John Calvin Commentary 2 Timothy 2:4

"No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier." — 2 Timothy 2:4 (ASV)

No man who warreth. He continues to use the metaphor he had borrowed from warfare. Yet, strictly speaking, he previously called Timothy “a soldier of Christ” metaphorically, but now he compares secular warfare with spiritual and Christian warfare in this sense: “The condition of military discipline is such that as soon as a soldier has enrolled himself under a general, he leaves his house and all his affairs, and thinks of nothing but war; and in the same way, so that we may be wholly devoted to Christ, we must be free from all the entanglements of this world.”

With the affairs of life. By “the affairs of life,” he means the care of managing his family and ordinary occupations, just as farmers leave their agriculture, and merchants their ships and merchandise, until they have completed the time they agreed to serve in war. We must now apply the comparison to the present subject: everyone who wishes to fight under Christ must relinquish all the hindrances and occupations of the world and devote himself unreservedly to the warfare. In short, let us remember the old proverb, Hoc age, which means that in the worship of God, we ought to give such earnest attention that nothing else occupies our thoughts and feelings. The old translation has, “No man that fights for God,” etc., but this utterly destroys Paul’s meaning.

Here Paul speaks to the pastors of the Church in the person of Timothy. The statement is general but is specially adapted to the ministers of the Word. First, let them see what things are inconsistent with their office, so that, freed from those things, they may follow Christ. Next, let them see, each for himself, what it is that draws them away from Christ, so that this heavenly General may not have less authority over us than that which a mortal man claims for himself over pagan soldiers who have enrolled under him.