“Visions and Revelation of the Lord.”
By W. N. Glenn
IN 1 Cor. 12:2-4 the apostle refers to a most remarkable occurrence which had taken place “above [some versions read, about] fourteen years” previously. He does not state where it occurred, and appears to have been loth to say anything about it at all. We infer this from the fact that he had been reticent regarding the vision for so long a time; and by his apology in verse 11, it would seem that only the necessities of the then existing circumstances induced him to mention it when he did. He was compelled to do what the Corinthians themselves should have done, to wit, defend his character and work amongst them. The only clue to the probable place where the vision was given is the time, which, according to commonly received chronology, was about the time he was hunted up by Barnabas at Tarsus. But whether the “revelation” was given at Tarsus, or Antioch, or Jerusalem, or some other locality, is a matter of conjecture. PAUL is too modest to say plainly that he is the one that saw the vision, but no one doubts that he was; and no doubt his great courage, wisdom, perseverance, and faith were largely due to assurances and instructions of that occasion. He was “caught up to the third heaven” [the highest heaven], verse 2, or “paradise,” verse 3, “and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful [or possible] for a man to utter.” As to his condition at the time, he says: “Whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth.” Clarke says, and we agree with him, that “being carried literally into heaven, was possible with the Almighty;” but, of course, he supposes also the possibility of a temporary separation of body and spirit, while the latter was caught up. OTHER commentators take this scripture as positive proof that Paul believed in an entity that could go out of the man and return. If the popular theory be true, then to be caught up “out of the body” would be equivalent to death, and the return after the vision would be a resurrection. But the apostle does not intimate any such thing. He does not say, Whether dead or alive I cannot tell. He recognizes consciousness in either of the conditions mentioned. It was the man that was caught up, and he heard the unspeakable words. Whether bodily or mentally taken up, he could not tell. To construe Paul’s language into a belief in a conscious existence separate from the body, in the face of 1 Cor. 15 and of 1 Thess. 4, is an injustice to his plainly expressed doctrine. W. N. GLENN.