Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
10. Demas ] Very likely a shortened form of Demetrius; two persons of the name occur in N.T., Act 19:24, the silversmith of Ephesus, and, 3Jn 1:12, the bearer possibly of that letter, one to whose character all bore testimony, which St John himself ratified. The Demetrius or Demas here seems to occupy a middle place; a Christian believer and follower, who however had lost ‘his first love,’ and forsook the Apostle in his hour of trial, to attend to the business of the world. He had been with him in the first imprisonment, Col 4:14.
hath forsaken ] Forsook, so in 2Ti 4:16. The same strong compound verb and tense occur Mat 27:46, where the rendering ‘why hast thou forsaken me?’ is more correct, because the aorist is used there of what is just happening, cf. Php 2:28, Gal 6:11.
having loved ] ‘Because he loved’; this verb is chosen in half-conscious irony of contrast to 2Ti 4:8 and the love set on the future appearing of the Lord.
this present world ] Lit. ‘age’; cf. note on 1Ti 6:17. The other world, the world of eternity, is under the Eternal God the King of the ages, 1Ti 1:17. Cf. Luk 20:35; Luk 18:30. ‘The Apostles speak of themselves and their generation as living on the frontier of two ons, the Gospel transferring them across the border. The distinction of time between the two becomes lost in the moral and spiritual conception.’ Bp Lightfoot on Gal 1:4.
unto Thessalonica ] Why, is not known, except so far as this place suggests either home or business.
Crescens to Galatia ] Before the Christian era and for two centuries afterwards the form Galatia (Galat) is almost universally used by Greek writers to the exclusion of Gallia (Galli), when they do not employ Celtice (Celt), whether speaking of the people of Gaul properly so called, or of the Asiatic colony. And ‘Galatia’ here was traditionally interpreted of European Gaul. It is thus explained by Eusebius H. E. iii. 4 ‘Of the other followers of St Paul, Crescens is recorded as having been sent to Gallia,’ and by others. It is so taken also by those mss. which read Gallian for Galatian, for the former reading may be regarded as a gloss. The Churches of Vienne and Mayence both claimed Crescens as their founder. Weight is also to be attributed to this tradition in favour of western Gaul because it is not the prima facie view. From the language of Clement ad Cor. c. 5. ‘having taught righteousness through the whole world and having come to the boundary of the west’ it appears that St Paul’s intention to visit Spain (Rom 15:24) was fulfilled, and it is not improbable that this western journey included a visit to Gaul, which would make a visit of Crescens to it afterwards as natural as the visit of Titus to Dalmatia, with which it is linked. The above, representing substantially the view of Bp Lightfoot ( Galatians, pp. 2, 31, Clement, p. 50) is further illustrated in Introduction, pp. 42, 44.
Titus unto Dalmatia ] Dalmatia was part of the Roman province of Illyricum on the east coast of the Adriatic, now Herzegovina or Bosnia. Its capital was Salona (now Spalatro) to which place the Emperor Diocletian retired. St Paul had preached in the neighbourhood ‘round about unto Illyricum,’ possibly near Dyrrachium, now Durazzo, the scene of the great contest between Csar and Pompeius, and the port from Macedonia into Italy. The mission of Titus would naturally connect itself with some such labours, which still formed a part of the ‘care of all the churches,’ see Introduction,’ Life of Titus.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For Demas hath forsaken me – Demas is honorably mentioned in Col 4:14; but nothing more is known of him than what can be gathered from that place and this – that he was at first a friend and fellow-laborer of Paul, but that, under the influence of a desire to live, he afterward forsook him, even in circumstances where he greatly needed the presence of a friend.
Having loved this present world – This does not mean, necessarily, that he was an avaricious man, or that, in itself, he loved the honors or wealth of this world; but it means that he desired to live. He was not willing to stay with Paul, and subject himself to the probabilities of martyrdom; and, in order to secure his life, he departed to a place of safety. The Greek is, agapesas ton nun aiona – having loved the world that now is; that is, this world as it is, with all its cares, and troubles, and comforts; having desired to remain in this world, rather than to go to the other. There is, perhaps, a slight censure here in the language of Paul – the censure of grief; but there is no reason why Demas should be held up as an example of a worldly man. That he desired to live longer; that he was unwilling to remain and risk the loss of life, is indeed clear. That Paul was pained by his departure, and that he felt lonely and sad, is quite apparent; but I see no evidence that Demas was influenced by what are commonly called worldly feelings, or that he was led to this course by the desire of wealth, or fame, or pleasure.
And is departed unto Thessalonica – Perhaps his native place. Calmet.
Crescens – Nothing more is known of Crescens than is here mentioned. He is thought by Eusebius and others to have preached in Gaul, and to have founded the church in Vienne, in Dauphiny – Calmet.
To Galatia – See Intro. to the Epistle to the Galatians, Section 1. It is not known to what part of Galatia he had gone, or why he went there.
Titus into Dalmatia – Dalmatia was a part of Illyricum, on the gulf of Venice, or the Adriatic sea. On the situation of Illyricum, see the notes on Rom 15:19. Paul does not mention the reason why Titus had gone there; but it is not improbable that he had gone to preach the gospel, or to visit the churches which Paul had planted in that region. The apostle does not suggest that he was deserving of blame for having gone, and it can hardly be supposed that Titus would have left him at this time without his concurrence. Perhaps, when he permitted him to go, he did not know how soon events would come to a crisis with him; and as a letter would more readily reach Timothy at Ephesus, than Titus in Dalmatia, he requested him to come to him, instead of directing Titus to return.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Demas hath forsaken me] This is another proof of the posteriority of this epistle: for Demas was with the apostle in his first imprisonment, and joins in the salutations, see Col 4:14, which were written when Paul was a prisoner at Rome for the first time.
Having loved this present world] Having preferred Judaism to Christianity; or having loved the Jews, and having sought their welfare in preference to that of the Gentiles.
The words olam hazzeh, which answer to the Greek , are generally to be understood as signifying, either the Jewish people, or the system of Judaism. It was now become doubly dangerous to be a Christian; and those who had not religion enough to enable them to burn, or in any other way to expose life for it, took refuge in that religion which was exposed to no persecution. This is a light in which the conduct of Demas may be viewed. It could not have been the love of secular gain which had induced Demas to abandon St. Paul; he must have counted this cost before he became a Christian. See below.
