How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
But, even if the angels, whose nature is simple and spiritual, are said to have tongues with which they sing praises to their Lord and Creator and give him unceasing thanks, much more must the spiritualized bodies of men do so after the resurrection. For all the members of their glorified flesh will have tongues in their mouths, and they will give voice to their speaking tongues, and thus they will utter divine praises, the outpouring in words of their love and of the joys that fill even their senses. Doubtless the Lord will add this to the grace and glory of his saints in the time of his kingdom, that the more perfectly they attain to this blessed condition of body by a happy transformation, the more fully will they sing with tongue and voice. Being established in their spiritual bodies, they may speak, perchance, not with the tongues of men but with those of angels, such as the apostle heard in paradise.
In paradise. Ambrose, Å’cumenius, Haymo, Anselm, and Theophylact think that Paul was twice caught up: (1.) into the third heaven, and (2.) then higher still into paradise. If Song of Solomon , the third heaven would be the heaven of sun, moon, and stars; but what would Paul have done there? Hence others hold that the events are one and the same, and that the third heaven and paradise are identical.
It may be asked. Why, after saying that he was caught up into the third heaven, does Paul say that he was caught up into paradise, as though it were a place higher still? I reply that of the vast empyrean paradise is one particular part where the Blessed are, and a more glorious part than the rest. S. Paul would imply that not only did he see deepest mysteries by his understanding, but also in his will drank in ineffable happiness. He signifies this by the term paradise, which, both in Greek and Latin, denotes a place of happiness.
Paradise is not a Greek word meaning, as Suidas thinks, a w...
Of such an one will I glory; yet of myself I will not glory. He speaks of himself when caught up and in his ordinary state as two different persons, so as not to be thought vain-glorious (Å’cumenius).
But in mine infirmities. My calamities, my sufferings. By a common Hebrew metonymy "infirmity" is here put for "grief." They are related as cause and effect or effect and cause. Cf. ver9; Micah 4:10. In Isaiah 53:3, we read of Christ that He should be "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity" (Vulg.). Cf. also Psalm 16:4 (Vulg.).
Elijah was taken up to heaven only, but Paul into heaven and paradise (for it was but fitting that the disciples of Jesus should receive more manifold grace) and “heard secret words that man may not repeat.” But Paul came down again from heaven, not because he was unworthy to abide in the third heaven but after enjoying gifts beyond man’s lot.
Caught up into paradise. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas are of opinion that this third heaven and paradise are the same place, and designate the abode of the blessed. In order to understand the language of the apostle, we must observe that the Hebrews distinguished three different heavens. The first comprised the air, the clouds as far as the fixed stars. The second included all the fixed stars; and the third was the abode of Angels, in which God himself discovered his infinite glory The first is called in Scripture simply the heavens, the second the firmament, and the third the heaven of heavens. (Calmet)
Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition
All that is heard by the ears can be spoken. He did not hear audible sounds, nor did he see a vision composed of the corporeal images of sense perception, but it was by the intuitions of the understanding, being in rapture, while his will had no fellowship with the body.
