2 Timothy 2:3

Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

Good soldier of Christ Jesus ... As often with Paul, he used metaphor in a very selective manner, only one side of soldiering coming to view here, namely, that quality of being willing to suffer that which is bad. Paul used the soldier metaphor also in speaking of the armor of God (Ephesians 6:13f).

The affairs of this life ... All Christians inevitably find themselves, in a sense, entangled with the affairs of the present life; and, therefore, most students are willing to accept such limitations on the meaning here as were supposed by Wesley, "any more than is unavoidable,"[5] and Lipscomb, "It is not secular employment that is forbidden, but entanglement with it."[6] Certainly they go much too far who suppose that this means preachers of the gospel should not touch any kind of physical or secular work. To begin with, the injunction here is not to preachers only, but to all followers of the Lord. Besides that, Paul himself worked at tent-making in order to support himself and his companions during their missionary labors. Zerr gave the practical thought here, that "Any kind of occupation whether right or wrong in itself that prevents a disciple from doing his duty would constitute the entangling affairs mentioned in this verse."[7]

[5] John Wesley, New Testament Commentary, 2Timothy (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1976), p. 209.

[6] David Lipscomb, New Testament Commentaries, 2Timothy (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company, 1976), p. 209.

[7] E. M. Zerr, Bible Commentary, 2Timothy (Marion, Indiana: Cogdill Foundation, 1954), p. 190.