CHRISTIAN CANNIBALISM (Galatians Chapter 5)

Galatians 5:15, “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out lest you be consumed by one another.”

We’ve got two dogs—Bean and Rory.  Bean is a black and white half-Lab/half-Dalmatian.  Rory is a 3 year old Golden Retriever.  They’re friends and most of the time they get along pretty well—sometimes Bean will even lick and clean Rory’s ears for her.  But Rory is kind of spoiled and tends to get a little more attention.  Bean’s response?—he sneaks in behind her, chomps on her leg, and pulls.  Kind one minute, chomping on her the next.  Dogs can be sometimes unpredictable in their behavior—just like humans.

Some time back our Men’s Bible study did a study through a book by Alexander Strauch entitled “If You Bite and Devour One Another: Biblical Principles for Handling Conflict.”  The title for the book comes from Galatians 5:15.  The book was a great resource which I would heartily recommend.  The title and verse speak to a very real problem—it is possible for Christians to engage in “Christian cannibalism.”  I’m not speaking, of course, of the physical kind, but Paul used such language to graphically depict what happens when Christians fail to act by the Spirit in love in their relationships with one another.  The sad reality is that you don’t have to be a Christian very long until you’ve been “chomped on” by a fellow brother or sister in Christ.

That we would engage is such behavior is testimony to the reality and tenacity of sin. Though forgiven, the believer is nonetheless still capable, in the flesh, of engaging in gross acts of unloving behavior.  You’ve probably got a few pieces of missing flesh or at least some tooth marks.  And you’ve likely, on more than one occasion, taken a bite out of a fellow saint.  Not very tasty!

We are prone to varying responses to difficult situations.  Sometimes we flee the situation (how many Christians leave a church because of their unwillingness to lovingly respond to a difficult situation?).  We can fight—“enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions” are listed amongst the various deeds of the flesh (Cf. Galatians 5:20).  These kind of responses require no effort on our part.  We tend to gravitate towards them.

The remedy for our tendency to respond in fleshly ways is to “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16).  Apart from the Spirit we lack the wisdom, power, or compassion to respond to difficult situations in a God-honoring way.  It is by the Spirit that Divine resources and Christ-like virtues are borne in us and work to supercede our fleshly tendencies.  The person of the Spirit (the “Helper;” John 14:16) works through the Word to change and empower us.  It is only as the “Word of Christ richly dwells within us” that we are Spirit-led and enabled to relate to one another properly (Cf. Ephesians 5:18f; Colossians 3:16f).

Galatians 5:13-14 instructs us in the God-approved manner in which we are to relate to one another: “Through love serve one another.  For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Christ-like love is to govern our relationships within the body of Christ and our response to difficult situations.  There is never an “opt-out” when it comes to the command for us to love one another (Cf. John 13:34-35).  In our day one cannot mention the command to love without qualifying it according to its Biblical definition.  Love does not equate to tolerance, love is something far greater than that.  It has been defined for us in the loving sacrifice of the Lord Jesus (Cf. 1 John 3:16).  In the context of what is taught elsewhere in Scripture, a good definition of Christ-like love would be: that which actively and purposefully pursues that which is best for its object.  Love coexists with truth and can only be understood in the sense of desiring “Christ’s best” for those whom we care about.  The exercise of Christ-like love depends on knowledge of the truth and discernment (Cf. Philippians 1:6).  This is the kind of love that we are to show to others, even when they don’t respond in kind.  To love like Jesus is to respond to others in terms of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  With respect to His preeminent example it is readily apparent that we all have room to grow.

That reality helps us when it comes to dealing with difficult situations.  Christ has for us to grow.  There is no way to avoid difficult situations.  We are all going to be “chomped on” sometime—that’s something we can’t control.  But here’s something we can control—our response.  We can respond, by the Spirit in love, in a way that honors God, contributes to healthy relationships, and adorns our testimony before the lost. 

