Demas or Demos was a man mentioned by the
Apostle Paul in the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
of the Bible, and appears to have been involved for a time in his ministry.
Demas is mentioned in three of the canonical
Pauline epistles:
*In
Philemon he is mentioned as a "fellow worker".
*In
Colossians
The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately f ...
he is mentioned along with Luke (the physician and writer of the Gospel of Luke and Acts).
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*In Second Timothy, a letter traditionally ascribed to Paul, where it is mentioned that "...for Demas, because he loved this world, he has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica."[2 Timothy 4:10a] 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
The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' (''Acta Pauli et Theclae'') is an apocryphal story– Edgar J. Goodspeed called it a " religious romance"–of Paul the Apostle's influence on a young virgin named Thecla. It is one of the writings of the New Test ...
'', 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 research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
. Accessed October 5, 2016
Lecture 20 (transcript)
/ref>
Fictional references
In ''The Pilgrim's Progress
''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christianity, Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a prog ...
'', John Bunyan
John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...
writes of Demas, a deceiver, who beckons to pilgrims at the Hill Lucre, urging them to join in the supposed silver mining
Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...
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 Shane 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 first ...
'', 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