Colossians 4:7-18 - Aristarchus and Demas - Staying or Straying
Two other names that appear among the ten names in Colossians 4:7-18 are the names of Aristarchus and Demas. These men illustrate two possible responses to Christ.
Aristarchus and Demas were complete opposites. Aristarchus is a man who stayed. Demas is a man who strayed. Aristarchus stuck with Paul through some very difficult and trying times. Demas ended up deserting Paul. From the examples of these two men--one positive and the other negative—we are reminded that the Christian life is a life of perseverance. In the Scripture, the Christian life is often compared with a race. Aristarchus and Demas were both in the race, but they approached it from totally different perspectives. Aristarchus approached the Christian life as a marathon which takes patience and endurance. Demas approached the Christian life as a sprint where you run for a short distance at top speed and then stop.
Both Aristarchus and Demas were from Thessalonica in the Roman Province of Macedonia. Both probably came to profess faith in Christ during Paul’s ministry in that city. However, their futures in the faith were radically different.
- Aristarchus was a man who stayed with it. He hung in there and refused to quit even in the face of great difficulty. We first meet him in Scripture in Acts 19 where he is seized by a rioting mob in Ephesus because they recognized him as one of Paul’s companions. We know from Acts 20 that he traveled with Paul to Jerusalem where Paul was nearly torn apart by an angry mob and was saved only because the Roman soldiers stepped it. Acts 27 tells us that Aristarchus was with Paul on the journey to Rome, a journey marked by danger and shipwreck. And we see from Colossians, as Paul endured his imprisonment in Rome, Aristarchus was still faithfully by his side. The point of all that is Aristarchus stayed with Paul through some very difficult times. He did not quit. He did not get discouraged and give up. He kept on going. And the clear implication is that not only had Demas deserted Paul, he deserted the ministry.
- Demas was just the opposite. In Colossians 4:14 Paul simply mentions the name Demas in what one writer calls “a kind of eloquent silence.” It is not what Paul says about Demas which is significant. It is what he does not say. Nine of the ten people mentioned by Paul at the end of Colossians receive from the apostle some word of commendation or compliment. The single exception is Demas. Nothing is said of him. And there is a reason for that. Demas was in the process of falling away. He was about to drop out of the race and apparently Paul could see it coming...by the time Paul wrote 2 Timothy Demas had dropped out. In 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul makes this sad statement about Demas: “...for Demas, have loved this present world, has deserted me...”
Aristarchus and Demas remind us we always are faced with the choice of staying with Christ or straying from Christ.
For more detailed notes on Colossians go to http://www.larryreynolds.org-a.googlepages.com/home)
Colossians 4:7-18 - Aristarchus and Demas - Staying or Straying
Two other names that appear among the ten names in Colossians 4:7-18 are the names of Aristarchus and Demas. These men illustrate two possible responses to Christ.
Aristarchus and Demas were complete opposites. Aristarchus is a man who stayed. Demas is a man who strayed. Aristarchus stuck with Paul through some very difficult and trying times. Demas ended up deserting Paul. From the examples of these two men--one positive and the other negative—we are reminded that the Christian life is a life of perseverance. In the Scripture, the Christian life is often compared with a race. Aristarchus and Demas were both in the race, but they approached it from totally different perspectives. Aristarchus approached the Christian life as a marathon which takes patience and endurance. Demas approached the Christian life as a sprint where you run for a short distance at top speed and then stop.
Both Aristarchus and Demas were from Thessalonica in the Roman Province of Macedonia. Both probably came to profess faith in Christ during Paul’s ministry in that city. However, their futures in the faith were radically different.
- Aristarchus was a man who stayed with it. He hung in there and refused to quit even in the face of great difficulty. We first meet him in Scripture in Acts 19 where he is seized by a rioting mob in Ephesus because they recognized him as one of Paul’s companions. We know from Acts 20 that he traveled with Paul to Jerusalem where Paul was nearly torn apart by an angry mob and was saved only because the Roman soldiers stepped it. Acts 27 tells us that Aristarchus was with Paul on the journey to Rome, a journey marked by danger and shipwreck. And we see from Colossians, as Paul endured his imprisonment in Rome, Aristarchus was still faithfully by his side. The point of all that is Aristarchus stayed with Paul through some very difficult times. He did not quit. He did not get discouraged and give up. He kept on going. And the clear implication is that not only had Demas deserted Paul, he deserted the ministry.
- Demas was just the opposite. In Colossians 4:14 Paul simply mentions the name Demas in what one writer calls “a kind of eloquent silence.” It is not what Paul says about Demas which is significant. It is what he does not say. Nine of the ten people mentioned by Paul at the end of Colossians receive from the apostle some word of commendation or compliment. The single exception is Demas. Nothing is said of him. And there is a reason for that. Demas was in the process of falling away. He was about to drop out of the race and apparently Paul could see it coming...by the time Paul wrote 2 Timothy Demas had dropped out. In 2 Timothy 4:10 Paul makes this sad statement about Demas: “...for Demas, have loved this present world, has deserted me...”
Aristarchus and Demas remind us we always are faced with the choice of staying with Christ or straying from Christ.
For more detailed notes on Colossians go to http://www.larryreynolds.org-a.googlepages.com/home)
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