The Fall of Demas by John Nevins Andrews

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · May 6, 1875

The Fall of Demas.

By John Nevins Andrews

Among the fellow-laborers of the apostle Paul was one who bore the name of Demas. His biography is given us only in the following texts:—

Col. 4:14: “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.”

Philemon 23, 24: “There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow-laborers.”

2 Tim. 4:9, 10: “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me; for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.”

These texts teach us a lesson of awful solemnity and warning. Here is the record of a man worthy to unite with Paul in saluting the brethren in two of his epistles; worthy to be ranked with Aristarchus, Paul’s companion in travel (see Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2; Col. 4:10); and with Mark the author of the second gospel; and with Luke, the beloved physician, the author of the third gospel, and also of the book of Acts; and what is still more, he was counted worthy by Paul to be called a fellow-laborer in his sacred work. Yet this man made utter shipwreck of his faith, and for the present world gave up his interest in the world to come. Such a case suggests the most serious thought.

1. This man was eminent as a minister of Jesus Christ. Not Paul merely, but the Holy Spirit by whose inspiration Paul wrote, gave to Demas so honorable a place that we cannot doubt his high standing as a minister of Christ. He was acknowledged by Paul, as a “fellow-laborer.” As such he could not have been otherwise than eminent in gifts, in graces, and in Christian experience.

2. He was a highly-favored man. He enjoyed a personal acquaintance with the most eminent Christian minister that ever lived. He

was even honored with his confidence, and counted worthy to share in his labors in the work of the gospel. He knew everything pertaining to the foundation of the Christian religion. He knew all the things promised in the blessed hope. He knew the purity of the doctrine of Christ, and the blameless life of the apostle with whom he was associated. He knew the excellence of such men as Mark and Luke, who were his fellow-laborers.

3. It was not a light thing that he could associate with Mark and Luke. These two men were called in the providence of God each to write a life of Christ. It is possible that Mark, on account of his youth, was not an eye-witness of all he wrote, though the fact that his home was in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) indicates that he must have had personal knowledge of much that he has written. But the fact of his intimate connection with the apostle Peter (1 Pet. 5:13) made Mark thoroughly acquainted with all the facts in Christ's life. As to Luke, he wrote the gospel as an eye-witness. Luke 1:2.

3. He was competent to write also the book of Acts, containing the history of one generation of the Christian church. To have these two men for his fellow-laborers was to have such an opportunity for knowing of Christ as none of us in these days have ever begun to possess.

4. But to live in the society of such a man as Paul, and to converse with one who had had such views of Paradise, was still another wonderful opportunity to learn the deep things of God. He was an eye-witness of his mighty miracles; he had the most perfect opportunity to understand his godly life and his unselfish devotion to his Master’s cause.

5. Demas must have understood the greatness of the reward promised the people of God. No man was ever better prepared to give instruction on this point than was Paul, and Demas had the benefit of his teaching. He must have understood the awful fate of the transgressor. He knew that the wages of sin is death. He knew that the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction. He knew the brevity of human life. He knew its liability to end at any moment. He knew the perishable nature of everything pertaining to the world that now is. He knew its unsatisfactory character. He knew the folly and vanity of riches, of honors, of pleasures such as our earth has to give.

6. He knew the value of the Christian religion. He had felt its power upon his heart. He knew by personal experience what is meant by the forgiveness of sin. He had even been called of the Holy Spirit to the work of the Christian ministry. He was, in the providence of God, assigned a place among the most eminently pious and excellent of the earth. He shared the fellowship of the most eminent of the apostles, and was counted by him a fellow-laborer.

7. Demas, beyond all doubt, had high hopes of the kingdom of God. He confidently expected to wear the crown of life. He expected to be made a partaker of immortality. He had no idea that the second death would be his final portion. He did not expect that the vanities of earth would overcome his love for the world to come. He had no idea that he should ever sell his soul for the empty and worthless things which Satan offers to men in exchange for the kingdom of God.

8. But it is nevertheless true that this man so highly favored of God, so honored in his associations with three of the writers of the New Testament, so privileged with the precious knowledge of divine truth, so thoroughly instructed in the deep things of the Spirit of God, and so eminent as a minister of Christ that he was permitted to be a fellow-laborer of Paul, did, after all these great blessings from Heaven, make utter and probably irretrievable shipwreck of the faith.

Here is the sad record of the ruin of Demas: “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.” We may well ask, How could such a lamentable apostasy ever have occurred?

1. In some way Demas was thrown off his guard and ceased to watch against sin. Perhaps because he was associated with such excellent men he felt certain that he was all right. He was very sure that they would be saved, and he expected to be saved because he was so intimately associated with them.

