We had previously seen that some commentators posit that chapters 10 thru 13 are part of the "stern letter" for which Paul ultimately apologised. Certainly the last few chapters continued the stern approach, culminating in Paul's threatening to come to Corinth and use his "power" to discipline the church members.
Some historians point out that "boasting' was not generally frowned upon as it is in our society; on the contrary, a man who did not boast of his achievements and did not come with letters of recommendation might be seen in a similar light to someone today attempting to enter Washington power circles without resume or references. When Paul lets loose at the "super-apostles" who criticised his message so completely that Paul refers to "another gospel", he gives lists of the trials that he has undergone, most of which cannot be corroborated by the account of his activities in Acts.
(However, if Acts is, as we have surrnised, primarily a defense document for Paul's trial, then items like the three shipwrecks might well have been omitted as irrelevant to countering charges that he was an anti-Roman agitator.)
Paul gives a strange account of being caught up into Paradise*. Some have attempted to synchronize this event (fourteen years after his conversion) with his visit to Jersusalem, and have surmised that he had an out-of-body experience in the Temple ("whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know " 2 Cor 12:3) Audrey further hypothesized that he might have fallen on the stone floors of the Temple duing this, causing some local intercranial bleeding which could have left him with a tendancy to epilepsy -- conceivably the "thorn in the flesh" which he was subsequently given to prevent his being "conceited".
Visiting heaven is apparently not unknown in the literature of the time:
There are many ancient stories about various levels in heaven, for example, whether there were one, three, seven, or even 955 levels of heaven.. In each of these numbers, the highest was the place reserved for God alone. According to I Enoch, there is one heaven, but according to the Testament of Levi 3:1 there are three, so also in the Apocalypse of Moses 37. 3 Baruch 11:1-2 mentions five heavens and 2 Enoch 20:1, 3 Enoch 17:1, the Apocalypse of Abraham 19:5-6, and the Ascension of Isiah 9:6 speak of seven heavens. Remarkably, 3 Enoch 48:1 speaks of 955 heavens! Paul is evidently familar with the tradition that speaks of three levels of heaven and he tells of the experience of being transferred (translated) into that part of paradise where God abides. The Bible Knowledge Background Commentary
*Paul partially disguises this as the experience of a man he knows -- but later verses, in which he says he will not boast about this, suggest that the man is Paul himself. Interestingly, those who entered the mystery religions of the time were forbidden to talk about their experiences, but some did talk about what happened "to a friend of mine".........
From Eusebius: ‘Paul… committed nothing to writing but his very short epistles; and yet he had countless unutterable things to say, for he had reached the vision of the third heaven, had been caught up to the divine paradise itself and had been privileged to hear there unspeakable words. Similar experiences were enjoyed by the rest of the Saviour’s pupils… the twelve apostles, the seventy disciples and countless others besides’ (History 3.24).