How would I react if someone said, “I have been to paradise, the third heaven,” as Paul did in these verses? He’d continue, “An angel came to my bedroom two separate nights while I was sleeping, reached out his hand, and when I took it, I was taken to paradise.” I suppose my reaction would depend on why he is telling me this extraordinary story. Would I believe him? Certainly, I would have doubts unless he gave proof that he came from the presence of God.
Paul does not say an angel came to take him to paradise. He uses the Greek verb “harpazo”, the same word used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 to describe Jesus coming to take his people to meet him in the sky as he descends to earth. Paul said twice he did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body (2b, 3b), as was the man in the story I recalled. Would I believe Paul? This is not the first time Paul’s visit to heaven is described. He also mentions it in Galatians 1:11-12, Ephesians 3:2-6, and he even hinted at it in his first letter to Corinth.
Why did Paul tell the congregation at Corinth about this event that happened shortly after his conversion? Why would anyone? Paul did not do it to gain anything for himself. (1) He wrote, “There is nothing to be gained for myself.” He boasts of this in the third person (as he has been doing in most of the letter) as a last resort to persuade the congregation to change before he and others from other congregations arrive there. He brings up this event to show the gospel he preaches is more than his own speculations or ideas.
Many false prophets since Paul have said, “An angel came to me and revealed to me…” However, the teachings they give counter God’s word through his Son, Jesus. The gospel Paul preached did not contradict Christ Jesus nor the Old Testament. Don’t believe everyone who says, “I have been to paradise”; only believe the gospel according to Jesus and his apostles.
