Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 26 July
2026
Underlined words in Scripture quotes indicate words that
are in common with the Greek text of the sermon passage. Otherwise,
underlining indicates words to emphasize when reading this transcript
out loud. Omitting greyed-out text should
reduce read-aloud time to about 45
minutes.
When I think of humility in an extraordinary person, Phil Keaggy comes to mind. It is reported that guitar legend Jimmi Hendrix was asked before he died in 1970 what it was like to be the greatest guitarist in the world, and he answered, “Ask Phil Keaggy.” Phil recorded one of his first albums at Hendrix’s studio and since then has recorded over 60 albums to much critical acclaim, including seven Dove Awards, a Grammy, recognition as the top fingerstyle guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine, and the Golden Note award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. I’ve been to several of his concerts where it was just him and his guitar, and his skill at playing, singing, and composing is so totally enthralling that he doesn’t need a band. Someone with that level of skill and achievement could be very arrogant, but that’s not the attitude I’ve seen in him in the few conversations I’ve had with him. Several years ago I went to a workshop that he was leading, and the last night was a talent show where everybody was invited to play a song. Phil offered to accompany any of us who needed a guitar, so I took him up on the offer, but I asked him to play bass to accompany me on my guitar. As I finished my song and stepped away from the stage, I felt a tug on the back of my shirt. I was afraid that my shirt had gotten caught on a music stand or something, but as I turned around, it was Phil. He said, “Hey, I’m sorry for grabbing your shirt like that to get your attention; I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t remember your name. Anyway, I really appreciated your song. It was very good. Thanks for letting me play it with you!” There the greatest guitarist in the world was thanking me for inviting him to play a minor role in my performance, when it should have been me falling all over myself to thank him! That kind of humility makes me want to know more about the grace of God in a person’s life! And that’s an attitude we see in the Apostle Paul as well.
Read
my translation of the passage, starting at 2 Cor. 12:1
It
certainly is not fitting for me to brag about myself, yet I will
proceed to visions and revelations of the Lord. I have known a
man in the Anointed One, who, 14 years ago (whether in the body I do
not know, whether outside of the body I do not know; God knows),
said man was snatched up to the third heaven. And I have known said
man (whether in the body, whether outside of the body I do not know;
God knows), that he was snatched up into His paradise, and he heard
indistinguishable words which are not authorized to mankind to
utter. I will brag on behalf of said man, but I will not brag on
behalf of myself, unless it’s in my weaknesses, for if I happened
to want to brag about myself, I would not be silly, because it’s
the truth that I would be speaking, but I am restraining myself lest
someone might start reckoning to me more than what he sees me to be
or what he hears from me.
If you’re reading a King James version, verse 1 follows the vast majority of Greek manuscripts with, “It is doubtless not profitable/expedient for me to boast, [yet] I will come to visions and revelations.”
But most English versions today follow the three oldest-known Greek manuscripts which read, “It is necessary to boast of myself. On the one hand it is not fitting, but I will go on to visions and revelations.”
Some of the later manuscripts and historic versions straddle the differences between those two textual traditions, but both traditions still convey the same basic idea that Paul chose to boast despite the fact that it wasn’t ideal to do so – only because he felt it was necessary.
“And why... is it ‘not expedient for me’? … [L]est it lift me up to pride.” ~John Chrysostom, c. 400 AD
Paul already introduced this in chapter 11, calling it “silly/foolish” to have to “boast a little1” to defend his credentials as an apostle, after he had obviously done the work of an apostle in Corinth by planting their church in the first place. But he says in chapter 11 verse 18 that, “Since many are bragging in accordance with flesh, I myself will also brag!” And then he went on to recount how he had hazarded his life and endured tremendous persecution to tell the Gentile world the good news of salvation through Jesus.
The next category of boast which Paul shares is perhaps even more impressive, although tantalizingly brief: He says that he has had “visions and revelations from the Lord”!
What is a “vision”?
The root of this Greek word is the word for “eyes,” so it describes something seen by the eyes (not something from a dream). There are only six visions described by this word in the Greek Bible:
First, it is used to describe two of the “visions” Daniel had:
first of the Angel Gabriel who, after Daniel had confessed the sins of his people, encouraged him and gave him the prophecy of the 70 weeks in chapter 9,
and then in chapters 10-11 of the brilliant, golden man on the bank of the Tigris River who told Daniel of the succession of empires to come in the future.
Next is Malachi’s prophecy of the future when the Messiah would “suddenly come to His temple” (Malachi 3:2 “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire…” ~KJV)
Then in the Gospel of Luke, this word is used to describe the “appearance” of the angel of the Lord, Gabriel, to Zacharias the priest to foretell the birth and mission of John the Baptizer. (Luke 1:22)
And in Luke 24:23, it is used to describe the “appearance” of the resurrected Jesus to Mary and the women at the empty tomb.
