A comparison of the second epistle to the Corinthians and the “Acts of the Apostles” shows some divergences. Both writers refer to events to which the other does not mention. These are: (1) Titus is mentioned several times in the Epistle and is never referred to in the Acts. (2) The list of Paul’s sufferings in the Epistle (11:23-25) cannot be made out from the Acts. (3) The Apostle’s escape from Damascus is given with more detail in the Epistle. While it is clear that the same events are referred to, it is equally clear that neither writer has copied from the other. This basic agreement in the midst of differences is evidence of the genuiness of the writings.
The apostle’s sufferings are described. “In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received 1 forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often; in perils of waters; in perils of robbers; in perils by mine own countrymen; in perils by the heathen; in perils in the sea; in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness; in watching’s; in hunger and thirst; in fasting’s often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” This cannot be made out from his history, as delivered in the Acts.
The account of Paul’s escape from Damascus, though agreeing with the account of the same transaction in the Acts is related with such a difference of circumstance as renders it utterly improbable that one should have been derived from the other. Second Corinthians makes no mention of the wish of King Aretas to arrest him. Acts makes no reference to a plot of the Jews to kill him, though both report his escape down the wall in a basket.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One