2 Timothy 4:10

ἐγκατέλιπεν. The rec. text has the aorist here as in 2 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:16; 2 Timothy 4:20, ἀπέλιπον, ἐγκατέλιπον; the imperfect ἐγκατέλειπεν &c. in these places is adopted by WH, with the aorist in the margin. The aorists, which we adopt with Tischendorf, have for their main support only אD2* as against ACD2cGLP for the imperfect; but the itacism ει for ι is very common, and the aorists seem required for the sense.

Γαλατίαν. This is the rec. text, and is adopted by WH. Tischendorf and Tregelles read Γαλλίαν with אC, a few cursives, and some MSS. of the Vulgate; apparently an ‘Alexandrian’ reading. Γαλατία was early applied to Gaul, and as it was so applied in interpretation of this passage (for which see exegetical note), the gloss Γαλλίαν naturally crept into the text.

10. Δημᾶς γάρ με ἐγκατέλιπεν κ.τ.λ., for Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica. Demas was with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment and was then counted by him as a συνεργός (Philemon 1:24), and he is coupled in Colossians 4:14 with Luke the beloved physician, though without any commendatory epithet being applied to him. This last circumstance may be significant, in view of his abandonment of the Apostle through unworthy motives, recorded in the verse before us. It is plain from Colossians 4:11; Colossians 4:14 that Demas was not a Jew, and it is just possible that he was a Thessalonian, and that on his departure from Rome for Thessalonica he went home. The name Demas is a contracted form of Demetrius, which, as Lightfoot has remarked[523], occurs twice in the list of politarchs of Thessalonica; nothing, however, can be built on this, as the name was a common one. Later tradition (e.g. Epiphanius Haer. 51) counts Demas an apostate from the Christian faith, but there is no evidence for this. That St Paul felt his departure keenly is plain; but he ascribes to him nothing worse than desire of ease and disinclination to share the peril which association with one already marked out for martyrdom would involve. The reading ἐγκατέλιπεν (see crit. note) has been adopted with some hesitation; but it seems necessary to the sense and points to a severance of his connexion with St Paul at a definite crisis of which we have no precise information.

[523] Biblical Essays, p. 247 n.

ἀγαπήσας τὸν νῦν αἰῶνα. The participle is causal; ‘he forsook me, because he loved &c.’ For the phrase ὁ νῦν αἰών see on 1 Timothy 6:17; Demas loved this present world, and so is markedly contrasted with those who love ‘the ἐπιφάνεια of Christ’ (2 Timothy 4:8). Polycarp (§ 9) takes up the phrase in his description of Ignatius, Paul and other martyrs, and says of them οὐ γὰρ τὸν νῦν ἠγάπησαν αἰῶνα.

Κρήσκης εἰς Γαλατίαν. It is very doubtful whether the Galatia referred to is Asiatic Galatia or Gaul, which was generally called Γαλατία by Greek writers in the first century[524]. In favour of the latter view the various readings Γαλλία (see crit. note) and the traditional interpretation of the passage (Eus. H. E. III. 4, Epiphanius, Theodore, Theodoret &c.) must be reckoned with, and the R.V. places Gaul in the margin as an alternative translation. Crescens, too (of whom nothing is known save the fact recorded here), was early counted the founder of the Churches of Vienne and Mayence. On the other hand, St Paul elsewhere uses Galatia (1 Corinthians 16:1) and Galatians in reference to the Asiatic province and its people; and, further, all the other persons mentioned in this chapter as having left him, went eastward. On these grounds, we hold that it is better to understand Γαλατία here of Galatia in Asia. It is worth noting that exactly the same ambiguity meets us in 1Ma 8:2, where the Revisers render ἐν τοῖς Γαλάταις, among the Gauls, and where again the context does not determine with certainty the locality intended.

[524] See, for a full discussion, Lightfoot, Gaiatians, pp. 3, 31.

Τίτος εἰς Δαλματίαν. It would seem probable from this that Titus had been at Rome with St Paul for a time during his second imprisonment. Dalmatia is a part of Illyria on the eastern coast of the Adriatic; and this notice harmonises well enough with Titus 3:12 (see note there).