Monday, October 23, 2023

Richard D. Draper and Michael D. Rhodes on 2 Corinthians 12:2


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)