2 Corinthians 12:2

I know a man (oida anqrwpon). Paul singles out one incident of ecstasy in his own experience that he declines to describe. He alludes to it in this indirect way as if it were some other personality. Fourteen years ago (pro etwn dekatessarwn). Idiomatic way of putting it, the preposition pro (before) before the date (Robertson, Grammar, p. 621f.) as in John 12:1 . The date was probably while Paul was at Tarsus ( Acts 9:30 ; Acts 11:25 ). We have no details of that period. Caught up (arpagenta). Second aorist passive participle of arpazw, to seize (see on Matthew 11:12 ). Even to the third heaven (ew tritou ouranou). It is unlikely that Paul alludes to the idea of seven heavens held by some Jews (Test. of the Twelve Pat._, Levi ii. iii.). He seems to mean the highest heaven where God is (Plummer).