That he was caught up into paradise, and heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter.

“Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition), and that there shall they who have been translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to immortality.”

“Never mind those who pass sentence on apostles! It is a happy fact that Peter is on the same level with Paul in the very glory of martyrdom. Now, although Paul was carried away even to the third heaven, and was caught up to paradise, and heard certain revelations there, yet these cannot possibly seem to have qualified him for (teaching) another doctrine, seeing that their very nature was such as to render them communicable to no human being.”

“Now this (mystery) was not made known to previous generations, as he says, it has been written, "By revelation was made known unto me the mystery; " and, "I have heard inexpressible words which it is not possible for man to declare." The light, (therefore,) which came down from the Ogdoad above to the Son of the Hebdomad, descended from the Hebdomad upon Jesus the son of Mary, and he had radiance imparted to him by being illuminated with the light that shone upon him. This, he says, is that which has been declared: "The Holy Spirit will come upon thee," (meaning) that which proceeded from the Sonship through the conterminous spirit upon the Ogdoad and Hebdomad, as far as Mary; "and the power of the Highest will overshadow thee," (meaning) the power of the anointing, (which streamed) from the (celestial) height above (through) the Demiurge, as far as the creation, which is (as far as) the Son. And as far as that (Son) he says the world consisted thus. And as far as this, the entire Sonship, which is left behind for benefiting the souls in Formlessness, and for being the recipient in turn of benefits,-(this Sonship, I say,) when it is transformed, followed Jesus, and hastened upwards, and came forth purified. And it becomes most refined, so that it could, as the first (Sonship), hasten upwards through its own instrumentality. For it possesses all the power that, according to nature, is firmly connected with the light which from above shone down (upon earth).”

“Elijah was taken up to heaven only, but Paul into heaven and paradise (for it was but fitting that the disciples of Jesus should receive more manifold grace) and "heard secret words that man may not repeat." But Paul came down again from heaven, not because he was unworthy to abide in the third heaven but after enjoying gifts beyond man's lot.”

“Great indeed was this revelation. But this was not the only one: there were many others besides, but he mentions one out of many. For that there were many, hear what he says: "Lest I should be exalted overmuch through the exceeding greatness of the revelations." 'And yet,' a man may say, 'if he wished to conceal them, he ought not to have given any intimation whatever or said any thing of the sort; but if he wished to speak of them, to speak plainly.' Wherefore then is it that he neither spoke plainly nor kept silence? To show by this also that he resorts to the thing unwillingly. And therefore also he has stated the time, "fourteen years." For he does not mention it without an object, but 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. Now if Paul from the very beginning was such an one as to be counted worthy of such a revelation, when as yet he had not wrought such good works; consider what he must have grown to in fourteen years. And observe how even in this very matter he shows modesty, by his saying some things, but confessing that of others he is ignorant. For that he was caught up indeed, he declared, but whether "in the body" or "out of the body" he says he does not know. And yet it would have been quite enough, if he had told of his being caught up and had been silent [about the other]; but as it is, in his modesty he adds this also. What then? Was it the mind that was caught up and the soul, whilst the body remained dead? or was the body caught up? It is impossible to tell. For if Paul who was caught up and whom things unspeakable, so many and so great, had befallen was in ignorance, much more we. For, indeed, that he was in Paradise he knew, and that he was in the third heaven he was not ignorant, but the manner he knew not clearly.”

“But, even if the angels, whose nature is simple and spiritual, are said to have tongues with which they sing praises to their Lord and Creator and give him unceasing thanks, much more must the spiritualized bodies of men do so after the resurrection. For all the members of their glorified flesh will have tongues in their mouths, and they will give voice to their speaking tongues, and thus they will utter divine praises, the outpouring in words of their love and of the joys that fill even their senses. Doubtless the Lord will add this to the grace and glory of his saints in the time of his kingdom, that the more perfectly they attain to this blessed condition of body by a happy transformation, the more fully will they sing with tongue and voice. Being established in their spiritual bodies, they may speak, perchance, not with the tongues of men but with those of angels, such as the apostle heard in paradise.”

“Having laid down the first rapture, the second rapture is set forth next. And he does two things: first the rapture is set forth, second the excellence of the rapture, at "he heard secret words," etc. But it should be noted that the Gloss says this rapture is other than the first. And if it is well considered, something is read twice about the apostle, to which these two raptures can be referred. For in Acts 9, it is read that he stood for three days not seeing and neither eating nor drinking, and to this the first rapture can be referred, namely that then he was rapt as far as the third heaven. But in Acts 22:17 it is read that he fell into a stupor of mind in the temple, and to this the second rapture is referred. But this does not seem probable, because when he fell into the stupor of mind, the apostle had already been sent into prison; but the apostle wrote this epistle long before, hence this epistle was written before the apostle had been in that stupor. And therefore it should be said that this rapture differs from the first as to that into which he was rapt. For in the first he was rapt into the third heaven; but in the second, into the Paradise of God. But if someone were to take the third heaven corporeally, according to the first acceptation of the heavens set down above, or if it were an imaginary vision, he could likewise say that the Paradise was corporeal, so that it would be said that he was rapt into the earthly Paradise. But this is against the intention of Augustine, according to whom we say that he was rapt into the third heaven, that is, into the vision of intelligible things, according as they are seen in themselves and in their own natures, as was said above. Hence according to this it is fitting to understand not one thing by heaven and another by Paradise, but one and the same thing by both, namely the glory of the saints, but according to one aspect and another. For heaven denotes a certain height together with brightness, but Paradise a certain pleasant sweetness. Now in the blessed saints and in the Angels who see God these two things are present in a preeminent way, because in them there is a most excellent brightness by which they see God, and a supreme sweetness by which they enjoy God. And therefore they are said to be in heaven as to brightness, and in Paradise as to sweetness. Isaiah 66:14: "you shall see and rejoice," etc. Both, therefore, were conferred on the apostle, namely that he should be raised up to that most lofty brightness of knowledge, and this he signifies when he says "to the third heaven," and that he should feel the sweetness of the divine delight, hence he says "into Paradise." Psalm 30:20: "great is the multitude of your sweetness," etc. Apocalypse 2:17: "to him who conquers I will give hidden manna," etc. And this sweetness is the joy of divine enjoyment, of which it is said in Matthew 25:21, "enter into the joy of your lord." Thus, then, the terminus of the rapture is clear, since it was into Paradise, that is, into that sweetness by which those who are in the heavenly Jerusalem are unfailingly refreshed. There follows next the excellence of this rapture itself, because "he heard secret words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak." And this can be expounded in two ways. In one way, so that the word "man" is construed with "lawful" and "to speak"; and the sense is: "he heard secret words," that is, he perceived by intimate knowledge secret things about the essence of God as it were through words, which words, namely, it is not lawful to be told to man. In another way, so that the word "man" is construed only with "it is not lawful," and then the sense is: "he heard words," etc., which words it is not lawful for man to speak, namely for imperfect man. It should be known, however, that according to Augustine, Paul was rapt to see the divine essence, which indeed cannot be seen through any created likeness. Hence it is manifest that what Paul saw of the divine essence no human tongue can utter, otherwise God would not be incomprehensible. And therefore according to the first exposition it should be said "he heard," that is, he considered "secret words," that is, the magnificence of the divinity, which no man can speak. He says, however, "he heard" for "he saw," because that consideration was according to an interior act of the soul, in which hearing and seeing are the same, according as it is said in Numbers 12:8: "he speaks to him mouth to mouth, and openly," etc. That consideration, however, is called vision, insofar as God is seen in it, and speech, insofar as man is instructed in it about divine things. And because things of this spiritual sort are not to be laid open to the simple and imperfect, but to the perfect, according as it is said in 1 Corinthians 2:6, "we speak wisdom among the perfect," therefore, in the second way, it is expounded that the secrets, which he heard there, "it is not lawful for me to speak to man," that is, to the imperfect, but to the spiritual, among whom we speak wisdom. Proverbs 25:2: "it is the glory of God to conceal the word," that is, this very thing, that it is necessary to conceal the great things of God, pertains to the glory of God. The Psalm according to the translation of Jerome: "to you praise is silent, O God," that is, that he is incomprehensible to our words. Then when he