Quartus, Tertius and Secundus

Robert F. Wall

Quartus, Tertius and Secundus are each mentioned only once in the New Testament (Rom. 16:22, 23; Acts 20:4). Their names are Latin for the ordinal numbers fourth, third and second. We should not suppose from this that they were or had been slaves. Scripture does not say this about them and such names were very common during the Roman Imperial period when the Caesars ruled. For example, two famous writers from that time, Pliny the elder and his nephew Pliny the younger, were among the wealthy Roman elite and were never slaves but were named Gaius Plinius Secundus and Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus respectively.

Quartus

The Epistle to the Romans was written during Paul’s stay in Corinth in the course of his third missionary journey (Acts 20:2–3). Quartus is mentioned among those who saluted the assembly there: ‘Gaius, my host and of the whole assembly, salutes you. Erastus, the steward of the city, salutes you, and the brother Quartus’ (Rom. 16:23). Gaius was a man of sufficient means and property to accommodate Paul and provide a place where the whole assembly could meet. Erastus was the steward or treasurer of Corinth and would have been of elevated status in that city. Of Quartus Paul says only that he was ‘the brother’, yet how much is conveyed in those two words! By grace he had been converted to Christ and brought into the family of God. Now he had an unchanging standing in divine favour infinitely and eternally above any passing riches or status that the world can confer! He had purified his soul by obedience to the truth. Now that ‘unfeigned brotherly love’ to which we are exhorted (1 Pet. 1:22) wrought in Quartus, who also wanted to send his salutation to the saints at Rome.

The dignity of this relationship that all Christian believers share is reflected in the fact that Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. The reason is stated in Hebrews 2:11: ‘For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one …’. The sanctification referred to here is positional rather than progressive. It was accomplished ‘through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’ and by that one offering He has ‘perfected in perpetuity the sanctified’ (Heb. 10:10, 14). Christ and all Christian believers are one sanctified company, set apart for God’s eternal pleasure.

When the Lord Jesus appears in glory ‘he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe’ (2 Thess. 1:10). What astonishing grace that it should be so! Of course, He is to have ‘the first place in all things’ (Col. 1:18) and when He appears in glory with His own He will be the first or chief in rank among them, ‘the firstborn among many brethren’ (Rom. 8:29).

While we are waiting for the Lord Jesus to come we, like Quartus, have the privilege of learning and enjoying the new relationships into which we have been brought, not only with our Lord and with one another, but with God our Father too. On the morning of His resurrection His very first communication to the saints through Mary Magdalene was: ‘go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God’ (John 20:17). As the eternal Son of God He will always have a unique place with His Father and as a man a preeminent place with His God and among His people. We most gladly accord Him that place and through the love and grace that have reached us through Him bow in holy worship of the Father and the Son.

Tertius

Tertius was Paul’s amanuensis: he wrote the letter to the Romans as Paul dictated it to him. ‘I Tertius, who have written this epistle, salute you in [the] Lord’ (Rom. 16:22). We know that this is how Paul’s letters were usually penned although it was his custom to add something in his own hand at the end of each letter in order to authenticate it (2 Thess. 3:17). In the case of the Epistle to the Galatians he was so deeply concerned about their state that he wrote the whole letter himself: ‘See how long a letter I have written to you with my own hand’ (Gal. 6:11).

One or more spiritual abilities have been given to each of us. According to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 these talents (spiritual gifts) are given ‘to every man according to his several ability’ (v. 15). Tertius was obviously an educated man who had committed himself to the Lord. Now he used his natural abilities in conjunction with the spiritual gift(s) he had been given under the direction of the Lord. He must have been a very careful listener and also able to write clearly and distinctly what Paul dictated to him so that others did not struggle to read the words he penned.

What a service was his! Of course, he did not question that what he was recording was ‘God breathed’. He would have had no thought of adding to or taking from Paul’s words, but this is the very thing that has become so commonplace in our day. Even among real believers there is the tendency to set aside parts of Paul’s teaching, particularly where it touches on the role of the Christian woman and how saints are to conduct themselves when meeting together in assembly. This is a great loss and a cause of much of the present confusion in the churches.

What a good thing it would be if we all took as much care in reading and obeying the Word of God as Paul did in dictating it and Tertius did in writing it down. In these last days it is vitally important that we cleave to the Scriptures, and that we allow our state and practice to be continually tested by God’s Word. We do not want in any degree to slip away from its authority but to be governed by it in our lives and practice.

Secundus

In Romans 15 Paul writes: ‘but now I go to Jerusalem, ministering to the saints; for Macedonia and Achaia have been well pleased to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints who are in Jerusalem’ (vs. 25–26). Corinth (in Achaia) was Paul’s last stop on the outward part of his third missionary journey. He stayed in that locality for three months before retracing his steps via Berea and Thessalonica (both in Macedonia) into Asia and then sailing back to Tyre. Some travelled with Paul, perhaps that all things might be seen to be done decently and in order in view of the large sum of money that had been contributed and was being taken to Jerusalem. They are named in Acts 20:4: ‘And there accompanied him as far as Asia, Sopater son of Pyrrhus, a Berean; and of Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius and Timotheus of Derbe, and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.’

It was a remarkable company. Sopater, a Berean, and Gaius of Derbe are only mentioned here. Timothy, of course, is well known to us, while the others, Aristarchus (e.g. Col. 4:10), Tychicus (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:12; Titus 3:12) and Trophimus (Acts 21:29; 2 Tim. 4:20), are named elsewhere and shown to be faithful and reliable Christians.

Aristarchus, like Secundus, was a Thessalonian. We read of him first in Acts 19:29 when he and another brother named Gaius (a Macedonian, not the Gaius of Derbe or the Gaius of Corinth) were seized and carried off by the Ephesian mob. Mercifully they were evidently let go. Later Aristarchus was with Paul on his journey to Rome from where he is described by Paul as ‘my fellow-captive’ (Col. 4:10). In Philemon he is named with several others as Paul’s fellow-workman (v. 24).

Secundus had the privilege of being found in such company. They were, of course, all indebted to Paul who had been raised up and sent by the Lord to bring the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 26:15–23). In Romans 16 he writes about the only wise God ‘that is able to establish you, according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence has been kept in the times of the ages, but which has now been made manifest, and by prophetic scriptures, according to commandment of the eternal God, made known for obedience of faith to all the nations’ (vs. 25‒26). Again, how great is the loss if the ministry of the Apostle Paul is called into question!

Secundus, like Quartus and Tertius, does not appear to have been particularly prominent in the Christian testimony. However that may be, they were all men who highly valued and benefitted from Paul’s ministry and loved the saints of God too. Tertius and Secundus are also shown to have been content to put themselves and their abilities into the Lord’s hands and were used by Him for the encouragement of others and the promotion of the Lord’s interests. May each of us in our day imitate their faith and do likewise.

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From: Truth and Testimony, 2022