Quadrans

Biblical Text

The quadrans appears in Mark 12:42. Jesus sits opposite the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem and watches people putting in money, and a certain poor widow puts in "two mites, which make a farthing" (Mark 12:41–44). Jesus says that she has put in more than all the others, because she gave everything she had, "even all her living." The parallel account in Luke 21:1–4 mentions only the "two mites" and does not explain them in terms of the quadrans.

The same word (kodrantes) also occurs in the Greek text of Matthew 5:26. This verse belongs to the Sermon on the Mount and warns that one will not come out of prison "till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." Korean Bibles do not transliterate the word in this verse but instead render it with an expression for a very small sum of money, such as "a single penny" (han pun). The similar saying in Luke 12:59 uses the lepton ("mite") instead of the quadrans.

Background and Value

The Greek kodrantes is a rendering of the Latin quadrans ("a fourth"). As the name indicates, it was a small coin worth one quarter of the Roman bronze as (Greek assarion). In the Roman monetary system one denarius equaled sixteen asses, so one quadrans was one sixty-fourth of a denarius. Because the New Testament presents a denarius as a laborer's daily wage (Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20:2), a quadrans was only a tiny fraction of a day's pay. Estimates of its value in modern currency, however, vary widely depending on the standard used.

Because Mark explains the lepton, a small coin of the Greek world, in terms of a Roman unit, some scholars hold that Mark was written with Latin-speaking readers, particularly those in Rome, in mind. This, however, is cited only as one piece of evidence among several and is not a settled conclusion.

Interpretation and Debate

The account of the widow's offering has long been read as showing that God looks at the heart and the sacrifice rather than the amount. Other interpreters, however, draw attention to the surrounding context: immediately before, Jesus rebukes the scribes, who "devour widows' houses" (Mark 12:40), and immediately afterward he foretells the destruction of the temple (Mark 13:1–2). On this reading, the passage does not merely commend the widow's devotion but laments or criticizes a religious system that takes even the last of a poor person's livelihood. Many preachers and scholars hold both interpretations together.

The "uttermost farthing" of Matthew 5:26 is generally read as a figurative warning not to delay reconciliation. Some within the Catholic tradition have connected this verse with the doctrine of purgatory, whereas Protestants generally do not regard it as a basis for that doctrine.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church the word godeuranteu itself is rarely used; the story is usually remembered through the expression "the widow's two mites." The passage is frequently cited in sermons on the proper attitude toward offerings and dedication.