Quartus
Info
- coworker slave-freedman
- Home:: Corinth
- Other Locales:: None recorded
- References:: Romans 16:23
Notes
- Called simply “the brother” by Paul
- Latin numerical name (“Fourth”) suggests slave or freedman origin
Summary
Quartus receives one of the briefest mentions in the Pauline letters. In Romans 16:23, Paul sends greetings from “Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus” (Kouartos ho adelphos). The designation “the brother” is the simplest possible Christian identification: a fellow believer.
His Latin name, Quartus (“Fourth”), belongs to the numerical naming convention of Tertius (“Third”) and Secundus (“Second”), names associated with slaves and freedmen in the Roman world, given based on birth order within a servile household. Some scholars have suggested that Quartus and Tertius (Paul’s scribe for Romans) may have been brothers, both former slaves, now part of the Corinthian Christian community. This remains uncertain.
The juxtaposition of Quartus with Erastus “the city treasurer” (ho oikonomos tēs poleōs) is notable. If Quartus was a freedman, then Paul places a former slave beside a municipal official in his greetings. This pairing embodies the social diversity of the early church. The gospel community gathered people from opposite ends of the Roman social hierarchy, and Paul names them side by side without comment.
References
- theodoretCommentaryRomansc425 - Theodoret of Cyrus’s patristic commentary on Romans, with early church interpretation of Quartus in Romans 16:23.
- mouleEpistlePaulApostle2015 - Moule’s commentary on Romans covering Quartus’s mention in Romans 16:23.
- bruceRomans2014 - F.F. Bruce’s Romans commentary addressing Quartus in Romans 16:23.
- mcclainRomansGospelGod1989 - McClain’s Romans commentary covering Quartus in Paul’s closing greetings.
- mooEncounteringBookRomans2002 - Moo’s Romans survey covering the greetings context where Quartus appears in Romans 16:23.
- Romans 16:23 Commentaries - BibleHub
- Quartus - Wikipedia