Crescens to Galatia] Whether the departure of Crescens was similar to that of Demas, as intimated above, or whether he went on an evangelical embassy, we know not. Charity would hope the latter; for we can hardly suppose that Titus, who is here said to have departed to Dalmatia, had abandoned his Cretan Churches, his apostolical office, and especially his aged father and friend, now about to seal the truth with his blood! It is probable that both these persons had gone on sacred missions, and perhaps had been gone some time before the apostle was brought into such imminent danger. Even for Demas, as standing in this connection, something might be said. It is not intimated that he had denied the faith, but simply that he had left the apostle and gone into Thessalonica; for which this reason is given, that he loved the present world. Now, if , having loved, can be applied to a desire to save the souls of the Jews, and that he went into Thessalonica, where they abounded, for this very purpose, then we shall find all three-Demas, Crescens, and Titus, one at Thessalonica, another at Galatia, and the third at Dalmatia, doing the work of evangelists, visiting the Churches, and converting both Jews and Gentiles. This interpretation I leave to the charitable reader, and must own that, with all the presumptive evidences against it, it has some fair show of probability. Demas has received little justice from interpreters and preachers in general. It is even fashionable to hunt him down.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He showeth the reason why he desired Timothy to come to him, because most of those who were with him were gone.
For Demas hath forsaken me; some think this Demas is Demetrius, mentioned 3Jo 1:12, the name being only shortened. He was at Rome with Paul some time, Col 4:14. Some make a question, whether Demas wholly apostized or only left Paul for a time, and went to Thessalonica about some secular business, afterward returning.
Having loved this present world; some make the sense of this phrase nor more than minding his worldly business. Others think that he, being frightened with Pauls danger, wholly left him, and went to Thessalonica; possibly by his own country, however, at a great distance from the danger of Neros court.
Crecens to Galatia, a province in the Lesser Asia, whither probably Crescens went to preach the gospel.
Titus unto Dalmatia; Dalmatia is in Sclavonia; Titus went thither (without al doubt) to preach the gospel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Demasonce a “fellowlaborer” of Paul, along with Mark and Luke (Col 4:14;Phm 1:24). His motive forforsaking Paul seems to have been love of worldly ease, safety, andcomforts at home, and disinclination to brave danger with Paul(Mat 13:20; Mat 13:21;Mat 13:22). CHRYSOSTOMimplies that Thessalonica was his home.
GalatiaOne oldestmanuscript supports the reading “Gaul.” But most oldestmanuscripts, c., “Galatia.”
TitusHe must havetherefore left Crete after “setting in order” the affairsof the churches there (Tit 1:5).
Dalmatiapart of theRoman province of Illyricum on the coast of the Adriatic. Paul hadwritten to him (Tit 3:12) tocome to him in the winter to Nicopolis (in Epirus), intending in thespring to preach the Gospel in the adjoining province of Dalmatia.Titus seems to have gone thither to carry out the apostle’sintention, the execution of which was interrupted by his arrest.Whether he went of his own accord, as is likely, or was sent by Paul,which the expression “is departed” hardly accords with,cannot be positively decided. Paul here speaks only of his personalattendants having forsaken him he had still friends among the RomanChristians who visited him (2Ti4:21), though they had been afraid to stand by him at his trial(2Ti 4:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For Demas hath forsaken me,…. Of this person,
[See comments on Col 4:14]. It does not appear by what is said in this clause, and in the following, that he entirely apostatized; he might forsake the apostle, and yet not forsake Christ and his interest, or make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience: his faith might be right, though low, and his love sincere, though not fervent; and through a fear of persecution, and loss of life, he might be tempted to leave the apostle, and withdraw from Rome, for his own safety; which though it was far from being commendable in him, yet may be accounted for in this state of frailty and imperfection, consistent with the grace of God; and it should seem that he afterwards was delivered from this temptation, and returned to the apostle, Col 4:14 for when those epistles were written, both Timothy and Mark, who are here wrote for, 2Ti 4:9 were with the apostle, Col 1:1 and Phm 1:1 and especially he ought to be thought very well of after all this, if Demas is only a contraction of Demetrius, and he is the same who is so much commended many years after this, in 3Jo 1:12,
having loved this present world, not the sins and corruptions of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; such a love is inconsistent with the love of the Father and the grace of God; nor an immoderate love of worldly substance, or of money, which is the root of all evil; but a love of life, or of a longer life in this present world; he was desirous of living longer in this world, and chose not to hazard his life by staying with the apostle, a prisoner at Rome; and therefore left him, and provided for his own safety and security: and is departed unto Thessalonica: which perhaps was his native country; and however he was at a sufficient distance from Rome, where he might judge himself safe; and if he was a worldly and earthly minded man, this was a fit place for him, being a place of trade and business: and this doubtless gave rise to a tradition, that he afterwards became a priest of the idol gods among the Thessalonians. Epiphanius a places him among the heretics Ebion and Cerinthus, as if he was one of them.
Crescens to Galatia; he might not depart on the same account as Demas, but might be sent by the apostle to Galatia, to visit the churches there, to set things in order, and establish them in the faith, and bring an account of their state. Epiphanius b, instead of Galatia, reads Gallia, or France; and so does Eusebius c and the Ethiopic version; and Jerom asserts, d, that Crescens preached in France, and was there buried; though others say he was bishop of Chalcedon in Galatia, and put him among the seventy disciples;
[See comments on Lu 10:1]. The Syriac version calls him “Crispus”, and the Arabic version “Priscus”.
Titus to Dalmatia; who Titus was is well known; the place he went to, Dalmatia, is a country in Europe, a part of Illyricum, where the apostle had preached, [See comments on Ro 15:19]. Pliny says e, that part of Pannonia, which lies to the Adriatic sea, was called Dalmatia; it had its name from Dalmius, a city in it. The Alexandrian copy reads “Dermatia”. Here the apostle had doubtless been useful for the conversion of souls, and planting of churches, and therefore sent Titus thither, to assist them in their state and condition, and bring him an account of them. For in the “second” and “third” centuries we read of churches in Dalmatia; and likewise in the “fourth” century; for there were bishops from Dalmatia in the synod at Sardica; and in the “fifth” century, Glycerius was bishop of Salo, a city in this country; and in the “sixth” century, one Malchus was bishop of the Dalmatian church f.
a Contra Haeres, Haeres. 51. b lbid. c Hist. Eccl l. 3. c. 4. d Catalog. Script. Eccles. sect. 13. p. 90. e Nat. Hist. l. 3. c. 25. f Hist. Eccl. Magdeburg, cent. 2. c. 2. p. 4. cent. 3. c. 2. p. 4. cent. 4. c. 2. p. 6. c. 9. p. 425. cent. 5. c. 2. p. 7. cent 6. c. 2. p. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Forsook me ( ). Imperfect (MSS. also have aorist, ) active of the old double compound verb , for which see Ro 9:29. Clearly in contrast to verse 9 and in the sense of 1Ti 6:17, wilful desertion. Only mentioned elsewhere in Col 4:14.
Crescens (). No other mention of him.
