascenus, Thomas, Cornelius a Lapide, and others, “coelum sidereum, crystallinum, empyreum ;” according to Grotius: “regio nubifera , reg. astrifera , reg. angelifera ”), or the fiction of Grotius and Emmerling, that the Jews at that time had assumed only these three heavens. It is true that, according to the Rabbins, the third heaven was still no very exalted region. [360] But we do not know at all what conception of the difference of the seven heavens Paul followed (see below), and are therefore not at all justified in conjecturing, with Rckert, in opposition to the number seven, that Paul was not following the usual hypothesis, but another, according to which the third heaven was at least one of the higher; [361] but see on 2Co 12:4 , where a still further ascent from the third heaven into paradise is mentioned. Even de Wette finds the usual view most probable, that by the third heaven is meant the highest ; “in such things belonging to pious fancy nothing was established until the Rabbinical tradition became fixed.” But the third heaven must have been to the readers a well-known and already established conception; hence we are the less entitled to depart from the historically attested number seven, and to adopt the number three (nowhere attested among the Jews) which became current in the church only on the basis of this passage (Suicer, Thes . II. p. 251), while still in the Test. XII. Patr . (belonging to the second century) p. 546 f., the number seven holds its ground, and the seven heavens are exactly described, as also the Ascensio Jesaiae (belonging to the third century) has still this conception of Jewish gnosis (see Lcke, Einl. in d. Offenb. Joh. I. p. 287 f., Exo 2 ). How Paul conceived to himself the several heavens as differing , we cannot determine, especially as in those Apocryphal books and among the Rabbins the statements on the point are very divergent. Erroneously, because the conception of several heavens is an historical one, Hofmann (comp. also his Schriftbeweis , II. 1, p. 535) has regarded as belonging to the vision , not to the conception (in connection with which he lays stress on the absence of the article), and spiritualizes the definite concrete utterance to this effect, that Paul in the vision, which made visible to him in a spiritual manner the invisible, “ saw himself caught away beyond the lower domains of the supermundane and up into a higher region .” This is to depart from the clear literal meaning and to lose oneself in generalities. It is quite unwarranted to adduce the absence of the article with , since with ordinal numbers the article is not at all required, Mat 20:3 ; Mar 15:25 ; Act 2:15 ; Act 23:23 ; Joh 1:40 ; Thuc. ii. 70. 5; Xen. Anab . iii. 6. 1; Lucian, Alex. 18; 1Sa 4:7 ; Susann. 15; see Khner, ad Xen. Anab. vii. 7. 35; Ngelsbach on the Iliad , p. 292, Exo 3 .

[354] According to Wieseler, the were the preparatory basis for the delegation of the apostle in Act 22:18 ; Act 22:21 . But there is no hint of this in either text. And the revelation laying the basis for his vocation among the Gentiles had been received by Paul much earlier than the appearance in the temple, Gal 1:15 .

[355] Just as little is the case put to be made conceivable as a momentary transfiguration of the body (Osiander). The bodily transfiguration is simply an eschatological event (1Co 15:51 ff.; 1Th 4:17 ), and a transformation of such a nature, that after it the return to the previous condition is quite inconceivable.

[356] Comp. the passage already quoted in Wetstein from Philo, de Somn . I. p. 626, where Moses is said to have fasted forty days.

[357] The remark of Delitzsch in this connection: “because what is experienced compresses itself, after the fashion of eternity, into a moment ” ( Psychol . p. 357), is to me obscure and too strange to make it conceivable by me.

[358] In Lucian, Philopatr . 12, Christ ( ) is mocked at as .

[359] The old Lutherans, in the interests of the doctrine of ubiquity, maintained that the third heaven and paradise denote “ statum potius alterius saeculi quam locum ,” Hunnius.

[360] The Rabbinical division was different, e.g. (1) velum ; (2) expansum ; (3) nubes ; (4) habitaculum ; (5) habitatio ; (6) sedes fixa ; (7) Araboth or . Others divide in other ways. See Wetstein.

[361] Rckert appeals to the fact that R. Juda assumed only two heavens. But this isolated departure from the usual Rabbinical type of doctrine cannot have any application here, where a third heaven is named. Passages would rather have to be shown, in which the number of heavens was assumed to be under seven and above two . In the absence of such passages, Rckert’s conjecture is groundless.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

(2) I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such a one caught up to the third heaven. (3) And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) (4) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. (5) Of such a one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. (6) For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

There are so many precious and blessed things contained in this vision the Apostle was favored with, that I can only glance at them in the mere outlines of the subject, without entering largely into the particulars.

