2 Timothy 4:10 - Exposition

Forsook for hath forsaken, A.V.; went for is departed, A.V.; to for unto, A.V. (twice). Demas . Nothing more is known of Demas than what is gathered from the mention of him in Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24 . We learn from those passages that he was a fellow labourer of the apostle, and it is remarkable that in them both he is coupled, as here, with Luke and Mark ( Colossians 4:10 ). (See Introduction.) Having loved this present world. It would appear from this that Demas had not the faith or the courage to run the risk of sharing St. Paul's imminent martyrdom at Rome, but left him, while he was free to do so, under pretence of an urgent call to Thessaloniea; just as Mark left Paul and Barnabas ( Acts 13:13 ). But there is no ground to believe that he was an apostate from the faith. The coupling together of Demas and Aristarchus in Philemon 1:24 suggests that Demas may have been a Thessalonian, as we know that Aristarchus was ( Acts 20:4 ). Demas is thought to be a shortened form of Demarchus. If so, we have a slight additional indication of his being a Thessalonian, as compounds with archos or arches would seem to have been common in Thessalonica (compare Aristarchus and πολιτάρχης , Acts 17:6 , Acts 17:8 ). Crescens ( κρήσκης ); only mentioned here. It is a Latin name, like πούδης , Pudens, in Philemon 1:21 . There was a cynic philosopher of this name in the second century, a great enemy of the Christians. The tradition ('Apost. Constit.,' 7.46) that he preached the gospel in Galatia is probably derived from this passage. Titus, etc. The last mention of Titus, not reckoning the Epistle to Titus, is that in 2 Corinthians 12:18 , from which it appears that St. Paul had sent him to Corinth just before his own last visit to that city. How the interval was filled up, and where Titus passed the time, we know not. He is not once named in the Acts of the Apostles, nor in any of St. Paul's Epistles written during his first imprisonment. But we gather from Titus 1:5 that he accompanied St. Paul to Crete, presumably after the apostle's return from Spain; that he was left there for a time to organize the Church; that later he joined the apostle at Nicopolis ( Titus 3:12 ),and, doubtless by St. Paul's desire, went to Dalmatia, as mentioned in this tenth verse. And here our knowledge of him ends. Tradition pretty consistently makes him Bishop of Gortyna, in Crete, where are the ruins of a very ancient church dedicated to St. Titus, in which service is occasionally performed by priests from the neighbourhood (Dean Howson, in 'Dict. of Bible:' art. "Titus").