Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
Called to be - [found in 'Aleph (') B G g 5: not in A Delta f, of the oldest manuscripts. Possibly inserted from Romans 1:1; but as likely to be genuine.] Translate, 'a called apostle.' Though vindicating his apostleship, he ranks himself with all the "called" (1 Corinthians 1:2).
Through the will of God - not through my own merit. Paul's call as 'an apostle by the will of God,' while constituting the ground of the authority he claims (cf. Galatians 1:1), is a reason for humility on his part (1 Corinthians 15:8; 1 Corinthians 15:10). In assuming the ministerial office, a man should do so, not of his own impulse, but by the will of God (Jeremiah 23:21). Paul, if left to his own will, would never have been an apostle (Romans 9:16).
Sosthenes - see 'Introduction.' Gallio had driven the Jews who accused Paul from the judgment seat. The Greek mob, who disliked the Jews, took the opportunity then of beating Sosthenes, the ruler of the Jewish synagogue, while Gallio looked on and refused to interfere, being secretly pleased that the mob should second his own contempt for the Jews. Paul probably at this time had showed sympathy for an adversary in distress, which issued in the conversion of the latter. So Crispus also, the previous chief ruler of the Synagogue, had been converted. Saul the persecutor turned into Paul the apostle, and Sosthenes the leader in persecution against that apostle, were two trophies of grace that, side by side, would appeal with double power to the church Corinth.