This quarter I am teaching a graduate course on the Pauline Epistles. Today we began working through 1 Corinthians. Here I wanted to touch upon something we examined in class today: Paul's co-workers. Paul begins 1 Corinthians by doing something he often does in his epistles: he mentions a co-worker. "Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God which is at Corinth. . ." (1 Co 1:1–2).The question of Sosthenes' identity is an extremely interesting one. Is he the same figure who gets beaten in...