📖WEB · 2 Corinthians 12:4
What does 2 Corinthians 12:4 mean?
"how he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."
— 2 Corinthians 12:4 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows), such a one caught up into the third heaven.
I know such a man (whether in the body, or outside of the body, I don’t know; God knows),
how he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses.
For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which he sees in me, or hears from me.
By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.
Explanation
Second Corinthians 12:4 records the tail end of one of the most mysterious passages Paul ever wrote. In plain language, Paul is saying that he (though he speaks of himself in the third person, as "a man") was taken up into paradise and heard things there that cannot be put into human words — sayings so sacred or overwhelming that it would not be permissible, or perhaps even possible, for a person to repeat them to others. This is not Paul withholding information out of secrecy for its own sake, but a statement that the experience exce
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