A brother, Paul calls him (Rom. 16. 23.) No doubt, he meant a brother beloved in Christ. (See Phil. 16.)
Quar´tus, a Christian resident at Corinth, and, from his name, apparently a Roman, whose salutations Paul communicated to the Church of Rome in his epistle thereto (Rom 16:23).
A Christian residing at Corinth, but according to his name of Roman origin, whose salutation Paul sends to the brethren at Rome, 1Ch 16:23 .\par
Quar’tus. (fourth). A Christian of Corinth, Rom 16:23, said to have been one of the seventy disciples, and afterward, bishop of Berytus. (A.D. about 50).
A Christian at Corinth whose salutations Paul sends to the Roman Christians (Rom 16:23).
[Quar’tus]
A ’brother’ whose salutation was sent to Rome. Rom 16:23.
QUARTUS.—Mentioned as joining in St. Paul’s greeting to the Church of Rome (Rom 16:23).
(Êïýáñôïò, a common Latin name)
Quartus is a Christian whose greeting is sent in Rom_16:23 from Corinth with that of Erastus, ‘the treasurer of the city.’ He was probably a member of the church there, and was associated with St. Paul at the time of writing. He was almost certainly a convert from heathenism, not from Judaism, and in this respect was unlike the three men whose salutations are sent in Rom_16:21 and who are distinguished from Tertius, Erastus, and Quartus, as ‘kinsmen’ of the Apostle. The name Quartus itself might of course have been borne by a Jew (cf. Lucius, Rom_16:21). It has been conjectured that Tertius and Quartus were brothers, but there is no ground for thinking so. If we suppose Rome to have been the destination of these Corinthian salutations, Quartus may have been a Roman with friends in the church in the city. It is, however, easier to believe that members of the Church at Corinth had friends in Ephesus, to which city some scholars think that the greetings were directed. We should remember, at the same time, that in the Apostolic Church personal acquaintance was not necessary to create Christian sympathy. Quartus is described simply as ‘the brother’ (ὁ ἀäåëöüò). Elsewhere in the Pauline Epistles, Apollos (1Co_16:12), Epaphroditus (Php_2:25), Onesimus (Col_4:9), Sosthenes (1Co_1:1), Timothy (2Co_1:1, etc.), Titus (2Co_2:13), Tychicus (Eph_6:21, Col_4:7) are similarly described (cf. also 2Co_8:18; 2Co_12:18), while two Christian women, Phoebe and Apphia, are alluded to as ‘our sister’ (Rom_16:1, Phm_1:2). One of the earliest titles used by Christians of themselves was ‘the brethren.’ ‘The brethren,’ forming with Asyncritus and four others a household or district church, are saluted in Rom_16:14. The term was perhaps taken over from Judaism. It is frequently found in Acts addressed to Jews by Jews (Act_2:29; Act_2:37, etc.), and Saul before his baptism was called ‘brother Saul’ by a Christian, Ananias (Act_9:17). It was also in use among the heathen to designate members of the same religious community (see G. A. Deissmann, Bible Studies, 1901, p. 87 f., and the authorities there quoted). St. Paul over and over again addresses the readers or hearers of his Epistles as ‘brethren,’ i.e. simply ‘fellow-Christians,’ members of the one great spiritual family of which God is Father and Jesus Christ the Elder Brother, ‘the firstborn among many brethren’ (Act_8:29). In one passage at least (1Th_5:14) it is possible that the leaders of the church are addressed as ‘brethren’ (see G. Milligan, Thessalonians, 1908, ad loc.), and indeed we may say that in the Apostolic Church the terms ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ and ‘minister’ (äéÜêïíïò) were practically synonymous. To be a member of the community was to be a ‘servant’ of the community according to one’s gift. We cannot doubt that Quartus was an active worker.
T. B. Allworthy.