Little Thoughts, October 29, 2025

By Pastor Sammy Little, First Baptist Church of Stowell

  In Romans 16, the last chapter, we find Paul sending greetings to people he knows or has heard about in Rome, plus he sends greetings from people that are around him in Corinth. Verse 23 tells us “Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.” I think most people just skim through these verses because we don’t know any of these people, thus they are nobodies. Archeology helps us a bit. They have found limestone slabs inscribed with “Erastus, in response to his being elected as city manager, paid for the paving of this street with his own money.” This is the man Paul writes of. He was somebody, an important person, and a Gentile believer in Jesus. But who was Quartus? He was a slave, an unimportant person mentioned with Erastus. Quartus means number 4. It’s not really a name, he was just a number. He and Erastus being paired together tells us they shared a belief in Jesus plus were friends. Let us share eternal bonds with others who worship the true God who saves all who believe in Jesus.