And first. The Apostle saith, that he knew a man in Christ; and there can be no doubt, from what he soon after added, concerning the abundance of revelations given to him (2Co 12:7 ), that he meant himself. And it was no uncommon thing, in the Eastern world, for men to speak of themselves as in the third person. Indeed it is not unusual now. And upon the present occasion, Paul studied to avoid all vain-glory. By the expression itself of a man in Christ, it Is plain Paul meant one of Christ’s people, his seed, his chosen. And of all these it must be said, that every individual of Christ’s seed was in Christ from all eternity, for they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, Eph 1:4 . And all the purposes and grace designed the Church in time, with the sure hope of eternal life in the world to come, were all given to every individual of the Church , before the world began, 2Ti 1:9 ; Tit 1:2 . Of Christ’s whole seed, it may be truly said, as was said by the Holy Ghost of Levi, being in the loins of his father Abraham, when Melchizedeck met him; so all of Christ’s seed were in Him, and He their everlasting Father from all eternity, Heb 7:10 ; Isa 9:6 . Hence those sweet promises: Isa 59:21Isa 59:21 .

A man in Christ is one of the members of Christ’s mystical body: And having been chosen in Christ, when Christ at the call of God; stood up the Head and Husband of his people before all worlds; so; in the time-state of the Church, every man in Christ is proved to belong to Christ by regeneration, adoption, justification, and grace. Hence, as Paul elsewhere saith, his life is hid with Christ in God; Col 3:3 , a life of secresy, security, and interest in all that belongs to Christ. He is, therefore, properly called one in Christ, beheld in Christ, accepted in Christ, justified in Christ, sanctified in Christ, and must be , finally, glorified in Christ. And thus the Holy Ghost testifieth: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified, Rom 8:29-30 . Reader! are you a man in Christ?

In relation to the time of this vision, with which Paul was favored, the Apostle dates it about fourteen years before the time that he wrote this Epistle. And it appears, at the close of the next chapter that he wrote it from Philippi; consequently, it must have been about the year 60 when written, and fourteen years before would place the vision in the eleventh year after his conversion. Some have conceived that this vision is the same, which is spoken of when Paul arrived at Jerusalem, Act 22:17 . But it should, seem to have been a perfectly distinct revelation, and to a very different purport from that. It appears to me, I confess, to have been a very glorious manifestation of the Person of Christ, similar, or perhaps in greater degree, to those with which the saints of God in the Old Testament were favored, for the special comfort of those holy servants of the Lord, as well as for the general confirmation of the faith. But, certain it is, that the revelation was so abundant and overwhelming, that during the continuance of it, the Apostle was altogether unconscious of any bodily sensations. See Eze 8:3 ; Dan 8:27Dan 8:27 ; Rev 1:10 .

The paradise, or third heaven, the Apostle speaks of (for he calls it by both names,) evidently mean one and the same; and seems to be in conformity to the Jewish notions; who, when speaking at any time of heaven, were accustomed to call it paradise. There doth not, however, appear any reason assigned wherefore it is called the third heaven. The generally received opinion is, that it is the blessed habitation of the spirits of just men made perfect, Luk 23:43 . Several scriptures seem to favor the opinion, but none decide. And, as the Holy Ghost is silent on the subject, it becomes us to be also, and not presume to be wise above what is written, Rev 6:9-10 . Indeed there is nothing so weak as men’s conjectures on subjects of this sublime nature. Paul’s own account of this is that had heard unspeakable words or such as a man cannot utter. How then can another explain, or even form an idea of them? Reader! it is enough, for the exercise of faith, to receive from God the Holy Ghost the record of the fact. Here then we ought to rest. It is a sad misuse of the word of God, when upon any exercise of mystery we become reasoners instead of believers.