And finally it is used in Acts 26:19 in Paul’s testimony before King Agrippa of the vision which he had seen on the road to Damascus. Starting back at Acts 26:13, Paul said, “[A]t midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared2 to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Therefore... I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision…”
Note, however, that this was not Paul’s only vision. The appearance of the glorious Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus is just the only one we have on record as being called a “vision.” The word is plural here in 2 Corinthians 12:1, so Paul experienced at least one other such vision. It has been suggested that Paul might also be referring to:
When God commanded him after his conversion to preach to the Gentiles in Acts 22:17-21 “Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me... Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’” (NKJV)
Or when Paul prayed for God to remove his mysterious “thorn in his flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He [the Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ ...” (NKJV)
Or when Paul was in Asia Minor on his second missionary journey, “And a vision3 appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:9-10, NKJV)
Or, shortly thereafter, during his first visit to Corinth, after Paul was rebuffed by the synagogue leaders in Acts 18:9 “Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision4, ‘Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent.’” (NKJV)
And Paul not only received “visions,” he also received “revelations”:
What is a “revelation”?
This Greek word apo-kalupseis literally means to “un-cover” and thus to “reveal” something which was hidden under a covering until that time.
In Luke 2:32, the priest who performed the purification rite for Mary after the birth of Jesus prophesied that Jesus would be, “A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles…” (NKJV)
And throughout the rest of the New Testament it is used to describe the good news that Jesus is God’s Anointed One, revealing, after thousands of years of obscurity, the name and person of the Messiah:
Romans 16:25-26 “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations... for obedience to the faith…” (NKJV, cf. 1 Cor. 14:6 & 26)
Galatians 1:11-16 “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it... But... it pleased God... to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…” (NKJV)
Ephesians 3:3 “...by revelation He made known to me the mystery…” (NKJV) This seems to relate to Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus when he realized for the first time that Jesus was God’s Anointed One. The good news of Jesus was a “revelation” to Paul.
In Ephesians 1:16-20, Paul also relates “revelation” to the work of the Holy Spirit to regenerate unbelievers as they hear the Gospel from a preacher: “I... pray... that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the Glory may donate to y'all a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in knowledge of Him... resulting in y'all knowing: what the hope of His call is, what the wealth of the glory of His inheritance in the saints is, and what the hyperbolic greatness of His power into us believers is... which He worked in the Christ when He raised out of the dead and seated Him in His right hand in the heavens...” (NAW)
Peter says something similar in 1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, after girding up the loins of y'all's mind... start hoping upon the grace which is being brought to y'all in the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (NAW) Preaching “reveals” the good news about Jesus.
The word “revelation” is also used to describe the second coming of Christ, when Jesus will make Himself visible to the world again and will reveal justice and mercy in their ultimate forms.
1 Cor. 1:7 “...you are eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (NAW)
2 Thessalonians 1:7 “...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels…” (NKJV, cf. 1 Pet. 1:7 & 4:13)
Romans 2:5 “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God…” (NKJV)
Romans 8:18-19 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” (NKJV)
The word “revelation” is also used to describe other visions:
such as the New Testament book of Revelation (Rev. 1:1),
and the one Paul mentions in Galatians 2:1-2 “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation…” (NKJV) What the exact nature of that “revelation” was, is not certain.
And there were at least two other special messages which God revealed to Paul later on after he wrote his letters to the Corinthians, and they are recorded toward the end of the book of Acts5.
So God indeed related to Paul in some special ways to equip, encourage, and lead him in the beginning of the spread of the Gospel to the world, but there’s more!
In v.2, Paul introduces himself as “a man in Christ” whom he “knows.”
This appears to be a way of speaking modestly and humbly about himself, despite his extraordinary spiritual experiences. Instead of saying, “Hey, you ought to know that I’ve been to the third heaven!” He says, “I know a Christian who has been there... this is a man that I know.6”
But Paul hastens to say that there are things he does not “know” about his ecstatic experiences – all he knows is that he had them and that God is the one who really knows all about them. Once again, this indicates humility on his part not to be a know-it-all just because he had a special vision from God.
“[L]et us learn from this, that we must seek the knowledge of those things only that are necessary to be known, and leave other things to God. ([“for the secret things belong to the LORD”] Deuteronomy 29:29)” ~J. Calvin, 1546 AD
Paul is, however, not uncertain about his being “in Christ.”
