"ἔκστασις
ékstasis; gen. ekstáseōs, from exístēmi (G1839), to remove out of its place or state. A putting away, removal of anything out of a place.
(I)
An ecstasy in which the mind is for a time carried, as it were, out of or beyond itself and lost. Great astonishment, amazement (Mar_5:42; Mar_16:8; Luk_5:26; Act_3:10; Sept.: Gen_27:33; Deu_28:28; 2Ch_14:14; Eze_27:35).
(II) A trance, sacred ecstasy or rapture of
the mind beyond itself when the use of the external senses are suspended and God reveals something in a peculiar manner (Act_10:10; Act_11:5; Act_22:17 [cf. 2Co_12:2; Eze_1:1 {cf. Sept.: Gen_2:21}]).
(III) The Eng. word which would correspond to ékstasis is rapture, but not in its exact sense as the act of seizing and carrying away, which would literally correspond to harpagḗ (G724) and the verb harpázō (G726), to seize, take by force or catch away upward. Harpagḗ and the verb harpázō are used trans., while ékstasis and the verb exístēmi are used as a reaction of the mind to an external cause or an internal feeling. It is not being oneself but,
as if it were, one standing outside himself.
(IV) In Class. Gr. ékstasis means frenzy. However, in the NT it rarely expresses this high degree of emotion, but may include distraction of mind caused by wonder and astonishment or exceptional joy and rapture. Among the results of the healing of the paralytic by Christ, Luke tells us that amazement (ékstasis) took hold on all (Luk_5:26). Mark, in describing the effects of the resurrection upon the minds of the women as they fled from the tomb, states that trembling and astonishment (ékstasis) had come upon them (Mar_16:8). In Mat_12:23; Mar_2:12; Mar_6:51 the verb exístēmi (G1839) in the mid. sense is used in reference to the effects upon the multitude conveyed by the bestowal of the gift of tongues (Act_2:7, Act_2:12), and of the preaching of Paul in the synagogues immediately after his conversion (Act_9:21).
(V) At Pentecost, it was not those who spoke in languages other than their own as a result of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them who were ecstatic, but those who heard them speak in languages which they knew were not native to them (see Act_2:7). The ones who spoke did not speak in what would be termed "the unknown tongue" of the Corinthians. In Act_2:8 it is not the word tongue (glṓssa [G1100]), that is used, but diálektos (G1258), dialect or language. This was not an unknown tongue, but each heard in his own native language, and since the hearers knew that their languages were unknown to the speakers, they were amazed. In Act_2:11 the word is glṓssais, languages, the languages learned from birth (equal to dialects of Act_2:8) by the people who were then present. Those who heard them were greatly perplexed (diēpóroun, the imperf. of diaporéō [G1280] which in the KJV is inadequately translated "were in doubt" [Act_2:12]), not understanding how the believers could speak the languages of those who listened. Although the noun ékstasis ecstasy, and the verb exístēmi, to be ecstatic, do not occur in relation to the unknown tongue spoken in Corinth, yet it could be termed "ecstatic" for the following reasons stated in 1Co_14:2, 1Co_14:9, 1Co_14:11, 1Co_14:14, 1Co_14:19, 1Co_14:23, the unknown tongue is mysterious and does not edify others (1Co_14:2); it has no target, but is as if speaking to the air (1Co_14:9); a person may be considered a barbarian, uncivilized (1Co_14:11); it does not benefit his spirit (1Co_14:14); it does not enable others to understand what he is saying, and there is an excess of words spoken (1Co_14:19); and others may think that the speakers are maniacs (1Co_14:23). All these reactions indicate ecstasy in speaking the unknown tongue which the Apostle Paul was desperately trying to control in Corinth. On the other hand, the deliberate, clearly enunciated and understood languages which those who were filled by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost spoke were not spoken in ecstasy, but aroused ecstasy or amazement either for (Act_2:12) or against (Act_2:13). The verb that indicates the clear, deliberate speech of those who spoke in languages other than their own at Pentecost is apophthéggomai (G669), which means to enunciate plainly. See Act_2:4, Act_2:14; Act_26:25.
(VI) The stronger sense of the word ékstasis, translated in Eng. as "trance," is found in the description of Peter's vision of the vessel full of unclean animals (Act_10:10; Act_11:5). While engaged in prayer in the temple at Jerusalem, Paul fell into an ékstasis in which he was warned by the Lord to escape from the city (Act_22:17-21).
(VII) The OT provides us with instances of undoubted rapture or ecstasy (cf. Num_24:15 ff.; 1Sa_2:27; 1Sa_9:6 ff.; 1Sa_10:5 ff.; 2Sa_24:11; 2Ki_9:11; Jer_29:26; Eze_3:25-26). In the NT, to be in ecstasy would mean
to have one's spirit recognize spiritual objects beyond himself, such as the Apostle Paul describes in 2Co_12:1-6, although he does not refer to the word itself, but rather to visions (optasías [G3701], visions the spirit received while separated from the body, at which time certain revelations of the Lord were made). Such were the revelations that John received on the island of Patmos in which instance ecstasy is what he describes in Rev_1:10 as "I was in the spirit."
It is noteworthy that the word "spirit" is not preceded by the art. in the Gr. and may very well mean that this should be translated "I came to be in the spiritual world," or seeing things with his spirit, even
as Paul did, his spirit ascending to the third heaven or paradise."- Spiros Zodhiates- "Complete Word Study"