1 Corinthians 1:1

Παῦλος κλητὸς ἀπόστολος (so in Rom.) not ap. by merit or human choice, but called thereto διὰ θελήματος Θεοῦ (so in later epp.). through an express intervention of he Divine will, cf. 1 Corinthians 9:16 f., Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:15 f., Ephesians 3:2 ff., also Acts 9:15, etc. “A called apostle” as the Cor [33] are “called saints”: he summoned to be herald and dispenser (1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 4:1), they receivers of God's Gospel (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). The κλητοὶ are in P. identified with the ἐκλεκτοί (1 Corinthians 1:26 f., Romans 8:29 f.), not distinguished as in Matthew 20:16. The thought of the “call” of God as assigning to each Christian man his status is prominent in this ep.: see 1Co 1:9; 1 Corinthians 1:24 ff., 1 Corinthians 7:17-24. Σωσθέντης ὁ ἀδελφὸς is a party to the Letter, which notwithstanding runs in first pers [34] sing [35], as in Gal. after οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες ἀδελφοὶ of 1 Corinthians 1:2; otherwise in 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thess.: Sosthenes (only named here by P.) shares in this ep. not as joint-composer, but as witness and approver. He would scarcely be introduced at this point as amanuensis (cf. Romans 16:22).. is a person known to and honoured by the Cor [36], but now with the Ap. at Ephesus and in his confidence. He may, or may not, have been the Sosthenes of Acts 18:17 the name was fairly common. One ἀρχισυνάγωγος (Crispus) had been converted at Cor [37], why not another afterwards? P. would delight to make of a persecutor an ally. His former position would give an ex-Synagogue-leader weight, especially with Jewish Christians; and his subsequent conversion may account for Luke's exceptionally preserving Sosthenes' name as Paul's assailant (see M. Dods on the point, in Exp. Bib.). Eusebius (Hist. Eccles., i. 12) makes. one of the Seventy of Luke 10:17 “a worthless tradition” (Lt [38]).

[33] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[34]ers. grammatical person, or personal.

[35]ing. singular number.

[36] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[37] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[38] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).