I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in [the] body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such [a one] caught up to [the] third heaven.
Paul has just described his escape from a city, let down the wall in a basket. Now comes the opposite extreme: a man caught up to the highest heaven, described in the third person, fourteen years late, and never named.
One small word carries weight. Paul says he knows this man; he does not say he knew him:
"I know a man in Christ": not "I knew," as the older Authorised Version so strangely misunderstands. Even in the way the apostle puts it, he shuts out personal boasting. He does this so thoroughly that even our translators seem to have thought he was speaking not of himself but of some other man.
Watch which experiences Paul is willing to attach to the word "I":
Notice he does not speak of himself as Paul; this is very blessed. If he has anything humbling to say about himself, he speaks of Paul. He will say, "I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall." There was nothing very elevating for a man in that. It was a humbling position, so he says "I." But the moment he comes to speak of what is elevating, it is no longer "I," it is "a man in Christ" — which is true of every Christian.
Why keep such an experience quiet for fourteen years? One writer answers by pointing to David:
Faith does not boast of visions and revelations of the Lord, any more than of its doings… So David said not a word about the lion and the bear God enabled him to kill at his lowly work. He spoke only when it was needed to calm the fears of others, for God's glory. In the same way, the apostle waited many years before he told of a wonderful experience. Others less spiritual would have talked about it everywhere for as many years or more. What would the Corinthians or their misleaders not have made of it?
The Bible speaks of more than one heaven. Paul names the highest:
The one who had known what it was to be "let down" in a basket on earth had also known the immense privilege of being "caught up to the third heaven." The third heaven speaks of the dwelling place of God. First come the heavens of the air, then the starry heavens, and then the third heavens, where the throne of God is. The Apostle speaks of the third heavens as paradise. That shows how blessed they are: a scene of joy, beauty and glory, a garden of delights, where no shadow of death will ever come.
This also touches what happens to a believer at death:
He identifies being caught up to "the third heaven" with being caught up into "Paradise." It is the highest view of heaven that Scripture gives. It leaves no room for the empty dream that sends a soul to some lower holding place because it has not yet gained the fitness to share the inheritance of the saints in light.
Paul could not say whether he was in his body or out of it. That one admission tells us something about death:
The wonderful experience was his, though he was not sure what his condition was when he had it. This shows us in passing that the "falling asleep" of a believer does not mean the sleep of the soul. Suppose the death of a believer meant total unconsciousness until the coming of the Lord. Then the Apostle would have had no uncertainty. He would have said, "I must have been in the body, for I was conscious. If I had been out of the body, I would have had no consciousness at all."
The man is Paul, and the vision was his alone. The title "a man in Christ" is not:
Of this Paul — of what he knew himself to be down here — he would not boast. But he had been given the enjoyment of his place as a man in Christ, with everything else set aside as far as his awareness went. Of such a one he would boast. And so can we. We may never have been in the third heaven, so we may never have grasped the full glory and privileges of the position we are brought into. Yet we are men in Christ. We have known enough of that blessing to rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory — and the feeblest saint who knows his place in Christ has known enough.
- Caught up, not climbing — Paul did not climb to the third heaven. He was taken there, and he could not say whether his body came too.
- Caught up, so unnamed — the man is Paul. He keeps "I" for the basket and the weakness, and gives anything glorious to "a man in Christ."
- Caught up, so silent — fourteen years passed before he mentioned it. Faith does not boast of visions.
- Caught up to the highest — above the air and the stars is the third heaven, the dwelling place of God. Paul also calls it paradise, a garden of delights.
- Caught up, yet shared — the vision was his alone. The place "in Christ" belongs to the weakest believer, and that is where the joy lies.
And I know such a man, (whether in [the] body or out of the body I know not, God knows;)
For the second time Paul says he cannot explain how it happened; only God knows that. What he does name is where he was taken — paradise, which raises the question of where paradise is and who else may reach it.
Paul will not say "I was caught up." One writer explains why he keeps his own name out of it.
The words "in Christ" matter, because they take him out of himself. In himself he will not boast, but of such a man he will boast. It really was Paul, but he will not admit that it was himself, because he cannot tell whether he was in the body or out of the body. He did not have the ordinary awareness of the senses. He perceives these things now, but at the time he did not know how he knew or saw any of it.
Another writer notices which word Paul uses, and when.
The moment he speaks of something that lifts him up, it is no longer "I," it is "a man in Christ" — which is true of every Christian.
One writer takes the repeated "I do not know" as deliberate. It turns our attention away from how it happened.
He does not know whether it was in the body. He does not know whether it was out of the body. He says this twice, and surely for a reason. He does not want us to dwell on the circumstances, or on the exact part a miracle played in it. We tend to pull back from the miraculous, since we do not expect miracles, but he leaves the question open. He likely thought little of himself, drawn out of himself by the power of what was given to him.
Paul's uncertainty settles something larger. If a person could not be conscious apart from the body, his question would make no sense.
The third heaven is the very highest blessedness a creature can enter — paradise. In Luke 23:43 a redeemed soul, apart from the body, is received there after the Saviour's death. Here in 2 Corinthians a living believer is taken up to paradise, and the apostle could not tell whether he went in the body or out of the body. We ought to be very thankful for this, since many today deny eternal judgment and laugh at the idea of any consciousness out of the body. If they were right, how could Paul say he did not know whether he was "in the body, or out of the body"?
One writer treats the third heaven and paradise as one place, and counts the heavens up to it.
The third heaven speaks of the dwelling place of God. There are the atmospheric heavens, then the starry heavens, and then the third heavens, where the throne of God is. The Apostle speaks of the third heavens as paradise. That shows how blessed a place it is: a scene of joy, beauty and glory — a garden of delights, where no shadow of death will ever come.
Another writer rejects a popular view that puts paradise below the earth.
Some writers believe that Paradise is in the heart of the earth and has two compartments, one for believers and the other for unbelievers. This idea has no foundation in Scripture. 2 Corinthians 12:2 and 4 identifies Paradise with "the third heaven" — the immediate dwelling place of God, while Revelation 2:7 speaks of it as "the Paradise OF GOD," where the tree of life is.
Commentators differ on how far this reaches. One draws a firm line between standing and experience.
Every Christian is a man in Christ, but not every Christian is "caught up into paradise." The first is the true standing of every Christian; the second is a possible experience for a Christian. None of us have been caught up as Paul was. That was something special to him alone.
Another sees the wording chosen so that the sphere Paul entered belongs to all who are in Christ, even though only one man saw it.
Paul certainly had the wonderful experience he describes so vividly. But he puts it in a way meant to show any "man in Christ" that in substance this is his privilege too, as it was Paul's own in actual fact by a miracle. And the man whose work it was to make known God's purposes about Christ and His own for heaven was allowed to hear these things, so that all who are in Christ might know their portion through such a chosen witness.
- Hidden. Paul reports the highest moment of his life as happening to "a man in Christ," never to himself — he will not boast in himself.
- Twice. The repeated "I do not know" is deliberate — it pulls our attention off how it happened and onto what he was given.
- Known. What Paul cannot answer, God can; the very question assumes a person can be conscious apart from the body.
- Paradise. The third heaven is God's dwelling place, and paradise is the same scene — not a compartment below the earth.
- Shared. Commentators differ on whether being caught up was Paul's alone, or a witness to what belongs to everyone in Christ.