Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 13:11
And that, knowing the time, that now [it is] high time to awake out of sleep: for now [is] our salvation nearer than when we believed.
11 14. Christian practice: duty enforced by the prospect of the Lord’s Return
11. And that, &c.] In this last section of the chapter, St Paul enforces all the preceding precepts (of cch. 12, 13) by the solemn assertion of the approach of the eternal Day of Resurrection and Glory. Then all that was painful in effort would be over, and the results of “patient continuance in well-doing” would be realized for ever.
Language such as that of this passage is often taken to prove that St Paul expected an imminent return of the Lord, and taught it as a revealed truth. But the prophetic part of ch. 11 is sufficient to shew that he looked for an extended future. And the expectation here expressed, as a main item of Christian truth, by this great prophet of the Gospel, has been accepted ever since by successive generations of believers as the just expression of their own attitude of hope.
It is plain that the Lord Himself both implied and sometimes distinctly foretold a long interval. See Mat 25:19.
the time ] the occasion; same word as Rom 3:26, where see note. The “occasion” is, in fact, the “last days;” the times of Messiah. (See Act 2:16-17.)
out of sleep ] The sleep of languor and forgetfulness. The Lord had used this metaphor in connexion with His Return; Mat 24:42; Mat 25:13. See elsewhere in St Paul, 1Th 5:6. Also Rev 3:3; Rev 16:15.
our salvation ] See note on “salvation,” Rom 1:16. It is here the “salvation” of resurrection-glory.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And that – The word that, in this place, is connected in signification with the word this in Rom 13:9. The meaning may be thus expressed: All the requirements of the Law toward our neighbor may be met by two things: one is Rom 13:9-10 by love; the other is Rom 13:11-14 by remembering that we are near to eternity; keeping a deep sense of this truth before the mind. This will prompt to a life of honesty, truth, and peace, and contentment, Rom 13:13. The doctrine in these verses Rom 13:11-14, therefore, is, that a deep conviction of the nearness of eternity will prompt to an upright life in the contact of man with man.
Knowing the time – Taking a proper estimate of the time. Taking just views of the shortness and the value of time; of the design for which it was given, and of the fact that it is, in regard to us, rapidly coming to a close. And still further considering, that the time in which you live is the time of the gospel, a period of light and truth, when you are particularly called on to lead holy lives, and thus to do justly to all. The previous time had been a period of ignorance and darkness, when oppression, and falsehood, and sin abounded. This, the time of the gospel, when God had made known to people his will that they should be pure.
High time – Greek, the hour.
To awake … – This is a beautiful figure. The dawn of day, the approaching light of the morning, is the time to arouse from slumber. In the darkness of night, people sleep. So says the apostle. The world has been sunk in the night of paganism and sin. At that time it was to be expected that they would sleep the sleep of spiritual death. But now the morning light of the gospel dawns. The Sun of righteousness has arisen. It is time, therefore, for people to cast off the deeds of darkness, and rise to life, and purity, and action; compare Act 17:30-31. The same idea is beautifully presented in 1Th 5:5-8. The meaning is, Hitherto we have walked in darkness and in sin. Now we walk in the light of the gospel. We know our duty. We are sure that the God of light is around us, and is a witness of all we do. We are going soon to meet him, and it becomes us to rouse, and to do those deeds, and those only, which will bear the bright shining of the light of truth, and the scrutiny of him who is light, and in whom is no darkness at all; 1Jo 1:5.
Sleep – Inactivity; insensibility to the doctrines and duties of religion. People, by nature, are active only in deeds of wickedness. In regard to religion they are insensible, and the slumbers of night are on their eyelids. Sleep is the kinsman of death, and it is the emblem of the insensibility and stupidity of sinners. The deeper the ignorance and sin, the greater is this insensibility to spiritual things, and to the duties which we owe to God and man.
For now is our salvation – The word salvation has been here variously interpreted. Some suppose that by it the apostle refers to the personal reign of Christ on the earth. (Tholuck, and the Germans generally.) Others suppose it refers to deliverance from persecutions. Others, to increased light and knowledge of the gospel, so that they could more clearly discern their duty than when they became believers. (Rosenmuller.) It probably, however, has its usual meaning here, denoting that deliverance from sin and danger which awaits Christians in heaven; and is thus equivalent to the expression, You are advancing nearer to heaven. You are hastening to the world of glory. Daily we are approaching the kingdom of light; and in prospect of that state, we ought to lay aside every sin, and live more and more in preparation for a world of light and glory.
Than when we believed – Than when we began to believe. Every day brings us nearer to a world of perfect light.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 13:11-14
And, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.
