Paul's Ascent to Paradise: The Apostolic Message and Mission of Paul in the Light of His Mystical Experiences

by James D. Tabor

Humans, in their fallen condition, are mortal, yet Poimandres declares:

And because of this, man alone, of all the living creatures upon earth, is twofold. He is mortal because of his body, but immortal because of his essential being. For even though he is immortal and has authority over everything, he suffers mortal conditions, being subject to Fate; although therefore he is above the order of the spheres, he has become a slave to it . . . and is held fast. (15).

One is saved through the power of God, who comes to rescue (boetheia) those who recognize the truth about their natures, turn from attachments to the material world, and prepare for the ascent back to heaven

As one rises through the planetary spheres, one is released from all the enslaving powers, finally joining God.

The candidate’s final destiny is apotheosis (theothenai)—recovering all that was lost in the fall and regaini...

Human life on earth is not merely of less value than immortal heavenly life, it is a mistake, the result of deception and lust.

Enoch is taken up through seven levels of heaven, learning the various cosmic secrets associated with each. He finally arrives at the seventh heaven where he is taken before God’s throne and glorified.

Ascension of Isaiah, which reflect a similar cosmological structure.

It has been necessary to dwell on this question of the structure of the celestial world because it was to play an important part in Jewish Christian dogmatic teaching. Indeed, the principal dogmas were formulated in terms of cosmology. The incarnation was presented as a descent of the Word through the angelic spheres; the Passion as Christ’s combat with the angels of the air, followed by the descent into Hell; the Resurrection as an exaltation of Christ’s humanity above all the angelic spheres; and on its way encountering their guardians, to whom it would have to render account. All these conceptions are based on a vision of the heavenly spheres which is part of the framework of Jewish Christianity.32

“which is a part of the framework of most ancient Mediterranean religions of the period.”

Often Jewish and Christian materials dealing with the idea of ascent have been handled under the rubric of “apocalypticism,”

but the phenomenon of apocalypticism itself typically reflects the religious development of the Hellenistic period, especially with regard to cosmological structure.

Hans Dieter Betz aptly points out:

The underlying questions which have led to the development of dualism, angelology, cosmology, astrology and so forth, are to a large extent identical with the basic problems which occupy the entire period of Hellenism, and which have precipitated parallel doctrines there. We have to free ourselves from the idea of treating apocalypticism as an isolated and purely inner-Jewish phenomenon. Rather, we must learn to understand apocalypticism as a peculiar manifestation within the entire course of Hellenistic oriental syncretism.34

“syncretism” implies a kind of “pure” beginning point that then gets “mixed” or “polluted,” by “outside” influences.

“myth of Christian beginnings.”

all systems of thought and belief emerge from antecedents.

Paul, who is so steeped in his own brand of apocalyptic thinking.

The broad compartmentalizing segregation of “Judaism” (and here I include emerging “Christianity”) from “Hellenism” is invalid. All religions of this period, including all major manifestations of “Judaisms,” are Hellenistic religions. They all should be viewed and understood in these broader contexts. In this regard, even various forms of “gnosticism” represent a radicalized structural possibility within this same general history, rather than genuinely “new” religions.

Paul’s scheme of salvation (even with his “Jewish” idea of resurrection and apocalyptic view of the end of history), set in this broader context, shares much with a “gnostic” text such as Poimandres.

There are Hellenistic systems which clearly see human beings as misplaced on earth, trapped in mortal bodies (e.g., most forms of Platonizing “Gnosticism”). While other “ways of salvation” unfold in a series of stages, as in the case of Paul.

Mortal, earthly life can be viewed as a stage of development, rather than a fall or misplacement.

Paul’s view of the two Adams, much like the analogy of the metamorphosis from “caterpillar to butterfly,” is a move to a higher transformed stage or level of being—intended by God in the very beginning in creating humans “in the image and likeness” of the ‘Elohim (Genesis 1: 26-27).

Even in the case of Paul it is Satan and his “principalities and powers” whom he constantly mentions as opposing his every move.

power is needed over the forces which separate the two realms.

