Corpus-Paul

["Kym Smith" <khs AT picknowl.com.au>]

Dear Richard,

I suspect that the 1 Corinthians mentions of Sosthenes and Crispus really
seal the discussion. Paul was writing with Sosthenes (1 Cor 1:1) to the
church in Corinth. He tells his readers,
“I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius…”
(1:14)
I appreciate that it may be read differently, the ‘you’ may simply mean
those who were in Corinth at the time Paul did baptize a few people,
especially considering the time between the baptizing of those men and the
writing of the epistle. But the most natural reading would see the ‘you’,
including Crispus and Gaius, as those in Corinth who received this letter.
Gaius – assuming it was the same Gaius – was still in Corinth when Paul
wrote Romans a couple of years after writing 1 Corinthians (Rom 16:23).
That neither Crispus nor Sosthenes are mentioned at the end of Romans
neither proves nor disproves anything regarding their persons or their
whereabouts.

So, if it is correct to read 1 Corinthians as I have presented it above,
Sosthenes was in Ephesus with Paul and Crispus was in Corinth as one of
the recipients of the letter. The two must be different individuals.

Sincerely,

Kym Smith
Adelaide
South Australia
khs AT picknowl.com.au