A call
I. To awake. Because–
1. It is high time.
2. The night of unbelief is past.
3. The day of salvation is at hand.
II. To duty.
1. To repentance–Put off the works of darkness.
2. To faith–Put on the armour of light.
3. To action–Walk honestly, etc.
4. To holiness–Put on Christ–the Source of new life. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Time closing in upon us
The time is short, or, as we might perhaps render it so as to give the full force of the metaphor, the time is pressed together. It is being squeezed into narrower compass, like a sponge in a strong hand. There is an old story of a prisoner in a cell with contractile walls. Day by day his space lessens–he saw the whole of that window yesterday, he sees only half of it to-day. Nearer and nearer the walls are drawn together, till they meet and crush him between them. So the walls of our home (which we have made our prison) are closing in upon us. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Knowledge of time
I. That knowledge of time which we should secure. We should know time in its–
1. Nature.
2. Use.
3. Value.
4. Management.
5. Termination.
II. The effects which it is calculated to promote.
1. Unfeigned gratitude to God.
2. Deep contrition of soul.
3. Fervent application to the throne of grace.
4. Sincere desires to live more fully unto the Lord. (Biblical Museum.)
Knowledge of time
We should know time in its–
I. Worth. Estimated at the value of–
1. Life. Time the measure of life of a being capable of thought, endowed with conscience, gifted with immortality.
2. What able to be done during its progress. Speaking of W. Wilberforce, Sir James Mackintosh said, I am full of admiration that the short period of the life of one man, well and wisely directed, can do so much and exert such influence. How precious is time! How valuable and dignified human life, which in general appears so base and miserable! Illustrate with Howard, Raikes, etc.
II. Responsibilities. Our relation to God. Knowledge of salvation. Duties in our sphere of life. Influence we exert. Ignatius when he heard the clock strike said, Now I have one hour more to account for.
III. Uncertainty. Commercial institutions and projects abundantly prove this, but he who counts on time presumes on probability that has even more impressively proved its questionableness (Jam 4:13-14).
IV. Brevity., The years of Jacob wore an hundred and thirty, yet he says, Few and evil, etc. Moses again, Like the grass, etc. When we look over the first chapters of Chronicles, to read which is like entering a great world-cemetery, how we are struck with the shortness of life at the best!
V. Powerlessness. It cannot destroy sin, or take away its guilt. It cannot act for us. It cannot destroy the soul, though it ends the life.
VI. Irrevocableness. The wave that washes at your feet may return. The waters of the river as they roll to the sea, caught up in mist, may again flow down the mountains into its channel, but an hour once gone in the roll of millenniums shall never return. We can recall a messenger, but not the last moment. One life here, only one, is given, how precious should it be! (G. McMichael, B.A.)
Time to awake
I. The exhortation. These words are appropriate to the first Sunday in the year. When the bells ring out the old year and ring in the new, they seem to chime, Now it is high time to awake out of sleep.
1. St. Paul is speaking not to those who were asleep in sin, but to active Christians. And there are few things in Scripture more striking than the remonstrances addressed to such. Ordinarily little or no account seems taken of their progress, but they are dealt with as having yet much to do. The nominal Christian ought to be much struck with this. If he who has been long labouring is thus admonished, what must be the state of those who have not yet taken the first steps in Christianity?
2. But the real Christian may also find cause for alarm, notwithstanding the promises in his favour. And when we call to mind that in the parable all the virgins, the wise as well as the foolish, slumbered, we cannot but conclude that there is no privilege to godly men of dispensing with watchfulness. It is vigilance, not indolence, to which believers are elected. The best proof that a man is not elect, is his making election his pillow, and going to sleep upon his own predestination.
3. Our text, however, may be taken in comparative sense. The righteous may not sleep as do others. Yet you may find so vast a disproportion between the energy exerted and the energy demanded, that the actual wakefulness is practical listlessness. Spiritual slumber is not necessarily the folding up of every power and faculty, but the not developing them in the necessary degree. Some energy is still torpid, some affection is still spellbound, and thus the whole man is not spiritually roused. And over and above the slumber of certain faculties, those which are awake are but half awake. Where is that struggling which would result from the combination of an eye all faith and a heart all love?
II. The motive by which St. Paul strives to stir Christians from comparative indolence–Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
1. This argument which is drawn from the greater nearness of death is not of equal urgency when applied to believer and unbeliever. In applying it to the latter, I just tell him that he has less time in which to escape, and therefore less likelihood of obtaining deliverance. He must do it before daybreak, and the night is far spent. But when I turn to the believer, there is by no means the same appearance of force in the motive. If a man be secure of salvation, to tell him that the end is at hand does not look like urging him to exertion. But here comes in that balancing of statements which is discernible through the whole of the Bible. The only Scriptural certainty that a man will be saved is the certainty that he will struggle. Struggling is incipient salvation. It is an intenser struggle which marks a fuller possession. If, then, a man would show that his salvation is nearer, he must also show that he is more wakeful, more in earnest.
2. There are two reasons why the consciousness of having less time to live should urge Christians to be increasingly earnest.
(1) There is much to strive for even if a man be secure of salvation. The degree of our happiness in the next life will be mainly determined by our attainments in holiness in this. We are here on a stage of probation, so that, having been once recovered from apostasy, we are candidates for a prize and wrestlers for a crown. Christianity does not allow the believer to imagine that everything is done when a title to the kingdom is obtained. And if one man become a ruler over ten cities, and another over five, and another over two, each receiving in exact proportion to his improvement of talents, then it is clear that our strivings will have a vast influence on our recompense. To tell the Christian, therefore, that his salvation is nearer than when he believed, is telling the wrestler that his glass is running out, and there is the garland not won; it is telling the warrior that the shadows are thickening and the victory is not complete. Is it a time to sleep when each moments slumber may take a pearl from the crown, a city from the sceptre?