says "for such a one I will glory," etc., he shows how he stands with respect to glory. And concerning this he does three things. First he shows that he does not glory concerning revelations of this sort; second he hints that he has something apart from that in which he can glory, at "for even if I should wish," etc.; third he assigns the reason why he does not glory concerning all things, at "but I spare, lest anyone," etc. Concerning the first, it should be known that this which he says, "but for such a one I will glory," etc., can be read in two ways. In one way, so that the apostle shows that he himself is the one for whom he glories, namely that he himself is the one who saw these visions; in another way, so that he shows that another is the one who saw these visions. For it should be known that in a man two things can be considered, namely the gift of God and the human condition. If, then, someone glories in some gift of God, as received from God, that is a good glorying, because thus he glories in the Lord, as was said above, 10:17. But if he glories concerning that gift, as had from himself, then such a glorying is bad. 1 Corinthians 4:7: "what do you have that you have not received? But if you have received it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?" The apostle therefore says, according to this: "for such a one," namely for the visions and gifts of God conferred on me, "I will glory, but for myself I will not," that is, I will not glory on that account, as if I had received it from myself, since I had it from God. But if it is fitting to glory for myself, I will glory in nothing, "except in my infirmities," that is, I have nothing from which I can glory, except concerning my infirm condition. But if it is expounded so as to show that another is the one who saw, even though it is himself, then the sense is, as though he were speaking of a certain other, saying "for such a one I will glory," that is, for that man who saw this and who received these gifts, I will glory; "but for myself," as though wishing to make known that I myself am such a one, "I will glory in nothing, except in my infirmities," that is, concerning the tribulations which I suffer. But because these people might say to themselves: "O apostle, it is no wonder if you do not glory, because you have nothing from which to glory"; therefore the apostle shows that even apart from those visions he has something from which he can glory, saying: although for such a man I may glory, and not for myself, nevertheless I can also glory well for myself. "For if I should wish to glory," etc., whether for tribulations of this sort, or for other things conferred on me by God, or even for infirmities, "I shall not be foolish," that is, I shall not act foolishly. And why? "For I will speak the truth" concerning other things, concerning which, apart from the said visions, I can glory. He says, however, "I shall not be foolish," because he was glorying concerning things which he had. For when someone glories concerning things which he does not have, he glories foolishly. Apocalypse 3:17: "you say, I am rich, and have need of nothing, and you do not know," etc. And because he was glorying from a sufficient cause, as is manifest from the foregoing. Then, when he says "but I spare," etc., he shows the reason why he does not glory concerning all things, if he can glory; which reason indeed is, that he may spare them. Hence he says "but I spare," etc., as if he were to say: I could glory concerning many other things, but I spare, that is, I glory sparingly, or I spare you by commending myself, not wishing to be burdensome to you. For God has granted me such things, that if you knew them, you would reckon me much greater, and these are the many gratuitous gifts which the apostle had. From which the men of this world are accustomed to commend men more, and to reckon them greater, than from things done out of grace. And therefore he says: I do not wish to be commended from gratuitous things, and therefore "I spare," that is, I do not glory. And why? "Lest anyone should reckon me" to be commended, or to glory, "above that which he sees," etc. Or otherwise: a man is known in two ways, by his manner of life and his teaching; but the apostle did not wish to say certain things about himself, although he could, which exceeded both his life and his teaching. And therefore "but I spare, lest anyone should reckon me to be above that which he sees," concerning my outward manner of life, "or hears from me," that is, from the teaching of my preaching, and exhortation, and instruction: because perhaps they would believe him to be either immortal, or an Angel. Proverbs 11:12: "a prudent man will be silent." Proverbs 29:11: "a fool utters his whole spirit, but a wise man defers it," etc. Or he says "but I spare," etc., on account of the detractors, namely the pseudo-apostles, who said that he was glorying out of elation and not from a cause, nor concerning things which were in him. And therefore he says "but I spare," that is, I glory sparingly, lest any pseudo-apostle should reckon me to exceed in a spirit of elation, "above that," that is, in anything, which he sees in me, "or hears from me," that is, beyond meritorious ability. Psalm 130:1: "Lord, my heart has not been exalted," etc. Ecclesiasticus 3:20: "how great soever you are," etc.”

