“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.” 2 Corinthians 12: 2

Some have interpreted the above verse as meaning that there are 3 different levels of the spiritual heaven in which God resides. That interpretation probably was inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy, which described several differing levels (9) of heaven. The problem, of course, is that the Divine Comedy is fictional.

Between the Hebrew and Greek languages from which the Bible is mainly written, the word “heaven” has three meanings: atmospheric, cosmos, and celestial. That would be the sky, outer space, and a spiritual habitat.This, then, would have been the context that the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote the verse.

Paul is speaking of a place that transcends the physical realms of sky and outer space. The third heaven that he speaks of is simply God’s timeless, spiritual residence.