2 Corinthians 12:1-10 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.… Paul probably refers to the "trance," or vision, of Acts 22. I. SOME EXPLANATION OF THIS REMARKABLE PASSAGE. 1. The nature of the vision. It was in a state in which the mental faculties, apart from the senses, are so engrossed by certain objects as to render the mind incapable of attending to any other. Such raptures were one of the ancient modes of inspiration. God spake to Moses, David, and the prophets in visions, and their return in the days of the apostles served to evince the identity of the two dispensations in their origin and authority. 2. The special communications made in this vision. If the "third heaven" is the place where God immediately resides, we are sure that "paradise" is the same, from the promise to the penitent malefactor. There Paul "heard unspeakable words," etc. Doubtless the inhabitants of heaven conceive of objects in a manner as superior to our modes of conception as are the objects themselves to those of earth. How, then, could they communicate their conceptions to beings of our limited and dull faculties! In like manner the apostle on his return to his former state would find an insurmountable impediment to the communications of what he had seen and heard. But though not to be described in the language of sense, it would appear from the effect left on his mind that the revelation was of the most exhilarating nature; a tone had been given to his character, and a new and seraphic passion had been kindled in his soul. He felt for ever afterwards as a man to whom heaven was not altogether future. 3. The affliction with which he was immediately visited. II. THE GENERAL INSTRUCTION WHICH IT FURNISHES. Note — 1. The wisdom and goodness of God in those severe afflictions with which even eminent saints may be visited. 2. The Divine nature of Christ, and His immediate presidency over the affairs of the whole Church. This Divine Saviour is particularly employed about the mission of His servants, their qualifications for office, their trials, supports, and deliverance. Hence the propriety of direct address to Him in critical circumstances, while, in the ordinary course of affairs, the ultimate object of address is the Almighty Father. 3. The existence of paradise and a third heaven as the receptacle of the souls of believers. What ground, then, for the notion of a sleepy condition of the soul after death? (J. Leifchild, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. |
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