Titus to Dalmatia ( ). Titus had been asked to rejoin Paul in Nicopolis where he was to winter, probably the winter previous to this one (Tit 3:12). He came and has been with Paul.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Demas. A contraction of Demetrius or Demarchus. He is mentioned Col 4:13 and Phl 1:24. It is supposed that he was a Thessalonian. On leaving Paul he went to Thessalonica; and in Philemon his name is mentioned next to that of Aristarchus the Thessalonian. That no epithet is attached to his name in Col 4:14 (comp. ” Luke the beloved physician “) may be a shadow of Demas’s behavior mentioned here, in case Colossians was written later than 2nd Timothy.
Hath forsaken [] . In Pastorals here and verse 16. See on 2Co 4:9. The compounded preposition ejn indicates a condition or circumstances in which one has been left, as the common phrase left in the lurch. Comp. Germ. im Stiche.
Having loved [] . The participle is explanatory, because he loved.
This present world [ ] . See on 1Ti 6:17. Contrast love his appearing, verse 8.
Crescens [] . N. T. o. Unknown.
Galatia [] . Most probably Galatia. See Introd. to Galatians. Eusebius (H. E. 3 4) says : “Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul [] .” Tischendorf adopts this reading.
Dalmatia [] . Part of the country known generally as Illyricum, along the eastern coast of the Adriatic. See Rom 14:19.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For Demas hath forsaken me” (demas gar me egkatelipen) “For Demas forsook me;” “Left me behind in my trouble.” Demas, contracted from Demetrius, once a “fellow-laborer” of Paul, Mark, and Luke, Col 4:14; Phm 1:24; 3Jn 1:12.
2) “Having loved this present world” (agapesas ton nun aiona) “Loving the now and progressive age,” love of worldly ease and home comforts, disapproved by the scriptures, Rom 12:2; Jas 4:4; 1Jn 2:15-17; 1Jn 3:13.
3) “And is departed unto Thessalonica” (kai eporou eis thessoloniken) “And went to Thessalonica;” went back home, let me down, when I needed him most, Luk 14:33; Luk 16:13.
4) “Crescens to Galatia” (kreskes eis galatian) “Crescens went to Galatia;” a province of Asia Minor.
5) “Titus unto Dalmatia” (titos eis dalmatian) “Titus went to Dalmatia;” a province of southern Europe … west of Macedonia. Titus had completed his work in Crete where he had “set in order” church matters, Tit 1:5. Paul wrote of his attendants, former confidants, only as having forsook him. He had Christian Roman friends who visited him, but were afraid to appear in court with and for him, .
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10 Having embraced this world It was truly base in such a man to prefer the love of this world to Christ. And yet we must not suppose that he altogether denied Christ or gave himself up either to ungodliness or to the allurements of the world; but he merely preferred his private convenience, or his safety, to the life of Paul. He could not have assisted Paul without many troubles and vexations, attended by imminent risk of his life; he was exposed to many reproaches, and must have submitted to many insults, and been constrained to leave off the care of his own affairs; and, therefore being overcome by his dislike of the cross, he resolved to consult his own interests. Nor can it be doubted, that he enjoyed a propitious gale from the world. That he was one of the leading men may be conjectured on this ground, that Paul mentions him amidst a very few at (Col 4:14,) and likewise in the Epistle to Philemon, (Phl 1:24,) where also he is ranked among Paul’s assistants; and, therefore, we need not wonder if he censures him so sharply on this occasion, for having cared more about himself than about Christ.
Others, whom he afterwards mentions, had not gone away from him but for good reasons, and with his own consent. Hence it is evident that he did not study his own advantage, so as to deprive churches of their pastors, but only to obtain from them some relief. Undoubtedly he was always careful to invite to come to him, or to keep along with him, those whose absence would not be injurious to other churches. For this reason he had sent Titus to Dalmatia, and some to one place and some to another, when he invited Timothy to come to him. Not only so, but in order that the church at Ephesus may not be left destitute or forlorn during Timothy’s absence, he sends Tychicus thither, and mentions this circumstance to Timothy, that he may know that that church will not be in want of one to fill his place during his absence.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) For Demas hath forsaken me.This once faithful companion of St. Paul had been with him during the first imprisonment of the Apostle at Rome (Col. 4:14; Phm. 1:24); but now, terrified by the greater severity and the threatened fatal ending of the second imprisonment, had forsaken his old master.
Having loved this present world.Chrysostom paraphrases as follows: Having loved ease and safety, chose rather to live daintily at home than to suffer affliction, than to endure hardship, with me, and with me to bear these present dangers. The tradition, however, which relates that he became in after days an idol priest at Thessalonica is baseless. Demas is a shorter form, probably, for the well-known and now common Grecian name of Demetrius.
The present world (aina): that is, the present (evil) course of things.
Is departed unto Thessalonica.From Chrysostoms words above quoted, Thessalonica was apparently the home of Demas. It has been supposed, however, by some, that Thessalonica was chosen by Demas as his abode when he left St. Paul because it was a great mercantile centre, and his business connections were there, and he preferred them, the rich and prosperous friends, to St. Paul, the condemned and dying prisoner. Thessalonica was, at this time, one of the great cities of the empire. It was the most populous of the Macedonian cities, and had been chosen to be the metropolis of that great province. Before the founding of Constantinople, it was evidently the capital of Greece and Illyricum, as well as of Macedonia. It was famous throughout the Middle Ages, and is celebrated by the early German poets under the abbreviated name of Salneck, which as become the Saloniki of the Levant of our days. It is singular that the name of its patron saint, Demetrius, martyred about A.D. 290 (identified above with Demas), whose local glory (comp. Conybeare and Howsons St. Paul, chap. 9) has even eclipsed that of St. Paul, the founder of the Church, should be identical with that of the forsaker of St. Paul.
Crescens to Galatia.Nothing is known of this friend of St. Paul. One tradition speaks of him as a preacher in Galatia, and another of his having founded the Church of Vienne in Gaul. There is a curious variation in some of the older authorities here, Gallia being read instead of Galatia. Whether Crescens, on his leaving St. Paul, went to Galatia or Gaul is, therefore, uncertain.
Titus unto Dalmatia.Dalmatia was a province of Roman Illyricum, lying along the Adriatic. Nothing is known respecting this journey of Titus. It was, most probably, made with the Apostles sanction.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Demas Joined in greeting in Col 4:14; Philippians 24.
Loved world So that he left the dangerous post of fellow ministry with Paul; perhaps abandoned the Christian faith. Thessalonica was probably his home.
Galatia The true reading is, perhaps, Gallia, that is, Gaul, France.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.’
‘Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica.’ Demas was called a fellow-labourer in Col 4:14. The aorist here might suggest a sudden act as a result of Paul’s being called for his first appearance as described in 2Ti 4:16. It might suddenly have come home to Demas that his own life may be in danger if he remained with Paul. But we are probably not to see in this a spiritual backsliding. so much as simply an act of pure cowardice. He wanted to serve Christ but he loved the present world and just did not want to die. Compare those mentioned in 2Ti 1:15 who were very similar. So he thought of an excuse. He felt led to go to Thessalonica to help the church there. But Paul was not deceived. He knew why he had gone.
We can compare his love for the present world with those who love Christ’s appearing in 2Ti 4:8. Demas was failing to be singleminded. He wanted the best of both worlds.
‘Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.’ The mention of Titus is against suggesting that they had left Paul for the same reason. These departures were thus more tactical. The churches needed them. Paul would not hold them back just for his own sake. We know nothing of Crescens, but God knew, and he is listed alongside Titus. And Galatia no doubt knew him well and thanked God for him. We know more about Titus who had at times been a companion of Paul (Gal 2:1; Gal 2:3), and had been sent by him earlier to sort out the difficulties with the Corinthian church (2Co 7:6; 2Co 7:13-14; 2Co 8:6 ; 2Co 8:16; 2Co 8:23; 2Co 12:18). Like Timothy he had received a letter from Paul while he was ministering in Crete. Now he had gone to Dalmatia. He was one of Paul’s troubleshooters.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Ti 4:10. Having loved this present world, If we consider St. Paul’s present situation, we shall be inclined to believe that Demas was influenced to this conduct by a love to the present life, or world, not to any principles of the Judaizers; by a dread of persecution, and the fear of a violent deathsuch as the apostle himself was in danger of, and such as he shortly after actually suffered. So imminent was the danger of standing by the apostle, or appearing with or for him, that when he made his first apology, all the Christians forsook him: about that time it was thatDemas, out of a sense of the impending danger, or an excessive love of this present life, or from an unwillingness to die a martyr with the apostle, left Rome, and went to Thessalonica, where he might be out of danger, when the apostle thought he should have gone elsewhere; or rather, perhaps, have stayed, and run all hazards with him, in defence of the glorious gospel of Christ.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ti 4:10 . ] is equivalent to “leave in the lurch.” It is wrong to interpret this either of a departure from the place merely, or of an entire apostasy from the gospel. Demas is mentioned also in Col 4:14 and Phm 1:24 as a of the apostle.
] The reason why Demas had left him; , not “having fixed his love on” (Matthies), but “because he loved.”
] the present world, as opposed to the future, i.e. the earthly, visible blessings of life. In the desire for these things, Demas had left the apostle and gone to Thessalonica, , perhaps “for the sake of trade,” as some conjecture, or because it was his native place. Chrysostom: , , , .
, sc. ; but without . Crescens is mentioned only here. Nothing further is known of him, nor do we know why he had set out for Galatia, and Titus for Dalmatia. The verb is against the suggestion of Matthies, that they had been sent thither by Paul. [66]
[66] Hofmann, taking to be the original reading, supposes that Crescens and Titus had left the apostle in order to work for the gospel in places to which Paul himself had not come.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2260
APOSTASY OF DEMAS
2Ti 4:10. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.
TO have our minds well established with principles, is doubtless very desirable: but in matters which are confessedly beyond the comprehension of man, we should be modest and diffident in drawing conclusions from them, lest, through an excessive zeal for one principle, we subvert others which are not less true or less important. An inattention to this rule has been productive of incalculable injury to the Church of Christ: for persons giving themselves up, as it were, to some particular sentiment, have wrested the Scriptures to make every part of them speak the same language; and have indulged in most acrimonious feelings against all who did not accord with their views. But we should remember, that there are in revelation, as in all the other works of God, depths which we cannot fathom; and that our true wisdom is, not so much to be making the Scriptures a theatre whereon to display our controversial skill, as to deduce from them the great practical lessons which they were intended to convey. Were we, for instance, to take occasion from the passage before us to argue about the decrees of God, and the final perseverance of the saints, we might dispute well, but it would be to little profit! but, if we enter upon the subject with fear and trembling, and with a view to our own spiritual advantage, we shall find it replete with the most valuable instruction to our souls.
Let us consider then,
I.
The fact here recorded
A more melancholy fact is scarcely to be found in all the sacred records. Let us notice,
1.
The fact itself
[Demas was a man of great eminence in the Church of Christ. St. Paul, in the salutations which usually close his epistles, twice mentions him in immediate connexion with St. Luke; Salute Lucas and Demas. In one of these places he calls Demas one of his fellow-labourers in the work of the Gospel [Note: Philem. ver. 24.]: in the other, after having mentioned Demas with honour, he gives to another minister, Archippus, a most solemn warning, on account of the lukewarmness which he had manifested in the discharge of his ministry: Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it [Note: Col 4:14; Col 4:17.]. From hence then we conclude, that he saw no occasion for such an admonition in the case of Demas. Yet behold, we find at last, that Demas had forsaken him, and gone to a great distance from him, and altogether abandoned the work in which he had been engaged. Had we been told, that this servant of Christ had erred in some particular, or even that he had declined in zeal for his Masters cause, we should not have been so much surprised; because we are aware that the greatest and best of men are but weak, and that there are changes in their spiritual, as well as their corporeal, health: but, when we are informed that he forsook the Apostle, forsook him too in his greatest extremity, when by reason of his imprisoment and approaching martyrdom he needed all possible support; and that, in forsaking the Apostle, he forsook his Lord and Master also; we are confounded, almost as the Philistines were, when they saw their champion dead upon the field.
Seeing the fact, we are eager to inquire into,]
2.
The occasion of it
[Whence could this proceed? To what shall we trace an event so calamitous, so unforeseen? We are not left in doubt respecting it: the Apostle, at the same time that he announces the fact, declares the reason of it: Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Alas! alas! What did he find in this world worthy of his affections? Had he never known any thing of spiritual and eternal objects, we might account for his attachment to the things of time and sense: but we are amazed, that, after having once tasted of living waters, he could ever afterwards find satisfaction in the polluted streams of this world.
But, supposing him to love this present world; is there any thing in that to draw him from Christ, and to make him cast off all concern for his eternal interests? Yes: the love of God and of the world are incompatible with each other; insomuch that, if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him [Note: 1Jn 2:15.]. Light and darkness are not more opposed to each other than are the things of this world, and the things of God. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, what have they to do with heavenly-mindedness? The person who liveth in pleasure, is dead whilst he liveth [Note: 1Ti 5:6.]: the cares and indulgences of this world choke the good seed, and render it unfruitful [Note: Mat 13:22.]: and the seeking honour from men, instead of seeking it from God only, is absolutely incompatible with a saving faith [Note: Joh 5:44.]. The cross of Christ, if duly valued, would crucify us unto the world, and the world to us [Note: Gal 6:14.].
Here then we see whence this deplorable evil proceeded. Demas had yielded to a concern about his carnal ease and interests. This gradually weakened his anxiety about his spiritual and eternal welfare. Then he became remiss in secret duties: then his strength to resist temptation declined: then his natural corruptions regained their former ascendant over him: then the Spirit of God, being grieved, and quenched, left him to himself: then he became the sport of temptation, and the prey of Satan: and then his abandonment of Christ and of his Gospel followed of course.]
