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  • From: Daniel L Christiansen <dlc AT multnomah.edu>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Erastus
  • Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 19:47:53 -0700


Richard Fellows wrote:

> What was the relationship between the Erastus of Rom 16:23 and the Erastus
> of Acts 19:22? Were they the same person? Or were they father and son, or
> brothers, sharing the same cognomen? Or were they unrelated?

Erastus is also named in II Timothy 4:20, where Paul says he remained in
Corinth. And we have an extra-biblical manuscript from the city of Corinth
during
this period in which Erastus is said to be the “procurator of public
buildings,” a
title which is certainly compatible with Paul’s “director of public works.”
It seems to me very reasonable to posit an identity between the two
references.
And, no, I am not attempting to once again open the debate on
Pauline/deutero-Pauline/pseudoPauline literature :) But all the references
to this
name (including the extra-biblical one) appear to point to a single
individual.

> In the "A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names" (vol II Attica) the name
> "Erastus" accounts for only one in every 5,000 entries. Can I therefore
> assume that only about 0.02% of people were called Erastus? If that is the
> case, then we can be virtually certain that the two Erasti were not
> unrelated.

I would be less comfortable with using this argument, at least in the
absence of
other evidence. Just because a name is uncommon, does not in itself demand a
relationship between those holding that name. However, given the evidence
mentioned
above regarding the city and profession, I think the rarity of the name
strengthens
the likelihood that these references are to the same man.

FWIW, Dan
--
Daniel L. Christiansen
Department of Bible
Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street
Portland, OR 97220
(Also Portland Bible College, Prof of Biblical Languages)
e-mail: dlc AT multnomah.edu





  • Erastus, Richard Fellows, 08/19/1999
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: Erastus, Daniel L Christiansen, 08/19/1999

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