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 [Yahweh all in all].

...a man can see in two ways:‭ ‬either with his mind as in a dream,‭ ‬or with his bodily eyes.‭ ‬The words in the original are ειτε εν σωματι ειτε εκτος του σωματος‭ ‬whether in‭ (‬with or by‭) ‬a body or without the body.‭ ‬Paul was not sure which of the ways it was that he saw the‭ "‬visions and revelations‭" ‬referred to.‭ ‬They appeared real,‭ ‬yet what came after suggested they were not real,‭ ‬and so he left the matter in doubt .

The Christadelphian, May 1873

3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)

Out of the Body

It was not a transportation from place to place, but of mind from one state to another, the man himself remaining at his accustomed home. This is indicated by his saying,

"I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord."

He was speaking of these—things seen and heard. He was "in the Spirit," as John was in Patmos, who, though in the Spirit, and therefore caught up, or exalted, in mind, remained still in his island home. But of this, doubtless, for the time, he was as little cognizant as Paul.

They were mentally enwrapped, or ecstasized, in a twinkling of the eye, or by a sudden seizure of the Spirit of God. This is a real condition of brain, and may be produced by mere human power. It is called ecstasy. I have produced it several times, and know that the subject of it cannot tell whether he is on earth or in heaven, with body or without it.

Paul and John's ecstasy, however, differed from this, in that theirs was produced by the Spirit, while my patient's was caused by my nervous energy seizing upon his.

The Spirit remaining with Paul and John after the ecstasy had passed away, they retained the recollection of what they saw and heard; which is not the case with those ecstasized by mere human power. The period of their ecstasy is a perfect blank, although their eyes are wide open, and their hearing is not gone.

The particles rendered in and out of, are not εν en and εκ ek; but εν and εκτοζ, ektos: εν has many meanings.

So little cognizant was Paul of his personal relations at the time of the visions and revelations, that he did not know whether the man he speaks of was bodily transported to a third heaven; or whether a third heaven, without the bodily removal, was brought in vision to, or outside of him.

His ignorance upon this point is expressed by εν, with, and εκτοζ, without, in the sense of outside, in connection with the verb and noun.

It is certain that neither bodily nor as a ghost could the man have gone to paradise; for the third-heaven paradise has no existence, and can have none till the second-heaven paradise shall have passed away; and that has not yet appeared, nor will it until the Lord shall come in power and great glory.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, May 1855

4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

The Millennial Constitution of the World, as may be perceived from Isa. 65, is not perfect. It will be a great advance upon both the old Mosaic, and the Times of the Gentiles; but it will fall far short of the constitution and order of things beyond the Thousand Years.

We learn this from Paul in his reference to the visions and revelations granted to him, as it would seem, for his own exclusive benefit, for he would not, could not, or might not, communicate what he had seen and heard to others (2 Cor. 12:1).

...This third heaven, or paradise in full manifestation, is John's New Heaven and New Earth, in which "there is no more sea". In the "Former Earth" which passes away, there is sin, and generation, and death; and because of the existence of sin, and flesh and blood, and death, there are mediatorship, and priesthood, and ruling with an iron rod, in the "Former Heaven". These things are not to continue permanently.

Sin, which is the transgression of law, must be wholly and finally suppressed; flesh and blood must be exterminated from the earth; disease and death, which are "the wages of sin," abolished; mediatorship, and priesthood, necessary in the offering to the Deity of gifts and sacrifices for the sins of the erring and the ignorant (Heb. 5:1,2) "delivered up to the Father;" and religion, which is a Divinely appointed remedy for an existing breach between the creature and the Creator, superseded, as having answered its purpose, and being therefore no longer necessary.

...Henceforth, the earth, not burnt up, but perfected, and rendered the paradisaic arena of all the unutterable joys and beauties and ecstatic things beheld and heard of Paul, becomes a fitting habitation of Deity in unmediatorial intimacy with the humblest of mankind; for then the Father will be "the all things in all men".

How truly great, then, is the voice John heard out of the heaven, saying, "Behold the tabernacle of the Deity with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his peoples, and the Deity himself will be with them, their Deity".

