What does it mean that Paul went to the third heaven?

(Vv. 1-6.) Thus he passes on to speak of "visions and revelations of the Lord." He recounts a remarkable experience he had enjoyed 14 years previously. The carnally-minded Christian would doubtless at once, and again and again, have boasted of such an experience. But the Apostle, realising that it is not expedient to boast, had refrained from any allusion to this experience for fourteen years. He has just told us of a humiliating experience as in the body; now he tells us of a wonderful experience that had been his as "a man in Christ." The one who had known what it was to be "let down" in a basket upon earth, had experienced also the immense privilege of being "caught up to the third heaven." The third heaven speaks of the dwelling-place of God. There are the atmospheric heavens, then the starry heavens, and then the third heavens wherein is the throne of God. The Apostle speaks of the third heavens as paradise, indicating the blessedness of the third heavens as a scene of joy, and beauty, and glory — a garden of delights, where no shadow of death will ever come. He is careful to tell us that it was not as a man in the flesh that he was caught up, but as "a man in Christ." Of his natural advantages as a man in the flesh, he tells us, in another epistle, that he counts them but filth: but of position and privileges as a man in Christ he can rightly glory, for all the blessings of our place in Christ we owe to Christ. Caught up into paradise he was no longer conscious of the body, with its needs and weaknesses. There he had heard things of which it would be wholly out of place to speak, even to Christians while on earth and in these mortal bodies. Nevertheless, let us remember that though we have no such miraculous experiences, as being caught up into the third heavens, yet all that was revealed to the Apostle, when caught up, belongs to the simplest believer as being "in Christ."

The wonderful experience was his, though he was uncertain what exactly was his condition when he had it. Incidentally this shows us that the "falling asleep" of a saint does not mean the sleep of the soul. If the death of a saint involves his total unconsciousness until the coming of the Lord, then the Apostle would have been in no uncertainty. He would have said, "I must have been in the body for I was conscious: had I been out of the body I should have had no consciousness at all."

This man in Christ was caught up to the third heaven; that is, the immediate presence of God, of which the holiest in the tabernacle was a type. We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, and Paul found that as a man in Christ he had free access into the third heaven, which he identifies with Paradise, into which the thief went with Christ. During his sojourn there he found himself in touch with a range of things entirely outside anything known in this world. He heard, "unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

This does not mean that he heard mysterious utterances quite unintelligible to him, but that the things he heard, and doubtless understood in some degree, were so exalted as to be beyond us in our present condition. The things spoken about in the third heaven cannot be communicated to us. We have no language in which they can be expressed. And further, if it were possible to convey to us a little of that "eternal weight of glory" it would only crush us in our present condition of weakness. Hence Paul was not allowed to utter the things he heard, even if he could have found words in which to clothe the things revealed. This vision and revelation from the Lord was a special privilege conferred upon him, and for his own illumination and strengthening.

Not less inconsistent with the low and superstitious idea is the light conveyed by the apostle Paul's words in 2 Cor. 12:2-5. He identifies being caught up to "the third heaven" with being caught up into "Paradise." It is the highest view of heaven that scripture discloses; it leaves no room for the idle dream which consigns to some lower receptacle a soul whose fitness to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light is not achieved. For this meetness is taught by Col. 1:12 to be already conferred by grace on all believers here. The scheme, so widely preached now, is a dark unbelief of the gospel, derived from mere Jews and Gentiles, not from scripture, and meant to comfort those who die in their sins without Christ by a hope wholly unwarranted. There is not the smallest ground for it in inspiration.

Paradise. — A word on paradise. It is Greek, and said to be derived, whether rightly or not, from the Persian, and is used of an enclosed garden or pleasure park (Cant. 4:13; Neh. 2:8). In the New Testament it occurs as descriptive of the present place of the unclothed saints (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4), and also of their future place of bliss, in which will be found the tree of life (Rev. 2:7). Understanding that the word is used of an enclosed park or pleasure ground, there need be no surprise to find it applied to the garden of Eden of old, to the present abode of the departed saints, and to the future place of bliss likewise. St. Paul clearly distinguishes it from the third heaven. He was caught (2 Cor. 12:2) up to, or as far as, the third heaven where God dwells. He was caught up into paradise, the place where the unclothed saints now are, and there heard what he could not communicate to mortals on earth. It was of this place that the Lord spoke to the thief. Paradise then is used of definite places or regions provided for the blessing of men, whether on earth, as in the past, or elsewhere, as now, and in the heavenlies in the future.

