Sosipater (II)

II. SOSIPATER, of whom St. Paul speaks in his Epistle to the Romans, was his Rom. xvi. 21.Kinsman, as some think. Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my Kinsmen, salute you. However, there is some Difficulty in this, since Jason was of Thessalonica, and Sosipater of Berea in Macedonia, and therefore very distant from Tarsus the Country of St. Origen in Rom. xvi.Paul. Origen believes they were originally Gentiles, which is another Reason to think they were not the Apostle’s Kinsmen. But in what Sense then does he call them his Kinsmen? Is it because they were of the same Nation, of the same Tribe, of the same City, of the same Religion, or that they were only ally’d to him? This is what can only be determin’d at Random. I even think that it may be confidently asserted, that this Sosipater, who was at Rome in the 58th Year of Jesus Christ, when St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans, cannot be the Sosipater of Berea; since he accompanied St. Paul in the same Year 58, in his Journey to Jerusalem, and who probably went with him from Corinth, from whence the Epistle to the Romans was written, to go by way of Macedonia to Jerusalem See Acts xx. 4, 5, 6, &c.

Acts xx. 4.This is what we know of Sosipater. He was of Berea, as has been said; and it is very likely St. Paul converted him in the 52d Year of the vulgar Era, when he visited that City. The Latin Text of the Acts, and some Greek Manuscripts, call him Pyrrhus. When St. Paul departed from Corinth, in Acts xx. 4, 5, 6.order to go to Jerusalem, in the 58th Year of the vulgar Era, he was accompany’d by Sosipater, by Aristarchus, and some other Disciples, they came with him as far as Philippi, from whence Saint Paul sent them before him to Troas, where they staid for him, so that he could not be at the same Time at Rome, as has been observed. We know not what became of Sosipater after this Time: But the Latins make his Feast on the 25th of June, and¹ call him a Disciple of St. Paul’s. The Greeks honour him upon the 28th or 29th of April. They join him with Jason, and call him a Kinsman of St. Paul’s. Thus they confound Sosipater of Berea with him of Rome. We have made the same Mistake in our Commentary upon the Acts, and upon the Epistle to the Romans; and I know of no Commentator that has not done the same.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages