Sosipater

Biblical Record

Sosipater appears only once in the Bible. In the closing greetings of Romans, Paul wrote, "Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you" (Romans 16:21). This verse tells us only that Sosipater was with Paul when Romans was written and that he sent greetings to the believers of the Roman church. The text says nothing about his origins, his office, or his later activities. Many hold that Paul wrote Romans while staying in Corinth, so Sosipater is also thought to have been in Corinth at that time.

Significance in Scripture

Paul called Sosipater, together with Lucius and Jason, his "kinsmen." The Greek word translated "kinsmen" may refer to a blood relationship, or it may have been used more broadly to mean fellow Jews. Scholars differ on which sense is intended. Romans 16 contains many names of people who worked with Paul or assisted him. These names show that Paul's ministry was carried out with the cooperation of many coworkers.

Interpretations and Debates

• Is he the same person as Sopater? Acts 20:4 mentions "Sopater of Berea," the son of Pyrrhus, who accompanied Paul into Asia. Sopater may be a shortened form of the name Sosipater, and some therefore identify the two as the same individual. The timing also fits, since the journey in Acts 20 begins after Paul's stay in Greece. However, Scripture does not state that they are the same person, so the identification is treated as a plausible conjecture.
• Relationship to Jason: Some also identify the Jason mentioned alongside him with the Jason of Acts 17 who received Paul's party in Thessalonica. This, too, is not an established fact.
• Later tradition: In Eastern Orthodox tradition, Sosipater is commemorated as a saint together with Jason. According to tradition, the two preached the gospel and in the course of their travels reached the island of Kerkyra (Corfu) off western Greece, and Sosipater became bishop of Iconium. This is later tradition not found in the biblical text.

In the Korean Church

Sermons or Sunday school lessons devoted solely to Sosipater are rare. He is usually mentioned briefly in expositions of Romans 16, when the list of Paul's coworkers is introduced. He is cited as an example of how even little-known people took part in the work of the gospel. Both the Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version render his name as "소시바더" (Sosibadeo).