Lessons #03 and 04
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Salutation (1 Cor 1:1-3)
1Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul, the author (1 Cor 1:1)
The first epistle to the Corinthians keeps to the format of letter writing in the ancient world where the writer is normally identified first before its recipient. Therefore, the epistle begins with the word Paul who is the sole human author of the epistle since the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author of the epistle.
The personal name Paul is the Roman name given to an Israelite with the name Saul that was born a Roman citizen in Tarsus of Cilicia but who grew up in Jerusalem in the sense that he received his education in that city, according to Acts 22:2–3:
2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet. Then Paul said: 3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
This passage does not explicitly state Paul was a Roman citizen but implied. Nonetheless, we have a direct assertion of the Roman citizenship of Paul in Acts 22:27–28:
27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. 28 Then the commander said, “I had to pay a big price for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
You see, there were two ways to be a Roman citizen: by birth and being naturalized based on criteria that included military service. Thus, to me it is unconscionable that a person who has served in the military of this country would be deported. I think that many times people forget that human law is not the same as God’s law. Furthermore, God demands us to show mercy in the face of the law. Anyway, it is not difficult to understand how a Jew was a Roman citizen when we realize today that in many countries, once a child is born there that child is automatically a citizen of that country regardless of the parent’s nationality. It was certainly a high privilege in the ancient world to be a Roman citizen just as it is today with United States citizenship. This explains why some women from many parts of the world would spend substantial amount to come to this country to give birth in order that their children will become US citizens. That aside, Paul was educated in Jerusalem as indicated by the fact he studied under the famous Jewish Rabbi Gamaliel. His education, although not directly stated, included acquiring the skill of tent making, since that was his occupation, as stated in Acts 18:1–3:
1After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
We know nothing about the birth of Paul or his childhood. Our first introduction to him using his Jewish name of “Saul” was with respect to the death of Stephen recorded in the seventh chapter of Acts, specifically in Acts 7:58:
dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
He was originally a persecutor of believers, as indicated in Acts 8:1–3:
1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
His persecution of the church was intense that he pursued believers who lived outside Jerusalem, as implied in Acts 9:1–2:
1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
It was on his way to Damascus to persecute believers in Christ that he was converted when Jesus appeared to him, as recorded in Acts 9:3–6:
3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
His conversion was such that within a short period of time, he was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, as implied in Acts 9:19–20:
19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
The Jews in Damascus, based on his activity, tried to kill him but he escaped back to Jerusalem where the early church was reluctant to accept him until Barnabas introduced him to them but his stay in Jerusalem was not for extended time because of the plot to kill him, as recorded in Acts 9:24–30:
24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall. 26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
By the way, the narrative in Acts gives the impression that Paul immediately began to preach following his conversion but that does not seem to be the case. This is because it seems that it is sometimes between Paul’s conversion and his preaching in Damascus that he went to Arabia, as he stated in Galatians 1:15–17:
15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.
Anyway, Paul made his way back to Tarsus and eventually made his way to Antioch, as indicated in Acts 11:25–26:
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
It was from Antioch that Paul launched his missionary work to Gentiles first in company of Barnabas, as they were sent out for this work by the church in Antioch as directed by the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 13:2–3:
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
Then after his split with Barnabas, because he did not want to take John Mark with him since he abandoned them in their first missionary trip, he continued his second missionary journey in the company of Silas, as stated in Acts 15:39–40:
39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
We should note that in the early part of the history of Paul as a convert, he was identified with his Jewish name Saul but only during his first missionary Journey that Luke first introduced Saul with the name Paul in Acts 13:9:
Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said,
The introduction of the name Paul during his first missionary journey was quit fitting since he traveled in a world under the Roman Empire, so it was better for him to be identified with his Roman name.
Paul, although carried out missionary trips to Gentile nations, he suffered for preaching the gospel. His life of suffering after his conversion was in keeping with the spiritual law of sowing and reaping. He persecuted Christians and so he himself was persecuted in keeping with the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ to Ananias in Acts 9:15–16:
15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
In keeping with the declaration of our Lord and the spiritual law of sowing and reaping, Paul suffered for the gospel. During his first missionary journey, he was stoned to the point he was thought to be dead until God miraculous revived him, as we read in Acts 14:19–20:
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Later, Paul was beaten and put in jail in Philippi because he drove out evil spirits from a slave girl, as described in Acts 16:17–24:
17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. 19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
He was probably beaten badly and nearly killed in Jerusalem until he was rescued by Roman soldier, as described in Acts 21:27–34:
27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.) 30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.
