2 Corinthians 12:4

4. Paradise Compare our notes on Luke 16:19-31, and xxiii, 43. Meyer says this paradise is not here under the earth, as sheol, in which the spirits of the dead saints abide until the resurrection, as if such were the view in Luke 16:0. But, however it may be in the Old Testament, or in the heathen poets, it is not the conception of the New Testament that paradise is under the earth. We do think of it as below, in relation to the highest heavens, but not as subterranean. See note on Ephesians 4:8-10.

Heard He appears to have heard nothing in the third heaven. Seeing and knowing were all he had to do there. But in the region nearer to his present life he was enabled to hear. Says Olshausen, “In that paradisaical scene of light he received wondrous impressions, which he describes as perceptions through the medium of hearing.” The thought is, that in the spirit-world there is no communication by articulate sounds, but by mutual impartation of thought from mind to mind. And in this view, distance in space may be no preventive of the most perfect communication. The rich man and Abraham were both in hades, (including tartarus and paradise,) both visible and audible to each other, as spirits see and hear; but that proves not that even if tartarus were below the earth’s surface, paradise must be so also. Hades may be down, but we doubt whether paradise is ever any otherwise than up.

Unspeakable words Unutterable utterances. St. Paul borrows a charmed phrase from the rites of the pagan priesthood, who professed to possess many mysteries that must not be divulged, and words not lawful to utter. There are wonderful mysteries for us in paradise; and the words that spirit utters to spirit are too sacred for human speech, and cannot be uttered without a wonderful gift of tongues.