Romans 16:21-23

Greeting from Paul's Friends in Corinth.

Romans 16:21. Timothy was by Paul's side during this period (see Acts 19:22; Acts 20:4; 2 Corinthians 1:1. Of the Jewish Lucius, Jason, Sosipatros, the first may or may not have been Paul's old Antiochene colleague of Acts 13:1; Lucius was a familiar Latin name certainly not identical with Luke (Lucas=Lucanus). The second (often a Greek alias for Jesus) was, not improbably, Jason of Thessalonica (Acts 17:5); the third, almost certainly, the Sopater of Berœ a found by Paul's side about this time (Acts 20:4).

Romans 16:22 f. Tertius the scribe makes his bow; Quartus one suspects to have been Tertius-' brother third and fourth of one family. Gaius, my host, whose hospitality embraced all his fellow-believers in Corinth, was surely the conspicuous Gaius of 1 Corinthians 1:14, to be distinguished from NT Gaiuses resident elsewhere. Erastus (Beloved, a fairly common Greek name), the city-treasurer a leading civic functionary of Corinth was hardly the Erastus who waited on Paul (Acts 19:22); which was meant in 2 Timothy 4:20 is uncertain. There were several people of wealth and rank connected with the Corinthian Church (1 Corinthians 1:26); cf. Phœ be, Romans 16:1 f.*

Romans 16:24 (a third Benediction) is omitted in RV, on decisive textual evidence.