THE HEAVEN-SENT SON (Galatians Chapter 4)

Galatians 4:5, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

We have here in this verse a wonderful explanation of the cause and effect of Christ’s incarnation.  The immediate context of Galatians 4:4 has to do with the deliverance of the “enslaved” (Galatians 4:3, 8).  This deliverance was availed by God’s intervention through the redemptive ministry of His Son. 

God sent forth his Son when the “fullness of time had come” (Galatians 4:4).  Theologically speaking, it happened according to the exact timing of the One who works “all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).  Biblically speaking, in a careful orchestration of divinely timed events numerous prophecies met their exact fulfillment in Jesus’ birth, life, and death (i.e. the timing and location of Christ’s birth; the arrival of His messenger; His flight to Egypt; etc.)  Historically speaking Christ’s coming took place in an advantageous period of time in which there was a well-established road system (constructed by the Romans) and the widespread usage of one language (Greek).  These and other factors worked to facilitate the rapid spread of the gospel across the Roman Empire.  Morally speaking, it was a time of great need.  Henry Scougal once commented about this: “God hath long contended with a stubborn world, and thrown down many a blessing upon them; and when all his other gifts could not prevail, he at last made a gift of himself.”

In the fullness of time “God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4).  The rebelled against and much offended God of the universe sent forth His Son.  The God who is seldom thanked and commonly accused sent forth His Son.  What kind of love is this that God would send His dearly beloved Son to such a place?  Romans 5:8 explains, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The truth of the incarnation is set forth—“his Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4).  Both His deity and His humanity are affirmed here.  It is a matter of “transcendent truth”, as Martin Luther once said, “The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.”  Both are true and necessary aspects of His personhood.  That He is the divine Son of God is affirmed here and elsewhere (Cf. John 1:1-5; Colossians 1:15-16).  He is human, having been born of a woman (Cf. Galatians 4:4).  Doctrinally speaking, this truth regarding the “God-man” nature of Christ is of great importance (Cf. 1 John 4:2).  But it is important for another reason as well inasmuch as it speaks to the truth of who God is.  Does God care?  In sending forth His Son He initiated the greatest of all missionary endeavors.  How far was God willing to go to rescue lost sinners?  The incarnation answers these questions (Cf. 1 John 3:16; John 3:16; Hebrews 2:14-15).

St. Augustine, an early Church father, once commented on these matters in a Christmas sermon: “The Word of the Father, by whom all time was created, was made flesh and was born in time for us.  He, without whose divine permission no day completes its course, wished to have one day for his human birth.  In the bosom of His Father He existed before the cycles of the ages; born of an earthly mother, He entered upon the course of years this day.  The Maker of man became man, that He, Ruler of the stars, might be nourished at the breast; that He, the Bread of life, might be hungry; that He, the Fountain of life, might thirst; that He, the Light, might sleep; that He, the Way, might be wearied on the journey; that He, the Truth, might be accused by false witnesses; that He, the Judge of the living and the dead, might be brought to trial by a mortal judge; that He, Justice, might be condemned by the unjust; that He, Discipline, might be scourged with whips; that He, the Foundation, might be suspended on a cross; that Courage might be weakened; that Security might be wounded; that Life might die.  To endure these and similar indignities for us, to free us, unworthy creatures, He who existed as the Son of God before all the ages, without a beginning, deigned to become the Son of Man in these recent years.  He did this although He who submitted to such great evils for our sake had done no evil, and although we, who were the recipients of so much good at His hands, had done nothing to merit these benefits.”

BY THE SPIRIT (Galatians Chapter 3)

Galatians 3:1-5, “O foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.  Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?”

In the book of Galatians Paul defends and explains the superiority of the gospel of grace as opposed to the legalism that was being promulgated by the false teachers.  His question, “who has bewitched you?” speaks to their naivety and lack of discernment with respect to these matters.  Paul had proclaimed the gospel to them.  They had trusted in Christ for salvation. They had suffered for Christ and had begun a walk by the Spirit, but were “deserting him who called (them) in the grace of Christ and (were) turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).  Paul was astonished and disheartened.  The book of Galatians represents his corrective response.

