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Bible Dictionaries
Sopater
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (Σώπατρος, a common Greek name)
Sopater is mentioned in Acts 20:4 as a companion of St. Paul, who accompanied him from Greece to Asia Minor on his return journey to Palestine, whither he was bearing the offering of the churches ‘for the poor among the saints that are at Jerusalem’ (Romans 15:26). It has been conjectured that all the persons referred to in Acts 20:4 were delegates of their respective communities appointed ‘in the matter of this grace’ (2 Corinthians 8:19). If this was so, we shall suppose that they went all the way to Jerusalem. We know that one of them, Trophimus, did so (Acts 21:29), and evidently also Aristarchus (Acts 27:2). Sopater was perhaps the delegate of the church at BerCEa. He is described as a native of that place (Βεροιαῖος), and was perhaps a Hellenistic Jew, one of those who contrasted so favourably with the Jews of Thessalonica, one of the ‘many’ who believed during the Apostle’s visit (Acts 17:10-14). If he was not a Jew he cannot be identified, as is sometimes suggested, with Sosipater (q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.] ), whose salutation is sent by St. Paul in Romans 16:21, and who is described as one of the Apostle’s ‘kinsmen,’ i.e. fellow-Jews. Nothing further is known of Sopater than that he was ‘the son of Pyrrhus’ (Σώπατρος Πύρρου), of whom, however, we are entirely ignorant. The patronymic is omitted by Textus Receptus and Authorized Version but is found in א ABDE, several ancient versions, and Revised Version . See article Pyrrhus.
T. B. Allworthy.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Sopater'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/sopater.html. 1906-1918.