“For though I would desire to glory,..... Had a mind to it, chose it, and was fond of it, thought fit to proceed in this way concerning this vision, or this with many others: I shall not be a fool; in reality; though he might seem and be thought to be so by others; he does indeed before call his glorying "folly", and "speaking foolishly"; but he means only as it might be interpreted by others, for in fact it was not: the reason is, for I will say the truth; he said nothing but what was strictly true, in the account of himself in the preceding chapter, and appeals to God as his witness; nor anything in the relation of this vision, but what was entirely agreeable to truth; and to speak truth, though it be of a man's self, when he is called to it, cannot be deemed folly; but now I forbear; he did not choose to go on, or say any more upon this head at this time; though he had many visions, and an abundance of revelations, yet he did not judge it proper to give a particular account of them: lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me; should take him to be more than human, as before this the Lycaonians at Lystra did; who supposed that he and Barnabas were gods come down in the likeness of men, and brought out their oxen and garlands to do sacrifice to them; and as, after this, the inhabitants of Melita, seeing the viper drop from his hand without any hurt to him, said he was a god; to prevent such extravagant notions of him, he forbore to say any more of his extraordinary visions and revelations; but chose rather that men should form their judgments of him by what they saw in him and heard from him, as a minister of the Gospel.”

“Caught up into paradise - The Jewish writers have no less than four paradises, as they have seven heavens; but it is needless to wade through their fables. On the word paradise see the note on Gen 2:8. The Mohammedans call it jennet alferdoos, the garden of paradise, and say that God created it out of light, and that it is the habitation of the prophets and wise men. Among Christian writers it generally means the place of the blessed, or the state of separate spirits. Whether the third heaven and paradise be the same place we cannot absolutely say; they probably are not; and it is likely that St. Paul, at the time referred to, had at least two of these raptures. Which it is not lawful for a man to utter - The Jews thought that the Divine name, the Tetragrammaton יהוה Yehovah, should not be uttered, and that it is absolutely unlawful to pronounce it; indeed they say that the true pronunciation is utterly lost, and cannot be recovered without an express revelation. Not one of them, to the present day, ever attempts to utter it; and, when they meet with it in their reading, always supply its place with אדני Adonai, Lord. It is probable that the apostle refers to some communication concerning the Divine nature and the Divine economy, of which he was only to make a general use in his preaching and writing. No doubt that what he learned at this time formed the basis of all his doctrines. Cicero terms God illud inexprimible, that inexpressible Being. And Hermes calls him ανεκλαλητος, αρῥητος, σιωπῃ φωνουμενος· The ineffable, the unspeakable, and that which is to be pronounced in silence. We cannot have views too exalted of the majesty of God; and the less frequently we pronounce his name, the more reverence shall we feel for his nature. It is said of Mr. Boyle that he never pronounced the name of God without either taking off his hat or making a bow. Leaving out profane swearers, blasphemers, and such like open-faced servants of Satan, it is distressing to hear many well intentioned people making unscripturally free with this sacred name.”

“Caught up into paradise. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas are of opinion that this third heaven and paradise are the same place, and designate the abode of the blessed. In order to understand the language of the apostle, we must observe that the Hebrews distinguished three different heavens. The first comprised the air, the clouds, &c. as far as the fixed stars. The second included all the fixed stars; and the third was the abode of Angels, in which God himself discovered his infinite glory, &c. The first is called in Scripture simply the heavens, the second the firmament, and the third the heaven of heavens. (Calmet)”

“unspeakable--not in themselves, otherwise Paul could not have heard them; but as the explanation states, "which it is not lawful . . . to utter" [ALFORD]. They were designed for Paul's own consolation, and not for communication to others. Some heavenly words are communicable (Exo 34:6; Isa 6:3). These were not so. Paul had not the power adequately to utter; nor if he had, would he have been permitted; nor would earthly men comprehend them (Joh 3:12; Co1 2:9). A man may hear and know more than he can speak.”