2 Timothy 4:10

Demas had been a loyal fellow-worker of the apostle (Philemon 1:24; Colossians 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.

ἐγκατέλιπεν : dereliquit (Vulg.), forsook, not merely left. See reff. The aorist points to a definite past occasion now in St. Paul's mind.

ἀγαπήσας τὸν νῦν αἰῶνα : See 1 Timothy 6:17. It is just possible that Bengel is right in seeing an intentional deplorable contrast (“luctuosum vide antitheton”) between this expression and 2 Timothy 4:8.

εἰς Θεσσαλονίκην : 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 Philemon 1:24, and … the name Demetrius, of which Demas is a contract form, occurs twice among the list of politarchs of that city”.

Κρήσκης εἰς Γαλατίαν : sc. ἐπορεύθη. Crescens and Titus are not reproached for their absence. This passage, with the variant Γαλλίαν (see apparat. crit.), is the source of all that is said about Crescens by later writers.

Γαλατίαν : 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. 1 Corinthians 5; 1 Corinthians 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. Leviticus 11, Theodore and Theodoret, h. l.

Τίτος εἰς Δαλματίαν : 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.