Raymond L. Cox<\/b><\/p>\n
[Raymond L. Cox, a frequent contributor to BIBLE AND SPADE, is pastor of the Salem, Oregon Foursquare Church. He has traveled extensively in Bible lands and has written over 1650 articles on biblical and archaeological subjects. In addition, he is the author of four books.]<\/i><\/p>\n
An inscription somewhat to the east of the stage building of the theater in Corinth makes Romans 16:23 a living reality to the few visitors who search it out. Most Bible scholars express confidence that the Erastus honored by this commemoration in stone is the very man who saluted the first-century Christians at Rome at the end of Paul\u2019s epistle.<\/p>\n
How did this pioneer Christian missionary to Corinth get acquainted with the \u201cchamberlain (RSV \u2014 treasurer) of the city\u201d? Was Erastus perhaps present at the synagogue services on those first sabbaths when the apostle \u201creasoned\u201d there, and \u201cpersuaded the Jews and the Greeks\u201d concerning the claims of Jesus Christ? (Acts 18:4).<\/p>\n
Or did the chamberlain\u2019s contact with Paul commence shortly after the Jewish opposition and blasphemy? The outrage so disgusted Paul that he \u201cshook his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; from henceforth I will go to the Gentiles\u201d (Acts 18:6).<\/p>\n
A Jew named Titius Justus, living next door to Corinth\u2019s synagogue, opened his house to Paul as headquarters. Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, embraced the new faith. Gentiles flocked thither, \u201cand many of the Corinthians hearing believed\u201d (Acts 18:8). Perhaps Erastus was one of them.<\/p>\n
But would a high civic official of a Gentile city frequent meetings hosted by Jews \u2014 even Christian Jews? Some think not, and assign Erastus\u2019 exposure to the gospel to a dramatic confrontation at Corinth\u2019s \u201cbema\u201d or judgment seat. Perhaps the treasurer was a <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 5:4 (Autumn 1976) p. 121<\/p>\n
witness to the collapse of the strategy of the unbelieving Jews. Paul\u2019s enemies initiated proceedings against the Apostle (Acts 18:12). They dragged him to the \u201cbema\u201d where the proconsul Gallio represented Rome, as Pilate had represented the empire at the trial of Jesus. Gallio was the brother of the famed philosopher, Seneca. The Jews\u2019 accusation was that, \u201cThis fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law\u201d (Acts 18:13).<\/p>\n
Gallio\u2019s reaction justifies Seneca\u2019s high opinion of him: \u201cNo mortal is so pleasant to any one person as Gallio is to everybody\u201d (Natural Questions,<\/i> iv. a; Preface 11). He gestured the apostle to silence when Paul was about to voice his defense. The proconsul, called the \u201cdeputy\u201d in the Authorized Version, threw the Jews\u2019 case out of court. \u201cIf it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters\u201d (Acts 18:15). He ordered Paul\u2019s enemies away from the judgment seat.<\/p>\n
Did the ruckus attract Erastus from a nearby office? Did he witness the proceedings and hear the proconsul\u2019s verdict? Did he stand and watch as subsequently some ruffian Greeks beat up Sosthenes, the newly installed ruler of the synagogue? This same Sosthenes was eventually converted, for we find his name mentioned along with Paul\u2019s in the salutation of the first epistle to the Corinthians. Paul calls him a \u201cbrother\u201d there (1 Corinthians 1:1).<\/p>\n
We can only speculate how Erastus encountered Paul and the gospel, though we can be sure Jesus included the treasurer when he encouraged the apostie, \u201cI have much people in this city\u201d (Acts 18:10) in a vision and commanded him to continue evangelizing in Corinth.<\/p>\n
At any rate, the New Testament is not alone in preserving the record of this official\u2019s public service. An inscription carved in stone which once held letters of bronze perpetuates his memory at Corinth to this day.<\/p>\n
I had been to the ruins twice without even knowing of this inscription\u2019s existence. Then I happened to read about it in Nagel\u2019s Encyclopedia Guide to Greece. Guides do not take many parties down to the ancient theater which sprawls to the west of the Museum and main excavations. Most visitors do not even hear of the existence of this theater, which dates back to the fourth century before Christ and seated eighteen thousand on stone benches. The guidebook merely reproduced the Latin inscription and identified Erastus with \u201cthe person mentioned in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans\u201d and noted that it was located \u201ceast of the stage building.\u201d<\/p>\n
I clambered down the sides of the bowl-like theater. No <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 5:4 (Autumn 1976) p. 122<\/p>\n
Overview of the ruins of ancient Corinth with the temple of Apollo visible to the left<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