(2) There remains less time in which to glorify God. If there were no connection between what we do in this life, and what we shall receive in the next, it would still be impossible for true Christians to be indolent. Forasmuch as faith makes us one with Christ, there must be community of interest. And it is a spectacle which should stir all the anxieties and sympathies of the believer–that the world which has been ransomed by Christs blood is nevertheless overspread with impiety. And over and above this dishonour to his Lord, there is the wretchedness which an ungodly race is weaving for its portion; and he cannot fail to long and to strive that he may be, in some degree, instrumental in the salvation of his fellow-men. Where, then, can you find a stronger motive to energy than is furnished by the shortness of the period during which we may resist the progress of iniquity and win souls for Christ? And what, then, is the text but an admonition that nerve and sinew, time and talent–all must be centred more fixedly than ever in the service of Christ, lest we are summoned to depart ere we have done the little which with all our strenuousness we might possibly effect for the Lord and His kingdom? (H. Melvill, B.D.)
Time to awake
I. The condition supposed. One of–
1. Insensibility.
2. Inactivity.
3. Peril.
II. The admonition given. Awake to–
1. Consideration.
2. Action.
3. Diligent effort.
III. The motives suggested.
1. It is high time.
2. The crisis draws on.
3. You know it. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
High time to awake out of sleep
I. The state from which a change is desired. Sleep describes–
1. The state of unconverted men (1Th 5:4-8; 1Co 15:34). Sleep is a season of–
(1) Forgetfulness, and men by nature are forgetful of the ends of their being, of their true character–of the awful attributes of eternity, etc.
(2) Ignorance, and the unconverted man has no discernment as to spiritual things.
(3) Insensibility, and the natural man is unalarmed and secure amidst all the danger by which he is surrounded. A man may be awake as to all the things of time, and asleep as to all the concerns of eternity.
2. Of many who have made a profession of the gospel and felt its power. Once they were roused from the slumbers of spiritual death, but they are gone back. Their strong impressions have subsided, their souls have left their first love; they did run well, but they have been hindered. In the world there is a constant influence to produce this stupor. Worldly business, pleasure, honour and applause, become the means of bringing us into a state of declension. How dreadful when the child of the day thus goes back into darkness, and stretches out his form, asking for a little more sleep and a little more slumber!
II. The nature of the change by which this state is to be reversed.
1. It is a change which produces a complete reverse. It is awaking out of sleep. This change is called a being turned from darkness to light–a being quickened–becoming children of the light and of the day, etc. The expression signifies that the understanding receives a full impression of the reality of the world to come. The man acts as though he believed that the true end of life is to glorify God; and hence he seeks to obtain a change of heart and life–cultivates holy principles, practises holy actions, and has respect in all things to the recompense of the reward.
2. The only way by which this change can be effected is by the powerful operation of the Spirit on the mind. The slumber is so potent that none but He can awake from it. The anodyne is so powerful that none but the great Physician can apply a suitable remedy. Where He is not, there is dark midnight, or the light only of a phantom, or the pale beams of the moon shining upon snow, displaying the very dreariness and barrenness of nature!
3. Yet human instruments are employed. Those who are awakened to the sense of the danger of their fellow-men are sent out by God to awaken others.
III. The motives which should induce you to awake.
1. Enough of your time has passed in an unaroused, unawakened state already.
2. The difficulty of awakening grows with the progress of delay. The sleep of the body, indeed, becomes lighter as we approach the morning season. But this slumber becomes deeper and heavier, till the individual sleeps the sleep of death. Every time you hear in vain, you grow more sleepy, and the preachers voice becomes only as so much music to lull you. You have so long listened to the rolling of the thunder that your ears are now deaf to its sound. The Cross has so frequently been presented to you that its brightness has no longer any attraction.
3. The uncertainty and speedy termination of life. Who is there that knows how long he has to live? Can any of you say, Go thy way for this time; when it is more convenient, I will attend to these things? You know not that you will live till to-morrow. (J. Parsons.)
High time to awake
I. There is sometimes a tendency in Christians to sleep. How many settle down into dreamy stationariness. This state–
1. Follows upon the religious life losing its first freshness and novelty.
2. Is induced by a false conception of the atonement and the nature of salvation. Men have been taught to consider salvation bestowed in its completeness upon believing that Christ is the sacrifice for the worlds sin, and all that thereafter remains is heaven; whereas salvation simply begins then–nothing more.
3. Is encouraged by the worldly maxims and excitements, the spirit of mammonism, amidst which so many live. God and duty, and all spiritual realities seem often to fade away into mere phantoms in the clash and hurry of commerce. That only seems real which is visible and present. And the result is that the soul passes by almost imperceptible degrees into a state of moral slumber.
4. Comes through the growth of some moral weakness or sinful habit–covetousness, love of pleasure, passionateness–that has not been controlled or weeded out of the character at the beginning of the new life; or through the influence of companions of a worldly type; or from the mind becoming unsettled on some of the questions of theology and Biblical criticism. Many a man, tossed on a sea of doubt and uncertainty concerning creeds and theological systems, gradually loses his former spiritual intensity, and languidly suffers the work of salvation to remain stationary.