They shall all of them be Divine people, like to the Saints then the rulers of the nations for the past thousand years. Having come forth from the graves, they become, together with the living who suffered not themselves to be deceived by the Devil and Satan, and seduced from their allegiance to the King of kings, in the Gog and Magog revolt, the postmillennial harvest of the dead and living, of which Jesus and his Brethren are the Firstfruits. "The Rest of the Dead" being thus added to these, the whole number given by the Father to the Son, is complete.

"And the Deity shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death; nor shall there be sorrow nor crying, nor pain any more: for the former things have passed away". "And there shall be no more curse" (ch. 22:3).

Such is the consummation of the Divine purpose in the creation of the heavens and the earth. He formed it to be inhabited: to be a tabernacle for Himself with men. He could, had it pleased Him, have created it perfect, and filled with immortal inhabitants, at the beginning.

To have done this would have prevented all the crime and misery that blot and crimson the record of the past; but then the world would have been a characterless automaton; and unfit for association with the Governor of the Universe, whose attributes are moral, as well as intellectual and potential.

He desired a society for our planet consisting of tried and faithful friends, such as Abraham, who loved Him better than his dearest son. He proposed to develop it upon the principle of belief in His promises and obedience under trial; and to crown the whole with incorruptibility and life. Having prepared such a society as this, and concentrated it from all ages and generations into one glorious community, He would then put His hand to the final completion of its dwelling-place, as he declared to John, saying, "Behold, I make all things new".

Eureka 21.2.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

I glory in my infirmities

"Our light affliction" will not, by enlightened reason, be laid in the balance for a moment against the result that is being worked out for us by its means. How poor are all human achievements by comparison with what God is working in us by the Truth. How insignificant and intrinsically worthless are all human movements and contrivances outside the channel of God's work in Christ.

They shine and impress in a certain way only the generation that is contemporary with them, but, judge them by the result - they are the mere burnished tinsel on coffin lids, destined to be forgotten utterly like the dust and cobwebs that gather in the darkness of the vault of death. The Word of the Lord endureth for ever, and this is the Word which by the gospel has been preached unto us.

Seasons 2.79

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Under reproach

We must accept it, and patiently submit for a time, and rejoice in it if we can. We know we could get on by adopting a different policy. If we would hold the thing slacker, widen it a little more, open the bands of a cheerful communion with the looseness and corruption of the churches, not calling it looseness and corruption, but other people's ways, we could sail out into the popular stream, and catch a little of the pleasant breeze and glide down the stream to the blue ocean of prosperity.

But it is not possible, without treachery to the restrictions and separations enjoined by God on all who wish to be His children; and such treachery will in the end appear madness, though it may be convenient for the time being.

We are in the social ditch, and we know it. There is no advantage in disguising the fact from ourselves and others. We cannot aim at a respectable standing. Respectability, as a rule is alienated from the love and obedience of God; not that non-respectability per se is any better, for, as David says,

"Rich men are a lie;" as he also says, –Poor men are vanity;"

it is not in any human condition of itself to be wise; but humility of circumstance is more favourable to godliness than the reverse; and therefore it is wise to be content with the fact declared by James, that

"God hath chosen the poor of this world," provided they be "rich in faith."

He has not rejected the rich but their salvation is a matter of difficulty, by reason of the unfavorable influences to which they are exposed. All this belongs to the dark side of our calling.

Seasons 2.18.

12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

An apostle must be able to work signs and wonders and mighty deeds, as signs of his apostleship (2 Cor. 12:12)...Now, reason and common sense teach that if men are real successors to apostolicity, they will be like Peter and Paul in all their qualifications and attributes; but reason also teaches that after the ascension of Jesus, no man can be qualified for the apostleship unless the Lord appear to him, as in the case of Paul.

Elpis Israel 2.1.

20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

Ah, that flesh! It is the root of the whole disturbance of the peace ...May I not, then, conclude from these general principles, in the absence of particular details, that the cause which underlies all ecclesiastical troubles, great and small, is the play of the flesh, unsubdued and uncontrolled by the truth as it is in Jesus? If Christ dwelt in all hearts by faith, there would be

"righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; and he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men."

Bro Thomas, 1869.