This phrase “in Christ” means “in personal association with God’s Anointed Prophet, High Priest, and King for His people, namely Jesus.” This association or connection with Jesus is made by grace through faith – Jesus initiates the relationship with us by sending His Spirit to regenerate us, and we respond to Him by trusting Him to teach us what is true, to make us right with God, and to lead us into eternity with Him, and so we are “in Christ.”
Paul connected the aspect of God’s initiative in regeneration and justification with us being “in Christ” in 1 Corinthians 1:30 “Now it is from Him that you have existence in Christ Jesus, Who became wisdom to us from God and also righteousness, holiness, and redemption...” (NAW, cf. 1 John 5:20)
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in the Anointed One, there is a renewed creation; the old things have passed away. Look! All things have become renewed!” (NAW)
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (NKJV, cf. 16:3 & 7)
Colossians 1:28 “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” (NKJV)
In 2 Corinthians 12:2, Paul puts a time stamp of “fourteen years ago” on this experience:
It seems that Paul is counting backward from AD 55 or 56 (when he wrote 2 Corinthians) to a point towards the end of his quiet years in Tarsus7 (or perhaps at the beginning of his return to Antioch8) – a time that the Bible tell us almost nothing about. (The fact that the length of time recorded in Galatians 2 between his conversion and his apostolic ministry was also 14 years is just coincidence.)
5th century church father John Chrysostom9 noted that “[H]e stated the time, ‘fourteen years’ … to show that he who had refrained for so long a time would not now have spoken out, except the necessity for doing so had been great. But he would have still kept silence, had he not seen the brethren perishing.”
Paul’s repetition of the phrase “in the body... or out of the body” is curious. It is not emphasized anywhere else in Scripture as being important whether a special experience with God happened really physically or as an out-of-body experience like a dream. I suppose, Paul is de-emphasizing this distinction as well by saying that he doesn’t know which it was in his case either.
But the punch line is that he was “caught up to the third heaven”!
Revelation 21:1 tells us that the “...first heaven and the first earth [will] pass… away” on Judgment Day, and a “new heavens and a new earth” will be created for God’s people (which might be the second heaven), but nowhere else in the Bible do we find this phrase “third heaven” (or any higher number). It is generally agreed, however, that the “third heaven” denotes, not the physical “sky,” but the unseen, glorious, spiritual dwelling-place of God10.
This suddenly puts the despised Paul on a par with the great prophet Ezekiel11, who had a similar experience. Ezekiel 8:1-4 “And it came to pass... as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there. Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire—from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the color of amber. He stretched out the form of a hand, and took12 me by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted9 me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions13 of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court... And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision10 that I saw in the plain.” (NKJV)
And what did Paul see in the “third heaven”? Presumably he saw Jesus, who,
according to Rev. 12:5, had previously been “...caught up to God and His throne.” (NKJV)
and who, according to Ephesians 4:10 “...is Himself also the one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order that He might fill all things.” (NAW)
In v.4, Paul equates the “third heaven” with “paradise.” There are only two other occurrences of the word “Paradise” in the Greek New Testament:
Luke 23:43, when Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross, “...today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (NKJV)
and Revelation 2:7 “...To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” (NKJV)
In the Greek Old Testament, “paradise” was first used to denote the Garden of Eden and then later to denote the “garden” area around any person’s house.
It is privately-owned land which is cultivated according to the owner’s character. It is a safe place with a border or wall around it, and there are always fruit trees, so guests have no reason to go hungry, so it a place for rest and enjoyment for guests of the owner – the owner in this case being God. Here Paul describes heaven in terms of a peaceful and delightful garden environment around God’s heavenly dwelling.
We are not told in v.4 what Paul saw; we are only told that he heard “words” which were “unspeakable/inexpressible/ineffable.” The Greek adjective ἄρρητα occurs nowhere else in the entire Greek Bible, but it is the alpha privative form of the Greek word translated “expressly/explicitly/clearly” in 1 Timothy 4:1, which suggests to me that the meaning in 2 Corinthians 12:4 is not so much that the words Paul heard were unable to be spoken, but that the words were unclear, or indistinct to Paul. But whether they were merely unclear or unutterable, God made it clear to Paul that he was not authorized to tell anybody what they were anyway.
This reminds me of the times that other prophets had heavenly visions where they heard indistinct roaring sounds as well as articulate speech which could be passed on (as well as things which they weren’t allowed to pass on):
Ezekiel 1:1-5 (The vision that he first had “on the plains”) “Now it came to pass... as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God... behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures…. 24 ...I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings… And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.” (NKJV)
A similar thing happened in Daniel’s apocalyptic vision: Daniel 12:7-9 “Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, ‘My lord, what shall be the end of these things?’ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.’” (NKJV)
And then there’s Revelation 14:2-3 “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.” (NKJV)
Paul had mentioned earlier in 1 Corinthians 1:22 that Jews tended to want to see signs in order to confirm a religious teaching, and, throughout the book of Acts, when we see Paul sharing his testimony with Jews, he would often mention one of these visions he had as a confirming sign, because he knew that it would be persuasive with Jews as he tried to convince them to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. But here, Paul refrains from saying too much about these visions so as not to distract from the gospel.