Three important statements are made regarding the Spirit in this passage.  The Spirit is, of course, the person of the Holy Spirit.  He whom Jesus promised to send—“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16).  The word “Helper” translates the Greek parakletos which means literally “called to one’s side” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary).  Jesus comforted His troubled disciples with news of the Spirit’s coming—“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7).  His is a Christ-revealing and Christ-glorifying ministry (Cf. John 16:12-14).

The believers in Galatia had received the Spirit (Cf. Galatians 3:2).  Paul’s rhetorical question demands one response: they had received the Spirit “by hearing with faith” and not “by the works of the law” (Galatians 3:2).  As An immediate result of faith in Christ a person receives the Spirit.  Every born again believer is indwelt by the Spirit of God (Cf. Romans 8:9).  From salvation on the Helper is at work in the believer, lovingly and patiently working to instruct, empower, and transform. 

The believers in Galatia had “begun by the Spirit” (Cf. Galatians 3:3), but had digressed.  The Christian life is a walk by the Spirit.  “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14; Cf. Galatians 5:18).  Though there are commands to be obeyed, the Christian life is not a religious construct of do’s and don’ts.  No one can be “perfected by the flesh,” because the flesh is incapable of such a thing (Cf. Colossians 2:23; John 6:63).  It can only do the “works of the flesh” and none of them have anything to do with perfection (Cf. Galatians 5:19-21).  By the Spirit alone can the “deeds of the body” be “put to death” (Romans 8:13).  By the Spirit alone can transformation into Christ-likeness take place (Cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18).

The believers in Galatia had been supplied with the Spirit “by hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5).  God had “graced them” with the Spirit and had worked miracles amongst them.  Those things happened not as a result of their own religious doings.  How foolish it is to suppose that we can, in our own self efforts, do that which the divine Spirit alone can do.  By the Spirit alone the miracle of regeneration takes place.  By the Spirit alone can we have assurance (Cf. Romans 8:16).  By the Spirit alone are we sanctified (Cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18).  By the Spirit alone can we understand truth and gain assistance in our prayers (Cf. 1 Corinthians 2:12; Romans 8:26).  By the Spirit alone Christ-like fruit is borne in us (Cf. Galatians 5:22-23).  How incredibly blessed we are to have such a Helper!  We did not obtain Him by merit or self-effort, He was given to us as a gift.  To be filled with Him (Cf. Ephesians 5:18) and to walk by Him (Cf. Galatians 5:16) is a matter of great privilege and is the only means by which we can walk in a manner worthy of the calling which we have received. 

THE EXCHANGED LIFE (Galatians Chapter 2)

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  And the life I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission, once referenced this verse with regards to that which he called “The Exchanged Life."  In a particularly challenging period of his ministry he came to the realization that it is impossible to live the Christian life in one’s own strength and that is necessary instead to depend entirely on Christ.  The Christian life is not about our own doing (trying harder to be better), but Christ living and doing in and through us.

Paul was addressing those who were seeking—as a result of false teaching they had received--to be justified through the works of the law.  Legalists had infiltrated the church in Galatia and were promoting a slavish observance to the Law as means to attaining righteousness.  Paul speaks in this verse to his own experience whereby he had been elevated in salvation by grace to a higher plane of living through union with Christ. 

Paul had himself been in the place of the false teachers.  He had lived the life of a fully invested legalist.  His was an impressive religious resume—“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:4-6).  Paul had possessed that which the false teachers were proclaiming, but everything changed for Paul when he met Jesus.  “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish” (Philippians 3:7-8).  The life Paul possessed by way of Christ’s indwelling presence was infinitely superior to that of his previous experience. 

