Heaven vs paradise

[tonychanyt]

The Greek word for paradise is G3827 παράδεισος. It appears 27 times in LXX.

Brenton Septuagint Translation, Genesis 2:

8 And God planted a garden [G3827 ] eastward in Edem, and placed there the man whom he had formed.

A paradise seems to be some concept of heaven with physicality.

In the NT, G3827 appears only three times.

Jesus told the repentant thief on the cross in Luk 23:

43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Paul seemed to equate Paradise to 3rd heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:

2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to Paradise. The things he heard were too sacred for words, things that man is not permitted to tell.

John alluded to Genesis 2 with Rev 2:

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

In the future, we will live in a renewed version of the Garden of Eden/paradise.

The word heaven is general and polysemantic, while paradise more specifically refers to some form of heaven with a physical reality.