Sosthenes - 1 Corinthians 1:1-8

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, but the first one that we have record of, we are introduced to him and Sosthenes “our brother.” I assume that Paul means his brother in Christ, and the IM says that he “was perhaps the onetime ruler of the synagogue at Corinth. Sosthenes was the successor of Crispus, who was converted and baptized by Paul.” I had to look up who Crispus was to remember, but we learn about him in Acts 18:8 when Paul in tired of preaching to the hard hearted Jews in Corinth and leaves the synagogue to preach in a righteous man’s house. It reads, “And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.” So if Crispus left his office as the ruler of the synagogue to join Jesus’ church and Sosthenes replaced him, does that make Sosthenes a devout Jew then, as opposed to a Christian?

Paul gives warm greetings “to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” It seems to me that when Paul says “sanctified” that it would be further qualifying who his message is to, like “all who believe and have been sanctified.” This would be difficult for me to accept because while I consider myself a “believer” I don’t feel like I am “sanctified yet.” So I would hear this greeting and think “he’s talking about higher level stuff.” But something I read, I thought it was in the IM but I can’t find it now, said that this was Paul’s way of reminding his audience of Christians that they had already been sanctified through baptism and were considered “saints” of God. In this case, then not only does his message absolutely apply to me, but he reminds me that I belong to a very special, very sacred group and that I’ve made promises to God.
Interestingly, another remind from Paul is that “in every thing ye are enriched by him (God), in all utterance, and in all knowledge. Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.” The IM comments about this phrase, “Paul taught the Saints in Corinth that they were ‘enriched by’ Jesus Christ in every way- in speech and in knowledge.” We have our natural human intellect, but when we open ourselves up to the Holy Ghost, we receive so much more than anything we could ever acquire on our own. This of course means material possessions, but more importantly, and more abundantly, this means knowledge, wisdom, positive character traits, stronger testimonies, and deeper desire for good. The person that we can create ourselves is primitive, weak, and sad compared to the person we can become when we allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit and strengthened and taught by God. This is an important lesson for me today.