Whilst we mourn over this unhappy man, and lament his apostasy, let us proceed to consider,
II.
The instruction to be derived from it
Surely we may learn from it
1.
That whatever attainments any man has made, it becomes him not to be too confident about the issue of his spiritual warfare
[If we are upright before God, we need not give way to distressing fears: they are dishonourable to God, and unprofitable to ourselves. But at the same time we should guard against a presumptuous confidence: for no man knows what a day may bring forth. David, previous to his fall, if told what sins he would commit, might have replied with Hazael, Is thy servant a dog, that he should do such things? And Peter, so far from thinking it possible that he should ever deny his Lord, was confident that nothing could ever shake his constancy. So, if Demas, when, in his better state, had been told in what it might end, he would have thought it absolutely impossible that he could ever so make shipwreck of his faith. Shall we then, after seeing the failure of such men presume to say, My mountain standeth strong, I shall not be moved? Let us never forget, that if God withdraw his hand from us for one moment, we shall fall and perish: and let our prayer to him therefore be continually, Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. To every man among you, though he were as eminent as St. Paul himself, I would say, Be not high-minded, but fear [Note: Rom 11:20.]. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall [Note: 1Co 10:12.].]
2.
That we must watch with all carefulness against the first beginnings of spiritual decay
[Had Demas attended to the first encroachments of a worldly spirit, and resisted them as he ought, he had never been left to final apostasy. But the first breach being neglected, an inundation ensued; and the leak being disregarded, his vessel sank. Let me then put you all upon your guard against a decay in your spiritual affections, and an attempt to serve God with a divided heart. From the moment that you embrace the truth, and put your hand to the Gospel plough, you must not so much as look back [Note: Luk 9:61-62.]; you must forget all that is behind, and press forward to that which is before [Note: Php 3:13.]. O, remember Lots wife [Note: Luk 17:32.]. Her sin might be thought small: but it was not so in the estimation of her God: and she is made a monument to all future generations. Be jealous over yourselves with a godly jealousy; and to the latest hour of your lives adopt the habit of St. Paul, who kept under his body, and brought it into subjection, lest, after having preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away [Note: 1Co 9:27.].]
3.
That, if we have unhappily forsaken the Lord, the door of mercy is not yet closed against us
[Of Demas we know no more than what is here spoken. But of Mark, who is also called John, and who was a companion of Paul and Barnabas in their travels, we do know. He, like Demas, forsook those holy men in a time of danger, and went no more with them to the work [Note: Act 13:13; Act 15:38.]. But God in mercy granted him repentance unto life; so that he not only obtained mercy of the Lord, but became afterwards profitable even to St. Paul himself in the discharge of his apostolic office [Note: ver. 13. the very verse after the account of unhappy Demas.]. Let not any one therefore despair. Let it be remembered, that as long as we are in the body, God addresses us in these gracious words, Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings, and love you freely [Note: Jer 3:22. Hos 14:4.]. Be persuaded then to return to him without delay: for if you return not, it would have been better for you never to have known the way of righteousness, than, after having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to you [Note: 2Pe 2:20-21.]. But, if you return with penitential sorrow, then shall your Fathers arms be open to receive you, and every member of his family give thanks to him in your behalf.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Ver. 10. Demas hath forsaken me ] Blazing comets, as long as they keep aloft, shine bright; but when they begin to decline from their pitch, they fall to the earth. Jonathan followed the chase well, and with greedy pursuit, till he met with the honey; so doth many a Demas.
Having loved this present world ] Or, embraced it, : that withered harlot had taken him with her eyelids; that old Circe a had bewitched him, that shall one day be burnt up by fire, for her enticing men. Divorce the flesh from the world, and then the devil can do us no harm. He hath no way to entangle us but to say, as he did to our Saviour, Mitte te deorsum, Cast thyself down, embrace this present world, follow after these lying vanities.
And is departed unto Thessalonica ] Where he became an idol priest, as saith Dorotheus. So Harding (Bishop Jewel’s adversary) was one while a thundering preacher, wishing he could cry out against Popery as loud as the bells of Oseney; yet afterwards proved a filthy apostate, and an utter adversary to the truth: and yet the world favoured him not; for the most he could get of his Holiness for all the good service he did him was but a prebend b of Gaunt, or to speak more properly, saith Dr Featly, a gaunt prebend. Stapleten (another turncoat) was made professor of a petty university, scarce so good as one of our free schools in England. Saunders was starved. Allin was commonly called the starveling cardinal. If any of the world’s darlings speed better, let them take that counsel that was given by one to John III, king of Portugal, viz. to meditate every day a quarter of an hour on that divine sentence, “What shall it profit a man to win the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
a In Greek and Latin mythology the name of an enchantress who dwelt in the island of Aea, and transformed all who drank of her cup into swine; often used allusively. D
b The portion of the revenues of a cathedral or collegiate church granted to a canon or member of the chapter as his stipend. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ti 4:10 . Demas had been a loyal fellow-worker of the apostle (Phm 1:24 ; Col 4:14 ). Chrys. supposes that Thessalonica was his home. It is futile to discuss the reality or the degree of his blameworthiness. Possibly he alleged a call to Thessalonica. All we know is that St. Paul singles him out among the absent ones for condemnation.
: dereliquit (Vulg.), forsook , not merely left . See reff. The aorist points to a definite past occasion now in St. Paul’s mind.
: See 1Ti 6:17 . It is just possible that Bengel is right in seeing an intentional deplorable contrast (“luctuosum vide antitheton”) between this expression and 2Ti 4:8 .
: Lightfoot ( Biblical Essays , p. 247) alleges other reasons for the supposition that Demas hailed from Thessalonica, viz. , He “is mentioned next to Aristarchus, the Thessalonian in Phm 1:24 , and the name Demetrius, of which Demas is a contract form, occurs twice among the list of politarchs of that city”.
: sc . . Crescens and Titus are not reproached for their absence. This passage, with the variant (see apparat. crit .), is the source of all that is said about Crescens by later writers.
: That this means the Roman province, or the region in Asia Minor (so Const. Apost . vii. 46) is favoured by the consideration that all the other places mentioned in this context are east of Rome. On the other hand, if we assume that St. Paul had recently visited Spain (Clem. 1Co 51Co 5 ; Muratorian Canon), it would naturally follow that he had visited Southern Gaul en route , and Crescens might plausibly be supposed to have gone to confirm the Churches there. So Euseb. H. E . iii. 4, Epiph. Haeres . Lev 11 , Theodore and Theodoret, h. l.
