Commentators find a powerful irony in this verse. Sosthenes, the synagogue ruler who likely led the charge against Paul, is the one who ends up being beaten. Several scholars connect him to the Sosthenes mentioned as a 'brother' and coworker of Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:1. They suggest this humiliating event may have, in God's providence, led to his own conversion to the faith he once persecuted.