I pray the Reader to notice the Apostle’s words, when passing by all glorying on account of the wonderful condescension of his Lord, he declares his wish, rather to glory in his infirmities. By which we are to suppose Paul meant, not the desperately wicked state of his heart in the days of his unregeneracy, for there could be nothing to glory in them; but rather the circumstances, which, arising out of a fallen state, made Christ dear, and kept the soul humble. And, indeed, the word infirmities means as much. Some have thought the infirmities Paul alluded to, were only such as he mentions in the tenth verse, where be speaks of taking pleasure in them, in being reproached and persecuted for Christ’s sake. And, no doubt, these exercises afforded much satisfaction when ever, in suffering shame for the name of Jesus, Act 5:41 . But had these been all, and Paul had had no other infirmities in himself to be humbled for; it is to be apprehended by what we see and know of human nature, that instead of glorying in infirmities which kept the soul humble and made Christ dear, Paul, as well as other saints of God, would have become proud of what some men talk of, but none in themselves know, a fancied holiness, inherent in themselves, and which must render in their view, Christ less and less necessary. Reader! I pray you to pause over the subject, and may God the Holy Ghost be your teacher. Paul felt, if I mistake not, what all the children taught of God feel, daily infirmities from a body of sin and death, which makes the Lord Jesus dear, yea, increasingly dear and precious. And those infirmities compelled him to seek strength from Christ, in like manner as the hunger of an healthy man compels him to seek food. Paul’s daily wants, daily cravings, daily emptiness, taught him that he could not live upon past attainments, but Jesus was needful every day, and all the day, and without those supplies from the Lord, he should go lean and barren. It was not the having been caught up to the third heaven would satisfy his soul, when he found his soul afterwards encompassed by a body of flesh and blood, and returned to the earth. He, therefore, gloried that those infirmities made him sensible where he was, and how increasingly needful Christ was to keep him humble, and exalt the Savior. And very sure I am, that every child of God, truly taught of God, knows the same by daily experience. My sense of sin makes Christ’s blood precious. My poverty in spirituals gives A blessed occasion to seek and make use of his riches. And my conscious weakness, unless supported and upheld by the Lord my righteousness, makes me continually cry out: Hold thou me up, and shall be safe: and then shall I have respect unto thy statutes continually, Psa 119:117 . Reader! what knowledge have you of these things? When a child, of God makes use of his experiences in this way, that by feeling and knowing in himself his own nothingness, and his wants of Jesus increasing, and his desires after Jesus more pressing; this is to make our experiences profitable, because they lead to Christ instead of leading from Christ. But when men live, as, the major part of those who profess the truths of God do live, upon a work, as they suppose, wrought in them, rather than what Christ hath wrought for them, and instead of drawing comfort wholly from Christ, they take it from themselves, magnifying the effect before the cause; this is inverting things, and living upon Christ, if it can be called living, at second hand. Better to be humbled with an infirmity, than made proud with some supposed merit. Reader! do not dismiss the subject without due consideration!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

Ver. 2. I knew a man in Chirst ] i.e. A Christian and approved, 2Co 13:5 .

Above fourteen years ago ] See Trapp on “ Act 9:9 “ All this while till now, he had held his tongue. Taciturnity or silence (in some cases) is a Christian virtue. Either be silent, or say somewhat that is better than silence, was an old moral precept, , ..

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

2 4. ] An example of such a vision and revelation . The adoption of the third person is remarkable: it being evident from 2Co 12:7 that he himself is meant. It is plain that a contrast is intended between the rapt and glorified person of 2Co 12:2 ; 2Co 12:4 , and himself , the weak and afflicted and almost despairing subject of the of 2Co 12:7 ff. Such glory belonged not to him , but the weakness did. Nay, so far was the glory from being his , that he knew not whether he was in or out of the body when it was put upon him: so that the , compounded of the and ( Rom 7:25 ), clearly was not the subject of it, but as it were another form of his personality, analogous to that which we shall assume when unclothed of the body.

It may be remarked in passing, as has been done by Whitby, that the Apostle here by implication acknowledges the possibility of consciousness and receptivity in a disembodied state .

Let it not be forgotten, that in the context, this vision is introduced not so much for the purpose of making it a ground of boasting, which he does only passingly and under protest, but that he may by it introduce the mention of the , which bore so conspicuous a part in his , TO BOAST OF WHICH is his present object .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2. ] I know (not, ‘ knew ,’ as E. V.: which [is a mistake in grammar, and] introduces serious confusion, making it seem as if the . were the date of the knowledge , not, as it really is, of the vision ) a man in Christ ( . belongs to ., not to as Beza; . . = ‘a Christian,’ ‘a man whose standing is in Christ:’ so , Rom 16:7 ), fourteen years ago (belongs not to , nor to . as Grot.: ‘hominem talem, qui per 14 annos Christo serviat;’ but to . On the idiom see reff., the date probably refers back to the time when he was at Tarsus waiting for God to point out his work, between Act 9:30 ; Act 11:25 . See the chronological table in the Prolegomena), whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not: God knoweth (if in the body , the idea would be that he was taken up bodily : if out of the body , to which the alternative manifestly inclines, that his spirit was rapt from the body, and taken up disembodied. Aug [19] de genesi ad litteram xii. 2 5 (3 14), vol. iii. pp. 455 ff., discusses the matter at length, and concludes thus, ‘Proinde quod vidit raptus usque in tertium clum, quod etiam se scire confirmat, proprie vidit, non imaginaliter. Sed quia ipsa a corpore alienata utrum omnino mortuum corpus reliquerit, an secundum modum quendam viventis corporis ibi anima fuerit, sed mens ejus ad videnda vel audienda ineffabilia illius visionis arrepta sit, hoc incertum erat, ideo forsitan dixit, “sive in corpore sive extra corpus, nescio, Deus scit.” ’, And similarly Thom. Aq. and Estius: not, as Meyer thinks, making the alternative consist between reality and a mere vision , but between the anima , the life , being rapt out of the body, leaving it dead, and the mens , the intelligence or spirit , being rapt out of the body, leaving it ‘secundum modum quendam vivens’); such an one (so resumes after a parenthesis, 1Co 5:5 ), rapt (snatched or taken up, reff.) as far as the third heaven .

