Erastus (saint)

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Erastus inscription in Corinth

Erastus was a collaborator with Paul .

According to Rom. 16:24, for  example, in Corinth he held the office of οἰκονόμος τῆς πόλεως oikonómos tēs póleōs ; Martin Luther translated: City Treasurer. This is arguably an upscale city tax officer.

In 1929 an inscription was found during excavations in the area of ​​the Corinthian theater, which names an aedile named Erastus. It is widely believed that it dates from the middle of the 1st century AD, then it would be contemporary with the letters of the New Testament:

[. . . ] Erastus pro aedilit [at] es (ua) p (ecunia) stravit.

"If the Erastus of Romans held this high office of city council, then Paul could fall back next to his wealthy host Gaius ... on the support of a respected and wealthy man who was able to finance an entire pavement at his own expense." That was very unusual for a Christian. Since political office also required participation in the pagan cult, Tertullian excluded this activity for Christians at the end of the 2nd century. But in Paul's time people might think differently about it. But the inscription is not in its original location and its dating is uncertain; possibly it dates from the time of Emperor Hadrian. This leaves doubts as to whether Christianity was able to gain a foothold in the urban elite in the first century.

There are two other mentions of an Erastus in the New Testament: Acts 19:22  ZB , 2 Tim 4:20  ZB . Ulrich Wilckens thinks that the Erastus named in the Acts of the Apostles, who traveled from Ephesus to Macedonia , is not identical with the official of the same name in Corinth.

literature

  • Rainer Metzner: The celebrities in the New Testament. A prosopographic commentary. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rainer Metzner: The celebrities in the New Testament. Göttingen 2011, p. 558.
  2. ^ Rainer Metzner: Rainer Metzner: Die Prominenten im New Testament , Göttingen 2011, p. 559.
  3. ↑ Dietrich-Alex Koch : History of early Christianity: A textbook. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013, p. 266.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Wilckens: The Letter to the Romans (Rom 12-16) (= Evangelical-Catholic Commentary on the New Testament . Volume VI / 3). Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1982, ISBN 3-7887-0650-3 . P. 146.
personal data
SURNAME Erastus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Collaborator of the Apostle Paul
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC BC or 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 1st century