Beside these examples, Paul suffered tremendously for the gospel of Jesus Christ, as he recorded in 2 Corinthians 11:25–27:
25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
At any rate, our concern at this point is with the identity of the human author of the epistle we are considering. He had identified himself as Paul. The name Paul is usually a Roman surname, that is, a name that is borne in common by members of a family, so it is necessary for the author of the epistle to ensure that there was no confusion as to his identity, so he provided additional description of himself.
Paul described himself as an apostle in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 1:1 called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. It is true Paul functioned as an apostle that was not his primary concern in introducing himself with the word “apostle.” He wanted the recipients of this epistle to recognize that the Paul who wrote it is one that is known as apostle for the Greek does not contain the expression “to be” so that the literal Greek reads called an apostle of Christ Jesus. The word “called” is translated from a Greek adjective (klētos) that pertains to being invited so means “called, invited” so that the apostle from the start wants the recipients of this epistle to know that he was an apostle because he was invited or called and so it is not a matter of his desire or preference but of God who called him. In effect, from the start he wanted to set the fact that he is indeed an apostle since there were those who questioned his apostleship in the church of Corinth. The point is that the apostle is not so much concerned to convey that he functions as an apostle as it is to affirm that he indeed has the title “apostle” appended to him because he has been called. This epistle of the apostle is one of the two epistles in which he introduced himself with the adjective that means “called,” the other being in Romans 1:1:
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—
Here the apostle addressed himself as a slave of Christ Jesus, but such a description is absent in his epistles to the Corinthians, probably because Paul intended to convey that he received authority from the Lord as an apostle.
In any case, Paul described himself with the word “apostle” that is translated from a Greek word (apostolos) that basically means “a messenger” or “one sent.” In the Greek world, the word refers to a messenger with or without extraordinary status. The sense of the word as a messenger without extraordinary status appears in the NT in Jesus’ declaration in John 13:16:
I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
Here in John 13:16, the Greek word translated “apostle” in 1 Corinthians 1:1 is translated “messenger.” The word is also used in the sense of an extraordinary messenger of God. Thus, it is in this sense that Jesus Christ is called an apostle in Hebrews 3:1:
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
Jesus is an apostle in the sense that the Father sent Him not only to testify to the truth but with the mission of making atonement for our sins. This usage of Greek word to describe Jesus Christ as an apostle notwithstanding, the predominant usage of the Greek word in the NT is for a group of highly honored believers with a special function as God’s envoys. Even in this usage, the word “apostle” is indeed used both in restricted and general senses. In a restricted sense, the word is used to refer to the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ whom He chose from among His disciples and designated them with that title, as we read in Luke 6:13:
When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:
The Holy Spirit through Apostle Peter indicates that for an apostle to be considered a member of the Twelve, the individual should meet two qualifications. He must have been with Jesus during His earthly ministry and must have also witnessed His bodily resurrection, as stated in Acts 1:21-22:
21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."
Paul did not meet both qualifications for being a member of the Twelve so that he was not among the Twelve technically as that position was occupied by Matthias who, no doubt, was among the Twelve, as implied in the declaration given in Acts 6:2:
So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
The Twelve here would have included Matthias since he was from the time of his selection regarded as one who replaced Judas Iscariot. In any event, the point is that the word “apostles” in the NT is used in an exclusive sense to refer to the Twelve.
The Twelve, however, are not the only ones described with the word “apostle” in the NT. There are others mentioned as apostles. Barnabas was described with this title in Acts 14:14:
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:
Another individual that was recognized as an apostle was James, the half-brother of Jesus. Paul included him among the other apostles in Galatians 1:19:
I saw none of the other apostles — only James, the Lord's brother.
James was not the only one that was mentioned as an apostle by Paul but also Andronicus and Junias in Romans 16:7:
Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
The sentence They are outstanding among the apostles is taken by some to mean the apostles knew them well. However, the most likely interpretation is that these men were counted as apostles and were well known. This is in keeping with the fact that there were others described as apostles outside of the Twelve. Paul was certainly an apostle of Jesus Christ in a class by himself because of his call directly by Jesus Christ after His resurrection although he grouped himself with the others he called apostles in 1 Thessalonians 2:6:
We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you,
The phrase apostles of Christ here refers to Paul and Silas. How do we know? It is because both came to Thessalonica to preach the gospel, as evident from Acts 16:40-17:1:
Acts 16:40:
After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.
Acts 17:1:
When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
When Paul used the phrase apostles of Christ in 1 Thessalonians 2:6 in describing himself and Silas, he had in mind that Silas was sent by Christ as his special envoy as he was. Of course, it is possible that Silas was also an original disciple of Jesus as one who witnessed His bodily resurrection since he was one of the leaders in the early church, according to Acts 15:22:
Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers.
At any rate, the word “apostle” as Paul used in 1 Corinthians 1:1 is not only to describe himself as a messenger of God with an extraordinary status and function but also to describe his office of apostleship.
Paul recognized that he was a special messenger of God, that is, of the Lord Jesus Christ so that he described himself in 1 Corinthians 1:1 as an apostle of Christ Jesus. The phrase an apostle of Christ Jesus Christ is subject to at least two interpretations. It could be understood either to mean that Paul is an apostle that belongs to Jesus Christ or that he is sent by the Lord Jesus Christ. While the first interpretation makes sense in the context, it is most likely that he meant the second interpretation, that is, that he was sent by Jesus Christ since he used the adjective called that will leave the reader wondering who called Paul, so he could have the title of an apostle. This interpretation is in keeping with the apostle’s identification of himself in other epistles. For example, he identifies himself as an apostle who was appointed or sent out by Jesus Christ in Galatians 1:1:
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
Similarly, he identified himself as one who is an apostle because Jesus Christ commanded him to be that, as we read in 1 Timothy 1:1:
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
Hence, we believe that when the apostle wrote the phrase in 1 Corinthians 1:1 an apostle of Christ Jesus he meant that he is a special messenger sent out by Jesus Christ.
No one occupies any office except by God’s design. Thus, the apostle not only conveyed this truth by his use of the adjective called but also by indicating it is by the will of God that he is an apostle as in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 1:1 by the will of God. The Greek phrase is rendered in the same way as the NIV in most of our English versions except for the KJV and the LEB that rendered the phrase through the will of God. This translation is justified because we have a Greek preposition (dia) that in this passage could be interpreted in one of two ways. It could be taken as a marker of instrumentality or circumstance whereby something is accomplished or effected and so may be translated “by, via, through.” It is this usage that is reflected in the translation of the NIV and most of our English version, implying that the will of God is the efficient cause of Paul being an apostle. The other interpretation is to take the Greek preposition to have a causal meaning so that it means “because of.” This usage of the Greek preposition though not listed as its meaning when a genitive is used in the Greek, nonetheless, is a legitimate meaning as this meaning fits well in Romans 8:3:
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
The verbal phrase weakened by the sinful nature could be translated weakened because of the sinful nature. This meaning of “because of” makes sense in 1 Corinthian 1:1 in that Paul could be saying that he is an apostle because of the will of God. In the final analysis, both interpretations say essentially the same thing, which is that it is because of the will of God that Paul is an apostle as in the phrase by the will of God. The apostle wants the Corinthians to recognize that he did not arrogate to himself the office of an apostle. He did not desire it but it occurred because God had already planned it as He chose him even before his birth, as he conveyed in Galatians 1:15–16:
15 But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man,
The phrase the will of God may refer to “all that God plans to do”, as in Acts 20:27:
For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
It can also refer to all that God wants us to do or what He demands, as in 1 John 2:17:
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
It is in the sense of what God wants to happen that the phrase by the will of God is used in 1 Corinthians 1:1. So, the phrase by the will of God tells us that Paul was an apostle because God wanted that or because that is God’s choice. Certainly, it was never the desire of Paul to be a Christian and much less to be an apostle. This is clear from the fact that he persecuted Christians and was determined to eradicate the Christian faith. Therefore, the fact that he is a Christian and an apostle is because God desired that to take place.
The apostle appears to be deliberate in his use of the word God in this salutation to refer to the Triune God. We say this because in verse 3 of this first chapter of Corinthians, he mentions two members of the Godhead, the Father and the Son as the source of grace and peace but not the third member, the Holy Spirit. Thus, it seemed the apostle wanted us to recognize the unity of the Godhead as it pertains to what is to be done on this planet or that the plan of God is that which proceeds from the Godhead. The implication of this is that the Godhead works jointly in their plan for believers. The point is that it is because the Triune God has planned Paul to be an apostle that he eventually became one.
