Paul’S Mystical Experience
PAUL’S MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
2 CORINTHIANS 12:1-6
Paul reveals his secret soul and writes modestly about his mystical experience.
There was one more charge which his accusers at Corinth had to level against his right to be called an apostle; and correspondingly one further need to “boast” (12:1) by way of self-justification. Those who criticized Paul no doubt taxed him with a deficient spiritual experience, insinuating that he was lacking in experiences of a “mystical” nature, “visions and revelations of the Lord.” By contrast, he was a dull, plain man, they asserted.
Paul therefore further unburdens his secret soul and permits himself to reveal his inner heart. The “man in Christ” (12:2) is Paul himself, although the whole narrative is written in a roundabout way. Why does he express himself like this?
He relates a datable experience in which he was transported in an ecstasy to the presence of God. “The third heaven,” 12:2, is a Jewish expression for the immediate presence of God. There he “heard” the indescribable words, which are his secret (12:4), for no human language can be adequate to convey the impression that such an immediacy of the divine presence meant to him. Such an elated spiritual experience may very well have proved an invaluable and unanswerable debating point, showing that his apostleship carried a credential which none of his rivals could challenge; but strangely Paul goes on straightaway to renounce any confidence which he may have placed in such authorization (12:5-6).
He never makes mystical experience a ground of claiming apostolic authority. To his opponents such experiences would have been remarkable accomplishments, giving to their status and teaching an added authority and impressive kudos. Paul places no such value on ecstasy, nor does he imply that he was nearer to God then—when caught up into Paradise—than at other times under normal conditions. This is an important observation, which should set us on our guard against all forms of “mysticism” and exceptional experiences which are made the basis for some claim in a matter of Christian doctrine or practice. God may come to us or other believers in special ways, but all subjective experience must be tested by fixed objective standards. What are they?