2 Timothy 4:10

10. Demas--once a "fellow laborer" of Paul, along with Mark and Luke (Col 4:14; Phm 24). 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 (Mt 13:20, 21, 22). Chrysostom implies that Thessalonica was his home. Galatia--One oldest manuscript supports the reading "Gaul." But most oldest manuscripts, &c., "Galatia." Titus--He must have therefore left Crete after "setting in order" the affairs of the churches there (Tit 1:5). Dalmatia--part of the Roman province of Illyricum on the coast of the Adriatic. Paul had written to him (Tit 3:12) to come to him in the winter to Nicopolis (in Epirus), intending in the spring to preach the Gospel in the adjoining province of Dalmatia. Titus seems to have gone thither to carry out the apostle's intention, 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 personal attendants having forsaken him; he had still friends among the Roman Christians who visited him (2Ti 4:21), though they had been afraid to stand by him at his trial (2Ti 4:16).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Verse 10. For Demas hath forsaken me. Demas is honourably 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-labourer of Paul, but that, under the influence of a desire to live, he afterwards 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 honours 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, αγαπησαςτοννυναιωνα--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 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, 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, paragraph 1. It is not known to what part of Galatia he had gone, or why he went there.

Titus unto Dalmatia. Dalmatia was a part of Illyricum, on the gulf of Venice, or the Adriatic sea. On the situation of Illyricum, 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.

(f) "loved" 1Jn 2:15

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

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 - Αγαπησας τον νυν αιωνα Having preferred Judaism to Christianity; or having loved the Jews, and having sought their welfare in preference to that of the Gentiles. The עולם הזה words olam hazzeh, which answer to the Greek τον νυν αιωνα, 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 αγαπησας, 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain