Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Timothy 4:20

"Erastus remained at Corinth: but Trophimus I left at Miletus sick." — 2 Timothy 4:20 (ASV)

When Paul wrote to Rome from Corinth, he sent greetings from “Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works” (Romans 16:23). There was also an Erastus who, along with Timothy, was Paul’s helper at Ephesus (Acts 19:22). We have no way, of course, of knowing whether these three passages refer to the same person. At any rate, “Erastus stayed in Corinth,” possibly when Paul left there for the last time. The apostle had “left Trophimus sick in Miletus” (near Ephesus). This man came from the province of Asia and was one of Paul’s associates in carrying the offering from the Gentile churches to the poor saints at Jerusalem (Acts 20:4). There he became the cause, unintentionally, of Paul’s being mobbed and arrested (Acts 21:29).