Commentary - Romans 13:11-14

Bird's-eye view

In this urgent conclusion to his instructions on civic and neighborly duty, the Apostle Paul pivots from our horizontal responsibilities to the great vertical reality that frames them all: the approaching day of the Lord. He sounds an alarm clock for the Christian soul. This is no time for spiritual sluggishness or moral stupor. The logic is simple and powerful: because we know what time it is on God's prophetic clock, we must live in a certain way. The long night of this fallen age is nearly over, and the dawn of Christ's fully realized kingdom is at hand. This reality demands a radical wardrobe change. We are to strip off the filthy rags of our old life, the "deeds of darkness," which Paul specifies as sins of revelry, sensuality, and rivalry. In their place, we are to "put on" two things: the armor of light, which is our active, righteous conduct, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which is our very identity. The passage is a trumpet blast, calling us to live with eyes wide open, fully dressed and ready for the glorious day that has already begun to break.

This is not a call to retreat into a monastery, but to walk properly and honorably right here in the world, as though the full light of day were already exposing every action. It culminates in the foundational principle of Christian sanctification: to clothe ourselves with Christ so thoroughly that we leave no room, no provision, for the lusts of the flesh to maneuver. It is a call to live out our union with Christ in the most practical, moment-by-moment ways, fueled by the joyful certainty that our final salvation is drawing nearer with every passing day.

Outline

Context In Romans

After the glorious doctrinal heights of Romans 1-11, Paul, beginning in chapter 12, brings all that theology down to the pavement where we live. Having established that we are justified by faith alone and are therefore at peace with God, he now details what this new life looks like. Romans 12 deals with our service within the church and our conduct toward all men. The first part of Romans 13 addresses our submission to the civil magistrate. Paul then summarizes the law with the command to love our neighbor (13:8-10). Our passage, 13:11-14, provides the eschatological engine for all of this ethical instruction. It answers the question, "Why should we live this way, and why now?" The answer is that the end of the old age is upon us. The coming of Christ has inaugurated the final era of human history. This section, therefore, is not an afterthought but the theological foundation for the urgency of Christian obedience. It sets the stage for the discussion of Christian liberty and weaker brothers in chapter 14, reminding both the strong and the weak that they are to live not for themselves, but for the Lord who is coming soon.

Key Issues

The Daylight People

Christians are people who know what time it is. We are not like the pagans who stumble around in the dark, governed by their appetites and clueless about where history is headed. God has revealed His timeline to us. The apostle here is not giving us license to be newspaper-prophecy-chart fanatics, but rather to have a foundational, settled conviction about our place in redemptive history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the sunrise. The old covenant era, with its shadows and types, was the "night" that is now "almost gone." The day of the new covenant has dawned.

Paul is writing this during that unique transitional period, the forty years between the ascension of Christ and the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. This was the time of the "overlapping of the ages." The old world was dying, and the new world was being born. For them, "salvation" being "nearer" had a concrete, historical meaning. It meant the final vindication of the church and the judgment on apostate Israel, which would remove the Old Covenant scaffolding once and for all. For us, who live on the other side of that event, the principle remains. We live in the full daylight of the gospel, and the final consummation of that day draws nearer. This knowledge must govern everything. You don't live the same way at 10 a.m. as you do at 10 p.m. Because it is daytime, we must live like daylight people.

Verse by Verse Commentary

11 And do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.

Paul connects all his preceding ethical commands with the word "And." Our love for our neighbor, our submission to authority, our entire Christian walk is to be done in light of a crucial piece of intelligence: we know the time. This isn't about knowing the date of the second coming, but about understanding the character of the age we live in. It is the age of fulfillment. Because of this, it is high time to wake up. Spiritual drowsiness is a constant danger, but the apostle says the alarm clock is ringing. We cannot afford to be sluggish or complacent. The reason for this urgency is that our salvation is nearer. This doesn't mean our justification is incomplete, but rather that the final consummation of our salvation, our glorification and final deliverance from this world of sin, gets closer every day. For the Roman believers, this also included the historical deliverance that would come with the collapse of the old Jewish system that was persecuting them. Every day they lived was one day closer to that vindication.