“This account which the apostle gives us of his vision should check our curious desires after forbidden knowledge, and teach us to improve the revelation God has [already] given us in his word [the Bible]. Paul himself, who had been in the third heaven, did not publish to the world what he had heard there, but adhered to the doctrine of Christ: on this foundation the church is built, and on this we must build our faith and hope.” ~Matthew Henry
Nevertheless, God did treat Paul in a special way – this sort of vision is not something God gives to everybody in this life, and therefore Paul should be treated honorably by God’s people rather than scorned and ignored (as some of the Corinthian church members were doing).
However, lest we put Paul too high on a pedestal, remember that, in the future, every Christian who is alive on earth when Jesus returns will get the same special experience that Paul did of being “caught up… to meet the Lord in the air!”14, according to what Paul wrote earlier in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
20th century commentator Phillip Hughes noted, “It was not by virtue of some natural psychic propensity or any acquired capacity for mystical experience that Paul was caught up in this way, but by virtue of his being, through grace, a ‘man-in-Christ’. And so too it is only the man-in-Christ who may anticipate exaltation to heavenly glory at the Lord's appearing.”
So, according to v.5, there is a certain amount that can rightly be celebrated about Paul’s special experiences with God, and, according to v.6, there’s plenty more true things he could say about himself which could contribute towards his celebrated status even more.
Back in 2 Corinthians 10:8 he said something similar, “Yet even if I were to brag any more concerning our authority (which the Lord has given to us for edification and not for taking y'all down), I would not be ashamed...” (NAW, cf. 7:14, 11:16 & 12:11, Gal. 4:16)
But Paul himself is not to be worshiped as a hero, so he, as a Christian leader, decides instead to present himself as a man with “weaknesses/infirmities” who depends upon the power of Jesus to bear spiritual fruit, just as we all should do, and not talk much about himself and his accomplishments and special experiences.
Paul will write a few verses later in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” So Paul says in v.10 “Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (NKJV)
The point is to honor Jesus Christ rather than ourselves. It is appropriate for Paul to give us reasons to take his epistles seriously, not because he was so great, but because he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, and so, when we pay attention to Paul, Paul points us to Jesus, so that we will glorify Jesus and make our boast in Jesus. That’s Paul’s goal, and it should be ours as well.
There is a place for sharing your credentials in order to help someone take you seriously as you point them to Christ, but it also requires restraint not to try to get them to think more of you than they should.
Paul seems to be saying that simply relating all that is true about his relationship to God would lead someone to an inaccurately-high regard for Paul15, which would be inappropriate. Paul wants his church folks to see him and listen to what he has to say, but not to project grandiose adoration of him.
Although it is debated among Christian theologians, I believe that having a special spiritual experience is not out-of-the-question for a Christian, but it is not necessary for most Christians, and if God does give such an experience, it is generally just for the private benefit of the recipient, not something which needs to be noised abroad. Paul’s experience was something God gave him for his own personal encouragement, to help him face some of the most intense opposition Christians have ever faced, and he understood that it didn’t need to be shared with anybody else.
It has been one of the great problems throughout church history when mystics try to share with the whole church their special spiritual experiences. This kind of thing always sidetracks Christians from what the Bible teaches us is the most important thing – trusting Jesus and making disciples for Him. Mysticism gets Christians exploring unimportant, speculative things instead of God’s word, and that usually results in paying inordinate attention to human heroes who have had sensational experiences instead of keeping our eyes on Christ Jesus. Paul lets us know that if you have had an encouraging experience with God, that’s wonderful, but it’s o.k. to keep it between you and God.
In an even wider application, whether or not we have any special spiritual experiences, we know how hard our flesh tugs at us to try to draw attention to ourselves and to try to impress the world around us with our natural skills and accomplishments.
I know from experience the pressure that financial donors put upon missionaries and pastors to look perfect and to out-perform others in ministry in order to keep from losing church members and financial support.
There are a lot of tropes about how badly men want respect and how badly women want attention and how, without the restraint of the Holy Spirit, we will do anything – even foolish things – to get it. But when we try to get the glory for ourselves, we usurp God’s place on the throne of our lives. It’s like asking the Lord of the universe, “Hey, just go away and let me worship myself for a while.”
So, how can you refrain/forbear/hold back on impressing other people so that you can point them to Christ’s glory and not mislead them into thinking more of you than they should?
