A Christian from the province of Asia. He accompanied Paul on his final trip to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4). Some Jews had seen Trophimus the Ephesian with Paul in Jerusalem. They assumed that Paul brought him into the temple. Since Trophimus was not a Jew, they accused him of defiling the temple (21:28–29). This false accusation became the excuse to arrest and imprison Paul.
Trophimus was traveling with Paul as one of the representatives of the Asian church. They had selected him to oversee the collection for the Jerusalem church. Trophimus was likely one of the fellow believers who traveled with Titus to deliver the second letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 8:16–24). According to 2 Timothy 4:20, Trophimus accompanied Paul before his final imprisonment in Rome. But then Trophimus stayed at Miletus because of an illness. Tradition suggests that Emperor Nero ordered Trophimus to be killed by cutting off his head.