The phrase by the will of God is an important one that is indeed necessary to keep any believer in an even keel spiritually. We often have the tendency to forget that nothing happens or takes place on this planet outside the will of God, especially, as we see events unfold on this planet to our dismay or we find an individual in power that we do not like or would not want to be in such a position. So, we become disenchanted or blame the people for voting such a person into office, forgetting that no one is in any office without the Lord putting him or her in the specific office. Furthermore, we fail to keep our minds on this truth that we are nothing apart from the grace of God. You see, it is not difficult to become arrogant because of our human success or achievements so that we credit our hard work or our intelligence for them and by so doing steal God’s glory that He expressly conveyed to us that He does not want to share with any of His creation in Isaiah 48:11:
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
It is because of His will that we are anything. Therefore, the phrase by the will of God of 1 Corinthians 1:1 reminds us of the necessity to remain humble regardless of our station in life. It is because of His will that we are in that station. In fact, we should keep in mind the answer to the questions of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 4:7:
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
The answer to the first two questions is that God is responsible for what we are on this planet so that we have no reason to become proud. Paul reminds us that although he was an apostle of Jesus Christ that was because God wanted it to happen and chose him to fulfill a specific function in God’s plan with respect to God’s kingdom mission.
In any case, it is our assertion that Paul is the sole human author of this epistle. This assertion seems to be challenged by the last phrase of 1 Corinthians 1:1 and our brother Sosthenes. The phrase as it reads suggests that Sosthenes wrote the epistle jointly with the apostle, implying that the Holy Spirit inspired both men to write this epistle. This could not possibly be the case since we have no examples in the Scripture of two human authors writing the same book as independent recipients of God’s word. This being the case, we contend that the epistle was from the apostle alone. So, how then do we explain the apostle’s use of the phase and our brother Sosthenes?
There are at least two possible ways of explaining the phrase and our brother Sosthenes. A first possible explanation is that Sosthenes was well known to the Corinthians, so the apostle mentioned him as one with him as a member of his apostolic team when he wrote this epistle in keeping with the pattern the apostle used to indicate that Silas and Timothy were members of his apostolic team when he wrote the Thessalonians, as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 1:1:
Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
The apostle here implies that the letter is from him, Silas and Timothy but the apostle did not mean that the two men were involved in the actual writing of the letter. He was probably recognizing them as those with him as he wrote. Thus, it is possible that the way the apostle thought of these two associates was the same way he thought of Sosthenes when he mentioned him as if he were a joint writer of the epistle. Anyway, the second possible explanation of the phrase and our brother Sosthenes is that Sosthenes could have been the apostle’s secretary who wrote the epistle for him. Using of secretary to write the Scripture is not unusual for we could trace this to the OT times when Prophet Jeremiah used a secretary to write God’s word that he was instructed to write. The Lord instructed him to write His message, as we read in Jeremiah 36:2:
“Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.
But when Jeremiah wanted to implement this command, he enlisted Baruch as his secretary, as stated in Jeremiah 36:4:
So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.
Which of these interpretations is what the apostle meant? It is difficult to be certain, but this is probably the case where both interpretations are intended that is that Sosthenes was well known to the Corinthians and the apostle’s secretary who wrote the epistle since there are facts that support each. The interpretation of Sosthenes being well known to the Corinthians is supported by the fact that there was a synagogue leader in Corinth with that name who was beaten in the presence of Gallio the proconsul in Corinth during the apostle’s first missionary work in that city, according to Acts 18:17:
Then they all turned on Sosthenes the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio showed no concern whatever.
The passage did not tell us the reason Sosthenes was beaten. There are two possibilities. He was being blamed for allowing Paul into the synagogue or that he himself had become converted in the same manner as Crispus mentioned in Acts 18:8:
Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
That aside, the Sosthenes mentioned by the apostle seemed to be the same synagogue leader in Corinth; otherwise, there is no viable explanation for the apostle to mention him if the Corinthians did not know him. Furthermore, the phrase our brother Sosthenes is literally Sosthenes the brother. The use of the definite article implies that the Sosthenes referred was one well known or familiar to the Corinthians. His being described as a brother is in the sense that he is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and certainly dear to the apostle as well as to the Corinthians. The second interpretation of using him as the apostle’s secretary is possible because the apostle implied, he used a secretary in that he indicated that the final greeting of this epistle was written by himself, as we can gather from 1 Corinthians 16:21:
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.
In any event, it is our assertion that the Paul is the sole human author of the epistle.
12/08/17