II. As a corrective of inaction and torpor, and to inspire once more with Holy enterprise any who sleep, there is a twofold incentive.
1. Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. This points to–
(1) The fact of the Christian life having been begun. It is a great point gained to have made a definite beginning in a good work. After the first few stages there begins to be accumulated a fund of experience; the sense of strangeness goes, and the faculties begin to adapt themselves to the new mode of life, and the man soon begins to have a foretaste of some of the fruits of his labour. Past conquests lend a power for future triumphs. Attainment facilitates yet further attainment.
(2) The grand revelations of the other life, which are fast approaching. But the measure of every ones heaven hereafter depends upon the spiritual meetness which has been developed in him here. And the time that remains to any of us for casting off the works of darkness and putting on the armour of light is ceaselessly gliding away, whether we use it or no. The opportunities with which each year comes laden go into the grave of the past with it. The portals of the future are coming fast into sight, and soon they will open for you to pass through. There is no time to waste in dreamy indolence.
2. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. The present life is a time of shadow and obscurity. Purposes, duties, attainments, are often misinterpreted, and mis-valued. Now, in passing into the future we pass into the day. That is a world of light in which we shall both know ourselves and be known as we really are. Therefore, be ready for the time of revelation. Awake! put off the works of darkness; put on the armour of light. Each fresh day should see us awake and diligent. For the most Christ-like is never enough like Christ. (T. Hammond.)
Wake up! Wake Up!
I. Some professing Christians seem to be asleep with regard to others. Paul has been bidding us to pay attention to relative duties, and exhorting us to keep the law of love, which is the essence of law; and now he interjects this sentence. So he means that many Christians are in a sleepy state with reference to their obligations to others. True godliness makes a man look to himself, and feel his personal obligations and responsibilities. But there is a danger lest a man should say, Other people must see to themselves, and I must see to myself. The principle of individuality might be thus pushed to an unwarrantable extreme. No man can compass the ends of life by drawing a little line around himself upon the ground. There are outgoing lines of life that bind us not only with some men, but, in fact, with all humanity. We are placed, therefore, in a most solemn position; and it is with regard to this that it is high time that we should awake out of sleep.
1. Into what a deep slumber some professing Christians have fallen! How utterly insensible they are to the sins and sorrows of those around them. They say, What is to be will be, and the Lords purpose will be fulfilled; there will be some saved and others lost, as coolly as if they were talking of a wasps nest. As for those that are lost! They dare not injure their logic by indulging a little mournful emotion.
2. Others are prone to be overtaken with an oft-recurring sleep. I know a brother who often takes forty winks in the day-time: you may nudge him, and he will wake and listen to you, but he goes to sleep again in a few minutes if you let him alone. Who can blame the sleeper when it is a question of infirmity or sheer exhaustion? Well, without blaming any for the weakness of the flesh, I take this sleepy habit to be a fit illustration of the state of some Christians. They have fits and starts of wakefulness, and then off to sleep again. At that missionary meeting you woke up when you heard the cry of the perishing heathen; but have you cared much about China or India since then? You do at times get on fire with love for souls, but then after the sermon, or the week of special services has ended, you go to sleep again. Many Sunday-school teachers there are of that kind.
3. Others fall into a kind of somnambulistic state. If we judged them by their outward actions we should think they were wide awake, and they do what they do very well. Persons walk along giddy heights safely enough when fast asleep, where they would not venture when wide awake. And we have known professors going on very carefully, exactly where others have fallen, and have attributed it to the grace of God, whereas in part it has been attributable to the fact that they were spiritually asleep. It is possible to appear very devout, to sing hymns, to hear sermons, to teach in the Sunday School, to pay your religious contributions punctually, maintain the habit of prayer, and yet you may be a somnambulist.
4. A very large number of us are half asleep.
II. It is high time that they should awake. And why? Because–
1. What right have believers to be asleep at all? The Lord has saved us from the sleep which is the first cousin to death–from indifference, unbelief, hardheartedness.
2. A great many opportunities have already slipped away. You who have been converted, say these ten years, what have you done for Christ? You have been eating the fat and drinking the sweet, but have you fed the hungry? If you have been saved a week, and you have done nothing for Christ during that week, you have already wasted more than enough.
3. There were so many people that had a claim upon us, who are beyond our power now, even if we do wake! Have you ever felt the sadness of neglecting to visit a person who was ill until you heard that he was dead? Many are passing away from us and from the sphere of our influence. Your children, for instance. Parents, avail yourselves of your opportunities.
4. We have plenty of enemies that are awake if we are not. Protestantism may slumber, but Jesuitism never does. The prince of the power of the air keeps his servants well up to their work.
5. It is daylight. The sun has risen. We are getting far into the gospel dispensation. Can you sleep still?
6. Our Lord was awake. How did His eyes stream with tears over perishing Jerusalem! The zeal of Gods house consumed Him. Ought it not to consume us?
7. Our own day may be over within an hour or two. The preacher may be delivering his last sermon. You may go home to-night to offer the last prayer at the family altar which you will ever utter on earth. You may open shop to-morrow morning for the last time.
