In the climax of Paul’s “boastings,” he spoke of himself in the third person as a man who was “caught up to the third heaven.” Perhaps he felt it too immodest to speak of himself in the first person as one who had been entrusted with such a heavenly experience. Yet, he shared it with the Corinthians as a part of his apostolic resume to refute those who had challenged his authority.
Some have read too much into Paul’s reference to the “third heaven,” imagining three levels or more in spiritual progression. A simpler explanation would be to understand it as the Jews of that day did. In their view, the first heaven was the blue sky at day, the second, the night sky with its starry host, and the third, the unseen heaven, where God and His heavenly host dwelt. Paul used the phrase “caught up” to describe his experience, which in the Latin Vulgate was translated “raptured” (Greek: “harpazó,” Latin: “raptum”). His experience was so beyond comprehension that he didn’t know whether it was “in the body” or “out of the body.”
Paul did not go into detail about what he had experienced, only saying that he heard “inexpressible words.” He apparently experienced first hand what Isaiah had prophesied and what he had written about in his first letter to the Corinthians, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (Isa. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9).