Name Sosthenes Sosthenes | ||
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Sosthenes 1 corinthians 1
Sosthenes (Greek, "safe in strength") was the chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, who, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was seized and beaten by the mob in the presence of Gallio, the Roman governor, when he refused to proceed against Paul at the instigation of the Jews (Acts 18:12-17). The motives of this assault against Sosthenes are not recorded. Some manuscripts insert the mob was composed of "Greeks"; others read "Jews". Both are interpolations, since the oldest manuscripts do not specify or identify the attacking group.
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Some historians identify this Sosthenes with a companion of Paul the Apostle referred to as "Sosthenes our brother" (Greek: Σωσθένης ὁ ἀδελφός, Sosthenes ho adelphos, literally "Sosthenes the brother"), a convert to the Christian faith and co-author of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:1-2). It is not clear whether this identification is tenable. According to Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer, "Theodoret and most commentators, including Flatt, Billroth, Ewald, Maier [and] Hofmann, identify Sosthenes with the person so named in Acts 18:17, but this is rightly denied by Michaelis, Pott, Rückert, and de Wette".
It has also been alleged that Sosthenes is a later name of Crispus, who is mentioned in Acts 18:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:14.
He is traditionally listed among the Seventy Disciples of Luke 10:1.