St. Paul's Companions in Rome, VI: Demas

ST. PAUL'S COMPANIONS IN ROME. BY COL. R. M. BRYCE-THOMAS. VI. — DBMAS. For some time Demas, a supposed native of Thessalonica, was one of Paul's companions. We do not know just where or at what time he was converted to Christianity, but at first he was doubtless zealous and honest in his Christian profession. Paul in his epistle to Philemon, written in A. D. 64, calls him a "fellow laborer" (Philem. 24). In the same year the Apostle in writing to the Colossians sends them greetings from Luke and Demas (Col. 4: 14). Here strangely linked together we find two of Paul's associates who in their characters were the very reverse of one another. During his second Roman captivity, the Apostle, while appealing to Timothy to come shortly to him, and telling him that he was at that time left almost alone, his sole companion being Luke, he added, Demas "hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." Here we have the two men before us again, the one as an example and the other as a warning. The one steadfast and true, the other wavering and false, the one brave even to risking his life for the Apostle's sake, the other a veritable coward, the one exhibiting his friendship in the very hour of the Apostle's greatest need, the other afraid to risk the dangers of remaining at his side. The attractions of the world were too strong for Demas; and so, notwithstanding that he had once been honorably mentioned as a fellow laborer in the cause of the gospel, he forsook the aged and suffering servant of God for the pleasures of life, or, perhaps, for some social advantages which may have come in his way, and thus false to his God as well as false to his companion and friend, he

154 IMPROVEMENT ERA. sacrificed that great cause for the allurements of the present life.

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We do not know if Demas apostatized for good or not, but I>r. Scott in his Bible commentaries aptly points out that the Apostle appears to have stood in great doubt of him. There is a tradition, however, that he became a Corinthian heretic, and an idolatrous priest, but, as pointed out in Cassell's Bible Dictionary, this tradition obtains no support from holy scripture. VII. — EPAPHRAS. Epaphras was a Colossian, and probably a presbyter of the church at Colosse of which it is supposed that he was the founder. In the twenty-third verse of his epistle to Philemon the Apostle Paul mentions him as his fellow prisoner in Rome. He also refers to him when writing to the Colossians as a servant of Christ, and as one who always labored fervently for them in prayers and had a great zeal not only for them, but also for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis (Col. 4: 12, 13). It was probably the mention of these places that led Dr. Plumtre to the conclusion that Epaphras was a messenger to St. Paul from all the three churches of the valley of the Lycus; namely, Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis. It was most likely also that he was the founder of the two last named churches as well as that of Colosse, because it is evident from what the Apostle tells the Colossians (Col. 2:1) that at that time these churches had not even seen his (Paul's) face in the flesh. (See also Col. 1:4, 6, 9 ) According to Dr. Farrar the object of Epaphras' visit to St. Paul was to make known to him certain errors that had crept into the churches of Proconsular Asia, and especially a new form of error, partly Judaic in that it made distinctions in meat, attached importance to new moons and sabbaths, and insisted upon the value of circumcision, if not on its actual necessity. How long the Apostle was able to enjoy the fellowship of Epaphras or what the latter's ultimate fate may have been we do not know, but his presence must have been a source of considerable comfort to St. Paul in the trying circumstances of his Roman imprisonment. Nor do we know if Epaphras was actually or only

ST. PAUL'S COMPANIONS IN ROME. 455 metaphorically a fellow prisoner of the Apostle at Rome. But in either case he must have been his associate for some time, because we find that when the Apostle had to write his letter to the Colossian chuich regarding the incipient forms of heresy that were even then manifesting themselves therein, he did not send Epaphras as its bearer, but an Ephesian named Tychicus, under whose care he at the same time sent back the Colossian slave Onessimus with a letter to his master Philemon. Epaphras is said to have been a convert of the great Apostle, and tradition has it that he was the first bishop of Colosse. Pas de Calais, France.