Sosthenes

[Scott Bushey]

1 Corinthians 1

1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

Interpretations?

Did Sosthenes ordain Paul?

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Matthew Henry:

It was not pride in Paul, but faithfulness to his trust, in this juncture, to maintain his apostolical character and authority. And, to make this more fully appear, he joins Sosthenes with him in writing, who was a minister of a lower rank. Paul, and Sosthenes his brother, not a fellow-apostle, but a fellow-minister, once a ruler of the Jewish synagogue, afterwards a convert to Christianity, a Corinthian by birth, as is most probable, and dear to this people, for which reason Paul, to ingratiate himself with them, joins them with himself in his first salutations. There is no reason to suppose he was made a partaker of the apostle's inspiration, for which reasons he speaks, through the rest of the epistle, in his own name, and in the singular number.

Sosthenes also appears in Acts 18.17.

 

[brymaes]

Did Sosthenes ordain Paul?

No. He accompanied him. This is similar to Paul introducing Timothy or Silas as accompanying him in other epistles.

 

[Fernando]

"Paul" and "Sosthenes" are both in the nominative case in this sentence, and function as the subject. It is Paul and Sosthenes who are writing. Paul is an apostle "by the will of God" (will of God in the genitive case). Since Sosthenes is not in the genitive case, he has nothing to do with Paul's calling as an apostle.

Word order in Greek is not as important as in English. Greek is a heavily case based language, and Paul's readers would not for a moment have thought that Sosthenes had anything to do with Paul's calling.

 

[Irishcat922]

Gill wrote:

and Sosthenes our brother. This seems to be the same man, who was the chief ruler of the synagogue of the Jews at Corinth; and was converted to the Christian faith by the Apostle Paul whilst there, as appears from his favouring the cause of the apostle, for which the Jews beat him before the judgment seat, and yet Gallio the Roman deputy took no notice of it, Act_18:17, in the Syriac dictionary (a) mention is made of one Sosthenes, governor of a city, one of the seventy disciples, who was educated at Pontus, and cast into the sea by the order of Nouna; and is also said to be bishop of Colophon in Ionia; see Gill on Luk_10:1; but without any reason. This person the apostle joins with him, not as in equal office with him, but as a brother in Christ, and very probably a ministering brother, and a companion of his; and the rather, because he might be well known to the Corinthians, and respected by them; wherefore he chose to join him with him, to show their agreement in doctrine and discipline, and in advice to them, which might have the greater weight with them; see Act_18:17.



[Edited on 9-18-2005 by Irishcat922]