2 Corinthians 12:2
I know a man -- The question is whether this "man" is Paul himself? From 2 Corinthians 12:6-7, with the linkage of it to the thorn in the flesh make it indisputable that this occurred to himself.
1. The reason why Paul did not speak of this directly as a vision which he had himself seen was probably that he was accused of boasting.
It is not uncommon, moreover, for a man to speak of himself in the third person. Thus, Caesar in his Commentaries uniformly speaks of himself. And so John in his Gospel speaks of himself, John 13:23-24; John 19:26; John 21:20. Paul may have abstained from referring to this occurrence elsewhere, because it might sound like pride.
2. His argument required that he should mention something that had occurred to himself. Anything that had occurred to another would not have been pertinent.
in Christ -- The phrase “in Christ” meaning nothing more than that he was united to Christ or was a Christian; see Romans 16:7.
fourteen years ago -- If this Epistle was written, as is commonly supposed, about the year 56 AD, then this occurrence must have happened about the year 42 AD. This would be within the 11-14 year period of Paul’s life following his conversion. Acts 9:30; Acts 11:25
While we don’t know the precise time or occasion many have offered their conjectures. 1) To contend this occurred on the Damascus road is to too early, for the man was "in Christ" when this happened. 2) In Acts 22:17-18 Paul refers to a “trance” he fell into after his conversion while praying at the Jerusalem temple in which Christ warned him to leave Jerusalem. But again this seems early. 3) Some have suggested that in Acts 14:19-20, Paul was stoned at Lystra (and some think he was dead at this point and revived) could have been the occasion. 4) Safest to say, we just don’t know when this occurred and the timing or occasion is not that important or we would have been informed.
caught up to -- The word which is used here (ἁρπάζω harpazō G726) means, to seize upon, to snatch away, to carry off, sometimes even by force.
Since this is the same word used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 of the saints being caught up to meet the Lord at his coming some who teach a false doctrine about the "rapture" like to speak of this as Paul being "Raptured" up temporarily.
third heaven -- There are numerous uses of the word heaven in the scriptures. Among the Hebrews it was used chiefly in three senses. First, the aerial heavens where the winds blow and the rains form and the birds fly; second, the firmament where the stars as pendant jewels adorn the sky, and where all the constellations and planets are in orbit; third, the highest heaven, the third heaven, the residence of God and Christ, the dwelling of angels and mansions of the blessed. There are scriptures that use the word heaven in all of these senses. - Wallace
It is the place called "paradise" in the next verse, yet now, after Christ’s victory over the Hadean world it is located in the third heaven.
whether in the body or out -- His meaning is that he was conscious of being caught up: that much he knows: his being transferred to heaven was a fact. But where his body was at the time, whether in heaven or on earth, that he does not know: his consciousness with regard to that is a blank.
Paul does not try to explain how it was brought about. He didn’t know if the body was caught up to heaven, or whether the soul was for a time separated from the body, or whether the incident was presented as a vision.
or out of the body --
I do not know, God knows. -- God knows whatever the mode was and Paul did not attempt to explain it.
No one can doubt that God had power if he chose to transport the body to heaven; or that he had power for a time to separate the soul front the body; or that he had power to represent to the mind so clearly the view of the heavenly world that he would appear to see it; see Acts 7:56.