2 Timothy 4:9-15
Bring the Cloak and the Parchments
9Make every effort to come to me quickly,
10because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia.
11Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is useful to me in the ministry.
12Tychicus, however, I have sent to Ephesus.
13When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
14Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
15You too should beware of him, for he has vigorously opposed our message.
Berean Standard Bible
Paul has just written about drink offerings and a crown of righteousness. The next thing he puts on the page is a request to hurry up and come, which is what the end of a letter looks like when nearly everybody has gone.
because Demas, in his love of this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
A name, a reason and a destination, all three written down. Demas had been a colleague: he is greeted alongside Luke in Colossians and listed among the fellow workers in Philemon. Whatever happened between those letters and this one, Paul does not soften the account, does not leave the man anonymous, and does not pretend to be above minding.
Three more names follow, with three more places attached. Crescens in Galatia, Titus in Dalmatia, Tychicus sent off to Ephesus. Some of that is desertion and some of it is ordinary work, and from inside the cell the difference does not change how quiet the room is.
Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is useful to me in the ministry.
Mark is the young man Paul once thought it best not to take along, and the argument about it was sharp enough to separate him from Barnabas. Now, near the end of everything, Paul asks for him by name and calls him useful. Nothing in the letter explains what happened in between, and nobody apologizes to the reader for the gap.
bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.
A great deal of theology in this letter, and then a man asking a friend to bring the cloak he left at Troas. He wants his scrolls as well, and he is particular about which ones. Somebody who expects to be executed shortly still sends for his cloak and his parchments.
The last name is Alexander, given with his trade so Timothy will know which Alexander is meant. Paul says the man did him great harm and that the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Then he tells Timothy to be careful of him, and stops. The repaying is in the future tense and it is somebody else's work. Paul's part is to warn a younger man and leave it there.
How We Know
Two of the names here are checkable against other letters, and they cut in opposite directions. That two opposite verdicts on the same men both survive is a slight reason to think the letters were copied rather than harmonized, and no evidence at all about what became of either man.
Colossians 4:14 greets Demas alongside Luke, and Philemon 24 lists Demas among Paul's fellow workers. 2 Timothy 4:10 says Demas loved this world and deserted him. The same man, named warmly in one place and written off in another, by the same writer.
Mark runs the other way. Acts 15:38-39 has Paul thinking it best not to take Mark, because Mark had deserted them earlier, and then records that the disagreement was so sharp that Paul and Barnabas parted company. 2 Timothy 4:11 asks for Mark by name and calls him useful.
Neither letter mentions the other or explains the change in either direction. Both halves stand, and neither is withdrawn.
Questions
1 Is there a judgment you made about somebody years ago that has never been revisited? Has anything happened since that you have not taken into account?
AnswerPaul had made one about Mark. He refused to travel with him, and the argument over it split him from Barnabas. Near the end of his life he asks for Mark by name and calls him useful, and nothing in the letter explains what changed.
2 What does Paul ask for right after writing about his own death?
AnswerThat Timothy hurry and come to him. After the drink offering and the crown of righteousness, the next line on the page is please come soon, which is how a letter reads when nearly everybody has gone.
3 Demas is named, along with what he did and where he went. What does Paul not do with him?
AnswerHe does not soften it, leave him anonymous, or pretend he does not mind. Demas is greeted alongside Luke in Colossians and listed among the fellow workers in Philemon, and here he is the man who loved this world and left. Both accounts stay on the record.
4 Besides Mark, what does Paul want brought to him?
AnswerThe cloak he left with Carpus at Troas, and his scrolls, especially the parchments. The passage does not say what he wanted them for.
What This Means for Us
Paul keeps one verdict and hands the other over. Alexander did him great harm, and what Paul writes is that the Lord will repay him according to his deeds, which takes that judgment out of his hands entirely. Then, in the same short run of verses, he reverses a judgment of his own about Mark and sends for him.
Those are two different kinds of verdict. What a person finally deserves belongs to God, and Paul says so plainly rather than settling it himself. A conclusion we reached about somebody years ago, fairly, on whatever evidence we had at the time, is a different thing altogether, and it can be reopened.
So think of somebody in this house who was written off. The reasons were probably good. Ask whether the verdict is still right, or whether nobody has taken it out and looked at it since the day it was made, which is a different thing entirely and is what usually turns out to have happened. And where somebody has genuinely wronged you, Paul has already said who does the repaying.
Prayer
Father, we write people off and we file the decision and never look at it again. Thank you for a man who asked for the one he had refused. Give us the humility to reopen an old verdict, and the grace to be somebody's Mark. Amen.