Ascent as an Invasion of Heaven

humans breaking the bounds of earth and thus being fundamentally “out of place.”

even in a dream, humans must not travel to heaven.

Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in his garments? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!

There is no need for one to ascend to heaven to learn the “secret things” which belong to God. Rather, the human task is to perform the commandments of Torah which relate to his life upon earth.44 Such an emphasis runs throughout much of the Hebrew Bible.

Seek not what is too difficult for you, nor investigate what is beyond your power. Reflect upon what has been assigned to you, for you do not need what is hidden.45

There is a direct protest against ascent in Isaiah 14:12-20.

Moses visits, but does not belong in, the divine realm.

His ascent is a means of receiving revelation, and functions as a way of claiming heavenly authority for the laws he is given.

The many examples of the journey to the underworld (Ishtar, Odysseus, Plato’s Er) exhibit certain structural parallels to this model of ascent. The cosmic traveler is shown the workings of the world beyond death and returns to report his or her findings. One could then argue that the journey (even though a journey “down”) functions to lend authority to the report. But there is one crucial difference. When one is taken to the highest heaven in texts of this type, one enters where no mortal belongs, whereas a journey to the underworld is the very opposite—as the place where all humans are destined to go at death.

Various groups are attempting to legitimate rival claims of revelation and authority.

the first precisely dated reference to astral immortality is by Aristophanes in 421 BCE. In Peace (831) he greets the apparition of a new star as the Pythagorean poet Ion of Chios, who had recently died.

You will find to the left of the house of Hades a spring, And by its side, a white cypress. To this spring approach not near. But you shall find another, from the Lake of Memory Cold water flowing forth, but guards before it. Say, “I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven; But my race is of Heaven alone. This you know. But I am parched with thirst, I am perishing, Give me quickly the cold water flowing from the Lake of Memory!” And of themselves they will give you to drink of the holy spring; And then you will have lordship among the other heroes.75

It appears that those who composed and used these texts shared the view that the immortal souls of human beings were trapped in mortal bodies, and descended to Hades upon death, but could potentially escape by returning to heaven, the true home of the soul.

Jewish sources adopt and adapt both aspects of this notion of ascent to heavenly immortality.

As early as Maccabean times, Daniel speaks of the resurrected righteous as shining “like the stars forever and ever’’ (12:3).

Jesus is raised from the dead, ascending to the right hand of God in a glorified state, according to Paul (Romans 1:4; 8:34; Philippians 3:20-21).

Paul’s belief that the believers in Christ, both dead and living, will ascend to meet Jesus in the air, becoming in the process, “immortalized,” illustrates the complex mixture of ideas in this period, with transformed mortal bodies, ascent ...

There are significant differences between the special apotheosis of an extraordinary mortal (whether hero, magician, philosopher, savior, or ruler) and the idea that anyone and everyone is at least potentially immortal, i.e., can ...

For example, at the funeral of the emperor Augustus, according to Cassius Dio, Tiberius compared his father to Herakles declaring: “It is fitting that we should not mourn for him, but while now giving his body back to nature, should forever glorify his soul as a god.79

Ovid tells a similar tale of the departure of Romulus, founder of Rome, from the earth: The Omnipotent One [Zeus/Jupiter] . . . hid the sky with dark clouds, and he terrified the earth with thunder and lightning. Gliding down through the air, he [Mars] came to rest on top of the wooded Palatine hill. There, Romulus was giving his friendly laws to the citizens, and Mars caught Ilia’s son up. His mortal body became thin, dissolving in the air, as a lead pellet shot by a broad sling will melt away in the sky. Suddenly he had such a beautiful form more worthy of the high couches [gods who dwell in heaven]. (Ovid, Metamorphoses 14. 805-851, translation and emphasis mine)

This one is as intriguing as it is extraordinary, as it includes the idea of a savior god who has guaranteed the immortalization of this individual—selected

Weep not, for what use is weeping? Rather venerate me, for I am now a divine star which shows itself at sunset. (Inscriptiones Graecae, XII, 7.123)

Origen’s Prayer of Joseph,

The success of the descending-ascending heavenly figure in moving through the astral spheres is related to the anticipated ascent of the believer.