I know that there are a lot of non-Christians who look at church folks and say, “They look way too perfect. They’re either all faking it (which a lot of them are) or the standards they have attained-to are not possible for a normal person to reach. I’m not good enough to go to church.” It’s true that God does an awful lot of work to clean up our lives and that it’s not actually possible to clean up all that mess ourselves, but
let’s be honest about our faults and confess our sins because we believe that Jesus actually forgives our sins and because we believe that we can’t fix our sins by good works.
Let’s be honest about our weaknesses and ask for help for things rather than act all self-sufficient to make people respect us more.
Let’s spend more time thanking God and telling others how He has saved and helped us so that we can be a people that glorify Jesus rather than glorifying ourselves.
“[T]he more numerous and the more excellent the graces by which any one of us is distinguished, so much the less ought he to think of his own excellence... The graces conferred by God are, indeed, to be acknowledged, that we may be aroused, — first, to gratitude for them, and secondly, to the right improvement of them; but to take occasion from them to boast — that is what cannot be done without great danger.” ~J. Calvin, 1546 AD
“It is an excellent thing to have a lowly spirit in the midst of high advancements; and those who abase themselves shall be exalted.” ~M. Henry, 1714 AD
ByzantineB |
NAW |
KJVC |
RheimsD |
MurdockE |
CopticF |
1 Καυχᾶσθαι δ[εῖ]G, οὐ συμφέρει μοι· ἐλεύσομαι γὰρH εἰς ὀπτασίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεις Κυρίου. |
1 It certainly is not fitting for me to brag about myself, yet I will proceed to visions and revelations of the Lord. |
1 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. X I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. |
1 [If] I must glory (it is not expedient indeed) but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. |
1 Glorying must be, but it is not profitable: so I X proceed to visions and revelations of our Lord. |
1 ButB/If it is rightS it is not profitable indeed to boast; but I willB/XS come unto visions [alsoB] and revelations of the Lord. |
2 οἶδα ἄνθρωπον ἐν ΧριστῷI πρὸ ἐτῶν δεκατεσσάρωνJ, εἴτε ἐν σώματι οὐκ οἶδα, εἴτε ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος οὐκ οἶδα· ὁ Θεὸς οἶδενK· ἁρπαγέντα τὸν τοιοῦτονL ἕως τρίτου οὐρανοῦ. |
2 I have known a man in the Anointed One, who, 14 years ago (whether in the body I do not know, whether outside of the body I do not know; God knows) said man was snatched up to the third heaven. |
2
I knew
a man in Christ [above]
fourteen
years ago, (whether in the body, I |
2 I know a man in Christ: above fourteen years [agoM] (whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not: God knoweth), such a one caught up to the third heaven. |
2 I knew a man in the Messiah fourteen years ago, ([but] whether in a body X X X, [or] whether out of a body, I know not; God knoweth:) X who was caught up to the third region of heaven. |
2 I know a man in Christ fourteen years before, whether [beingS] in body I know not; or [beingS] outside of body I know not; God [is He whoS] knoweth, [thatB] such a one was carried away unto the third heaven. |
3 καὶN οἶδα τὸν τοιοῦτον ἄνθρωπον, εἴτε ἐν σώματιO εἴτε ἐκτὸςP τοῦ σώματος οὐκ οἶδα, ὁ Θεὸς οἶδεν, |
3 And I have known said man (whether in the body, whether outside of the body I do not know; God knows), |
3
And I knew
such
a man, (whether
in the body, or out
of the body, I [can]not
|
3 And I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not: God knoweth): |
3
And I knew
this
|
3 And I know such a man, whether in body or outside of body I know not; God [is He whoS] knoweth, |
4 ὅτι ἡρπάγη εἰς τὸν παράδεισονQ καὶ ἤκουσεν ἄρρηταR ῥήματα, ἃ οὐκS ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι. |
4 that he was snatched up into His paradise, and he heard indistinguishable words which are not authorized to mankind to utter. |
4 [How] that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. |
4
That
he was caught up into paradise
and heard |
4 and he was caught up to Paradise, and heard ineffable words, which it is not permitted a man to utter. |
4
that
he was carried away to the Parad[eS]isos, and he
heard words unspeakableB/ |
5 ὑπὲρ τοῦ τοιούτου καυχήσομαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ καυχήσομαι εἰ μὴ ἐν ταῖς ἀσθενείαις μουT. |
5 I will brag on behalf of said man, but I will not brag on behalf of myself, unless it’s in my weaknesses, |
5 Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but X in mine infirmities. |
