Bible Strands
2 Timothy 4:10
because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul, writing from prison and expecting his execution, lists to Timothy the companions who have left him, framing the request in verse 9 ("come quickly") against a backdrop of abandonment.
The words — ἐγκατέλιπεν (egkatelipen) is a strong, final "deserted," not a casual departure; and the phrase behind "this world" is literally τὸν νῦν αἰῶνα, "the present age," a more precise and temporal charge than the familiar English rendering.
The thread — The same desertion pattern appears in 2 Timothy 1:15 (Phygelus, Hermogenes, all Asia), while Colossians 4:14 shows Demas still sending greetings years earlier, marking the shift. 1 John 2:15 supplies the theological frame: love of the world displaces love of the Father.
Why it lands — Paul names the cause without malice, which forces the reader to take "love of this world" as a real, named force rather than a vague moral failing, and to examine whether their own commitments are holding under the same pressure.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Cross-references
- 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- 2 Timothy 1:15 You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
- Colossians 4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas send you greetings.
- 1 John 5:4 because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
- Acts 16:6 After the Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.
- 2 Corinthians 2:13 I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
- Philemon 1:24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
- Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.
- Philippians 2:21 For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
- 2 Timothy 4:16 At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.