ACC ~ 2 Timothy 2 v3

CALL TO MILITARY DISCIPLINE. TERTULLIAN: I am aware of the excuses by which we color our insatiable carnal appetites. Our pretexts are: the necessities of props to lean on; a house to be managed; a family to be governed; chests and keys to be guarded; the wool-spinning to be dispensed; food to be attended to; cares to be generally lessened. Of course, the houses of none but married men fare well! The families of celibates, the estates of eunuchs, the fortunes of military men or of such as travel without wives have gone to rack and ruin! For are not we, too, soldiers? Soldiers, indeed, subject to all the stricter discipline, since we are subject to so great a General? ON EXHORTATION TO CHASTITY 12.

KEEP THE FORT. ORIGEN: The true soldiers of Christ must, in every way, form a fortification for truth and nowhere permit an opening for persuasive falsehood, so far as they are able. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.32.

ENDURE HARDNESS. CHRYSOSTOM: “You therefore must endure rough times as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” … Observe the kings on earth, how great an honor it is esteemed to serve under them. If therefore the soldier of the king ought to endure hardness, not to endure hardness is not the part of any soldier. HOMILIES ON 2 TIMOTHY 4.

2 Tim