Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Possible Origenic Homily and the "third heaven"

My friend, Errol Amey, made me aware of this page:

Possible Origenic Homily – Transcription/Translation Excerpts

What is really interesting is the comments on the reference to the "third heaven" in 2 Cor 12:

How must I labor so that I may ascend into the first heaven? What must happen so that I may be considered worthy of the second? I must be like Paul, if I should go to the third. And if I should become as Paul, I will still not have yet seen the following heaven, these waters which praise God, according to the prophet, beyond the heavens. Therefore this is said, that the waters, through being beyond the heavens, always see, not the face of the father in the heavenlies, but God himself.
For though the angels always see the face of the heavenly Father, the waters see God himself. For are they not always gazing intently, these waters about which the passage says, “The waters have seen you, O God?” Thus let the one who is able to judge spiritual matters among the spiritual people arrange it thus. Perhaps the passage has spoken about angels who are coupled with men, not that they see God, but rather the face of the Father in Heaven. But, concerning these waters, it said, “They have seen you” not, “they have seen your face, O God.”

For more, see:

Paul and the "third heaven" in 2 Corinthians 12:2

Paul's vision in 2 Corinthians 12 and Apocalyptic Eschatology

Early Christians and 1 Corinthians 15:40-42




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