5 For such an one I will glory: but for myself I will glory no[thing] but X in my infirmities. |
5 Of X him I will glory: but of myself I will not glory, except in [my] infirmities. |
5 I would boast [myselfB] about such a one: but about myself I will not boast [myselfB] except [perhapsB] in the weaknesses. |
6 ἐὰν γὰρ θελήσω καυχήσασθαι, οὐκ ἔσομαι ἄφρωνU, ἀλήθειαν γὰρ ἐρῶ· φείδομαι δέ μήV τις εἰς ἐμὲ λογίσηται ὑπὲρ ὃ βλέπει με ἢ ἀκούει τι ἐξ ἐμοῦ. |
6 for if I happened to want to brag about myself, I would not be silly, because it’s the truth that I would be speaking, but I am restraining myself lest someone might start reckoning to me more than what he sees me to be or what he hears from me. |
6
For
though I would
desire
to glory,
I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now
I forbear,
lest
any man should
think
|
6
For
though I should
have a mind to glory, I shall not
be foolish: for I will say the truth. But I forbear,
lest any man should
think |
6
Yet
if I were
disposed
to glory, I should not be without
reason;
for I declare the truth. But I refrain,
lest any one should
think |
6
For shouldB/ifS
I wish to boast [myselfB]
I will not become foolish; for [whatS] I say [isS]
(the) truth: XB/ButS I spare
(you), {lest by any means one shouldB/let
not any oneS} think
|
12 Cor. 11:16 “I say again, nobody should reckon me to be silly, but even if that's not the case, accept me as though I am silly, in order that I myself might also brag about a little something.” (NAW)
2ὤφθην, a verb form of the noun ὀπτασίας used in 2 Cor. 12:1.
3Ὅραμα (The same word appears in v.10.), a synonym to ὀπτασίας used in 2 Cor. 12:1.
4ὁράματος, a synonym to ὀπτασίας used in 2 Cor. 12:1.
5After the uproar during his trial before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem in Acts 23:11 “...the following night the Lord stood by him and said, ‘Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.’” (NKJV) And during the storm at sea on his first trip to Rome: Acts 27:22-24 “...there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’” (NKJV)
6“‘Of such an one will I glory;’ not meaning that he who was caught up was some other person, but he so frames his language in the best manner he possibly could, so as at once to mention the fact, and to avoid speaking of himself openly.” ~J. Chrysostom (I found no other commentator who debated this.)
7Robertson wrote in his Word Pictures, “The date was probably while Paul was at Tarsus (Acts 9:30; 11:25).” And with this, James Boyer’s chart (1968) and G. Wilson’s commentary (1979) concurred.
8Hughes wrote that it was “...in Antioch, where he spent a whole year (Acts 11:26). Some accordingly have inclined to the view that this ecstatic experience was closely connected with Paul's commissioning at Antioch as Apostle to the Gentiles, immediately prior to the commencement of his first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-4); see, for example, Allo, Zahn, Windisch, Plummer, Bachmann, Wordsworth.”
9And many other commentators after him noted the same thing.
10Calvin
(1546) “He does not here distinguish between the different heavens
in the manner of the philosophers, so as to assign to each planet
its own heaven. On the other hand, the number three is made use of
(κατ ἐζοχὴν)
by way of eminence, to denote what is highest and most complete.”
(In other writings, Calvin, Beza, and Turretin specifically refuted
Dionysius’ De Ecclesiastica et
Caelesti Hierarchia, as spurious.)
Henry
(1714)
“[T]he
heaven of the blessed, above the aerial heaven, in which the fowls
fly, above the starry heaven, which is adorned with those glorious
orbs: it was into the third heaven, where God most eminently
manifests his glory.”
Vincent
(1886)
“It is quite useless to attempt to explain this expression
according to any scheme of celestial gradation.”
Robertson
(1933) “It is unlikely that Paul alludes to the idea of seven
heavens held by some Jews (Test. of the Twelve Pat., Levi ii.
iii.). He seems to mean the highest heaven where God is (Plummer
[1872]).”
Hughes (1962) added, “ In Deut. 10:14 a
distinction is made between ‘heaven’ and ‘the heaven of
heavens’, where the first ‘heaven’ (or ‘heavens’) should
be understood of the created celestial, that is, non-terrestrial,
order, and ‘the heaven of heavens’ bespeaks the absolute
transcendence of God's dwelling beyond the realm of creation (cf. I
Kings 8:27... Ps. 68:33…” (He objected to Augustine’s equating
the third heaven merely with the “intellectual...cognition of God”
in Sup. Gen. ad Lit., 12.)
11The only other person “caught up” in the Greek Bible, was Phillip the Evangelist, in Acts 8:39, and that was not to heaven, but to another location on earth.
12ἀνέλαβέν, a synonym to ἁρπαγέντα in 2 Cor. 12:2 & 4.