[19] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430

What is the third heaven ? The Jews knew no such number, but commonly (not universally: Rabbi Judah said, “Duo sunt cli, Deu 10:14 ”) recognized seven heavens: and if their arrangement is to be followed, the third heaven will be very low in the celestial scale, being only the material clouds . That the threefold division into the air (nubi-ferum), the sky (astriferum), and the heaven (angeliferum), was in use among the Jews, Meyer regards as a fiction of Grotius. Certainly no Rabbinical authority is given for such a statement: but it is put forward confidently by Grotius, and since his time adopted without enquiry by many Commentators. It is uncertain whether the sevenfold division prevailed so early as the Apostle’s time: and at all events, as we must not invent Jewish divisions which never existed, so it seems rash to apply here, one about whose date we are not certain, and which does not suit the context: for to be rapt only to the clouds, even supposing 2Co 12:4 to relate a further assumption , would hardly be thus solemnly introduced, or the preposition used. The safest explanation therefore is, not to follow any fixed division , but judging by the evident intention of the expression, to understand a high degree of celestial exaltation. I cannot see any cogency in Meyer’s argument, that ‘the third heaven must have been an idea well known and previously defined among his readers,’ seeing that in such words as , &c. it is manifestly inapplicable.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

2Co 12:2 . . . . . .: I know (not “I knew” as the A.V. has it) a man in Christ, i.e. , a Christian (see reff.), fourteen years ago (for the constr. . . cf. Joh 12:1 ) whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not (the words distinctly indicate St. Paul’s belief that perception is possible for a disembodied spirit); God knoweth such an one caught up to the third heaven. Cf. Eze 8:3 . “The Spirit lifted me between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem.” The date of this trance must have been about 41 or 42 A.D., years of which we have no details so far as St. Paul’s life is concerned; probably he was then at Tarsus (Act 9:30 ; Act 11:25 ; cf. the reference to St. Paul in the dialogue Philopatris , 12; ). The mention of “the third leaven” raises interesting questions as to Jewish beliefs. There is no doubt that a plurality of “heavens” is recognised all through the O.T. (see, e.g. , Deu 10:14 , 1Ki 8:27 , Neh 9:6 , Psa 68:33 ; Psa 148:4 ); but it has been matter of dispute whether the Rabbinical schools recognised seven heavens or only three . However it is now fairly well established that, in common with other ancient peoples ( e.g. , the Parsees, and probably the Babylonians), the Jews recognised seven heavens. This view not only appears in the pseudepigraphical literature, but in some of the Fathers, e.g. , Clement of Alexandria, Its most detailed exposition is found in the Book of the Secrets of Enoch , a Jewish apocalypse written in Greek in the first century of our era (now only extant in a Sclavonic version). In chap. viii. of this work we find that Paradise is explicitly located in the “third heaven,” which is the view recognised here by St. Paul (see Charles’ Sclavonic Enoch , pp. xxxi: ff.).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

knew. Greek. oida. App-132. The 2nd Perf. with sense of the Present Tense.

man. Greek. anthropos. App-129.

in. Greek. en. App-104.

Christ. App-98.

above, &c. Literally before (Greek. pro. App-104. xiv) four-teen years.

cannot tell = know (Greek. oida as above) not (Greek. au).

out of = without. Greek. ektos. See 1Co 6:18.