2. It is by no means certain that Demas had not allowed himself years before his open apostasy to cherish in his secret life some favorite sin, which he took for granted was not very displeasing to God because Paul who possessed such a gift of discernment of spirit had never pointed out and rebuked that sin.

3. The apostle has stated the cause of the ruin of Demas. He “loved this present world.”

How strange that when he had once loved the world to come he could ever give this world the affections of his heart. He had once loved the heavenly Jerusalem with its infinite glory. Now poor perishing earth was taken in exchange for it. How ruinous the exchange! And how could a man of the capacity of Demas make so fatal a mistake? We must remember that when faith is not in exercise, the world to come is out of sight, and the world that now is alone appears in view. What the present world has to give, is offers now. What of good things the next world offers to give must be waited for till that world comes. Demas could not wait.

4. He “loved this present world.” He did not understand that the whole tenor of the Bible is “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” 1 John 2:15. Or if he understood the real voice of God’s word on this vital point, he flattered himself that there was no need of such great strictness in the matter. Perhaps, like Solomon, he thought this a very safe precept for others to follow, but one quite unnecessary in the case of such an experienced Christian as himself.

5. Should what had the world to offer, that Demas should accept it? The apostle John has told us: “All that is in the world” is “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” 1 John 2:16. And could Demas accept of these? It appears that he did. How could he thus demean himself? It was the deceitfulness of sin that thus beguiled him into a ruinous exchange of eternal glory for a momentary enjoyment of worldly pleasure.

6. It is not possible to determine certainly which of the three kinds of sinful pleasure was sought by Demas. The lust of the flesh is the appetites and passions of the carnal mind. The world offers in many ways the gratification of these sinful propensities. The lust of the eyes is the desire for those things that make a show before men; as splendid houses, fine clothes, gay trappings, and vain ornaments. The pride of life is the honor that comes from men.

7. It is not very likely that the pursuit of worldly fame was the cause of the ruin of Demas. It may be, indeed, that he had in his heart a much stronger desire for the praise that comes from men than for the honor that comes from God. Yet we can hardly conceive that in that age of persecution, there were many honors in store for a man who had been the fellow-laborer of Paul. Nor is it very probable that the desire to possess money, lands, costly furniture, fine clothes, and whatever else can make a display before men, was the grand cause of the ruin of Demas. Wealth and honor might indeed have offered themselves to Demas, but we can hardly accept these as the most probable cause of his ruin.

8. That which John places first and foremost of the good which the present world has to offer seems to be the most probable cause of the fall of Demas. The gratification of the base appetites of the carnal mind certainly seems more likely to have been the cause of his ruin. Here Satan could approach him by imperceptible advances. Here sin could allure with its soft arts. Here he could fall under the power of the tempter, and be bound hand and foot before he was hardly aware of his being in any danger.

9. Paul kept his body under lest after he had preached to others himself should be a castaway. 1 Cor. 9:27. It is probable that Demas failed in this very thing. He allowed his animal nature to remain unsubdued, or rather he decided perhaps that so strong a Christian as himself had no need of such care as others must use. At all events the barrier which separates between virtue and ungodliness was broken down, and Demas who had set himself apart for God was now in unrestrained possession of whatever good thing the pleasures of sin can furnish.

10. It is a most humiliating confession that ministers of the gospel have shown themselves often to be men of unsanctified hearts and unsubdued passions. They have, like Demas, loved this present world because it offered immediate gratification to some wicked desire. And so the very men that have warned others of the deceitfulness of sin have shown themselves ready to fall under its power at the first attack of the enemy.

11. We may be sure that the ruin of Demas was not accomplished all at once. Far from it. This fellow-laborer of Paul had certainly long hidden sin in his heart. While Paul was agonizing to enter in at the strait gate, Demas must have been comforting his heart with the idea that he was sure of Paradise, though he suffered evil to exist in some secret acts of his life. And so when Paul had finished his course of self-denial and cross-bearing, and waited in the Roman dungeon the ax of the executioner, Demas forsook him, and not him only, but Christ also, and returned to Thessalonica, probably his own native land. How awful this spectacle! He turns his back on Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and on Christ also who had bought him with his own blood. He loses sight of the next world and grasps this as his solace and his joy. Poor infatuated Demas! He drops the substance to grasp the shadow, and he leaves a name to be a warning to Christian ministers in all coming time.

12. One grand practical lesson should be drawn from this sad apostasy. If one of the fellow-laborers of Paul, who had been honored and trusted by him, could fall into sin and make utter shipwreck of the faith, it is by no means impossible that we shall be called to witness cases of apostasy equally fatal and distressing. But let every one who fears God remember that however men may dishonore the cause of Christ, that cause is still dear and precious, and that divine Redeemer is still worthy of the best affections of our hearts. J. N. A.