13ὁράσει, a synonym to ὀπτασίας used in 2 Cor. 12:1.
141 Thessalonians 4:17 “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (NKJV)
15This had already happened at least once in Acts 14, when the people in Lystra had tried to worship him as a god.
AWhen
a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I
put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a
wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my
opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek
word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text,
I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word
which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at
the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English
translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the
reader see correlations between the various editions and versions
when there are more than two different translations of a given word.
NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies
of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online
edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.
BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. As published by E-Sword in 2016. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, UBS, and Tregelles editions, however, are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era, focusing on the few manuscripts which are older than the Byzantine manuscripts. Even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published by E-Sword in 2019.
DRheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword in 2016.
EJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org, and published on E-Sword in 2023.
FThis is my conflation of the English translations of the Northern Bohairic and Southern Sahidic traditions published by Oxford Clarendon Press in 1905 and 1920 respectively, neither of which named the translator or editor. The beginnings and ends of multiple-word variants are marked out with brackets, with a superscript “S” for Sahidic or “B” for Bohairic. The editor of the Sahidic compilation did not have manuscripts for some verses and I have not discovered a published English translation of the subsequently-discovered manuscripts, so variants in that section for that tradition are not listed.
GThe reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which is Bezae, dated 6th century, but which is supported by Chrysostom’s Greek homily from the early 5th century), is Καυχᾶσθαι δὴ οὐ συμφέρει μοι· ἐλεύσομαι γὰρ… (“It is not fitting [indicative] of course for me to boast of myself, yet I will go on...”) and that is the reading of the Textus Receptus and St. Spiridon Greek Orthodox edition of the GNT. However, the three oldest-known manuscripts (P46, Vaticanus, and Sinaiticus, dating respectively to the 3rd, 4th, and 4th centuries, but not discovered until the 20th, 18th, and 19th centuries respectively) have a different reading, in which four words each have two letters that are different (Καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, οὐ συμφέρον μέν, ἐλεύσομαι δε…). This yields the somewhat different meaning, “It is necessary to boast of myself. On the one hand it is not fitting [participle], but I will go on…” Later manuscripts were not consistent in copying the three oldest-known manuscripts, so, depending on which of the four different words you survey in the manuscripts, the number of later documents which support the earliest-known reading range between 4 and 22, averaging about 10. The 1904 Patriarchal edition reflects this with its acceptance of the first variant from the traditional text but not of the other three variants. The ancient versions also reflect this with the Coptic, Syriac, and Latin all adopting the traditional reading of one of the four words, but that means they favored the older reading by about 70%. (Bohairic followed δὴ, but Vulgate, Peshitta and Sahidic followed δεῖ, Vulgate supported the traditional indicative form of the verb whereas Peshitta used an adjectival form supporting the participial form, Peshitta has the explicit first person pronoun in the traditional text, but Vulgate and Coptic versions don’t, and Peshitta supports the traditional gar conjunction, whereas the Vulgate and Coptic versions support the de or kai of the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus respectively). A grammatical problem with the older-dated readings in the new critical editions is that the negative is in the wrong mood for a participle (It should be μη instead of ου.), but modern Greek grammarians (Blass & Debrunner, Robert Hanna) solved this problem (which happens again in v.5) by asserting that there is an understood indicative verb of being here, but that sounds squirrelly to me. Hughes added that the older-dated reading flows logically from 11:30 in “tak[ing] up positively what was stated in a conditional form” (“if I must boast...I must boast”) although he admitted that the traditional reading “is not unattractive.” Both readings still convey the same basic idea that Paul chose to boast despite the fact that it wasn’t ideal to do so.
H“Doddridge renders it ‘nevertheless.’ But it seems to me that it contains an important sense, and that it should be rendered by then. ‘Since it is not fit that I should glory, then I will refer to visions, etc. … Barnes Granville Penn renders… ‘yet’ ...” ~John Pringle, 1848, English editor of Calvin’s commentary.
I“Some think that the clause in Christ is introduced for the purpose of confirming what he says. I view it rather as referring to the disposition, so as to intimate that Paul has not here an eye to himself, but looks to Christ exclusively.” ~J. Calvin
JI am intrigued with the possibility that these 14 years could be corroborated with the 14 years in Galatians 2:1 between Paul’s conversion and his entrance into apostolic ministry. The problem is that this would require re-interpreting the preposition “ago” here in 2 Corinthians 12:2 with going forward in time from the escape from Damascus he just mentioned (and that escape actually may have been three years after his conversion, which would make the 14 years extend into his first missionary journey), whereas every other temporal (as opposed to locative) use of that preposition in the Greek New Testament denotes prior time (or it would require inserting a reference event like “14 years prior [to my becoming an Apostle],” but no such reference event is inserted).