God. App-98.

caught up = caught away. Greek. harpazo. See Joh 10:12.

to = as far as. Greek. heos.

heaven. Singular. See Mat 6:9, Mat 6:10.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

2-4.] An example of such a vision and revelation. The adoption of the third person is remarkable: it being evident from 2Co 12:7 that he himself is meant. It is plain that a contrast is intended between the rapt and glorified person of 2Co 12:2; 2Co 12:4,-and himself, the weak and afflicted and almost despairing subject of the of 2Co 12:7 ff. Such glory belonged not to him, but the weakness did. Nay, so far was the glory from being his, that he knew not whether he was in or out of the body when it was put upon him: so that the , compounded of the and (Rom 7:25), clearly was not the subject of it, but as it were another form of his personality, analogous to that which we shall assume when unclothed of the body.

It may be remarked in passing, as has been done by Whitby, that the Apostle here by implication acknowledges the possibility of consciousness and receptivity in a disembodied state.

Let it not be forgotten, that in the context, this vision is introduced not so much for the purpose of making it a ground of boasting, which he does only passingly and under protest, but that he may by it introduce the mention of the , which bore so conspicuous a part in his , TO BOAST OF WHICH is his present object.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

2Co 12:2. , I knew: whether: caught up) These things, repeated in the next verse, not only keep the reader in pleasant suspense, sharpen his mind, and add weight to well-considered [just] glorying (boasting); but also plainly express a double movement in this action. Clemens Alex. Strom. 50. v. , , f. 427. So also Irenaeus, l. 2, c. (56) 55 (where Grabius adds Justinus M., Methodius, and of more recent writers Jeremy Taylor), likewise 50:5, c. 36, where (comp. Mat 13:23; Joh 14:2) he infers different habitations from the diversity among those who produce fruit [fruits of faith], and fixes a difference of abode, , for those who have their joy in heaven, in paradise, in the splendour of the city. Athanasius in Apol., , and he was caught up into the third heaven, and was borne up into paradise. Orig. or his translator, on Romans 16, has these words, into the third heaven, and thence into paradise. Oecumenius, , he was caught up to the third heaven, and again thence into paradise. That different revelations are mentioned in this passage is acknowledged by Hilariu[82] Diac. Primasius, Anselm, Pope Gregory in Estius, as well as Jerome on Ezekiel 28., Pelag. on this passage, Cassiodor. Haymo, Aquinas. The occurrence of the expression, lest I should be exalted, twice, corresponds to the fact, that he was twice caught up. Certainly paradise, coming last in the gradation with the emphatic article, denotes some inner recess in the third heaven, rather than the third heaven itself; an opinion which was very generally held by the ancients. See Gregor. Obs., c. 18; comp. Luk 23:43, note, and Rev 2:7. Therefore the privilege was vouchsafed to Paul only to hear the things of paradise; but he was permitted also to see the things of the third heaven; comp. the preceding verse; although even of the latter he speaks somewhat sparingly. The force of the verb , I know, falls particularly upon the participle caught; comp. , how that, 2Co 12:4.- , fourteen years ago) construed with , caught. He recounts something that had occurred in former times: after a long period every one seems to have become different from himself (what he was before); so that he may the more freely relate the good and evil which he has experienced. [Truly it was a long silence (he had maintained as to the revelations to him), and yet he had been engaged (conversant) among the Corinthians not for a short time, and was united to them in the closest bonds of intimacy.-V. g.]- , in the body) This is without the article; then , out of the body, with the article; and so consistently with this, the words are found in the next verse. Paul seems to be of opinion, that he was out of the body. Howsoever this may be, Claudianus Mamertus de Statu animae, c. 12, righty concludes from this, that the better part of man is incorporeal; and this, the soul itself, was the part caught up. Whatever existed, independently of the body of Paul, was without the body, or else within it.- , I know not. Ignorance of the mode does not take away the certain knowledge of the thing. The apostles were ignorant of many things.-, caught up) Comp. Act 8:39, note.-) even to, far into the third heaven; comp. , into, 2Co 12:4. Is therefore paradise not included in the third heaven? Ans. , even to, is inclusive, as Luk 2:15, etc.-, third) The first heaven is that of the clouds; the second is that of the stars; the third is spiritual. The dual number in denotes the two visible heavens. The nomenclature of the third, which eye hath not seen, has been reserved for the New Testament; comp. Eph 4:10, note.

[82] ilarius (a Latin father: died 368 A.D.) Ed. Maurinorum, Paris. 1693.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

2Co 12:2

2Co 12:2

I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago-According to the received chronology, this epistle was written near the close of the year 57, and fourteen years ago would place this vision about the time he and Barnabas were sent forth from Antioch on the first tour among the Gentiles. (Act 13:1-3). Verses 6 and 7 show that Paul himself was the subject of the vision.

(whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth),-In this vision Paul could not tell whether he was carried bodily or was transported in the spirit.

such a one caught up even to the third heaven.-The Jews held the idea of three heavens: (1) The air or atmosphere where clouds gather (Gen 2:1; Gen 2:19); (2) the firmament in which sun, moon, and stars are fixed (Deu 18:3; Matt. 24; 29); and (3) Gods dwelling place (Mat 5:12; Mat 5:16; Mat 5:45; Mat 5:48). Paul was caught up to the throne of God.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

third heaven

First heaven, of clouds; second, of stars; third, God’s abode.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

knew: 2Co 12:3, 2Co 12:5

in Christ: 2Co 5:17, 2Co 5:21, 2Co 13:5, Isa 45:24, Isa 45:25, Joh 6:56, Joh 15:4-6, Joh 17:21-23, Rom 8:1, Rom 16:7, 1Co 1:30, Gal 1:22, Gal 5:6

above: “ad 46, at Lystra.” Act 14:6, Act 22:17

in the: 2Co 5:6-8, 1Ki 18:12, 2Ki 2:16, Eze 8:1-3, Eze 11:24, Act 8:39, Act 8:40, Act 22:17, Phi 1:22, Phi 1:23, Rev 1:10, Rev 4:2

God: 2Co 12:3, 2Co 11:11

caught: 2Co 12:4, Luk 24:51, 1Th 4:17, Heb 9:24, Rev 12:5

third: Gen 1:14-20, 1Ki 8:27, Isa 57:15

Reciprocal: 2Ch 6:18 – heaven Psa 148:4 – heavens Eze 8:3 – the spirit Eze 43:5 – and brought Dan 10:8 – I was Joh 14:20 – ye in Act 7:55 – looked Act 10:10 – he fell 2Co 5:8 – and willing Rev 21:10 – he carried

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

LIFE IN CHRIST

In Christ.

2Co 12:2

We are to believe that, if we have the faith to accept it, we are so completely united with Christ that God Himself sees us as oneaccepted in the Beloved.

I. Christ is in you as the life-blood is in the members.He moves and directs you as the head guides the limbs. His mind and His spirit pervade you as a mans moral and intellectual being pervades his spiritual being. And youall your cares and all your sorrowspass to Christ, just as the nerves go up and meet in the brain. And no less your joys, for they are His joys. What Christ did, it is as though you did it. What Christ suffered, it is as though you suffered it. You died in and with Him on the Cross. You descended with Him into hell. Death and hell are things of the past to you, and they can never be repeated to you. And your righteousnesspoor, vile, wicked sinner as you areyour righteousness is as spotless before God as His own immaculate Son.

II. All words, all thoughts fail to reach the height of that great mysterya life in Christ. Therefore we are above angels, for they are with Christ; they are not in Christ. Therefore we are restored to more than we lostfor we are like Godin His image: not as Adam was, but because we are in Christ. Therefore we are sons of God, not as Adam was, but because we are in the Son. Therefore we shall not be ashamed in the judgment, because we present Christ as us, and us as Christ. And therefore we can stand in the holy presence of God, because found in Christ, in grace, we shall be found in Christ in glory. Oh, the safety of that life in Christ! How can they perish who are in Christ?

III. In that man who is in Christ, there is an inner life, which is independent of all outward circumstances. It may be all changing about him; but that life does not change. It may be all sad and dark in the outer world; but that life cannot be touched. It is so secret; so secure! And its purity and its brightness shine out in the mans walk of holiness and charity. And men will catch glimpses of the Christ that is in him. Do I say then there will be no painful feeling of sin, no infirmities, no distresses, no struggles, no falls to the life in Christ? Nay, many more than any other life. But what I say is thisthe life is sure, for it is the life. It is the life of a Man, and it is the life of God.

Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustrations

(1) The tongue of an archangel would stammer in telling what Christ is, and what Christ has, for all who trust in Him. Forgiveness is in ChristIn Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7). Peace is in ChristThese things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace (Joh 16:33). Joy is in ChristIn Whom believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable (1 St. Peter 2Co 1:8). Safety is in ChristWho shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom 8:36). Victory is in ChristWho shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:24-25).

