1I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae, 2that you receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and that you assist her in whatever matter she may need from you, for she herself also has been a helper of many, and of my own self.
3Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4who risked their own necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the assemblies of the Gentiles. 5Greet the assembly that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ. 6Greet Mary, who labored much for us. 7Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and my fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, who were also in Christ before me. 8Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. 9Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved. 10Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus. 11Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord. 12Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord. Greet Persis, the beloved, who labored much in the Lord. 13Greet Rufus, the chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. 14Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them. 15Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16Greet one another with a holy kiss. The assemblies of Christ greet you.
17Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. 18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent. 19For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil. 20And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives. 22I, Tertius, who write the letter, greet you in the Lord. 23Gaius, my host and host of the whole assembly, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, as does Quartus, the brother. 24The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! Amen. 25
Erastus Inscription in Corinth
Three persons by the name of Erastus are mentioned in the New Testament. One is mentioned alongside Timothy as a helper of Paul in Ephesus (Acts 19:22), and another is said by Paul to have remained at Corinth (2 Tim 4:20), though Paul continued his trip. Since Paul mentions him in his epistle, Timothy likely knew him. Last, of all, Paul sent greetings from a man known as Erastus to the recipients of the apostle’s letter to the Romans, “Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.” (Rom 16:23b HCSB).” Paul identified this person as the ὁ οἰκόνομος τῆς πολεῶς, (ho oikonomos tes poleos) the treasurer, manager, or administrator of the city.[1] The first and second Erastus listed above very likely are the same person because of the nexus with Timothy, and persons two and three are the same because of the connection to Corinth. Consequently, all three are probably the same person.[2]
Gillman has argued that the latter Erastus may have been a city slave,[3] the likelihood is that Erastus had an important status in Corinth to warrant Paul’s mention of him as the οἰκόνομος, in the view of Thiessen.[4] The Roman colony of Corinth would have had a Roman municipal structure, with the οἰκονομος as the Greek equivalent of the Latin office of aedilis.
One finds at Corinth a startling connection with Romans 16:23 at the Corinth, in a grassy area not normally visited by tour groups today. At the head of a pavement is a long slab about a person named Erastus. Scholars agree that the inscription dates to the middle of the first century A.D. The pavement is located east of the city theater. An aedilis was commissioned with the task to manage public markets, If indeed this builder of the pavement is the same person mentioned by Paul, Erastus, and Paul may have become acquainted while Erastus was about his duties of collecting rent or taxes, according to Murphy-O’Connor.[5]
The inscription regarding Erastus reads, “Erastus laid this pavement at his own expense, in appreciation of his appointment as aedile.”[6] Only two of the three slabs of the inscription have been found. The central slab found in situ in April 1929, reads:
ERASTUS.PRO.AED
S.P.STRAVIT
Two portions of right slab were found in March 1928 and August 1947, allowing more complete reading,
ERASTUS.PRO.AEDILITatE
S.P.STRAVIT[7]
Thus the extant text reads in Latin,
ERASTUS PRO AEDILITATE
S.P. STRAVIT
However, Clarke, with likely wording of missing first slab, renders the inscription “Praenomen nomen Erastus in return for his aedileship laid (the pavement) at his own expense.”[8]
This entry is based on an article I wrote on the Erasus Inscription for book edited by Joseph M. Holden and Norman Geisler, The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture (2013), 358-359. I have retained copyright in the article. © 2013 H. Wayne House. All Rights Reserved.
[1] BDAG defines οἰκονόμος as public treasurer, treasurer ὁ οικ. τῆς πόλεως the city treasurer (SIG 1252 πόλεως Κῳων οἰκονόμος; other exx. in PLandvogt, Epigr. Untersuchungen üb. den oi˙kono/moß, diss. Strassb. 1908; HCadbury, JBL 50, ’31, 47ff) Ro 16:23. BDAG, 698.
[2] G. A. Lee in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised ( (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988; 2002)).
[3] Florence Morgan Gillman Associate Professor, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1996).
[4]G. Theissen, 1982: 76. Theissen, G. 1982. The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity. Essays on Corinth. Philadelphia.
[5]Murphy-O’Connor, 1984: 155) Murphy-O’Connor, J. 1984. The Corinth That Saint Paul Saw. BA 47: 147–59.
[6]A. F. Walls, in D. R. W. Wood and I. Howard Marshall, New Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.; Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 332.
[7] “S.P is a standard abbreviation for sua pecunia, ‘with his own money’ (See J.H. Kent, Corinth—Inscriptions, #231 for a similar inscription celebrating a benefaction given sua pecunia).”
[8] For a more complete study Erastus and the Erastus inscription, see Andrew D. Clarke, Secular & Christian Leadership in Corinth: A Socio-Historical & Exegetical Study of 1 Corinthians 1-6 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993), 46-57.
