Title: Paradise Seen by Paul
Contents
Paul's Paradise
(2 Corinthians 12:1-6)
Paul boasted to the Corinthians that he had many things to boast about, but when Paul comes in chapter 12, he tells a revelation from heaven that he should really be proud of. Perhaps the false teachers who appeared in the Corinthian church boasted a lot about visions, revelations, or visions. But their boasting was nothing compared to Paul's. For their boasting is wrong, and Paul's boasting is true.
1. The testimony that ascended to the third heaven
Paul speaks of a wonderful spiritual experience in verse 2 and below. This experience already happened 14 years ago. At this time, it can be considered to be around AD 43. And yet, Paul's still silence about this wonderful experience of his shows that he never boasted about the revelations he had received, and that he was careful and humble about the secrets of heaven. Paul speaks of his experience by turning it into a third person.
It is clear that Paul is speaking of his own experience, since he indirectly identifies himself in verse 7 as this man expressed in the words 'I know a man who is in Christ'. He said he was taken to the third heaven. The third heaven means the same place as the word paradise revealed in verse 4, and we can see this place as heaven. The third heaven can be seen as the meaning of heaven above the heavens, and it can be seen that it is consistent with the word 'above all heaven' in Ephesians 4:10. According to the apocryphal scriptures, the third heaven is spoken of as a dwelling place for the righteous dead (Enoch 8:13).
Speaking of this mystical experience, Paul said that he did not know whether this vision was in the body or whether it was experienced spiritually outside the body. These expressions of Paul are confessing that the appearance of the third heaven that he saw was, in his opinion, the feeling that his body actually ascended and experienced. But Paul is saying, 'I don't know, but God knows' out of a humble thought that maybe not.
However, by repeating the words 'he was taken to paradise' twice, it seems that he believed that he had ascended into the body. He said that the place he went up was paradise. Paradise is the Greek word 'paradison' ( ), which means 'garden'. In the Bible, this paradise is used to refer to the Garden of Eden, where Adam lived, and also to the presence of God (Ezekiel 28:13). It is the place Jesus promised to the repentant thief, and in Revelation 2:7 it is indicated as the place of eternal life that overcomers will gain. Judging from these various expressions, it can be said that paradise means heaven.
2. What Paul Heard in Paradise
In verse 4 Paul says, 'He was taken away into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which no man can utter.' It is a great secret that he went up to the third heaven, Paradise, and there he heard words that no one could truly say. It is not revealed who said who said this, but it can be seen that it refers to the fact that he met the Lord and heard the secrets of the kingdom of God.
The meaning of words that cannot be uttered by man means that it was an ideal that cannot be expressed in human words, or that it cannot be revealed because he was instructed not to reveal a special revelation that was only shown to Paul. In any case, it must be said that Paul refrained from speaking because the sights there or the stories he heard there could lead to mystical misunderstanding and it would not be beneficial to hear such things. Recently, people who testify that they have been to heaven appear frequently and cause confusion.
However, even Paul, who had been taken to Paradise himself, refrained from talking about it, so it is a false revelation that people who cannot believe they have been to heaven testify about it. Paul clearly tells his own case, but he is speaking through a third person because he was afraid that the story of this amazing experience would be seen as bragging and that he was bragging about himself. But, referring to himself, he said, 'For my sake I will not boast except in weak things.'
Conclusion: Paul had many weaknesses. He was infinitely weak before God. And he was weak even before the Corinthians. Paul believed that all the difficulties he faced came from his weakness, but that he was the strongest in the sight of God.