: This statement suggests that Titus had only been a temporary deputy for St. Paul in Crete. On the spelling of the name Dalmatia in apparat. crit. , see Deissmann, Bible Studies , trans. p. 182.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
2 Timothy
DEMAS, LUKE, MARK
THIS last of Paul’s letters is written, as is generally supposed, in his second imprisonment, and very near his martyrdom. The condition in which it represents him is remarkably contrasted, in several respects, with the conditions of his first imprisonment, as shown in the letters dating from that period. In these – in two of them, at all events – we find him surrounded by troops of friends, among whom the same three names as occur in my text appear as united with him in loyal confidence, and joining with him in greetings to his correspondents. Here they are again, but under what different circumstances! ‘Demas hath forsaken me… Only Luke is with me. Take Mark’ – who is also absent – ‘and bring him with thee.’ The lonely Apostle has none of the Old Guard around him, except the faithful Luke, and he longs, before he dies, to see once more the familiar faces, and to be ministered to once more by accustomed and tender hands. That touch of humanity brings him very near us.
But what I have chosen my texts for is the sharp contrast which the three prominent names in them present in their attitude to the Apostle – Demas the renegade, Mark the restored runaway, Luke, the ever steadfast and faithful companion- Now of course these three men’s relation to Jesus Christ was not identical with their relation to Paul. But at the same time their relation to Paul, one has little doubt, fluctuated with their relation to Jesus. It is scarcely possible to believe that the first of them would have done so base an act as to abandon the Apostle at the very crisis of his fate, unless his attachment to Jesus had become slender, nor that Mark’s love to his Lord had not cooled when he ‘went not with Paul and Barnabas to the work.’ I take these three names as representations of three different types of character and spiritual experience, and I wish to look at the three portraits in succession; only I venture to alter the order in which they appear in the text. First, then –
I. Demas the renegade.
We know nothing of him except that in the letters of the earlier imprisonment his name appears, honoured by Paul with the designation of his ‘fellow-worker,’ evidently admitted into the inner circle, living in amity and close communion with the other members of it, trusted and honoured, a man of some maturity and advancement, and now guilty of the base act of leaving the Apostle. How deeply that wounded Paul’s sensitive heart the language of our text sufficiently shows. It is a sad fate that all the world should know that fact, and only that, about Demas, that he should be cursed and condemned to such an immortality, and go down through the ages branded with ‘ he hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.’ He was not a monster, but just a man like the rest of us; and he came to his bad eminence by a very well-trodden and familiar path. He ‘hath forsaken me, having loved this present world’ – that is to say, he was a religious man who had not religion enough to resist the constant attractions and seductions of this present, and because he loved it, in one or other of its forms – wealth, ease, comfort, a whole skin, reputation, or whatever it may have been – more than he loved Paul’s Master, he turned his back upon principle, friendship, honour, duty, everything noble, and buried himself in the far-off Thessalonica. There are a great many Demases amongst us, and a great many different kinds of Thessalonicas to which we run. But we are all exposed to that same danger, and so we may well look at this one soul that fell under its spell, and was too weak to resist its pertinacious solicitations, and say to ourselves: ‘Lord, is it I?’
For there is nothing in human sin that is alien from any of us, and no depth of lapse and apostasy is so profound but that the tendencies towards it, and the possibilities of it, are in us, even us also. So let me translate into less well-worn words the language of the text which, for all its force, is so familiar that it does not appeal to us as it ought to do.
‘This present world,’ what is that? Well, it is Protean, as I have already hinted, in its shapes, and all manner of solicitations come from it, but we may say in general terms that it is the aggregate of ‘things seen and temporal’ which, subtle, and certainly corresponding to our own weakest sides, appealing to some of us in the shape of wealth, to some of us in the shape of earthly loves, to some of us in the shape of material advantages, to some of us in the form of the ‘hollow wraith of dying fame,’ to some of us in the nobler guise of scientific pursuits, lie confined within the limits of the phenomenal and the material, but to all of us being essentially the presentation of the visible, the material, the transient as the aim to strain after, and the good to count as our treasure. Let us remember how persistent and how terribly strong the appeal of ‘this present world’ is to us all Its operation is continual upon us. Here it is, and we are in necessary connection with it, and it is our duty to be occupied with it, and it is cowardice to shirk the duty because of the peril that lies in it. You have to go to your business to-morrow morning, and I have to go to my books or my work; and the task for each of us is – and God knows how hard a task it is – to have our hearts in heaven whilst our hands are busy with the things around us. Christianity enjoins no false asceticism. There is little need to preach that to-day, but still it is to be remembered that it is duty to be occupied with the world, and fatal sin to love it, And just because it is so difficult to keep upon that knife-edge, so difficult to put all our pith and power into our occupation with material things, and yet never to be tempted into the love of them which fights against all nobleness of life, is it incumbent on me, over and over again, to reiterate to you and to myself the old threadbare commonplace,’ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.’ Leave your mark on them, work on them diligently, and with all your heart, bend them to be your servants, and to help you to rise to the things above them, but on your soul’s peril keep clear of that bowing down before them, that trusting in them, that longing for them, that despair if you lose them, which together make up the love of the world, and the lust thereof which passes away. There is an enemy within the fortress who is always ready and eager to fling open the gates to the besiegers. For the things ‘seen and temporal’ correspond with, and have their ally in, the senses by which we are brought into contact with them. And unless there is a very strong religious impulse dominant in our minds, or to put it into more Christian words, unless ‘the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us,’ it cannot be but that we shall follow Demas, and run away to our Thessalonica, and leave Paul, and duty, and, Paul’s Master, and duty’s Source, behind us.
For, brethren, if once this love of the world, which is always soliciting each of us, gets a footing in our hearts, it is impossible – as impossible as it is for two bodies to occupy the same place at the same time – for the love of Christ, which is the love of God, to continue dominant there. There cannot be two masters. That is plain common sense. If my head is full of thoughts and schemes, concerned only with the fleeting illusory present, then there is no room in it for His serene, ennobling presence. If my hands are laden with pebbles, I cannot clasp the diamonds that are offered to me. Unless you fling out the sand-bags the balloon will cleave to the earth, and unless we turn the world out of our hearts, it is no use to say to Him, ‘Come! Lord Jesus.’ There is no room for Him. And though He comes through the narrowest opening of the door of the soul, He will not come unless we have to some extent conquered the world, and the love of the world.
If I could get you to translate for yourselves the threadbare theological terminology of this text into the vital facts that it represents, I should thank God. Only, dear brethren, take this with you, either we forsake Christ because we love the world, or we forsake the world because we love Christ. On the one alternative we choose restlessness and feverish desires unsatisfied, and craving, all the misery of mistaking mist for land and cloud-wrack for solid ground; on the other, we choose all the blessedness of having set our love on that which satisfies, of having loved the worthiest, the best, the most loving. Which of the two shall we choose? It may be that the one choice shall mean, as it did for Paul, a prison cell and a martyrdom, and that the other may mean, as it did for Demas, comfort and safety, and many an unmistakably good thing, in some Thessalonica or other. But are we going to vote with Demas, or is it going to be Paul? Whether is it better to love the world, and get what the renegade presumably got for a time, or is it better to get what Paul speaks of in the words before my text, ‘a crown of righteousness laid up for all them that love’ – not the world – ‘but His appearing.’ like the martyr Apostle.
