2 Corinthians 12

2 Corinthians 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Timothy (2 Corinthians 1:1) in Macedonia in 55–56 CE.^[1]

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2 Corinthians 12
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A folio of Papyrus 46 (written c. AD 200), containing 2 Corinthians 11:33–12:9. This manuscript contains almost complete parts of the whole Pauline epistles.
Book	Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Category	Pauline epistles
Christian Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Christian part	8

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The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago – whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows – such a one was caught up to the third heaven.^[2]

• "I know a man in Christ": refers to Paul himself, as he speaks in the first person in 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul speaks in the third person to show his humility and modesty. He says himself a "man", not to distinguish from an angel or any other creature; maybe only to express his gender (the Syriac version uses a distinct masculine word) or just to denote a person.^[3]
• "Fourteen years ago": could refer either to the time of Paul's conversion or the time of his rapture, which could be in the period of the three days after the conversion, when he was blind, didn't eat nor drink, or many years after the conversion.^[3] Most probably, it was not in Damascus, but when Paul was again in Jerusalem, while praying in the temple, and was in a trance (Acts 22:17).^[3] Lightfoot places Paul's conversion in 34 AD, the rapture into the third heaven in 43, at the time of the famine during the reign of Claudius (Acts 11:28), when he was in a trance in Jerusalem (Acts 22:17), and the writing of this epistle in 57.^[3] Bishop Usher puts the conversion in 35, his rapture in 46, and the writing of this epistle in 60.^[3]
• "The third heaven": that is so-called "the seat of the divine Majesty, and the residence of the holy angels", in comparison to the "airy" and "starry" heavens. Paul refers to a distinction in the Jewish belief of "the supreme heaven, the middle heaven, and the lower heaven".^[4][a][3]
• "Whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knows": Either similar to Elijah who was carried with soul and body in a chariot with horses of fire; or as Moses was disembodied for a time,^[8] or in a visionary way, as John was "in the Spirit" on the Lord's day (Revelation 1:10), and Ezekiel was taken by a lock of his head, lifted up by the Spirit between earth and heaven, and brought "in the visions of God to Jerusalem", it cannot be ascertained as Paul himself did not know.^[3]

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.^[9]

• Satan
• Third Heaven
• Thorn in the flesh
• Titus
• Related Bible parts: Genesis 1, Hosea 2, Daniel 7, Acts 22, Romans 8, Philippians 4