Paul’s “Christ lives in me” experience was not unique to him, it represents the condition which is true for every born again believer.  Kenneth Wuest commented on this matter, “It is no longer a self-centered life that he lives, but a Christ-centered one. His new life is a Person, the Lord Jesus living in Paul. And through the ministry of the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus is manifest in his life. The new life is no longer, like the former one, dependent upon the ineffectual efforts of a man attempting to draw near to God in his own righteousness. The new life is a Person within a person, living out His life in that person. Instead of attempting to live his life in obedience to a set of rules in the form of the legal enactments of the Mosaic law, Paul now yields to the indwelling Holy Spirit and cooperates with Him in the production of a life pleasing to God, energized by the divine life resident in him through the regenerating work of the Spirit. Instead of a sinner with a totally depraved nature attempting to find acceptance with God by attempted obedience to a set of outward laws, it is now the saint living his life on a new principle, that of the indwelling Holy Spirit manifesting forth the Lord Jesus. That is what Paul means when he says: And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.  (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament: Grand Rapids: Eerdmans).”

The believer in Christ is indwelt by the Risen Savior!  This glorious truth differentiates Biblical Christianity from mere religion.  The One who has triumphed over sin and death works a radical transformation in the life of the believer.  The Risen Christ takes up residence in his heart.  Christ is not far from him--He indwells him (Cf. Colossians 1:27)!  The believer doesn’t merely look to Jesus for life, He is his life (Cf. Colossians 3:4).  Christ’s resurrection power is availed to him and courses through his being (Cf. Ephesians 1:19f).  His immeasurable love fills his heart (Cf. Ephesians 3:14f).  As a branch to a vine he derives life and fruit-bearing power from Jesus alone (Cf. John 15:5).  His is not a dead, dry, powerless religiosity (Cf. Colossians 2:23; Galatians 3:3), but a “river of living water” flowing from his heart experience (Cf. John 7:38).  In a moment-by-moment submission to and dependence on Christ, the believer is empowered to do that which he could never hope to do in his own strength (Cf. Philippians 4:13).  “Christ lives in me!”  The “Son of God” who “loved me and gave himself for me” now resides in me (Cf. Galatians 2:20).  It is a glorious and wondrous truth that it represented to us in this verse!

ANOTHER GOSPEL (Galatians Chapter 1)

Galatians 1:6-9, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

Most of Paul’s epistles are introduced by some expression of praise with respect to the church to which he was writing.  But there is no expression of praise or thanksgiving in the beginnings of this letter.  Instead, Paul wrote of his astonishment as to what was happening in the church in Galatia—the people were abandoning the true gospel in favor of legalism under the sway of some false teachers.  These verses introduce the primary matter of concern dealt with in the remainder of the epistle.

Paul was concerned because of the desertion of the Galatians.  The term “deserting” translates a Greek term meaning “to move a person or thing from one place to another” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary).  Vine’s also comments that “the present tense suggests that the defection of the Galatians from the truth was not yet complete and would continue unless they changed their views” and that “the middle voice indicates that they were themselves responsible for their declension, rather than the Judaizers who had influenced them.”  The Judaizers were the legalists who were presenting a false gospel requiring circumcision and other such religious observances.  The Galatians were in the process of abandoning the true gospel for the sake of a good-news-less legalism.

There is a tragic element to what was transpiring.  The Galatian believers had been called by God.  He had called them out of rebellion and ignorance to worship Him.  He had called them by grace.  They hadn’t deserved salvation and had done nothing to merit it, but God who is rich in grace and mercy freely bestowed in on them in Christ.  They had been saved by grace through faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross (Cf. Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Peter 3:18).  By grace they had been immeasurably blessed.  Their desertion from God in pursuit of a burdensome legalism was especially troublesome and surprising to Paul.

Their desertion came “quickly.”  The church in Galatia came into existence through the preaching of the gospel.  They had received the Spirit.  They had “begun by the Spirit” (Galatians 3:1-5).  But the legalists quickly intervened and worked to spread their lies.  The church listened.

They were “turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).  Two different Greek terms are translated “another” in our English Bibles.  The first “allos,” speaks of something that is “another of the same sort.”  The second, “heteros,” speaks of something that is “another of a different sort.”  Both terms are used here: “a different (“heteros”) gospel—not that there is another (“allos”) one” (Galatians 1:6-7).  The gospel of grace constituted good news.  The gospel of the legalists was not good news at all.

