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"I must
boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and
revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was
caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do
not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise -
whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows - and he
heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter."
(2 Corinthians 12:1-4) This passage
has been used in support of the unbiblical teaching that the real person is
an "immortal soul", which can exist without the body. A further
illogical extension then claims that since the man Paul speaks about went to
"paradise", it is implied that the immortal souls of all the saved
also go to Heaven at death. Some even go so
far as to speculate that Paul died when he was stoned at Lystra, and that
this is his own vision, received at that time by his immortal soul, when it
paid a visit to Heaven before he returned to life. Then with a step of
remarkable circular logic, this claim is advanced as "proof" of the
existence of Paul's immortal soul! PAUL'S SUBJECT The first thing
to notice here, is that Paul's subject in these verses is not "Life
After Death". It is about "Visions and Revelations" received
by the living! Paul is addressing
the problem of "False Prophets" and "False Apostles" in
the Church at Corinth. There were men
at Corinth who had disguised themselves as "servants of
righteousness". They were preaching a "Different Gospel", by
which the Corinthians were being led astray from the truth. (2 Corinthians 11:1-15) It is in this
context that Paul wrote about the man who had been caught up to the third
heaven, fourteen years previously. There was a pressing need to remind the
Corinthians that Paul's own "spiritual experiences" were in no way
inferior to those of the "false apostles". WAS IT PAUL'S
OWN VISION? It seems more
than possible that it is Paul's own vision ..... but it must be emphasised
that this is a speculative conclusion. The evidence is not definite enough to
be dogmatic. WAS PAUL DEAD
WHEN HE RECEIVED IT? We have just
said above that it cannot be proved beyond doubt that this is actually Paul's
own vision. However, even
if it was, there is absolutely no Biblical connection at all, between the
vision and Paul's stoning at Lystra! Nor can it be proved that Paul actually
died in that incident. Indeed Luke's language might well suggest otherwise. And if the man
was not dead, the suggestion that Paul had a vision as a result of an
"out of body experience", is repugnant to those who see such things
in the same light as "Astral Travel" - forbidden by God! THE THIRD
HEAVEN Some have invented
the very speculative notion that there are three levels in Heaven. According
to this theory, the Third Heaven is said to be the upper level which is the
abode of God and His angels! There is of
course, absolutely no Biblical foundation for this fanciful theory. However,
Peter's second epistle offers a much more satisfactory possibility. There,
Peter actually writes about, not only three Heavens, but also three earths! The First
Heavens & Earth "They deliberately ignore this fact, that
by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water
and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged
with water and perished." (2
Peter 3:5-6) The Second
Heavens & Earth "But by the same word the heavens and
earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day
of judgment and destruction of ungodly men."
(2 Peter 3:7) The Third
Heavens & Earth "But according to his promise we wait for
new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."
(2 Peter 3:13) The vision
which Paul describes is most likely not a visit to the heaven where God
lives. Instead, it is a vision of the Kingdom of God in the "Age to
Come", after Jesus returns to the Earth. The Third
Heaven is third in time ..... not in place. It is the New
Heaven in the new World Order, which will appear after the fiery destruction
of this present evil system. IN THE BODY OR
OUT OF THE BODY? "In the
body" would mean simply that the man who had the vision was transported
physically in time and space, to the Age to come. "Out of
the body" does not mean an "immortal soul operating
independently"! In the "The RSV Interlinear Greek-English
Text", the interlinear literal translation is "outside the
body". All this means
is that the events of the vision were some other time and place than that in
which the man was when he had the vision. He was not physically present. He
saw them in vision only. A free
paraphrase of what Paul is actually saying would be something like, "The
revelation was so real, that the man isn't sure whether he was really
physically there, or just having a vision without actually being there." It certainly
does not say that the man's immortal soul went there without his body, while
he was (temporarily) dead! Peter
experienced something similar when he was released from prison by an angel. "He did not
know whether what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a
vision." (Acts
12:9) IN PARADISE? "The third
heaven" and "Paradise" are used interchangeably in the
passage. The Greek word
for "Paradise", is used in the Septuagint version to describe
"The Garden of Eden". Jesus also used
it when speaking to the Thief on the Cross, to describe His future Kingdom on
Earth. It is used in the same way in Revelation 2:7. It never
means "The Heaven where God and the angels live". CONCLUSION It takes a
great deal of illogical speculation to infer that this passage can be a
"proof" of the immortality of the soul. If we start from the
correct Biblical position, the fallacy of that speculation becomes obvious. The real truth
is that in other places, the Scriptures plainly say that the dead are asleep
without any conscious existence. (Daniel 12:2
& 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15
& Ecclesiastes 9:5) The popular
concept of "immortal souls" going to Heaven at death, has no
foundation in the Scriptures. All hope of
life after death depends entirely on God's promise of a future resurrection
of the body. (1 Corinthians 15:12-21) |