Sos´thenes, the chief of the synagogue at Corinth, when Paul was in that city on his second journey into Greece (Act 18:17). He was seized and beaten by the people, before the judgment-seat of Gallio, on account of the tumult raised by the Jews against Paul, of which he seems to have been one of the leaders. He is supposed to have been afterwards converted to Christianity, as a Sosthenes is mentioned by Paul as ’a brother,’ and coupled with himself in 1Co 1:1. This identity is, however, a pure conjecture, and not remarkably probable; but apart from it, we know nothing of this second Sosthenes. Eusebius makes him one of the seventy disciples, and later tradition describes him as bishop of Kolophon.
The chief of the synagogue at Corinth, who was beaten by the Gentiles when the Jews carried Paul before Gallio the proconsul, Mal 18:17 . He appears to have been the leader of the Jews in this attempt to destroy Paul. Whether he was converted, and is identical with the "Sosthenes our brother" in 1Co 1:1, is unknown.\par
Sos’thenes (saviour of his nation). Sosthenes was a Jew at Corinth, who was seized and beaten, in the presence of Gallio. See Act 18:12-17. (A.D. 49).
A Jew, "ruler of the synagogue," after Crispus on conversion had ceased to be so. Probably ringleader of the spiteful Jews who with one accord made insurrection against Paul, and brought him to Gallio’s judgment seat. When Gallio would not be made the tool of their spite, but drove them from his judgment seat, the Greeks or Gentiles, seeing the deputy’s feeling which they sympathized with, against the Jewish bigots, seized Sosthenes and beat him before Gallio’s judgment seat; and Gallio cared for none of these things, i.e. refused to interfere, being secretly pleased that the mob should second his own contempt for the fanatical Jews.
But in 1Co 1:1 we find Sosthenes under very different circumstances, no longer against Paul, but associated with him in saluting the Corinthian Christians. Whence arose the change? Paul probably showed Christian sympathy for an adversary in distress; the issue was the conversion of Sosthenes. Saul the persecutor turned into Paul the apostle, and Sosthenes the ringleader of persecution against the apostle, were two trophies of grace that, side by side, would appeal with double power to the church at Corinth. Paul designates "our brother" in a way implying that Sosthenes was well known to the Corinthians, though at the time of writing he must have been with Paul at Ephesus.
Sosthenes (sŏs’the-nçz), saviour of his nation. A Jew at Corinth who was seized and beaten in the presence of Gallio. Act 18:12-17.
SOSTHENES.—1. Ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, whom ‘they all’ (RV
A. J. Maclean.
The name occurs twice in the NT. In Act_18:17 a Sosthenes is ‘the ruler of the synagogue’ in Corinth. Although in the Diaspora this title gained a more extended sense than in Palestine as an honorary title, there seems to have been only one ruler of the synagogue in Corinth. In that case Sosthenes must have been recently appointed when Crispus became a Christian; and probably he took a prominent part in the proceedings when ‘the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul, and brought him before the judgement-seat’ (Act_18:12). The charge having been dismissed, Sosthenes was laid hold of and beaten before the judgment seat, but Gallio (q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.] ) ‘cared for none of these things’ (Act_18:17). Revised Version , dropping ïἱ Ἕëëçíåò, favours the idea that it was the Jews who beat Sosthenes, venting on their own leader their rage over their disappointment. Another view has been that Gallio allowed the Jews to console themselves by beating Sosthenes, who was a Christian. Both these views are, however, rejected as historically inconceivable. Probably the reading ïἱ Ἕëëçíåò has dropped out through a misapprehension of the scene due to the fact that a Sosthenes is mentioned with St. Paul in 1Co_1:1. It cannot be decided whether these two men are the same person. The name was common; and nothing is said in the NT which identifies them. What happened when Gallio dismissed the charge against St. Paul was that ‘the Greeks, who always hated the Jews, took advantage of the marked snub which the governor had inflicted on them, to seize and beat Sosthenes, who had been appointed to replace Crispus as Archisynagogos,’-a ‘piece of “Lynch law,” which probably seemed to him [Gallio] to be a rough sort of justice’ (Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, p. 259). If Act_18:17 and 1Co_1:1 refer to the same person, Sosthenes must have been converted subsequently and become a Christian leader. There is nothing impossible in this. If one ruler of the synagogue was converted, why not another? It is conceivable that his sufferings in a religious riot may have turned his mind again to St. Paul’s teaching. As a former ruler of the synagogue, his presence with St. Paul in Ephesus is explicable on two grounds: (a) his presence in Corinth as a Christian might irritate the Jews and make Christian work harder; (b) his social position and ability would probably mark him out as a suitable fellow-worker with St. Paul, who would delight to make an ally of a persecutor. It is certainly in favour of this identification that St. Paul mentions Sosthenes not as an amanuensis but as a Christian of standing, whose name is well known in Corinth and will carry authority with the Church. It has been suggested also that his subsequent conversion would account for St. Luke’s exceptionally preserving the name of St. Paul’s assailant. Whilst these considerations favour the identification, it cannot be proved. But it would be an interesting coincidence that both Crispus and Sosthenes should be mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1, if both were converted rulers of the synagogue.
Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.) i. 12) states that Sosthenes was one of the Seventy; but probably this is a worthless tradition. Tradition is responsible also for the statement that he became bishop of Colophon.
Literature.-W. P. Dickson, article ‘Sosthenes’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ; W. M. Ramsay, article ‘Corinth,’ ib. i. 482a; C. von Weizsäcker, Apostolic Age, i. 2 [London, 1897] 113, 306-310; A. Harnack, Expansion of Christianity, i. 2 [London, 1908] 321; F. Godet, Commentary on 1st Corinthians (Eng. translation , Edinburgh, 1886); Expositor’s Greek Testament , ‘Acts,’ London, 1900, p. 391, and ‘1 Corinthians,’ do., p. 758; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, London, 1895, pp. 257-259.
J. E. Roberts.
(Acts 18)
- The only other Sosthenes is found in the First Letter to the Corinthians 1:1, written from Ephesus back to Corinth some 5 years later. Here Paul refers to a Christian brother of this name. It is quite possible that only a few years after being one of those accusing Paul of "perverting men’s minds", and being beaten for his efforts, Sosthenes the synagogue-leader had become a follower of Christ, and secretary to Paul