Illustration created for this project.
Demas
A companion named in the greetings of Colossians and Philemon alongside Luke. He appears a third and final time in Paul's last letter, in one of the saddest lines in the New Testament: 'Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.'
What we know — and how we know it
Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 1
Name & titles
Scholarly'Demas' (Greek Demas) is generally understood as a shortened, hypocoristic form of a fuller Greek name such as Demetrius or Demarchus, a common pattern for Greek personal names in the New Testament period.
Onomastic (Greek name) analysis of the hypocoristic form.
Where in scripture
Colossians2 TimothyPhilemonLuke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.
Colossians 4:14
for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
2 Timothy 4:10 — Deserted Paul
as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
Philemon 1:24
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.