418 THROUGH A WINDOW IN A BASKET. [II. COR. 33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. after his conversion, was the first, and that the narrative was suddenly broken off at this point, or (2) that this escape being somewhat undignified and partaking of the ludicrous, was another and the last instance of the indignities suffered by one who, it is said, was sensitively alive to ridicule. CHAP. XII. T is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. †I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. IT + Gr. For I will come. a Rom. xvi. 7. ch. v. 17. Gal. i. 22. 2 I knew a man a in Christ above fourteen 1. "It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory." So N, D., K., M., Copt., most Cursives, Æth.; but B., E., F., G., L., P., 17, 31, 37, 39, 108, 137, and about twenty more, d, e, f, g, Vulg., Goth., Syr., read, "d." See below for translation. 1. "It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions," &c. It is very difficult to decide upon the reading of the original, and, depending upon it, the rendering of this passage. If we read according to the Received Text, then, as in our Authorized, dn should be rendered "indeed," or "verily." Thus Alford, "To boast verily is not to my advantage." If we read with B, dei, then we must render it, "I must needs glory, but it is not profitable to me." "I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord." It is to be remembered, as the latter part of the passage shows, that these visions and revelations are not introduced as a matter for glorying, but as introducing a state of continuous humiliation and distress. So that the whole account corresponds with what he had written in verse 30 of the last chapter, "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities," and nothing in his view was such a manifestation of his infirmities as this "thorn in the flesh," of which he is about to speak. 2. "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether СНАР. ХІІ.] I KNEW SUCH A MAN. 419 years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth ;) such an one b caught up to the third heaven. b Acts xxii. 17. A.D. 46. at Lystra, 3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God Acts xiv. 6. knoweth :) с 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, Luke xxiii. c in the body," &c.). “I knew," rather "I know." He does not say outright that he is speaking of himself, but we can infer nothing else. Above fourteen years ago would lead us back to the time covered by the narrative in the Acts between ix. 30, when on account of the persecution of the Jews he was sent by the brethren to Tarsus, and xi. 25, when he was sought out by Barnabas, and brought to Antioch. ("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." Whatever is meant by this it seems to me quite clear that it excludes all idea of a mere trance. St. Paul knew perfectly well what a trance (¿koráσiç) was, for he fell into one in the temple, and had therein a most important revelation of the will of Christ vouchsafed to him (Acts xxii. 18). In the present case he was caught up" out of this world, instead of the Lord coming or appearing to him, as occurred at the time of his conversion. He was taken up to the third heaven-which, whatever it means, cannot possibly designate a state of rapture occurring here below. And if the transitions of verses two and four be the same, or part of the same event, then he was taken up to some sphere where other spiritual beings were present, for he seems to have heard their voices uttering unspeakable things. 3, 4. "And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, &c.) . . . . how that he was caught up into Paradise," &c. What is the third heaven? It seems to me useless, and almost irreverent to quote Rabbinical explanations all put forth hundreds of years after the writing of this Epistle. St. Paul must mean by it the highest heaven, where the throne of God is, and where the angels are. And what, then, is Paradise? Our Lord says to the penitent malefactor, "This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." This |