KCf. the same expression in 11:11 and 12:3. (and nowhere else in the Greek Bible).
LThis Greek word means “such/kind of,” but Turner advocated for “this.” It occurs three times in vs. 2, 3, and 5, but the NIV translated it with a different English phrase each time (“who,” “this man” and “a man like that”) and the NET & ESV (as usual) copied the NIV for the most part. The NLT ignored it all three times.
MThis word isn’t actually in the Latin Vulgate.
N“Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Origen, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Athanasius, Jerome, Hilary, Ambrosiaster, Primasius, Anselm, Erasmus, Bengel, Meyer, Wordsworth, Denney, and Plummer are among those who favour the view that Paul experienced two raptures, or two stages in the one rapture, first of all to the third heaven, and then from there to Paradise. It may be, however, that Alford is right in supposing that we have here a solemn repetition of the information of verse 2, “Paradise” being substituted for “the third heaven” as its equivalent... the view also of Theodoret, Augustine, Aquinas, Estius, Hodge, Bachmann, Windisch, Tasker, and most modern commentators, and also of Swete and Charles. The two places are identified with each other in the apocryphal Revelation of Moses, and sometimes also in the rabbinical literature.” ~P. Hughes
O“σοματι here definitely refers to a material nature (i.e., physical; cf. 1 Cor. 6:12).” ~Moule, Idiom Book of the N. T.
PThis (“outside”) is the reading of the overwhelming majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest being the 4th century Sinaiticus), of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox GNT editions, and of the Latin Vulgate. But 3 Greek manuscripts (including P46 from the 3rd century and Vaticanus from the 4th century) read with the synonym χωρις (“apart from”), and the contemporary critical editions followed that variant, so all the English versions since 1850 (with the notable exceptions of the NKJV, and, surprisingly, the ESV and NLT) have translated it “apart.” As for the ancient versions, the synonyms are close enough that either could be translated by the Latin “extra,” but the Vulgate more likely supports the traditional “outside,” since it is the same preposition used in the previous verse, not a new preposition as proposed by the contemporary editors. This also appears to be the case with the Coptic versions. (The Peshitta dropped the preposition, so it doesn’t support either variant.)
QRobertson
noted in his Word Pictures,
“Paul apparently uses ‘paradise’ as the equivalent of the
third heaven... Some Jews (Book of the Secrets of Enoch,
chapter viii) make Paradise in the third heaven. The rabbis had
various ideas (two heavens, three, seven). We need not commit Paul
to any ‘celestial gradation’ (Vincent).”
Barnes
(1885) explained: “It is a word which had its origin in the
language of Eastern Asia, and which has been
adopted in the Greek, the Roman, and other western languages. In
Sanscrit, the word paradesha
means a land elevated and cultivated; in Armenian, pardes
denotes a garden around the house, planted with trees, shrubs, grass
for use and ornament. In Persia, the word denotes the
pleasure-gardens, and parks with wild animals, around the country
residences of the monarchs and princes.” See
also the Endnote three entries above.
RHapex Legomenon. Alpha privative of another hapex legomenon (ῥητῶς) found only in 1 Tim. 4:1, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly/explicitly/clearly…” This suggests that the meaning is not that the words are unable to be spoken, but that the words are unclear, or indistinct. Chrysostom defined it as “so many and so great.” Calvin: “Secretes, ou impossibles a dire...” Vincent called it an “oxymoron” for words to be simultaneously spoken and unspeakable. Hughes seemed to agree with me that it meant “incapable of translation into human and earthly terminology.”
SHanna, following Nigel Turner, explained the irregularity of an indicative negative form with a participle in terms of there being an understood indicative verb-of-being between them.
TThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest being the 4th century Sinaiticus), of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox and Tischendorf GNT editions, and of the Latin Vulgate. But about 5 Greek manuscripts (including P46 from the 3rd century and Vaticanus from the 4th century) read without the first person pronoun, and the Peshitta and Coptic versions appear to have followed that terse tradition. The Nestle Aland, UBS, and Tregelles editions of the GNT do not include the pronoun. It makes no difference in meaning, since the context implies that the infirmities are those of the author.
U“He employs the term folly here in a different sense from what he had done previously, for even those that boast on good grounds act a silly and disgusting part...” ~Calvin
VΜη + subjunctive verb is normally understood to be a prohibitive, as the Geneva, KJV, RV and ASV interpreted it, but English translations since the mid-20th century (with the exception of the NKJV) have followed Robertson’s Grammar in translating it purposively (“so that”), although the NLT translated it causatively (“because”).