Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 Timothy 4:10

"for Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia." — 2 Timothy 4:10 (ASV)

Verses 10–12 give the reasons for this: Paul was left almost alone. Demas, his trusted associate, had deserted him. During the apostle’s first Roman imprisonment, he twice mentioned Demas as one of his fellow workers (Colossians 4:14; Phm 24). Some have tried to put a good construction on the reference to Demas here, suggesting that he had gone on a missionary errand to Thessalonica. But Paul uses the same verb for “deserted” (GK 1593) as in v.16. And we are told that Demas left “because he loved this world.” He was not willing to pay the price of hardship and suffering that Paul was paying. Crescens (mentioned only here) had gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia, presumably to do missionary work. The latter place was on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, north of Macedonia.