The gospel of the legalists was a distorted gospel.  The term “distort” translates a Greek term meaning “to transform into something of an opposite character” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary).  The “gospel of the glory of the blessed God” is a beautiful and praiseworthy representation of who God is (Cf. 1 Timothy 1:11).  The distorted man-invented gospel of the legalists was a “Frankensteinian” monster.

The gospel of the legalists was contrary to the gospel that Paul had preached to them.  But the Galatians failed to exercise discernment.  They didn’t recognize the difference when the legalists came offering their counterfeit wares.  It is sometimes said in our day, “They all preach the gospel.”  But that sentiment is both dangerous and naïve.  Paul doubly warned the Galatians of their need to practice discernment--and even subjected his own preaching to it--“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8-9).  Paul condemned any false teacher of another gospel using the strongest possible language.  How could it be otherwise?  The glory of Christ and the salvation of souls are at stake in the matter.

DO YOU HAVE THE SON? (2 Corinthians Chapter 13)

2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

We’ve all taken tests.  They vary as to their degree of importance.  Few have life and death implications.  None rise to the level of importance of the matter spoken of here.  The key question in this spiritual self-examination relates to one’s relationship to Jesus Christ.  Are you “in the faith?”  Is “Jesus Christ in you?” 

With respect to salvation this is the key concern.  Religions falter at this point.  They forever deal with peripheral matters that have no bearing on a person’s eternal destiny.  The question is not “Are you a good person?”  Nor is it “Have you been baptized?” or “Do you go to church?” or “Do you read your Bible and pray?” or “Do you have church membership?” or “Were you raised in a Christian family?” or “Have you said the sinners prayer?”  John 1:13 speaks of the various ways by which a person cannot be saved.  No one can inherit salvation (“not of blood”).  Nor can they earn it by doing good (“will of the flesh”).  Likewise it is impossible to become a child of God through human decision (“will of man”).  Man cannot inherit, earn, or decide his salvation, it is instead a “right” given to those who receive Jesus, to those “who believed in his name” (John 1:12).

The issue is where do you stand with Jesus Christ.  And it is more than an academic matter.  A person might have doctrinally clarity regarding with the person and work of Christ, without being saved.  Another way to ask what Paul asked is to ask, “Are you born again?”  Have you trusted in Jesus?  Have you been born-again by the Spirit as a result of placing your faith in Him?  Where do you stand with Jesus?  Have you “been born of the Spirit with life from above into God’s family divine?”

Charles Spurgeon commented on this text, “Oh!  says one, "You may examine me whether I am in the faith; I am an orthodox Christian, fully up to the standard, good genuine weight; there is no fear whatever of my coming up to the mark, and going a little beyond it too.”  Ah!  but, my friend, that is not the question; I would have you orthodox, for a man who is heterodox in his opinions, will most likely be heterodox in his actions; but the question now is not whether you believe the truth—but whether you are in the truth?  Just to give you an illustration of what I mean.  There is the ark; and a number of men around it.  "Ah!" says one, I believe that ark will swim.”  “  Oh!" says another, "I believe that ark is made of gopher-wood, and is strong from stem to stern; I am quite sure that ark will float, come what may; I am a firm believer in that ark.”  Ay, but when the rain descended, and the flood came, it was not believing the ark as a matter of fact—it was being in the ark that saved men, and only those that were in it escaped in that dread day of deluge…Now, what is it to have Jesus Christ in you?  The Roman Catholic hangs the cross on his bosom; the true Christian carries the cross in his heart; and a cross inside the heart, my friends, is one of the sweetest cares for a cross on the back.  If you have a cross in your heart—Christ crucified in you, the hope of glory—all the cross of this world's troubles will seem to you light enough, and you will easily he able to sustain it.  Christ in the heart means Christ believed in, Christ beloved, Christ trusted, Christ espoused, Christ communed with, Christ as our daily food, and ourselves as the temple and palace wherein Jesus Christ daily walks.  Ah!  There are many here that are total strangers to the meaning of this phrase.  They do not know what it is to have Jesus Christ in them.  Though ye know a little about Christ on Calvary, ye know nothing about Christ in the heart.  Now, remember, that Christ on Calvary will save no man, unless Christ be in the heart.  The Son of Mary, born in the manger, will not save a soul, unless he be also born in your hearts, and live there—your joy, your strength, and your consolation.  "Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"

1 John 5:11-12, “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  Do you have the Son?  That’s the question.  It is a question of great importance bearing eternal consequence.

A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN (2 Corinthians Chapter 12)

2 Corinthians 12:1-4, “I must go on boasting.  Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.  I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.  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—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.”

As I write this a movie has recently been released entitled “Heaven is for Real.”  The movie is based on a book that tells the real life story of a father who endeavors to share of his son’s near-death experience and corresponding trips to heaven (or what he thought to be heaven).  There have been many others who have spoken of having had similar experiences, but as with all such matters, it is important to “test everything” and “hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

Paul “was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2).  The context clearly affirms that he was the “man in Christ who fourteen years ago” of whom he was speaking (Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7).  It is interesting and instructive to contrast his response to that heavenly experience with that of those we hear of from time to time.

Paul reluctantly shared of his heavenly experience.  We don’t find him speaking of it elsewhere in his epistles.  Even here, in 2 Corinthians, he shares of it only because he was compelled to.  In boasting of it, he acknowledged that he was speaking “as a fool” (Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:17).  But his boasting was not as men are typically prone to do.  Paul was an opponent of human boasting (Cf. 1 Corinthians 1:29, 5:6, 13:4).  And boasting is never good when it is done to draw attention to oneself.  Paul boasted not for that reason, but to re-affirm to his opponents his apostolic ministry credentials (Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:16-33, 13:3).  Paul had been called to proclaim the truth about Christ and nothing mattered more to him than that.  He labored in ministry towards that end.  Since some were doubting him, he offered to them proof lest he lose the opportunity to freely speak to them of that which he himself gloried in—Christ and His cross (Cf. Galatians 6:14; Philippians 3:3).  He understood himself to be merely a “by-grace” servant of Christ (Cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1, 15:10). 

Paul spoke in guarded terms of his experience.  Paul’s hesitancy to boast is apparent in the manner in which he spoke of his experience.  He deliberately “played down” his own part in it (“I know a man”).  Paul’s reference to “the third heaven” is a reference to the unseen realm in which God dwells, the first and second heavens referring respectively to the atmosphere and the expanse of heaven.  Paul had that experience, a revelation of “surpassing greatness” (Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7), but he was limited as to what he could share about it.  “He heard things which cannot be told, which man may not utter” (2 Corinthians 12:4).  What Paul heard, human words would be wholly inadequate to relate.  Additionally, he was not permitted to share the content of what he had experienced.  The experience was for him alone, no doubt working to strengthen and encourage him in his future service amidst his sufferings (Cf. Acts 9:16; Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 11:23-29; Philippians 1:21-24).

Paul’s experience did not come without cost.  “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited” (2 Corinthians 12:7).  Paul was privileged to be given a foretaste of heaven, but the matter was of such privileged significance that it required intervention by God lest Paul become conceited in it.  The nature of the “thorn” is much disputed, but whatever it was it was of such consequence that Paul pleaded three times for its removal.  The Lord said no to Paul’s request, but promised to Paul grace sufficient to meet his weakness (Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Paul shared of his heavenly experience not to draw attention to himself or even to the reality of heaven.  He shared no details of what he saw or heard and spoke of the experience only here in his epistles.  By way of contrast he shared openly and repeatedly of his conversion experience (Cf. Acts 22:3-21; 26:9-20; Galatians 1:11-17; 1 Timothy 1:12-17).  The message he consistently proclaimed—and you will find the emphasis throughout his epistles—was Christ and his gospel (Cf. 1 Corinthians 2:2).  His concern was that people be won to Christ.  If they are won to Christ, Christ will get them to heaven.