III. There is something worth waking for. Paul does not say, If you do not wake you will be lost. He speaks in a gospel tone, Now is your salvation nearer than when you believed.
1. It is nearer in order of time. How long is it since you believed? Ten years? You are ten years nearer heaven, then. Ought we not to be more awake? The farther we are off from heaven, the less we may feel its influence. Some of you are sixty years nearer to heaven than you were. Would you like to live those sixty years over again? Would you like to go back and clamber again the Hill Difficulty, and slide down again into the Valley of Humiliation, etc.? Rejoice that you are so much nearer heaven. Therefore, keep wide awake, and looking out for it.
2. In point of preparation. If we are getting more ready for heaven, we ought to be more awake, for sleepiness is not the state of heavenly spirits. If thou art more fit for heaven thou hast more love, more pity; then reach out both hands to bring another poor soul to Christ.
3. In point of clearness of realisation. If I can realise that in so short a time my eternal salvation shall be consummated, I cannot any longer neglect a single opportunity of serving my Master. Conclusion: Oh, ye unconverted men, must I read the text as it would have to run if it were written to yon? It is high time that you should awake out of sleep, for now is your damnation nearer than when you first heard the gospel and rejected it. God grant you grace to take heed and to believe in Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The wakeful Christian
I. The sleep. Sleep is a state which can only be declared of Christians. The unconverted are dead, and require not an awakening, but a resurrection. What does this injunction betoken? A state of–
1. Spiritual apathy. Sleep implies unconsciousness. There may be sublimities around the sleeper, but he sees them not; harmonies, but he hears them not; dangers, but he feels them not. So when Christians are asleep they are reduced to a state in which the religious senses are untouched.
2. Religious inactivity. There is a spot in the Atlantic called the Saragossa Sea, which is subject to long calms, and is covered with a thick, entangling seaweed; and nothing of all he has to encounter on the wide ocean fills the experienced mariner with more genuine dread than to be caught in the meshes of this region of dead calm and entangling weeds. The religious life has its Saragossa Sea, in which individuals and Churches too often lie becalmed and entangled in the weeds of conventional habits and formalism.
3. Dalliance with sin. The context shows a sad state of things, the reason for which was the recent conversion of the Roman Christians from heathenism, or the prevalence of Antinomianism. And while there is not now the same excess of riot, still there is considerable proneness to conform to the customs of irreligious people in pleasure.
II. The call to awake. This state of wakefulness is a condition the very opposite of the sleep referred to. It means, therefore–
1. Deep, intense religious consciousness.
2. Active, self-denying labour.
3. The mortifying of the flesh, and a clear, unmistakable protest against the evil ways of the world.
III. The reasons for wakefulness.
1. The nature of the Christian profession. Let us put on the armour of light. Here the Christian is presented to us as a soldier. One of the duties of his life, therefore, is to fight. A work demanding real, earnest care and watchfulness, and calculated to draw forth our utmost energies. A drowsy soldier is a contradiction. It follows, then, from this symbol, that the Christian should not be asleep. We are now in the midst of the fray; let us, then, be awake, putting on the armour of light, which alone will secure us the victory in the conflict with darkness.
2. The closeness of the end. For now is our salvation nearer, etc. As the days slip from our grasp, each remaining moment should become more intensely precious to us.
3. The character of the times. Knowing the time. Never did any age since the establishment of Christianity possess such claims upon the earnest, sober attention of the Church as the present. Our age is one eminent for–
(1) Its secular activities in the direction of commerce, science, and education. Shall the Church alone remain quiescent in the midst of this torrent of activity? It is here, as it often is with travellers by train, which, by its very swiftness, lulls to sleep, but as it slackens speed the sleeper wakens up and looks around. So the rate at which the train of secular pursuits hurries Christians along and lulls them into a state of obliviousness of spiritual things. Let us be as intrepid in the things of God as we are in those of our own.
(2) Its activity in the dissemination of error. The two grand errors of the age are priestism and scepticism–twin sisters, though not on very amicable terms with each other.
(3) Its abounding wickedness. Here, then, is a powerful reason for wakefulness. A living Church is the grand antidote to all the evils incidental to our civilisation. It is its duty pre-eminently to seek to leaven this civilisation. (A. J. Parry.)
The sleeper aroused
I. The sinners sleep. A state of–
1. Forgetfulness.
2. Misapprehension.
3. Fancied security.
4. Fleshly delight.
II. The exhortation. It implies–
1. An altered view of things.
2. Voluntary effort.
3. Energy.
4. Compliance with terms.
III. The reason.
1. Life is fleeting.
2. Judgment is near.
3. God is calling. (W. W. Wythe.)
Sleep
And as it was with Jonah, so it is now with many a soul. In the midst of the waves and storms of life, with only a short step between them and the world to come, they are sleeping. They are wide awake as far as their temporal needs and pleasures are concerned, but they are asleep to all spiritual interests. When we are asleep we are–
I. In darkness. The fairest sights may be around us, but, so long as we are asleep, for us they do not exist. And so it is, sometimes, in spiritual sleep. This world in which we live is instinct with the life of God. There is not a hill or valley, a wind or storm, a bird or beast, a leaf or flower, but has something to say to us of God. And yet there are some who say, There is no God: they are sleeping the death of infidelity. Now, though it is not probable that any of you are sleeping this sleep of darkness, yet drowsiness generally comes before sleep. Take care, then, you do not give way to the drowsiness that precedes the slumber of infidelity. Do not encourage infidel thoughts. Beware of the beginnings of doubts. As often as doubt assails you, fly in prayer to God for the strengthening of your faith.
