Here are four textual clues that can help us answer this question. And I have to admit at the get-go, I am attempting to understand Paul’s experience myself. So please read this as an example of thoughts-in-process. With that caveat in place, here we go. 

Somewhat apologetically, Paul describes himself as a man “in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2). What in the world is he talking about? Or better: what in heaven is he talking about? 

Here are four textual clues that can help us answer this question. And I have to admit at the get-go, I am attempting to understand Paul’s experience myself. So please read this as an example of thoughts-in-process. With that caveat in place, here we go. 

First, Paul Defines the Third Heaven as Paradise

Paul in his own words defines the third heaven as “paradise” (2 Cor 12:2). Luke 23:43 records Jesus on the cross as saying, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Since Luke accompanied Paul on some of his journeys, likely they both mean the same thing by the word “paradise.” Luke could have heard Paul preaching and teaching on the matter. 

We can be more specific about what Jesus means by paradise. The thief on the cross asks Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 22:42). Jesus does not reply, “you will be in my kingdom” but “today you will be with me in paradise.” 

Likely, these two concepts (kingdom and paradise) overlap since Jesus claims that God’s power to cast out demons signifies “the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20) and claims that the kingdom of God was in the midst of the Pharisees where Jesus was speaking (Luke 17:21). Where Jesus is, the kingdom is. And Jesus tells the thief “today you will be with me.”

So paradise at least has some conceptual overlap with the kingdom. Both signify at minimum being in the presence of Jesus. 

The other biblical passage that mentions paradise is Revelation 2:7. In that passage, Jesus speaks of the tree of life as being in the paradise of God. Later John identifies the tree of life as being in the city of God where God dwells (Rev 22:2, 14, 19). 

The tree’s leaves will heal the nations and then: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads” (Rev 22:5). So God’s presence, and thus the connection to life, seem to be the reality that John signifies when he speaks about the tree of life. Further, those inside the city of God will live; and those outside of it will sin (Rev 22:14–15).

The point at hand is this: paradise means being in the presence of God who is life. The tree of life symbolizes God’s life-giving presence. In Luke 22, Jesus must mean something similar because he claims that after the thief dies, he will then live in paradise with Jesus. So life comes to the thief alongside of Jesus’s presence. 

Therefore, Paul likely means something like this: he entered into God’s presence by ascending to the third heaven or the paradise of God. That he describes his visionary revelation as a revelation “of the Lord” only confirms this notion (2 Cor 12:1). 

Second, Paul Defines His Experience in Terms of Ascension

To describe what happened in his vision or revelation of the Lord (2 Cor 12:1), Paul says that he was “snatched up” and went to the “third heaven.” Both the language of snatching (arpagenta) and “up to the third heaven” (eos tritou ouranou) describe an upward ascent. 

Since Paul admits to being unable to explain his experience (2 Cor 12:3), we probably should not take his upward ascent too literally. A cross-reference to his 1 Corinthians may clarify his intent here. 

In 1 Corinthians 15:35–49, Paul relays a three-tiered hierarchy of bodies (see Dale Martin, The Corinthian Body). First, he describes earthly bodies (15:40) by using the words “kernel,” “seed,” and “flesh” (sarx). Humans, animals, birds, and fish have different sorts of fleshly bodies (15:39). Paul thus describes earthly and fleshly bodies: “as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven” (15:48).  

Second, he describes heavenly bodies which have differing glories (not flesh types). These celestial bodies with differing glories include the sun, the moon, and the stars (15:40–41).  

Third, he describes spiritual bodies. Paul explains that what is sown naturally (i.e., the body of flesh) will become also “a spiritual body” (15:44). The spiritual body approximates the heavenly bodies with their differing glories. 

The specific cause for our reception of a spiritual body that exists in the celestial realm is Christ’s resurrection. He first gained a spiritual body via the resurrection. So we will also (e.g., 15:49; cf. 15:13–19, 35). 

And Paul explains that a fleshly body cannot inherit the kingdom of God: “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 15:50). Then Paul goes on to explain what this spiritual body will look like (15:51–54). This body corresponds to and is continuous with our earthly body, however, because Paul says, “And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain” (1 Cor 15:37). 

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