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"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2 Tim.4.10). There is a world of sadness in Paul's regretful words.

Demas was one of the brethren in the Roman church at the time of Paul's first visit to Rome, at the close of which he was acquitted by the Roman tribunal and set at liberty. Now at the time of his second visit under arrest and eventual death, Demas was no longer there - departed to Thessalonica. Demas, who had been so close to the Apostle during his first imprisonment that his name was added to those of Luke, Aristarchus and Mark, Paul's closest companions, in sending greetings to the Asiatic Churches, evidently someone well accepted in the Christian community, had disappeared, "having loved this present world". For Paul's companions and for the Roman church generally, no less than for the Apostle himself at this time of acute crisis, it must have been a bitter blow.

The defection of Demas is recorded in the Second Epistle to Timothy, the last letter to be written by Paul before his death in AD 67. Paul had probably arrived in Rome under arrest some time later in AD 66, probably only about six months before his execution. Whether Demas left him during this period or was already gone when the Apostle arrived is unknown. The severe persecution instigated by the Emperor Nero following the Great Fire of Rome of AD 64 which was falsely blamed on the Christians, may well have had something to do with it. Perhaps Demas, his fortitude failing, had quietly slipped away to Greece to get out of the way.

There is nothing whatever said of him beyond this allusion and the mention of his name in two other texts. He may have been a Roman, he may have been a Greek; it is actually the diminutive form of Demetrius, but although two individuals in the New Testament bear that name it is certain that Demas was not one of them. The most likely supposition is that he was a native Roman who had become a Christian and a member of the Roman church at some time prior to Paul's first visit, and become a close confidant of Paul so that his name would naturally appear in the greetings together with those of Paul's other close associates. The Roman church had been established at least some fifteen or more years before Paul came to them, and this perhaps is the period during which Demas became a convert. He would in that case have been in fellowship with Linus of 2 Tim. 4.21, who succeeded Peter as "Bishop" or leading elder of the church. Linus himself was British, son of the Christian King Caracos - Roman name Caractacus - both being held hostage in Rome to guarantee the good behaviour of the Britons, under Roman rule since the days of the Emperor Claudius twenty years earlier. So too was the Christian daughter of Caracos, Gladys — Roman name Claudia, after the emperor Claudius who had proclaimed her as his adopted daughter - with her husband Pudens Pudentinus, an officer in the army of Aulus Plautius, the Roman general who overran and conquered Britain in the year 43. (Whilst so engaged in that rather difficult task, ably assisted by his second-in-command Vespasianus, who eventually became Emperor after Nero, he found time to court and marry another Christian, Gladys, the sister of Caracos, and she by now was at Rome with him under the name of Pomponia Graecina. All of which leads one to wonder how Christianity got to Britain so quickly after the Crucifixion).

Nothing more is known of Demas after his departure from Rome to Thessalonica, no mention of his name by the brethren in the latter city and nothing whatever in the annals of the Early Church. It is true that Chrysostom in the fourth century makes one mention of him in his writings to the effect that after his defection and flight to Greece he became a priest in one of the pagan temples, but he gives no authority for this statement and there is no earlier reference to this, so not much credence should be placed upon it. Much more likely it is that upon arrival at Thessalonica he did not attach himself to the local Christian community and spent the rest of his life in a different sphere. That comes back to the question, the answer to which is not likely to be found whilst this present Age endures, "why did he run away?"

There could be at least three possibilities. Paul's words "having loved this present world" could indicate that his new-found faith proved insufficient to wean him away from such attractions as this world has to offer. It must be admitted that Rome under Nero was not a particularly attractive place for the working classes of the day and Demas was probably one of these. The rich and opulent lived in luxurious mansions but the rest were mostly condemned to multi-story slums, with hard work and little of the amenities of life. Perhaps he never really understood the call to be buried with Christ by baptism into his death, and rising to walk with him in newness of life, to take up his cross and follow him whithersoever that might lead. Perhaps his consecration was only on the basis of the coming halcyon days of the Messianic Kingdom which the Christians preached and promised, and when that kingdom seemed slow in coming he gave up hope and reverted to his former life. Perhaps failures on the part of a few of his Christian brethren to maintain their professed high standard caused him to decide that the Christians were really no better than the pagans from whom he had turned away and he might as well go back to them and find some enjoyment in the old life. These things have happened so many times in every century since and most of us can remember some who "ran well" for a time, and then departed and were seen no more.

A second hypothesis is that it was the Neronian persecutions, when so many Christians were thrown to the lions, which caused his faith to fail and evoked the determination to get away to a quieter place where he could keep his Christian feelings to himself and stay more or less out of sight. Greece was a long way from Rome, and there was little or no animosity to Christians there at that time. The persecution instigated by Nero, which subsided after his death in A.D.68 was at its worst confined more or less to the city of Rome. Perhaps Demas was somewhat akin to what we in our day sometimes refer to as a "fair-weather saint", faithful enough when times are easy but not able to stand the storms of opposition. A lot depends upon the individual make-up, and our Lord must understand the make-up of each one who comes to him. Some are born fighters and some are more placid; maybe there is a place for each in his scheme of things.

There were two notable men of mediaeval times, co-workers and friends, Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus. Luther in his reforming zeal had been summoned to account for his actions; Erasmus was afraid that he was being unnecessarily provocative in advancing the cause for which he stood. "You are trying to walk on eggs without crushing them" Luther accused his friend. "I will not be unfaithful to the cause of Christ". "I will go to Worms ", shouted Luther, "though the devils were combined against me as thick as tiles upon the housetops".

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