(2) We have the twofold expressionof Christ in us and we in Christ. And we may take the Christ in us to be the one inward power of holiness which we have, and the we in Christ to be our clothing in the righteousness of Christ, which is our justification and our acceptance with God. If we make this distinction, we must be careful not to confound the Christ in us with the work of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in us. Our sanctification is the office of the Holy Ghost. But there is a Christ in us besides, over and above, the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

2Co 12:2. The aforesaid truths (or facts) were concerning a man in Christ whom Paul says he knew, and these facts occurred more than fourteen years before the present writing. Caught up is from HARPAZO, which Thayer defines, “to snatch or catch away,” and he explains it to denote, “divine power transferring a person marvelously and swiftly from one place to another.” It is the word used in Act 8:39 where the Lord “caught away” Philip. The original words for third and heaven have no specific meaning here as far as the lexicon definition is concerned, hence the connection in which they are used must determine their sense in any given case. Since the first heaven is the region where the birds fly (Gen 1:20), and the second is that where the stars are held (Gen 22:17), it leaves the third heaven to mean where God’s throne is. That will account for some things that are said about the experience of this “man in Christ.” In the body and out of the body is equivalent to “alive” and “dead,” and Paul did not know which was the man’s condition when he had this experience.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

2Co 12:2. I know a man in Christnot knew (as in the Authorised Version), which the word never signifies. In fact, the whole point of the statement lies in its being present: I know such a man, and I could name him too; meaning himself, as will presently appear,fourteen yean ago(Gr. before fourteen years, i.e., fourteen years before now: the Latin and German idioms are the same here as the Greek). The date here given is not the date of the apostles knowledge of the man (as the Authorised Version implies), but of the rapture into the third heaven about to be related. Reckoning back from the date of this Epistle (A.D. 57), fourteen years would bring us to the year 43, which coincides (as Plumptre says) with the period of his unrecorded activity, when he was hurried away from Jerusalem to Tarsus (Act 9:29-30) until Barnabas came for him, and brought him to Antioch (Act 11:25-26). Hence the reference cannot be to his conversion, for that took place more than twenty years before; nor can it be to the vision which he had in the temple (Act 22:17), for that occurred at a period nearer the time of this letternot to say that the circumstances are quite different. Beyond doubt what is here recorded occurred during that quiet sojourn in the region of Tarsus, already referred to, when, though we know he was not idle in his Masters service, the events of his activity are a blank in the history,(whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven. Why, it may be asked, does the apostle speak so enigmatically, and in the third personwhy he and not I? The obvious answer is, that he could not bear extolling himself so nakedly as the use of the first person would express. For the same reason he wishes it to be known that since the thing happened so long ago, and he had never told it to any one, they might thus see how far he was from obtruding it as a ground of boasting. At the same time, as the event was probably the most marvellous that ever occurred to him since his conversion, he is careful to specify the precise time of its occurrence. As to the event itself, the first question is, What is meant by caught up or rapt? The idea conveyed by this strong word certainly goes beyond that of mere trance or ecstasy, in which all ordinary consciousness is in abeyance. Such was the state he was in while in the temple (Act 22:17-18), and the state that Balaam and other prophets were thrown into (Num 24:4; Rev 1:10 with 2Co 4:1). Had this been all that the apostle experienced, it is scarcely credible that he should have spoken of it as he does here, or (so to speak) made so much of it. We incline, therefore, to those who see more in it than this, namely, a possible local rapture in his entire person, such as beyond doubt is presupposed (in 1Ki 18:12; 2Ki 2:16) as a thing not unfamiliar in the time of Elijah and Elisha, and which in the case of the Apostle Philip was an actual occurrence: see Act 8:39-40 where the same word, rendered caught away, is used as by our apostle here. But we only say a possible rapture of this nature. Because, if the apostle himself declines to decide the question, it is not for us to do it for him. The next question is, What are we to understand by the third heaven? Were a plurality of heavens unfamiliar to the Bible, we might suppose nothing more to be meant here than the heaven of heavens, or more simply, into inconceivable nearness to God. But beyond doubt, something numerical in the conception of the heavens was familiar to the Jews and is recognised in the New Testament. Why not, then, recognise it here? though to refine upon it, as some ingenious critics do, serves no good purpose. Enough to understand it of a height of translation towards the secret place of the Most High, to which he was through life an utter stranger save at this time.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe, 1. That the person here spoken of was doubtless himself, otherwise it had been no cause or ground of glorying to him at all; yet he speaks in the name of a third person.

Thence note, That they who know most of God, are most modest when they come to speak of themselves.

Observe, 2. The description of the person, a man in Christ; that is, a man acted by the Spirit of Christ, above himself; and also a description of the place he was caught up into, paradise, the seat of the blessed.

Learn thence, That there is a third heaven, or heavenly paradise, where are the concerns and hopes of holy souls: And souls are not so closely tied to the body, but they may, whenever God pleases, be wrapt up into paradise, or the third heaven. The apostle not being able to tell whether he was in the body, or out of the body, sheweth that somehow the soul was there, though he could not declare nor discover the manner how.