II. Now look at that other portrait, Mark, the restored runaway.
You remember the little that Scripture tells us about him, how he was chosen to be the personal attendant, private secretary, factotum, travelling agent, of Paul and Barnabas on their first journey, how his courage and faith lasted as long as the two missionaries were on familiar ground, on his native soil, in the island of Cyprus; and how when they crossed to the mainland both courage and faith oozed out at his finger ends, and he hurried back to his mother’s house in Jerusalem. When Paul would go again with Barnabas, to visit the churches, the latter, with a relative’s too great kindness which was cruelty, insisted on taking the runaway with them, and Paul, with hot indignation which was kinder than the misplaced affection of the uncle, steadfastly refused his consent. Then Barnabas and Mark slip out of the narrative and disappear, and long years pass during which we know nothing about them. But in time, somehow or other, things are made up; no doubt Mark was penitent. Therefore it was as right for Paul to forgive then, as it had been right for him before not to forgive.
It is very beautiful to notice that here he desires to have Mark for the very office which he had, in such shameful and cowardly fashion, flung up long years ago. For the book of Acts says, ‘They had also John Mark to their minister,’ and here Paul says, ‘Bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for. the ministry.’ He was reinstating him in the very position which he had once abandoned.
Now what does Mark’s restoration teach us? This great gospel, that from any departure, no matter how far, no matter with what aggravations attended, no matter for how long it has lasted, from any departure from duty and from Christ a man can come back. Those of us professing Christians who know ourselves best, and who fight most vigorously against the creeping encroachments of the love of the world, know best how often and how far we have yielded to them, and gone away from them. Brother, no matter how remote we have made ourselves from Him, we cannot travel beyond the reach of His seeking love. And the wisest thing we can do-and it is a possible thing for us all – is to go back to the beginning, and at the Cross to receive, what is never withheld, pardon for our lapses. Christ laid down the measure of human forgiveness when He said ‘seventy times seven’ – the two perfect numbers multiplied into themselves, and their product again multiplied by perfection; and are His love, and His placability, and His pardoning mercy less than that which He prescribed for us? Surely not. So we all may go back again, however far we have wandered, and must go back if we would not be swept into outer darkness for ever. The possibility of return, and, therefore, the blessed duty of repentance, is preached to all us imperfect Christians by this example before us.
I would also remind you how in the restored runaway, or rather in the Apostle’s conduct to him, we sea as ! have already hinted, an adumbration, because a consequence of the divine forgiveness. Paul trusted this unreliable man at last. As the Acts of the Apostles says, ‘He thought it not good to take him with them who had departed from the work,’ and his severity was an instrument of cure far more effectual than Barnabas’ flaccid good nature. The shrug of the shoulders that overlooks transgression and says, ‘Oh! it does not matter,’ is a much more cruel and a much less curative thing than the hot indignation which says, ‘No, you have been unworthy, and until you repent there is no restoration possible.’ That is how God does with us, not because He loves us less, but because He loves us more, and because He seeks to make thorough work, and to purge the bosom of the perilous stuff which, unless it is purged, will ever keep us from union with Him. Inasmuch as the law of the divine forgiveness is here set forth in the severity towards the impenitent, and in the generous confidence towards the penitent, and the restoration to his old office, let us Christian people learn our duty to those who have gone astray, and how there is no surer way of helping them to be reliable and profitable than showing them that we trust them to be both.
Still further, from out of this second of our portraits, there comes the other lesson, that failure in a task may tend to make us successful in it hereafter. Mark shirked the ministry; he became ‘profitable for the ministry.’ That is to say, though all sin weakens, yet sin repented and sin east out may strengthen, because it may drive us nearer to God, because it may lead us to deeper humility, because it may kindle a livelier flame of gratitude, the gas that drives the engine, and because it may set us upon closer examination of our own selves, and putting up barriers at the weak places where the enemy poured in like a flood. So for all these reasons, in a far higher sense than the poet meant it, we may make stepping-stones of our dead selves to higher things. There is no fatal entail of sin upon us, by which the past is always to set the time and prescribe the measure for the future. The Israelites fought two battles, on the same field, against the same foes, the fights at Aphek against the Philistines. In one of them they were ignominiously routed and beaten from the field; and in the other, on the same spot, against the same enemy, with the same weapons, the same men triumphed; and reared upon the field a memorial alike of their present victory and of their past defeat, and called it the Stone of Help, saying, ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.’
III. Lastly, we have here a third picture, that of the steadfast companion, Luke.
‘Only Luke is with me,’ and he had been with Paul for years, having joined him first at Troas, on the eve of his first missionary enterprise in Europe, having remained, as it appears, at Philippi whilst the Apostle traversed Greece, having rejoined him at Philippi on his return journey, travelled with him to Jerusalem, Caesarea, in a shipwreck, in Rome in the first imprisonment, presumably during .the interval; and now again we find him Paul’s only companion, in the second imprisonment. He is a type of the steadfast souls who never stray, but by patient continuance in communion with Paul’s Lord, ‘go from strength to strength,’ until ‘every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.’ ‘Abide with me,’ says Paul’s Master, and if we keep ourselves in the love of God, and resist the temptations to be drawn aside, steadfastly cleave unto the Lord, then the world will not have power over us, and we shall neither repeat the experience of the renegade, nor of the restored runaway, but find that day by day we grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord, and run with unwearied patience and perseverance the race that is set before us. A continuous development as the result of a quiet constancy of abiding with Jesus Christ is possible for us all And if we do not come to it absolutely and with the completeness of the ideal, in our earthly experience, still we may approximate indefinitely towards it, and interruptions may become fewer and fewer and shorter and shorter, until what were broken dots, as it were, run into a continuous line, and we dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives.
Brethren! are we to be Demas? Are we to be Mark? Are we to be Luke? We may be all three. We have run away; we can go back; and thenceforward we can continue steadfast and immovable, cleaving to the Lord, and ‘loving’ – not the world, but – ‘His appearing.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
De mas. See Col 4:14. Phm. 2Ti 1:24.
hath forsaken = forsook. Greek. eskateleipe. See Act 2:22.
this, &c. the age that is now.
world. App-129.
unto. App-104. Crescens. He is not mentioned elsewhere, and perhaps had gone to Galatia at his own instance and with the apostle’s consent. The same may be said of Titus. There is no condemnation of them, ae of Demas, ]tut they are not said to have been sent, as Tychicus was.
to. Same as “unto”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Ti 4:10. [15] ) The Scholiast M.S. in the Medic. Library, (at Thessalonica) , and (Demas) became there (at Thessalonica) an idolatrous priest; of which I have read nowhere else: Pricus.-, Galatia) This reading seems to have crept in here owing to the rhythm it forms to . Adequate authorities have ;[16] and some who retain refer it to Western or European Galatia, i.e. Gaul. See Pregizeri Suevia Sacra, page 499, seq. ex P. de Marca.-, Titus) He therefore departed from Crete, after the affairs of the churches were set in order there, Tit 1:5. These persons had either attended or visited Paul.