II. Doing nothing. A sleeping man is no better than a dead man, so far as present action is concerned. And if the souls activity is intercourse with God, and work for God, is not that soul asleep that does not care to speak to God, to work for God? Is it not wonderful that God bears with our indifference? He is not indifferent towards us. Shall we, then, dare any longer to sleep away our lives in inactivity?
III. Sometimes dream, and then we live amidst fancy forms. And it is possible to sleep spiritually the sleep of delusion.
1. Formalism is the sleep of delusion. If we fancy that by the punctual performance of the outward duties of religion we can save our souls, one day we shall wake up to find ourselves the victims of a delusion. There is only One who can save us–Christ; and unless we take Him to be our Saviour, Church ordinances avail us nothing.
2. Self righteousness is the sleep of delusion. How many fancy that it must be well with them, because once they were converted. To rely on anything short of present perseverance along the road which God has pointed out to us, is to trust to a delusion.
IV. Sometimes people are put to sleep, by means of some drug. This sleep, however, has not the restfulness of natural sleep. And it is possible to drug the soul to seeming sleep by deliberate perseverance in any known sin. The conscience becomes hardened, and all for a time seems peace. But it is not true peace. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (J. Beeby.)
The peril of sleep
A short time ago a locomotive engine was speeding along the NorthWest line, whilst the two men who were in it lay fast asleep. A sharp-eyed signalman, from his look-out, was alert enough to see how matters stood, and without a moments delay telegraphed in advance to lay a fog-signal on the line, that the detonation might rouse the sleepers. Happily, it was done in time; and startled from what might have been a fatal slumber, the men shut off steam, reversed the engine, and averted a terrible calamity. It is no breach of charity to suspect that some of you are hasting on to destruction, but know it not, for your conscience is asleep; and I would lay a fog-signal on the line that, ere you pass another mile, the crashing sound may rouse you to your danger, as you hear the voice of eternal truth declaring, If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die! (T. Davidson.)
Beware of sleeping
John Bunyan tells us that when Hopeful came to a certain country, he began to be very dull and heavy of sleep. Wherefore he said, Let us lie down here and take one nap. By no means, said the other, lest sleeping, we wake no more. Why, my brother? Sleep is sweet to the labouring man; we may be refreshed if we take a nap. Do you not remember, said the other, that one of the shepherds bid us beware of the Enchanted Ground? He meant by that, that we should beware of sleeping. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. Slumbering and backsliding are closely allied.
The breaking day admonishes us–
1. To awake from sleep.
2. To contemplate the Sun of salvation.
3. To cleanse ourselves from the works of darkness.
4. To put on the clothing of light.
5. To betake ourselves to diligence and duty. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The dawn of the great day
St. Paul is here the watchman of the Church. Standing between night and day, he proclaims the time, and announces the end of darkness and the approach of light. His appeal regards the Church as being in a midway state between perfect night and perfect day. The words pilgrims of the dawn borrowed from St. Peter help us to understand Paul. Let us trace the effect of this keynote in the interpretation of the passage. The dawn proclaims the end of night; it is only the mingling of darkness and light; but it is the sure promise of a day that must reach its perfection, and upon which the shadows of evening shall never fall.
I. Knowing the time.
1. The word carries us back to our Lords proclamation of the hour when the night of death that had rested on mankind had ended, and the light cf eternal life began (Joh 5:25). Doubtless the darkness that preceded Christs advent was not perfect night. In the deepest midnight of heathenism some rays of truth and virtue struggled with the darkness, and over one favoured land the moon and the stars shone brightly. The earlier revelation was a light shining in a dark place until the day should dawn. But Christ was Himself the dawn and the morning star of His own coming day. And this day–the new era–is the time Christians know.
2. Knowing the time means experimental acquaintance with its privileges and responsibilities. This knowledge is attained (Eph 5:14) when the Great Awakener pours the light of conviction into the chambers where sinners sleep the sleep of death, and gives them the light of life.
(1) They sleep no more. They have been plunged into the waters of spiritual baptism which has awakened and invigorated them to the utmost, and there is an expectation in the morning air that keeps every thought alert, and inspires activity–viz., of Him who shall come in the broadening day.
(2) The guilty wakefulness of the night is also past. The morning reveals the hidden things of night and makes them hateful. They have cast off the works of darkness, detesting the habiliments of night in which they slept and sinned.
3. So far we have caught the appeal as expressing complete severance between night and day. The light is divided from the darkness absolutely. In the New Testament two states, and only two, are distinguished:there are children of night and children of the day. But the peculiarity of this passage is that it gives prominence to a certain interval of transition, which reality requires and the Scripture never denies. The Christian state is at the best, in many respects, no better than the dawn.
