2 Corinthians 12:2–4

Context

This passage is part of 2 Corinthians, the letter Paul sent to the church at Corinth. In chapters 11–12, Paul confronts the "very chiefest apostles" (11:5) who had entered the Corinthian church and were disparaging him, and he boasts of himself as though he were a "fool." After announcing in 12:1 that he will come to "visions and revelations of the Lord," he describes an experience from fourteen years earlier in the third person, as though it had happened to "a man in Christ." Immediately afterward, in 2 Corinthians 12:7–10, he speaks of "a thorn in the flesh" and concludes that he boasts not in his experiences but in his weaknesses.

Interpretation

• Who is "the man"? Most commentators take him to be Paul himself, since in verse 7 Paul goes on to speak of "the abundance of the revelations." The third-person form is read as an expression of humility, a way of refraining from boasting.
• "The third heaven" and "paradise": Following the Jewish idiom of the time, which spoke of heaven as having multiple levels, the third heaven is often understood as the place where God dwells. Interpreters differ on whether the third heaven of verse 2 and the paradise of verse 4 are the same place or two stages of a single experience.
• "Whether in the body, or out of the body": Paul says he does not know and leaves the judgment to God. Many interpreters take this as an indication that the manner of the experience is not the concern of the passage.

Debates and Issues

In Pentecostal and charismatic circles, this passage is sometimes cited as an example of God's continuing ability to give visions and revelations today. By contrast, cessationists in the Reformed tradition regard it as a special revelation given to an apostle and do not treat it as normative for ordinary believers (see Cessationism and Continuationism).

The use of this passage as a basis for testimonies of having visited heaven or hell has also drawn criticism. Critics point to the following:

• Paul did not relate the content of what he heard, calling it "unspeakable words."
• Paul did not disclose this experience for fourteen years.
• In the end, Paul boasted not in the experience but in his weakness.

On these grounds, critics argue that testimonies describing the appearance of heaven in detail are at odds with the restraint shown in the passage.

Perspective: Korean Protestant practiceHow this idea is used in Korean churches, kept from the original Korean article.

In Korean Protestant preaching, the "third heaven" is commonly called the "three-tiered heaven" (samcheungcheon) and is cited in explanations of heaven and hell. The passage was also frequently invoked as a proof text when testimonies of heavenly experiences spread in Korea through books and meetings.

Related Passages

• 2 Corinthians 12:1
• Revelation 2:7
• Luke 23:43
• 2 Corinthians 5:8