safed to Paul only to hear the things of paradise ; but he was permitted also to see the things of the third heaven ; comp, the preceding verse ; although even of the latter he speaks some- what sparingly. The force of the verb olhu, I know , falls par- ticularly upon the participle caught ; comp, on, how that , ver. 4. — repl eroov dsxarsffffdpuv, fourteen years ago) construed with apvu- yevru, caught. He recounts something that had occurred in former times : after a long period every one seems to have become different from himself (what he was before) ; so that he may the more freely relate the good and evil which he has ex- perienced. [ Truly it was a long silence (he had maintained as to the revelations to him), and yet he had been engaged (conversant) among the Corinthians not for a short time , and was united to them in the closest bonds of intimacy. — V. g.] — h cdimn, in the body ) This is without the article ; then sxrbg rov ffd^urog, out of the body , with the article ; and so consistently with this, the words are found in the next verse. Paul seems to be of opinion , that he was out of the body. Howsoever this may be, Clau- dianus Mamertus de Statu animae, c. 12, righty concludes from this, that the better part of man is incorporeal ; and this, the soul itself, was the part caught up. Whatever existed, inde- pendently of the body of Paul, was without the body, or else within it. — ovx oJdu, I know not. Ignorance of the mode does not take away the certain knowledge of the thing. The apostles were ignorant of many things. — dp^afsvra, caught up) Comp. Acts viii. 39, note. — sag) even to, far into the third heaven ; comp, slg, into, ver. 4. Is therefore paradise not included in the third heaven ? Ans. sag, even to, is inclusive, as Luke ii. 15, etc. — rp/rov, third) The first heaven is that of the clouds ; the second is that of the stars ; the third is spiritual. The dual number in CDS? denotes the two visible heavens. The nomen- clature of the third, which eye hath not seen, has been reserved for the New Testament ; comp. Eph. iv. 10, note.
3. K ai, and) The particle here is expressive of a new move- ment in this transaction. Suppose, that the third heaven and paradise, were quite synonymous ; the force of Paul’s language will be greatly diminished. — rov roiovrov, such a one) rov iv Xpurra, him who was in Christ. — urt, whether) This word is repeated, because, even if in the body he was caught up to the third