2 Corinthians 12:3

3. And It is a strange idea held by some commentators, endorsed by Alford, that St. Paul here twice states the same narrative. Less absurd, but quite unsupported, is the idea that the two are different parts of one vision. The formal beginning of both narratives, assigning both to the same year, obviously indicates that they were not at the same time. Nor were the two visits to the same region. To the question why Paul should visit paradise later than the third heaven, it might in answer be asked, Why should he see paradise first? To see the heaven of heavens to stand in the body, for the moment glorified, by the side of Enoch, Elijah, Christ, and, perhaps, Moses to know with them, by a divine intuition, all that the first two knew to realize the realities of eternity, were the first and main thing. To visit paradise the intermediate state, the place of departed, disembodied spirits was the after-thought. The former was, perhaps, necessary as a qualification for Paul’s apostolicity; the latter only important. As to him was visibly disclosed the Son of God in his glorified person, so to him were revealed, in glimpse, the arcana of the highest heaven, and the lower mysteries of paradise.