And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows (2 Corinthians 12:3)
The Scriptures clearly teach that man had no existence before he was “formed of the dust of the ground”. That when formed that which was formed was the man. That when the breath of life was breathed into the nostrils of the dust-formed man that man, that form became a living soul, a living man, a living form. This is the man and not the house in which the man lives, and which he may vacate and live somewhere else without. It is not the body of man as something separate from the man that the apostle Paul says was “out of the earth, earthy”; but he is very emphatic in saying. “The first man is of the earth, earthy” (1 Corinthians 15:47). When this man who “is formed out of the earth, earthy” is dissolved in death, he is said to return to the dust: “For out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19).
In other words, “His breath (that was breathed into his nostrils) goeth forth; he (who was formed of the dust of the ground) returneth to his earth, and in that very day his thoughts perish,” (Psalms 146:4). In this state it is said of him that he has no power for “work, nor device, no knowledge, nor wisdom”; for there is no power to perform any of these “in tho grave whither thou goest” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). The fact is man in death has returned to the dust from whence he was taken; and while “the living know that they shall die, the dead know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Man had none of the powers or functions above named before he was a formed, living being. Therefore when he goes back into the formlessness and lifelessness that preceded his creation there is nothing—there are no organs—from which “work, device, knowledge and wisdom can be manifested. So that man in death has no more personal, conscious existence than he had before he was formed. All that remains of him is the memory his friends may have of him; and, if he was responsible to the law that shall judge the just and the unjust, there remains an impress, as it were, of his character in the Divine memory, which, when re-formation, or resurrection takes place, will be re-impressed upon him, which will either prove him to be worthy of eternal life or of eternal death. Disembodied existence, then, finds no room in Scripture nor in reason.
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Author: Thomas Williams
Keywords: Third heaven, Caught up, Caught up to the third heaven, 3rd heaven, Out of the body, In the body, Vision, Paradise, Paul saw paradise
Bible reference(s): 2 Corinthians 12:2-4
Source: The Great Salvation (Englewood: Advocate and Gleaner Pub. House, 1893?).
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.