2 I have knowledge of a man in Christ, fourteen years back (if he was in the body, or out of the body, I am not able to say, but God only), who was taken up to the third heaven.
Why? because I have no love for you? let God be judge.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who was to have rule over all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was taken up to God and to his high seat.
And it came about that when I had come back to Jerusalem, while I was at prayer in the Temple, my senses became more than naturally clear,
So if any man is in Christ, he is in a new world: the old things have come to an end; they have truly become new.
For him who had no knowledge of sin God made to be sin for us; so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
So, then, we are ever without fear, and though conscious that while we are in the body we are away from the Lord, (For we are walking by faith, not by seeing,) We are without fear, desiring to be free from the body, and to be with the Lord.
And I have knowledge of such a man (if he was in the body, or out of the body, I am not able to say, but God only), How he was taken up into Paradise, and words came to his ears which may not be said, and which man is not able to say. On account of such a one I will have glory: for myself I will take no glory, but only in my feeble body.
Make a test of yourselves, if you are in the faith; make certain of yourselves. Or are you not conscious in yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, if you are truly Christ's?
And the churches of Judaea which were in Christ still had no knowledge of my face or person:
He who went down is the same who went up far over all the heavens so that he might make all things complete.)
But if I go on living in the flesh--if this is the fruit of my work--then I do not see what decision to make. I am in a hard position between the two, having a desire to go away and be with Christ, which is very much better:
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and a great voice at my back, as of a horn, came to my ears,
Straight away I was in the Spirit: and I saw a high seat in heaven, and one was seated on it;
But is it truly possible that God may be housed on earth? see, heaven and the heaven of heavens are not wide enough to be your resting-place; how much less this house which I have made!
And straight away, when I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will take you away, I have no idea where, so that when I come and give word to Ahab, and he sees you not, he will put me to death: though I, your servant, have been a worshipper of the Lord from my earliest years.
And they said, Your servants have with us here fifty strong men; be pleased to let them go in search of Elijah; for it may be that the spirit of the Lord has taken him up and put him down on some mountain or in some valley. But he said, Do not send them.
Give praise to him, you highest heavens, and you waters which are over the heavens.
Only in the Lord will Jacob overcome and be strong: together all those who were angry with him will be put to shame and come to destruction. In the Lord will all the seed of Israel get their rights, and they will give glory to him.
For this is the word of him who is high and lifted up, whose resting-place is eternal, whose name is Holy: my resting-place is in the high and holy place, and with him who is crushed and poor in spirit, to give life to the spirit of the poor, and to make strong the heart of the crushed.
Now in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in my house and the responsible men of Judah were seated before me, the hand of the Lord came on me there. And looking, I saw a form like fire; from the middle of his body and down there was fire: and up from the middle of his body a sort of shining, like electrum. And he put out the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the wind, lifting me up between the earth and the heaven, took me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the way into the inner door facing to the north; where was the seat of the image of envy.
And the wind, lifting me up, took me in the visions of God into Chaldaea, to those who had been taken away as prisoners. So the vision which I had seen went away from me.
And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years: And let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so. And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars. And God put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth; To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.
He who takes my flesh for food and my blood for drink is in me and I in him.
Be in me at all times as I am in you. As the branch is not able to give fruit of itself, if it is not still on the vine, so you are not able to do so if you are not in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: he who is in me at all times as I am in him, gives much fruit, because without me you are able to do nothing. If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned.
May they all be one! Even as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so let them be in us, so that all men may come to have faith that you sent me. And the glory which you have given to me I have given to them, so that they may be one even as we are one; I in them, and you in me, so that they may be made completely one, and so that it may become clear to all men that you have sent me and that they are loved by you as I am loved by you.
And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away; and the Ethiopian saw him no more, for he went on his way full of joy. But Philip came to Azotus, and went through all the towns, preaching the good news, till he came to Caesarea.
Having got news of it, they went in flight to the towns of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the country round about:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Corinthians 12
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
In this chapter the apostle proceeds in maintaining the honour of his apostleship. He magnified his office when there were those who vilified it. What he says in his own praise was only in his own justification and the necessary defence of the honour of his ministry, the preservation of which was necessary to its success. First, He makes mention of the favour God had shown him, the honour done him, the methods God took to keep him humble, and the use he made of this dispensation (v. 1-10). Then he addresses himself to the Corinthians, blaming them for what was faulty among them, and giving a large account of his behaviour and kind intentions towards them (v. 11-21).
2Cr 12:1-10
Here we may observe,
2Cr 12:11-21
In these verses the apostle addresses himself to the Corinthians two ways:-