There’s a phrase Paul uses that has always stopped me in my tracks- mostly because it only shows up once in the entire Bible.
In II Corinthians 12:2, Paul writes – I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven…
Hold on.
Who is this guy?
What is the third heaven?
And… what happened to the first two?
Some of us are at least familiar with seventh heaven– assuming you spent too much time watching cheesy WB dramas in the ’90s. (I’d personally like to forget about that.) But the third heaven? That’s a different category entirely. Let’s figure out what he’s talking about.
Paul’s Reluctant “Boasting”
Second Corinthians was written during a messy season. False teachers had worked their way into the Corinthian church and were actively trying to discredit Paul- questioning his motives, his authority, and even whether he was a legitimate apostle at all.
That puts Paul in an awkward position.
He doesn’t want to defend himself. He wants to be humble. But in order to protect the church and correct the record, he’s forced to do something he hates: talk about himself.
So when his critics say, “Paul’s just in it for the money,” Paul has to point out that he didn’t even take money from them.
When they say, “He’s just seeking self-glory,” Paul responds by listing beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and being stoned.
Frankly, Paul is more humble than I am. If I’d been through all that, it would be all over my LinkedIn profile. I’d be pitching a book deal. “And then they lowered me by a basket through a hole in the wall….”
But Paul doesn’t like this. And when he finally gets to chapter 12, he says this:
2 Corinthians 12:1 – I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
He’s not boasting because he wants attention, but now to defend the Gospel message he has preached, he must also defend his own credibility.
“I Know a Man in Christ…”
Then comes the strange part.
II Corinthians 12:2 – 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.
Notice something important: Paul doesn’t say “I was caught up.”
He says, “I know a man…”
Most scholars agree that Paul is talking about himself. But he deliberately distances the story from his own identity because he doesn’t want the focus to be on himself. He wants the focus to be on the glory of God and the reality of heaven.
The Greek word used here is harpazō, which means to seize, snatch, or carry off suddenly. When translated into Latin, it became rapturo– where we get the word rapture.
So yes, Paul says this man was raptured to the third heaven.
And before anyone panics: the word rapture is absolutely biblical. It just doesn’t appear in English translations. Jesus was raptured after His resurrection. The two witnesses are raptured in Revelation 11. The church is raptured in 1 Thessalonians 4.
You can debate timing, but you can’t say the concept isn’t there.
In the Body or Out of the Body?
Paul continues:
I Corinthians 12:3-4 – And I know that this man was caught up into paradise… and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.
Paul admits he doesn’t even know whether he physically went to heaven or whether his spirit did. It reminds me of Ezekiel’s visions, where the prophet is carried off by God but still interacts with his surroundings like he has a body.
What he does know is this: heaven was so overwhelming, so glorious, that human language couldn’t capture it.
And yet, Paul still doesn’t want this to become a story about how spiritual he is.
I Corinthians 12:5-6 – On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses – though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
Paul wants people excited about heaven, not impressed with Paul. That’s why he tells the story the way he does.
So… What Is the Third Heaven?
So what does it mean to be caught up to the third heaven? To understand that phrase, we need to step into ancient Jewish cosmology.
In Paul’s day, the Jews understood three heavens:
- The First Heaven – the sky or atmosphere
- The Second Heaven – outer space: the sun, moon, and stars
- The Third Heaven – God’s dwelling place
Genesis 1:1 already hints at this: – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
“The heavens” refers to everything above the earth – the sky, the atmosphere, and space. But the third heaven is something else entirely: God’s home.
It’s where His will is always done. Where there’s no sin, no decay, no sorrow, and no property taxes.
In a word, it was paradise.
Why This Matters
Paul’s glimpse of heaven wasn’t meant to elevate Paul- it was meant to elevate our hope.
The heaven we can expect is a place of perfection. It’s a place of inexpressible beauty, as Paul said here. It’s a place of joy unspeakable and full of glory. A place where I plan to be someday, and I hope you are planning on going as well.
Right after this pronouncement, Paul continues “boasting in his weaknesses,” speaking about his thorn in the flesh. To learn more about that, listen to this episode of the Weird Stuff in the Bible podcast:
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