Observe, 3. What St. Paul heard when thus wrapt up into paradise, namely, unspeakable words, such as cannot be uttered; or, if uttered, cannot be understood.

Learn thence, That the things of the heavenly paradise are to mortal men unspeakable; there is no human language that hath words fit to reveal that part of heavenly things which God hath shut up as secret from us.

Observe, lastly, St. Paul’s great humility, both in concealing formerly this extraordinary favour, and now not without some difficulty and disguise mentioning it, though for defence of the gospel, in a manner, constrained thereunto; contenting himself with such a fame as his deportment and outward actions, in serving the interest of Christ, could procure, and no way avoid.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

2Co 12:2-3. I knew a man in Christ That is, a Christian. He must undoubtedly have meant himself, or the whole article had been quite foreign to his purpose. Indeed, that he meant himself is plain from 2Co 12:6-7. Fourteen years ago So long, it seems, the apostle had concealed this extraordinary event; a circumstance which shows how little disposed he was to speak vauntingly of himself. Whether in the body And by the intervention of its senses; or out of the body And without any such intervention, the things which I saw and heard were communicated to me; I know not It is equally possible with God to present distant things to the imagination in the body, as if the soul were absent from it, and present with them, as seems to have been the case with Ezekiel in the visions mentioned Eze 11:24, and Eze 37:1; and with John in those recorded Rev 17:3; Rev 21:10; or, as the Spirit caught away Philip, (Act 8:39,) to transport both soul and body for what time he pleases to heaven; or to transport the soul only thither for a season, and in the mean time to preserve the body fit for its re-entrance. But since the apostle himself did not know whether his soul was in his body when he had these visions, &c.; or whether one or both were actually in heaven; for us to inquire into that matter would be vain curiosity, and extreme folly. It is of more importance to observe, that he supposed his spirit might be carried into the third heaven, and into paradise, without his body. For, from his making such a supposition, it is plain he believed his spirit could exist out of his body; and that, by the operation of God, it could be made to hear and see, without the intervention of his bodily organs. Such a one caught up into the third heaven The habitation of the divine glory, far above the aerial and the starry heavens. For, in the language of the Jews, the first heaven is the region of the air, where the birds fly, which therefore are called the fowls of heaven. The second heaven is that part of space in which the stars are. This was called, by the Jews, the heaven of heavens. See 1Ki 8:27. The third heaven is the seat of God, and of the holy angels, into which Christ ascended after his resurrection, but which is not the object of mens senses, as the other heavens are.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not; God knoweth), such a one caught up even to the third heaven.

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Verse 2

A man in Christ; a Christian, referring doubtless to himself.–Caught up; suddenly transported.–The third heaven; the spiritual heaven, the abode of the blessed. It is often thus designated by Jewish writers, to distinguish it from the region of the clouds, which they called the first heaven, and that of the heavenly bodies, which was the second. It is called paradise in 2 Corinthians 12:4.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

12:2 I knew a man {a} in Christ above fourteen years ago,

(whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the {b} third heaven.

(a) I speak this in Christ, that is, it is spoken without boastfulness, for I seek nothing but Christ Jesus only.

(b) Into the highest heaven: for we do not need to dispute subtly upon the word “third”. But yet this passage is to be marked against those who would make heaven to be everywhere.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The "man" of whom Paul spoke in the third person was himself (cf. 2Co 12:7-9). He referred to himself this way probably out of reluctance to speak of this matter. Moreover he wanted to minimize the effect of boasting, which citing such a spectacular experience would have produced.

Paul could not tell (did not know) whether God had transported him physically into the third heaven (cf. Act 8:39; 1Th 4:17) or whether his experience had been a vision (cf. Gen 15:12-21; Eze 1:1). The third heaven probably represents the presence of God. It could be a technical description of God’s abode above the cloudy heavens overhead and beyond the farthest reaches of space that man can perceive. "Paradise" (2Co 12:4) is a good synonym for the third heaven (cf. Luk 23:43; Rev 2:7).

What Paul heard, not what he saw there, is that to which the apostle referred. That message was personal; Paul never revealed in Scripture what God told him. However, it had the effect of strengthening his faith and hope that the Lord would abundantly reward his sufferings. This experience evidently took place when Paul was ministering in and around Tarsus. He did so about A.D. 42, 14 years before A.D. 56, the most probable date for the composition of 2 Corinthians.

"The man who experienced the ineffable ’ascent’ even to the third heaven was the same man who had experienced the undistinguished ’descent’ from a window in the Damascus wall [2Co 11:32-33]." [Note: Hughes, p. 422.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)