[15] , for) Paul is almost left alone.-V. g.
[16] Hence the margin of the 2d Ed. raises the reading , formerly marked , to , and the Germ. Vers. has entirely adopted it.-E. B.
AD()Gfg Vulg., Iren., and Rec. Text, read . C is the only very old MS. which supports : so Epiphanius and Jerome.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Ti 4:10
for Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica;-Demas was once a faithful worker with Paul in Rome during Pauls first imprisonment there, and united with Paul in sending salutations from Rome to the Colossians and to Philemon. (Col 4:14; Phm 1:24.) He is here described as having forsaken Paul when he was awaiting his trial before Nero. How sadly Paul now says that he loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica. This is a sad statement.
Crescens to Galatia,-It is not likely that he had turned from following the Lord. He had possibly gone on a gospel mission.
Titus to Dalmatia.-Dalmatia was a province of Roman Illyricum, lying along the Adriatic Sea. Nothing is known respecting this journey of Titus. It was most likely with Pauls sanction, for we can hardly conceive of one who had been a trusted and honored companion of Paul and a Christian preacher as he had been had turned from following the Lord.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Demas: Col 4:14, Col 4:15, Phm 1:24
hath: 2Ti 4:16, 2Ti 1:15, Mat 26:56, Act 13:13, Act 15:38, 2Pe 2:15
having: Luk 9:61, Luk 9:62, Luk 14:26, Luk 14:27, Luk 14:33, Luk 16:13, Luk 17:32, Phi 2:21, 1Ti 6:10, 1Jo 2:15, 1Jo 2:16, 1Jo 5:4, 1Jo 5:5
Thessalonica: Act 17:1, Act 17:11, Act 17:13
Galatia: Act 16:6, Act 18:23, Gal 1:2
Titus: 2Co 2:13, 2Co 7:6, 2Co 8:6, 2Co 8:16, Gal 2:1-3, Tit 1:4
Reciprocal: Lev 11:20 – General Rth 1:14 – Orpah 1Sa 15:19 – fly upon 1Ki 11:9 – his heart 2Ki 5:20 – and take Job 34:27 – turned Pro 2:13 – leave Mat 6:24 – serve Mat 13:21 – for Mat 13:22 – seed Mat 24:10 – shall many Mar 4:17 – have Mar 4:19 – the cares Mar 10:22 – sad Luk 8:14 – and are Luk 14:18 – I have Joh 6:66 – of his Joh 10:12 – he that Act 17:15 – receiving 1Co 6:3 – pertain Eph 2:2 – walked according 1Ti 5:15 – General 1Ti 5:24 – General 2Ti 2:4 – entangleth Tit 2:12 – this
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ti 4:10. According to Col 4:14 and Phm 1:24, Demas had been associated with Paul in his travels, and for a while even after the apostle was taken to Rome in chains. But he failed to stand the test when persecution threatened, being more interested in the pleasures of this world than in the cause of Christ. No unfavorable comment is made about the departure of Cresens and Titus, hence we may conclude they left with Paul’s consent. Such a conclusion is reasonable since verse 12 expressly says that the apostle sent another disciple away for some purpose (not stated).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Ti 4:10. The letter comes to a close. The exhortation ends, and with a singular naturalness St. Paul passes to a condensed summary of news.
Demas. From the manner in which his name is joined with Lukes in Col 4:14, Phm 1:24, and from the mention of Thessalonica, it is probable that he was a Macedonian disciple. He was with St. Paul in his first imprisonment, and is mentioned, though with no special epithet of honour, as a fellow-worker with him at Rome. Now, when persecution was keener, he deserted him. St. Paul is content to record the fact and the motive. The religion of Christ would have interfered with his worldly prospects. The position of his name in Colossians 4 seems to imply that he was a Gentile convert.
Crescens. Nothing is, or can be, known of him, and it is doubtful whether the Galatia is the province of that name in Asia Minor, or Gaul. Traditions, of no authority, connect his name now with one, now with the other.
Titus. Assuming this to be the latest of St. Pauls Epistles, we must assume that Titus, after receiving the Epistle addressed to him, had started from Crete for Nicopolis, had then pressed on to join St. Paul at Rome, and had afterwards started to carry on his work as an evangelist at Dalmatia. It would seem from St. Pauls mention of Illyricum in Rom 15:19 as if he had already founded churches on the east coast of the Adriatic.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 10
Demas is mentioned as with the apostle when he wrote his Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon. (Colossians 4:14; Philemon 1:24.)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
“For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia
Here we see that several had left Paul’s side and it is likely that he had need of someone to assist him in his writing. Demas had forsaken him for the world in some manner. We just mentioned that our focus must be on the heavenlies rather than on earthly concerns. Demas had failed in that portion of his spiritual life.
Col 4:4 mentions that Demas was in prison with Paul or present in the area at the writing of Colossians. He evidently had been a profitable aid to the apostle in the past but somewhere along the line taken a side track that left him lacking in the spiritual area. How sad to see someone do this. (Demas is also mentioned as a coworker of Paul’s in Phm 1:24)
In bible College I had a good friend that purchased a business for all the correct reasons, but became totally sidetracked with the business to the detriment of his studies for the Lord. He finally dropped from school and left the call to the mission field that he had when we first met.
Adam Clarke mentions of Demas “Having preferred Judaism to Christianity; or having loved the Jews, and having sought their welfare in preference to that of the Gentiles.” He feels that Demas loved the Jews so much that he became overcome with the need to evangelize them and had left Paul to do this job of evangelism. He calls this his charitable interpretation, and that it would be, if there were any basis for it.
Barnes as well gives a more charitable reason for his leaving than just worldliness. He feels that Demas just wasn’t willing to face the possible martyrdom that may have been his if he had remained with the apostle. He wanted to live rather than die for the faith.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown mention “His motive for forsaking Paul seems to have been love of worldly ease, safety, and comforts at home, and disinclination to brave danger with Paul” This seems more in keeping with the text to me.
The others mentioned, Crescens and Titus are not included in the negative comment about Demas. They were most likely sent on errands by the apostle. There is no further information on Crescens, and we know of Titus from the epistle to him.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having {d} loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
(d) Contented himself with this world.