other · 56 · Ephesus
Luke gives Erastus one action in the whole of Acts and it is this: he and Timothy are sent ahead into Macedonia while Paul stays in Asia a little longer. The verse is doing structural work — it clears two of Paul's people out of Ephesus immediately before the riot, which is why neither of them is among those the crowd seizes. What makes Erastus interesting is not this verse but his title elsewhere: Romans 16:23, written from Corinth, calls him the oikonomos of the city, the treasurer or steward of public funds, which is a real civic office and an unusually senior one for a named Christian this early. The inscription question is set out in the gloss.
To send help ahead into Macedonia while Paul finished at Ephesus.
The last quiet sentence in Acts 19 before the silversmiths.