I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. (2 Cor 12:2)
Commenting on the phrase in bold in 2 Cor 12:2 (which they render (“whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows”), Draper and Rhodes offer the following comments:
In this phrase, Paul retains a neutral
tone, likely because he really did not know whether he was bodily transported
into the divine realm or experienced it only through his spirit. The expression
does show that Paul clearly believes that the soul has a conscious existence
outside the body, but here he leaves the answer to God alone. In doing so, he
does not prejudice his account with whatever position members of his audience
may take. (Richard D. Draper and Michael D. Rhodes, Paul’s Second Epistle to
the Corinthians [Brigham Young University New Testament Commentary; Provo,
Utah: BYU Press, 2023], 655)
Paul is not alone in his uncertainty of
the part the body plays in these rapturous experiences. Others have had similar
experiences and were left unsure as to what role the body played. For example,
according to the Book of Mormon, “the heavens were opened” to the Nephite
Twelve, “and they were caught up into heaven, and saw and heard unspeakable
things. And it was forbidden them that they should utter; neither was it given
unto them power that they could utter the things which they saw and heard; And
whether they were in the body or out of the body, they could not tell; for it
did seem unto them like a transfiguration of them, that they were changed from
this body of flesh into an immortal state, that they could behold the things of
God” (3 Ne. 28:11-15). This account shows that such ecstasy so surpasses anything
mortals normally experience that they are left confused as to how much the body
was involved. Some of the historical accounts of Joseph Smith’s experiences
with heavenly visions show that he was definitely in the body each time. See
JS-H 1:16-17, 30 and D&C sections 76 and 110. In each of these instances,
however, the heavenly visitor came to the Prophet. In one where he seems to
have been caught up, he was left confused about the role his body played,
saying, “I beheld the celestial kingdom of God, and the glory thereof, whether
in the body or out I cannot tell” (D&C 137:1). (Ibid., 655 n. 29)