II. The night is only far spent and the day only at hand.
1. It might be supposed from the watchmans cry that the whole band were slumbering, or at least only half awake. But the language is only general to find out the individual. There is from age to age a faithful succession of watchers and holy ones, and when the Bridegroom shall approach all will be wakeful enough; but till then the pilgrim company shall never lack those who move like men that dream. And it is the duty of all who know the time to echo the apostles cry. And here is the everlasting argument, It is high time walk honestly as in the day.
2. There is danger inseparable from the dawn. And when the apostle says, Put on the armour of light, he suggests the whole mystery of evil that wars against the pilgrims of the dawn. The powers of darkness are awakened into more malignant activity by the morning light. Never did they so furiously rage as they did around Him who ended their reign. But He did not banish them, and so they haunt the travellers. They cannot retard the day, but they make its progress a perpetual contest, so unlike the progress of the natural day in which dawn glows into morning, and morning melts into midday, etc. Here the victory is the result of a desperate and unremitting warfare. That victory will be the perfect light of holiness; the armour that insures the victory is light.
3. It is characteristic of this midway state that the salvation,of the Christian company is regarded as incomplete. The perfect day will bring a full salvation, but that is only nearer than when we believed. The Church is only in the dawn of the day of redemption. That day will be perfect when Christ shall come without sin unto salvation.
III. The dawn is the promise of the coming day.
1. Knowing the time. The Church is appealed to as exercising a firm faith in the gradual consummation of the dawn into day. The words remind these early travellers of the great secret that the Lord is at hand, bringing with Him all that their hope can conceive. But His coming will be to His Church the regular and peaceful consummation of a day already begun. To the ungodly a catastrophe, to slumbering Christians a sore amazement, it will be to those who wait for His appearing what day is to the traveller who waits for the morning.
2. But knowing the time does not signify any precise knowledge of its future limits. We are shut up to faith, which must in all things rule until the vision of Christ shall begin the reign of sight. All things continue as they were is the cry of unbelief. Lo here is the promise of His coming, or lo there is the cry of impatient credulity. But simple faith waits on in hope that makes no calculation. Our Lord may brighten any hour–from cock-crowing to the third hour and the sixth–into perfect day.
3. This being the common prospect it is not wonderful that the Christian state is that of joyful hope. Nothing is more beautiful and more symbolical of eager expectation than the dawn. True the individual Christian has cares, conflicts, fears to moderate his joy. But he is to look over all these lower glooms to the brighter horizon into which these things merge. He must lose his particular sorrow in the general joy. He is one of the company that shall receive the Lord.
4. But the apostle reserves for the last his solemn exhortation to prepare. The day is at hand, and the pilgrims are bidden to anticipate it in the holy decorum of their lives, and to be clothed with the only garment worthy of the day, Christ Himself. (W. B. Pope, D.D.)
Desidia and Alacritas
It is a merciful arrangement that we live by days, and are able to begin afresh every twenty-four hours. The Christian life is an awaking–a dressing; and each mornings waking and dressing may recall to us its nature. Look at these verses carefully and you will see the writers meaning, though, with a true delicacy, he only hints at it. When we rise from our beds we are dishevelled, unpresentable: we cannot get about the duties of the day until we have put off the dress of the night, until we have washed and combed ourselves, and put on a more suitable attire. Thus there is a surprising difference, in any nice and well-regulated person, between the night and the day appearance. The word honestly should rather be decently, for it just expresses this difference. Here are certain specimen words which describe that nocturnal condition of the soul. The question hits us hard when we attempt to interpret them fairly. First, revellings and drunkenness. This is not the boozing of the poor, who drink to forget their poverty and benumb their pain. It is the self-indulgence of the well-to-do, of good food, the hours spent over the pot or the decanter. It is the unhealthy occupation with gaieties which prevent us from putting on Christ Jesus. Then chamberings and wantonness. These are the thoughts of our chambers, the wanton imagination on our beds, the loose fancies, the rein flung on the neck of passion. They are more important to mention than the overt acts of vice, for they are the letting-out of waters. Given these, the rest will follow. These are the provision of the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof; they are the steps down to the gates of death. The last pair, strife and jealousy, are as fatal to the reclothing in the Divine garment, Christ Jesus–as truly the unseemly dress of the night–as those more scandalous faults which are called vices. These are poisons at the springs of life. They prohibit the indwelling of the Spirit. These three couplets of evil are but specimen-words–evil is manifold, ubiquitous–but they help us to answer the question, Have we put off this garment spotted by the flesh? It was this searching passage that proved the turning-point in the life of Augustine. By the grace of God it may fetch any of us off our unhallowed couch and clothe us in the raiment of the day. It was at Milan where the troubled spirit had come to seek help of the saintly Ambrose. He was with the brother Alypius in the garden. They had been reading the Epistles of Paul. Augustine rose in agitation and paced up and down, when he heard a clear childs voice singing from a house in the vicinity, Take and read, take and read. As if commanded from heaven he hastened back to the seat, and took up the book which they had been reading together. There was this verse staring him in the face. The Latin is Not in feasts and tipplings, not in chambers and immodesties, not in contention and emulation; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not make provision for the flesh in concupiscence. The