knew it to be really
the third heaven to which he was rapt, and not an imaginary likeness
of the third heaven: otherwise if he gave the name of third heaven to
an imaginary third heaven, in the same way he might state that he was
rapt in the body, meaning, by body, an image of his body, such as
appears in one's dreams. Now if he knew it to be really the third
heaven, it follows that either he knew it to be something spiritual
and incorporeal, and then his body could not be rapt thither; or he
knew it to be something corporeal, and then his soul could not be
rapt thither without his body, unless it were separated from his
body. Consequently we must explain the matter otherwise, by saying
that the Apostle knew himself to be rapt both in soul and body, but
that he ignored how his soul stood in relation to his body, to wit,
whether it were accompanied by his body or not.

Here we find a diversity of opinions. For some say that the Apostle
knew his soul to be united to his body as its form, but ignored
whether it were abstracted from its senses, or again whether it were
abstracted from the operations of the vegetative soul. But he could
not but know that it was abstracted from the senses, seeing that he
knew himself to be rapt; and as to his being abstracted from the
operation of the vegetative soul, this was not of such importance as
to require him to be so careful in mentioning it. It follows, then,
that the Apostle ignored whether his soul were united to his body as
its form, or separated from it by death. Some, however, granting this
say that the Apostle did not consider the matter while he was in
rapture, because he was wholly intent upon God, but that afterwards
he questioned the point, when taking cognizance of what he had seen.
But this also is contrary to the Apostle's words, for he there
distinguishes between the past and what happened subsequently, since
he states that at the present time he knows that he was rapt
"fourteen years ago," and that at the present time he knows not
"whether he was in the body or out of the body."

Consequently we must assert that both before and after he ignored
whether his soul were separated from his body. Wherefore Augustine
(Gen. ad lit. xii, 5), after discussing the question at length,
concludes: "Perhaps then we must infer that he ignored whether, when
he was rapt to the third heaven, his soul was in his body (in the
same way as the soul is in the body, when we speak of a livin