2 Timothy 2:4

And you know that soldiers don’t get other jobs while they are in the army. They just work for their army captain and try to make him happy. Well, just like that, Jesus is your captain, so you have to just do the things that Jesus wants you to do, and don’t get mixed up with anything that he doesn’t want.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

3Remember that you belong to Jesus Christ. You are like his soldier. If soldiers get hurt, they don’t stop fighting. They just forget their pain and keep going. Well, you have to be like that now. If people see that you belong to Jesus, and then they hurt you, you just have to forget it and keep going, just like a good soldier, and like other good Christians.

5And you are also like a sportsman. You know that sportsmen have to follow the rules of their game. If they don’t, they can’t win. Well, just like that, you have to follow the rules that God set down, so that in the end God will tell you that you won.

Read all of 2 Timothy 2

Cross References

Luke 9:59And Jesus said to another man, “Come and follow me.” That man said, “All right, I will come with you. But my father has died, so let me go home to bury him. After that, I will come with you.”

1 Corinthians 9:25Those people that run in races, they control themselves and train their bodies so they can win a prize, even though that prize will only be good for a little while. But it is better for us. We control ourselves properly so that we will win a prize that will be good for ever. God will give us new life, so that we will live for ever.

1 Thessalonians 2:4No way. You see, it was God that sent us. He knew us, and he trusted us to tell people his message. So we only say what he wants us to say. We don’t try to make people happy. We only try to make God happy.

2 Timothy 4:10Almost all my friends went away to somewhere else. Demas just likes the things of this life, so he left me and went to Thessalonica. Crescens went to Galatia country, and Titus went to Dalmatia country. And I told Tikicus to go to Ephesus. Only Luke is here with me now. If Mark was here, he could help me a lot in my work, so get him and bring him with you.

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 →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 2 Timothy 2:4