12 The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Here is the great metaphor. The "night" is the pre-Messianic age of ignorance, sin, and shadow. That whole world system is in its death throes. The "day" is the age of Christ's kingdom, the era of light and truth, which was dawning. Because of this shift in ages, a shift in behavior is required. The word Therefore is pivotal. Because the day is coming, we must get dressed for the day. This involves two actions. First, we must strip off our pajamas, which are the deeds of darkness. These are the sins that thrive in the night, the things people do when they think no one is watching. Second, we must put on our day clothes. But these are not ordinary clothes; they are the armor of light. This tells us that the Christian life is not passive. We are soldiers, and the day is a time of battle. Our righteous deeds, our acts of obedience, are our weapons and our armor in this fight.

13 Let us walk properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.

Paul now specifies what these deeds of darkness look like. He calls us to "walk properly," or honorably, as people who are living in broad daylight, in full public view. He gives three pairs of related sins. First, sins of revelry: carousing and drunkenness. This refers to the wild partying, the uncontrolled indulgence that was characteristic of pagan society. Second, sins of sensuality: sexual promiscuity and sensuality. The Greek words here cover a range of sexual sin, from specific acts of immorality to a general attitude of lewdness and shameless indecency. Third, sins of rivalry: strife and jealousy. These are the sins of a contentious spirit, the constant infighting, envy, and quarreling that destroy fellowship. Notice how these sins cover the abuse of drink, the body, and our relationships. They are the uniform of the night.

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

This is the ultimate command, the positive counterpart to laying aside the deeds of darkness. It is not enough to just stop sinning. We must positively put on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is more than just putting on the armor of light; this is putting on the General himself. In our baptism, we were united to Christ, and this is the command to live out that union. We are to clothe ourselves with His character, His priorities, His righteousness. When people see us, they should see a faint resemblance to Him. The result of being clothed in Christ is that we make no provision for the flesh. The "flesh" here is our fallen human nature, with its corrupt desires. The command is to starve it. Don't plan for sin. Don't create opportunities for it. Don't leave a six-pack in the fridge if you are tempted to drunkenness. Don't browse the internet late at night if you are tempted to lust. You are to be so fully occupied with Christ that the flesh finds no foothold, no base of operations from which to launch its attacks.

Application

This passage is a bucket of cold water in the face of a sleepy church. It is easy for us to get comfortable, to forget what time it is, and to start living as though the night will never end. We begin to think that our secret sins, our little indulgences, our petty jealousies don't matter. But Paul says they are the deeds of darkness, and we are children of the day. The application for us is profoundly practical.

First, we must take sin seriously by taking off our "night clothes." We must be ruthless in identifying and casting aside the specific sins Paul lists. Are there patterns of carousing, of seeking escape in drink or entertainment? Are there compromises with sexual sin, whether in action or in thought? Is your heart consumed with strife and envy toward others? These are not small matters; they are the uniform of the enemy. Take them off.

Second, we must be intentional about putting on our "day clothes." This means actively clothing ourselves with Christ. How do we do this? We do it by immersing ourselves in His Word, so His thoughts become our thoughts. We do it through prayer, communing with Him. We do it in fellowship with His people, where we see Him embodied. We do it by consciously choosing to respond to situations as He would. This is not a mystical abstraction; it is the daily grind of discipleship.

Finally, we must adopt a wartime mentality by making no provision for the flesh. This requires strategic wisdom. You know your weaknesses. You know the situations, the websites, the relationships that provide fuel for your sin. The command is to cut the supply lines. Don't just fight the lusts; refuse to give them any rations. This is what it means to live as a daylight person, awake, alert, and dressed for battle, knowing that the morning is here and our King is coming.