ment of his labours among the Gentiles. His Jewish name was Saul. It was common for the Jews to bear one name among their own people, and another among foreigners.
Called {to be) an apostle^ that is, appointed an apostle. The apostleship being an office, it could not be assumed at pleasure. Appointment by competent authority was absolute- ly indispensable. The word apostle means literally a messen- ger^ and then a missionary^ or one sent to preach the gospel. In its strict official sense it is applied only to the immediate messengers of Christ, the infallible teachers of his reUgion and founders of his church. In calling himself an apostle Paul claims divine authority derived immediately from Christ.
By the will of God, that is, by divine authority. Paul was made an apostle neither by popular election, nor by con- secration by those who were apostles before him ; but by imme- diate appointment from God. On this point, see his explicit declaration. Gal. 1, 1.
And Sosthenes {our) brother. In the Greek it is the bro- ther. He was a brother well known to the Corinthians, and probably one of the messengers sent by them to the apostle, or whom they knew to be with him. In Acts 18, 17 a man by this name is mentioned as the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth, and a leader of those who arraigned Paul before the judgment seat of Gallio. This identity of name is not a suf- ficient proof that the person was the same, especially as the name was a common one. The companions of the apostles, whom he associates with himself in his salutations to the churches, are not thereby placed in the position of equality of office and authority with the apostle. On the contrary, they are uniformly distinguished in these respects from the writer of the epistles. Thus it is " Paul the apostle,''^ but " Sosthenes the brother ; " or, " Paul the apostle and Timothy the brother," Col. 1, 1, and elsewhere. They are associated in the saluta- tion, not in the epistle. Very probably Sosthenes was the amanuensis of Paul in this instance, and Timothy in others.
2. XJnto the cliiircli of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called (to be) saints, with all that in every place caU upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.
To the church of God. The word church is used in Scrip- ture as a collective term for the people of God, considered as