If in chapter 11 we have seen God's grace in sustaining the vessel through all adversity, Paul now speaks of the other side of this, the grace which gives unspeakable blessedness in being "caught up" above all earthly things and occupations. He speaks of this as "visions and revelations of the Lord." It is not that he is basing any Christian teaching whatever upon this experience, but rather indicating thereby that such things may be in measure known to anyone who is "in Christ." Verse 2 is rightly translated, "I know a man in Christ." It is manifestly he himself of whom Paul speaks (as verse 7 proves); and he does not write of this until fourteen years after it happened, for it did not involve anything that, as an apostle, he was bound to communicate. The experience was simply that of "a man in Christ," and written now no doubt as an encouragement to all who are "in Christ," not as a revelation to others of the will of God. But the occasion was so sublimely that of spiritual blessedness, that he was not at all conscious of whether or not his body was present with him. This is repeated in verse 3, no doubt to press home the fact that this was something above and outside of the flesh. First it is said he was caught up to the third heaven; and this is further described in verse 4 as "paradise." This is one of three times that paradise is mentioned in the New Testament, and each indicates the presence of God, the meaning being "a garden of delights." If the first heaven is that of earth's atmosphere, and the second the astronomical heaven, then the third is higher than human intellect reaches, indescribable therefore by material comparisons.

He says nothing of the wonder of the vision, no doubt because this was beyond description, just as the words he heard were impossible to communicate to others. But Paul's writing of this as he does, is an effective guard for us against accepting men's descriptions of their visions as establishing some particular teaching. If anyone could have based anything upon his vision, Paul would be the man; but while the vision was deeply precious to himself, he could not even share it with others.

He speaks then of this man in Christ, — a heavenly man, because Christ is heavenly, — taken up into his own sphere, in heaven, in a marvelous way, of which he can give no account. Whether it was in the body, he knows not. Whether it was out of the body, he knows not. He says this twice, for a purpose doubtless. He would have us not think upon the circumstances so much, upon the exact part that miracle had to do with it; for from the miraculous we naturally seek to withdraw ourselves, (we do not expect miracles,) but he leaves it open. He was caught away to the third heaven, whether in body or in spirit he cannot really tell. He thought, perhaps, but little of himself, drawn out of himself as he was by the power of what was communicated to him. It was a joy indeed beyond expression, the Paradise of God, which was somehow opened to him, something which had value and power for his soul, which he could not even utter to others.

Here is the man to glory in, he says; and he separates this man, as it were, from himself, the man in the flesh, who can glory only in his infirmities. How plainly it seems that he would have us separate what he was himself from this wondrous vision given to him! It seems as if he would designedly have us separate all that was exceptional in him from this which is yet in itself so exceptional to all experiences. But would he not open the door thus to us, as far as he could open it? Would he not say, I a man in Christ, as such, was caught up to the third heaven? "Such an one." How many of us could except ourselves from this, and say we are not such? We are not Christians at all if that be not true of us. Such an one as this was caught up to the third heaven. Would not God draw our hearts after such unspeakable blessedness, and would He not satisfy hearts that He had thus taught to long after it? "He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." How good if only we longed with an irrepressible longing for that which God must needs come in to satisfy!

But indeed we must not separate the man that Paul was in another sense from the vision which he enjoyed. We may separate the apostle, but we must not separate the man devoted to Christ; the man who, having received Christ Jesus the Lord, walked so really in Him; the man for whom earth was marked by the cross, and to whom therefore, heaven was open. Let us lay all possible emphasis upon such things as this. There is no royal way into the enjoyment of such things by a mere desire to have visions. The way is only by the way Paul really entered. We are right in believing that there was something exceptional about him. We are wrong in believing that it was a mere official distinction, as one may say; something, therefore, which separates us in kind from the man who enjoyed these things. It was the man who himself, in the joy of what he was in Christ, sought with his whole heart to present every man perfect in that same Christ whom he enjoyed. It was this man whom God caught somehow away into Paradise, and made him hear unspeakable things, the joy of which remained, however too deep for utterance. But we are immediately reminded now, that after all here was a man, upon another side, very like ourselves; a man who, if he looked at himself, could glory only in those infirmities which left him the weak creature that he was, in the hands of a God almighty for him. He does not now want to glorify himself with these revelations. He desires none to think of him above that which he sees him really to be, or hears about him.

Verse 2 should read, "I know a man," not "I knew"; he knew him while he wrote. The fourteen years ago is when it happened. "I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago caught up." The term "in Christ" is important, because that takes him out of himself; for he says, in himself he will not glory, but of such a one he will glory. The sense is, a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up. For it really was Paul; but he will not allow it was himself, because whether in the body or out of the body he cannot tell. He had not a consciousness of human perceptions; he perceived these things now, but then he did not know how he knew or saw it all. There is consciousness of the body and so he could not say whether in or out. His perceptions were gone from him; and when he got back, he could not tell about them; he did not receive them humanly, neither could he communicate them humanly. The church he had by revelation as he says. We have it as a thing we are accustomed to, but to have had it all come in fresh - a revelation - a thing we have never known nor heard of before, is an amazing thing: and especially so to him, a strong Jew.

The entire allusion is as peculiar as wise and suited. "I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago." Faith does not boast of visions and revelations of the Lord, any more than of its doings: of trials and sufferings one may speak if compelled, and so too of that which appertains to every man in Christ, though one alone got the vision. So David said not a word about the lion and the bear which he was enabled to kill while engaged in his lowly task, till it was needful to allay the fears of others to God's glory; and the apostle only spoke many years after a wondrous experience which others less spiritual would have talked of everywhere for as many years or more. What would not the Corinthians or their misleaders have made of it?

Prophets of old have known what it is to look on scenes outside man's experience. So Isaiah, the year in which king Uzziah died, beheld the Lord on His throne with the Seraphim in attendance on His glory, that he might fittingly to the people bear witness of their evil but of the virgin-born Jehovah-Messiah who should establish the kingdom and deliver the people from their sins to God's glory. Ezekiel too was lifted up between earth and heaven and transported to Jerusalem in the visions of God and the temple (Ezek. 8 - 11), as afterwards to Chaldea (ver. 24), and finally to the land of Israel (Ezek. 40 - 48) for the future temple and city and division of the land. Nor is it only in the great Apocalyptic prophecy of the New Testament that we trace the analogy of these ways of the Spirit, but we see His power in catching away Philip bodily to Azotus or Ashdod, from the neighbourhood, one of the roads leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. As for the apostle, he says "(whether [in the] body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know not: God knows), such an one caught up to the third heaven." It was not dubious, but transcendent, knowledge; and God who gave it hid from the apostle whether it was in spirit only or in bodily presence also. Certainly, if caught up like Philip, there was left such a sense of the glory as was too deep and bright for human words or for present circumstances. Body there or not, he was not hindered from feeling the glory to be beyond the measure of man. There the glorified will be to enjoy all with Christ at His coming, in bodies like His own; and there the disembodied saint goes to be with Him; there too Paul as a man in Christ, but Paul actually as apostle and prophet that we might learn now, was taken up. "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." In the mysteries of the old heathen there were "unspeakable words," but they were strange forms of language to alarm and overawe the mind. Here the things forbade communication as rising completely in their nature above all that surrounds or is natural to us.

There is a great contrast between the beginning and end of this chapter, between Paul caught up to the third heavens and the Christians at Corinth, between what a Christian should be and what he can be, what he can descend to. In verse 2 we have a great privilege, which it is useful to consider. Paul speaks of himself as a man in Christ, and this is what characterizes every Christian, the whole Church. It was not in his quality of apostle that Paul was caught up to the third heavens, but as a man in Christ, on a level with the rest of the Church. He that is in Christ is a new creation, and has his place in the third heavens, although every man in Christ is not caught up there like the apostle. But we are quickened together with Christ, seated together in heavenly places in Christ. There is no spot which faith cannot penetrate.

Paul did not receive a revelation in the third heavens in order to communicate it to others; on the contrary, he went there to hear mysteries which it is not lawful for a man to utter; he went there to realize the presence of God, and to draw thence his strength. When the eye of faith penetrates God's presence it finds there, together with communion, strength to walk before Him in all circumstances. Neither is it here as on the holy mountain, the sight of the future glory of Christ; it is communion with God, in which the body cannot share, to which it even becomes insensible. The principle of this communion applies to us all; the degree is not the same as with Paul, but our great and common privilege is this: "That ye also may have fellowship with us" (the apostles); "And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."

There is a great contrast between the beginning and end of this chapter, between Paul caught up to the third heavens and the Christians at Corinth, between what a Christian should be and what he can be, what he can descend to. In verse 2 we have a great privilege, which it is useful to consider. Paul speaks of himself as a man in Christ, and this is what characterizes every Christian, the whole Church. It was not in his quality of apostle that Paul was caught up to the third heavens, but as a man in Christ, on a level with the rest of the Church. He that is in Christ is a new creation, and has his place in the third heavens, although every man in Christ is not caught up there like the apostle. But we are quickened together with Christ, seated together in heavenly places in Christ. There is no spot which faith cannot penetrate.

Paul did not receive a revelation in the third heavens in order to communicate it to others; on the contrary, he went there to hear mysteries which it is not lawful for a man to utter; he went there to realize the presence of God, and to draw thence his strength. When the eye of faith penetrates God's presence it finds there, together with communion, strength to walk before Him in all circumstances. Neither is it here as on the holy mountain, the sight of the future glory of Christ; it is communion with God, in which the body cannot share, to which it even becomes insensible. The principle of this communion applies to us all; the degree is not the same as with Paul, but our great and common privilege is this: "That ye also may have fellowship with us" (the apostles); "And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."