2 Timothy 2:4
A fighting man, when he is with the army, keeps himself free from the business of this life so that he may be pleasing to him who has taken him into his army.
Bible in Basic English
In The King James Version
In Context
3Be ready to do without the comforts of life, as one of the army of Christ Jesus.
5And if a man takes part in a competition he does not get the crown if he has not kept the rules.
Cross References
Deuteronomy 20:5And let the overseers say to the people, If there is any man who has made for himself a new house and has not gone into it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not take his house for himself.
Luke 9:59And he said to another, Come after me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and give the last honours to my father.
1 Corinthians 9:25And every man who takes part in the sports has self-control in all things. Now they do it to get a crown which is of this world, but we for an eternal crown.
1 Thessalonians 2:4But even as the good news was given to us by the approval of God, so we give it out; not as pleasing men, but God by whom our hearts are tested.
2 Timothy 4:10For Demas has gone away from me, for love of this present life, and has gone to Thessalonica: Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
Matthew Henry on 2 Timothy 2:2-8
Ministerial Fortitude. ( a. d. 66.) 1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned,… Read the whole commentary →