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Vision and Knowledge

School of Continuing Studies, University of Birmingham Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT

Far from being the 'man in Christ' who was ravished to heaven (2 Cor. 12.1-5), Paul had had no such experience himself, and disapproved of the abuse of such visions to manipulate the churches (Col. 2.18). The visionaries were Jewish Christians who used their visionary authority to force Gentiles to observe halakha; and they claimed to see God and his Glory, Image, Beginning, and so forth. But it is Christ, says Paul, to whom these titles refer, and it is through him that God created everything. The same polemic runs through 1 Timothy, Ephesians, 1 John and John's Gospel; and though Matthew and Revelation find a place for the vision of God, it is closely controlled.

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