reconstruction is evident here, as there is at Epidaurus also in Greece, at Delphi, or at Caesarea in Israel, all three of which are used for modern dramatic productions now. The Corinth theater looks beyond restoration, though its form is clearly evident. I searched all over the area east of the stage, and I found one or two inscriptions, but they were not what I was looking for. Frustration gripped me as I rambled through ruins in the vain quest. Yet the setting made the descent seem worthwhile. Corinth\u2019s agora or market place rises behind the theater on a hill, dominated by one landmark Paul surely saw, the temple of Apollo. The Corinth acropolis, called Acro-Corinth,<\/i> rises still further to the south. But where was the Erastus inscription?<\/p>\n
Back to the museum I hied for better directions than the guidebook offered. \u201cIt\u2019s there, you can\u2019t miss it,\u201d a Greek informed. But I had! Finally the man mentioned that my goal was in the floor. I had not been looking there, but rather on the walls and pedestals.<\/p>\n
Soon I stared at the words ERASTUS PRO AEDILITATE\/S.P. STRAVIT. The bronze had long ago been fished out of the letters by looters, but the inscription still reads clearly: \u201cErastus, in return for his aedileship, laid the pavement at his own expense.\u201d<\/p>\n
But is it the same Erastus Paul mentions?<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 5:4 (Autumn 1976) p. 123<\/p>\n
The time is right. Archaeological evidence indicates this pavement existed in the middle of the first century A.D. \u201cChamberlain\u201d is how the A.V. translators rendered the Greek word oikonomos<\/i> which apparently was used in the New Testament as the equivalent of the Latin aedilis,<\/i> \u201cthe commissioner of public buildings and streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erastus laid a pavement for the theater at his own expense in return for his public office. The whole structure now lies in ruins. But Erastus received from an itinerant Jewish tentmaker not only fame which endures to this day from the mention of his name in Romans, which the apostle Paul penned from Corinth, but also eternal life which has outlasted his expensive monument! And that benefit didn\u2019t cost him a penny!<\/p>\n
Roman aediles in provincial cities like Corinth were men of wealth and influence who were expressly appointed to execute impressive public works at their own expense. But Paul would write to the Corinthians that \u201cthe things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal\u201d (2 Corinthians 4:18). Could he possibly have had Erastus\u2019 pavement in mind when he voiced such sentiments? We<\/i> surely can contrast the pavement\u2019s present plight with Erastus\u2019 invisible spiritual assets which he enjoys to this day in the presence of the Lord in heaven!<\/p>\n
The Erastus inscription in the foreground and the Acrocorinth in the background<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 5:4 (Autumn 1976) p. 124<\/p>\n
A closeup of the Erastus inscription<\/i><\/b>.<\/b><\/p>\n
So when Paul wrote the Romans from Corinth he communicated Erastus\u2019 greeting to believers in the empire\u2019s capital: \u201cErastus the treasurer of the city salutes you\u201d (Romans 16:23). And possibly Erastus furnished one reason why the apostle would write the Corinthians in the terms he used in 1 Corinthians 1:26. Paul did not proclaim, \u201cNot any wise men, not any mighty, not any noble, are called.\u201d Erastus would leap to his readers\u2019 minds at once as a contradicting exception. Instead the apostle announced, \u201cFor ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.\u201d There is a world of difference between \u201cnot any\u201d and \u201cnot many.\u201d The former would have excluded Erastus from the possibility of divine calling. The latter excludes no one. It simply stated a fact. The city fathers of Corinth did not follow their colleague Erastus into the church. But that didn\u2019t discourage Erastus from continuing in his new found faith! In fact, he became one of Paul\u2019s co-laborers, traveling to Macedonia to minister in the name of Christ (Acts 19:22).<\/p>\n
Since Paul\u2019s epistles have burst the bounds of their original addresses and extend to instruct, encourage, inform, and benefit us, is it not possible that Erastus\u2019 salute to the Romans reaches us too? What a day that will be when the church visible joins the church invisible in the world to come and we can return the salute!<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 5:4 (Autumn 1976) p. 125<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Raymond L. Cox [Raymond L. Cox, a frequent contributor to BIBLE AND SPADE, is pastor of the Salem, Oregon Foursquare Church. He has traveled extensively in Bible lands and has written over 1650 articles on biblical and archaeological subjects. In addition, he is the author of four books.] An inscription somewhat to the east of … Continue reading “ERASTUS
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