12:2 above fourteen years ago. This unique experience of Paul may have been when he was stoned to apparent death at Lystra, then recovered, possibly being miraculously resurrected from the dead (Acts 14:19-20). This is uncertain, however, and there is no other New Testament reference to this event.

12:2 in the body. Paul had already written about a future bodily rapture into heaven and also about the departure of the soul from the body into heaven (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; II Corinthians 5:6-8), so both types of events are possible. In this case he was not sure which it was. Perhaps in His visit to heaven he had encountered both men in physical bodies (e.g., the Old Testament saints raised after Christ’s resurrection—Matthew 27:52-53) and also translated souls awaiting resurrection (see notes on II Corinthians 5:1-8), and he could not be certain of his own state at the time.

12:2 third heaven. The pagans in many cases believed in seven heavens, but there is no Biblical hint of any such thing. It is possible that Paul was translated in time to the future heaven—that is, the new heaven and new earth, the first having been destroyed by water, the second by fire (II Peter 3:5-13). More likely, however, he was translated beyond the heaven of the stars and the heaven of the birds (Genesis 1:15,20) to the heaven where God’s throne is (e.g., Isaiah 14:13; Job 22:12), the heaven to which Christ ascended to the right hand of God at His throne (Mark 16:19; Ephesians 1:20).

12:4 paradise. “Paradise” here seems to be synonymous with the “third heaven” (II Corinthians 12:2), or more likely some specific part of the third heaven. Although the word “paradise” does not occur in the Old Testament, the Septuagint translators of the Old Testament into Greek did use it to translate “the garden of Eden.” It occurs only two other times in the New Testament. Christ told the dying thief: “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Also, He told the church at Ephesus: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). This statement not only relates paradise back to the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22) but also to the future New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:2,14). Although we cannot now be dogmatic, it seems that paradise (perhaps incorporating also the New Jerusalem now being prepared—John 14:2-3) is that region of the third heaven, where all the departed saints are blissfully awaiting, with Christ, the soon-coming day of His return to earth.

12:4 unspeakable words. The marvelous words which Paul heard in paradise are incapable of being communicated to mortal ears (I Corinthians 2:9). Perhaps certain aspects of them, however, were given to enable him to convey the glorious promises of the future resurrection day (e.g., I Corinthians 15:51-57; I Thessalonians 4:13-18). However, there were others he was not allowed to communicate, even if he could.