Demas (; probably a short form of ''
Demetrios'') was a man mentioned by the
Apostle Paul
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...
in the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
of the Bible, and appears to have been involved for a time in his ministry.
Demas is mentioned in three of the
Pauline epistles:
*In
Philemon (dated to ) he is mentioned as a "fellow worker".
*In
Colossians (AD 62) he is mentioned along with
Luke (the physician and writer of the
Luke–Acts).
*In
Second Timothy
The Second Epistle to Timothy is one of the three pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle.. Addressed to Saint Timothy, Timothy, a fellow missionary, it is traditionally considered to be the last epistle Paul wrote before ...
, a letter traditionally ascribed to Paul near the end of his life, where it is mentioned that "...for Demas, because he loved this world, he has deserted me and has gone to
Thessalonica."
This has led to one commentator to describe Demas as 'Paul's
Judas'.
Demas is also mentioned in the non-canonical ''
Acts of Paul and Thecla'', where he is described as holding views similar to the author of
Second Peter. Based on this,
Dale Martin speculates that whichever one of the ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' and the
Pastoral Epistles (including Second Timothy) was written later may have been arguing against the other.
[ Dale Martin 2009 (lecture). . ]Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. Accessed October 5, 2016
Lecture 20 (transcript)
/ref>
Fictional references
In '' The Pilgrim's Progress'', John Bunyan writes of Demas, a deceiver, who beckons to pilgrims at the Hill Lucre, urging them to join in the supposed silver mining being carried out there; he is described as a "fellow pilgrim", just as Demas is described by Paul as a "fellow worker," but has a love for earthly treasures which caused him to desert the path and could lead to his death, just as Demas's love for the world caused him to stop following God and potentially to lose his salvation.
In Lora Johnson's 2007 novel, ''"The Demas Revelation,"'' Demas plays a pivotal role in the plot of the story and lends his name to the title.Jane Eyre
''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...
'', St. John notes that Jane is free of "the vice of Demas" when trying to convince her to join him as a missionary in India.
References
{{New Testament people
People in Acts of the Apostles
People in the Pauline epistles