(1) Contemporary Christian perspective:
The Third Heaven, by Douglas Ward
First, most students of Scripture accept that Paul is writing this verse about himself, and that he is referring to his own visionary experience on the road to Damascus some years earlier (Acts 9:1-9, 22:6-11).
Jews of that time did not have the scientific knowledge that we take for granted, so they did not think of the world in scientific terms or descriptions. Instead they attempted to conceptualize the world in terms of what they knew, and usually described it visually. So, when they conceived of the universe, they constructed a multi-layered world, sort of like a large onion composed of various layers with the physical world in which human beings lived at the center. These layers were called "firmament" or shamayim (heavens or sky) in the Old Testament or "heavens" in the New Testament era. There are many other non-Biblical books and writings that also describe these layers. This model was still in use in the Middle Ages (1400s AD) when Dante wrote of the various levels of heaven and hell.(2) Comprehensive Christian Perspective:
Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry
The First Heaven: Earth Atmosphere
The Second Heaven: Outer Space
The Third Heaven: God's Dwelling Place
The highest heaven, the third heaven is indicated by the reference to the Throne of God being the highest heaven:
(3) Kabbalistic perspective:
page 89 of Kabbalah: New Perspectives, by Moshe Idel
The ascent of the soul has been repeatedly discussed by scholars of ancient religions; the long sequence of studies dedicated to this topic renders superfluous any further presentation of the basic facts concerning this matter. I should like to dwell, however, upon the recent discussions of Morton Smith, who emphasized the importance of the ascent experience for a better understanding of certain passages concerning Jesus himself in early Christian literature.
According to this scholar, "We can fairly conclude that one or more techniques for ascent into heaven were being used in Palestine in Jesus' day, and that Jesus himself may we have used one. As Smith indicates Paul attributed an ascent to Jesus, saying that he was caught up to the third heave, "whether in the body or out of the body." Therefore, the conception of the soul ascending to Paradise - "out of the body"- for the sake of an ineffable experience, even before death, was current among Jews for the first century. This obviously represents a concept different from the more widespread belief in the possibility of bodily ascent to heaven, which seems to have prevailed much earlier. This mystical perception of celestial ascent is a remarkable parallel to the frequent ascent of the soul to heaven in order "to draw life" for her body during the night.In the 2nd perspective the word 'heaven' is shamayim shameh, and that translates to 'sky/lofty'. BUT Jesus, in the referenced verse Matthew 5:16, does not say shamayim shameh, but he says ouranos. That translates to elevation/sky/heaven, and there is a note in the Strong's translation that ouranos probably comes from the obsolete word oros meaning "to rear".
Was Jesus making a reference of a different kind? Are these words synonyms? I thought it could be a sign of the times, but Acts 14:17 is referenced as well and it uses the term shamayim shameh, which was translated as 'heaven'.
How do you see it? I'm not ready or maybe even interested in forming an opinion. I think I'll just read over this a couple times and see what I perceive within the next few days. I will continue this documentation.
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