21 Timothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen. 22 I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother.
Mentoring, discipleship – whatever the word we might use, the apostle Paul constantly did it with various others. One can trace fairly accurately his traveling entourage by piecing together the record of his travels in the book of Acts and personal references he includes in his letters. Timothy is the most recognizable. From Acts 16:1, Timothy probably came to faith during Paul’s first missions tour (if not earlier) where he lived in Lystra, and subsequently joined up with the apostle on his second tour. He is with Paul for the third tour when their travels included Macedonia and Greece (Acts 20:4), during which time Paul wrote this letter to the Romans. In their travels, Timothy had apparently met many of the Christians who had moved to Rome and made up the church there. So Timothy sends his greetings.
Other fellow workers sending their greetings included Lucius (possibly the same individual who was one of the five leaders of the early church at Antioch Acts 13:1), Jason (probably the same individual who was Paul’s benefactor and fellow sufferer for the Lord in Thessalonica, Acts 17:5-9) and Sosipater (mentioned only here in Scripture). He identifies them all as fellow Benjamites.
Tertius , Paul’s secretary (what scholars call his “amanuenses”), inserts his personal greeting. Gaius was one of the few people in Corinth that Paul personally baptized (1 Cor 1:14). Whether he is the same Gaius John wrote to in his third letter (3 John 1) is uncertain, but if so, some of his biography may be found there. In was in his home that Paul was staying while writing to the Romans. In fact, Paul sends greetings on behalf of the entire church at Corinth.
Erastus was another companion of Paul’s (Acts 19:22, 2 Tim 4:20). Quartus, the last named greeter, we know little about, except that Paul calls him simply “the brother.” As William MacDonald writes, “But after all, what an honor, what a dignity!”
These greetings are important not only to help us in filling the history of the expansion of early Christianity and its key players, but they show the interconnectedness of the church as it spread across the Roman empire. At a more profound level, they reflect to us that the entire Bible is God’s greeting to us with His message of justification.
Lord, thank You for the details of Scripture; every word is Your inspiration.
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