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Bible Dictionaries
Stephanas
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or In 1 Corinthians 1:16 St. Paul writes: ‘I baptized also the household of Stephanas.’ From 1 Corinthians 16:17 we learn that Stephanas was with St. Paul at the time. Perhaps he reminded the Apostle that his was one of the few cases of personal baptism at St. Paul’s own hands. Usually he left the baptizing to his helpers. Two reasons for the less usual course are suggested in 1 Corinthians 16:15 : ‘Ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruits of Achaia.’ It was natural for the Apostle to wish to baptize his first converts in Corinth; perhaps there was nobody else to baptize them. Moreover, the baptism of a household marked a real footing gained by Christianity in the city. These ‘first-fruits’ proved themselves valuable helpers: ‘Ye know … that they have set themselves to minister unto the saints.’ Stephanas himself was one of the deputation sent by the Corinthian Church to St. Paul, and was, therefore, a trusted leader. The Corinthian Christians are urged to ‘be in subjection unto such,’ and to ‘acknowledge them that are such.’ Here St. Paul holds up ‘such’ as Stephanas and his household as worthy of imitation and of deference. They seem to have been among the first assistants of the Apostle, outside the inner circle of his chosen companions, and they were specially valuable to the work in Corinth. No doubt their work was a voluntary consecration: there is nothing to indicate an ecclesiastical office. ‘ἔταξαν ἑαυτοὺς … implies a systematic laying out of themselves for service, such as is possible only to those free to dispose, as they choose, of their persons and their time’ (Expositor’s Greek Testament , ‘1 Corinthians,’ London, 1900, in loc.). So the family must have been of independent means, and St. Paul is only asking the spontaneous submission and the respectful deference due to character and hard work. At the same time, there may have been in such voluntary service the germs out of which grew the Church’s local ministry, as A. C. Headlam suggests (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) iv. 613).
J. E. Roberts.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Stephanas'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/stephanas.html. 1906-1918.