entrance of the Word gave light. Presently, Alypius brought Augustine to Monica to tell her that the mothers prayer was answered. But assuming that we are in the great cardinal sense awakened and reclothed, still there remains the daily renewal of it, the parable of our diurnal round. Christ is a perfect garment, but it is necessary to put Him on afresh, readjust, and with loving care fit Him on, as the mornings come round. But I can tell you better about this if I draw the portraits of two friends of mine. Their names are Desidia and Alacritas. The one dreams she is awake; the other is awake. Desidia is not at all uncomely, but for a certain lethargic look in her eye and a drag in her gait. She begins the day with a very ample attention to her person. The time she spends on her hair-dressing and her toilet would make three of her devotions, Sundays included. And her heart is in it, which I can hardly say about her devotions. Desidia has nothing particular to do, which is fortunate, for she never has time to do anything. I asked her once to undertake some work for her Saviour, which she refused so flatly that I ventured to inquire if He were her Saviour. Alacritas, on the other hand, always fills me with admiration; and I would gladly change my sex to be like her. She is never in a hurry, and yet is always moving. She has so much merriment and gaiety of heart, that grave, religious folk at first take exception to her, and question whether a true Christian could ever have so exchanged the spirit of heaviness for the garment of praise. But I chance to know that this sunshine comes from prayer, and it is like a good medicine in the house. I should have thought it would take twice as long to get oneself up so charmingly as Alacritas does, I mean as compared with the artificial fripperies of Desidia. Yet Alacritas gets a good hour for prayer before breakfast; she does a great deal of household work, she visits the poor, and her needle is busy for them; she never seems to miss a service at the church. And yet she reads more good literature in a month than Desidia does in a year. Desidia and others of her family pity Alacritas because she has little or nothing to do with plays and dances. How dull it must he for her, they say! (R. F. Horton, D.D.)
Dressing in the morning
It is a great mistake for a man not to know the times in which he lives, and how to act in them; and when he does not know the time as to the day of his own life, so as to apply his heart unto wisdom. What is the time of day with the Christian? It is no longer the dead of the night, the day is at hand. A little while ago the dense darkness of ignorance was about us; but the gospel has made us light in the Lord. The day-star is shining upon us, and we look for a perfect day. It is not as yet full day with us. The sun has risen, but it is not yet noon. Note–
I. The morning call.
1. Awake–It is high time to awake out of sleep.
(1) Arise from the sleep of inaction. Do not let your religion consist in receiving all and doing nothing.
(2) Leave also all lethargy behind you. At night a man may yawn and stretch himself; but when the morning comes he should be brisk, for the day will be none too long.
(3) Have done with dreaming. You who are not of the night must not dote on the worlds shadows, but look for eternal realities.
2. Cast off your night clothes. Cast off the works of darkness. The man who is just awakened shakes off his bed clothes and leaves them. The coverlet of night is not our covering by day. Sins and follies are to be cast off when we put on the garments of light. I have known a man profess to be converted, but he has merely put religion over his old character. This will never do: Christ has not come to save you in but from your sins.
3. Put on your morning dress. Let us put on the armour of light. Does not this warn us that a day of battle is coming? Be wise, then, and dress according to what you will meet with during the day. Young converts think that they have got to heaven, or very near it; but the time is not yet. You are in an enemys country: put on the armour of light. Perhaps before you get down to breakfast an arrow wilt be shot at you by the great enemy. Your foes may be found in your own household, and they may wound you at your own table. The Greek word, however, may be understood to signify not only armour, but such garments as are fitted and suitable for the days work. These should be put on at once, and our soul should be dressed for service. Some people are too fine to do real service for the Lord. When the Duke of Wellington asked one of our soldiers how he would like to be dressed if he had to fight the battle of Waterloo again, he answered that he should like to be in his shirt sleeves.
4. Walk forth and behave as in the light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day, let our demeanour be such as becomes daylight. How should a child of light conduct himself? Honestly may mean decently, with decorum and dignity. In the middle of the night, if you have to go about the house, you are not particular as to how you are dressed; but you do not go out to your business slip-shod, but arrayed according to your station. Let it be so with you spiritually: holiness is the highest decency, the most becoming apparel.
5. Renounce the deeds of darkness. If we have put on the garments of light, it behoves us to have done with the things that belong to the night.
(1) Sensuality, rioting and drunkenness. If a drinking bout is held it is usually at night.
(2) Impurity, not in chambering and wantonness. It is an awful thing when a man calls himself by the name of Christian, and yet can be unchaste in conversation, lascivious in spirit, wicked in life.
(3) Passion, strife and envying. Brawls are for the night.
II. The morning gospel. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ there is–
1. Covering for nakedness. There is in Him a complete and suitable apparel for thy soul, by which every blemish and defilement shall be put out of sight.
2. A garment suitable for everyday work. All the power to be holy, forgiving, heroic, enthusiastic in the service of God, comes through Christ when we are in Him.
3. Apparel for dignity. God Himself asks no purer or more acceptable array. A seraph wears nothing but created brightness, but a child of God clothed in Christ wears uncreated splendour.
4. Armour for defence. The man that lives as Christ would live, is thereby made impervious to the shafts of the enemy.
5. Raiment for all emergencies. This garment will never wax old; it will last you all the desert through, and what is more, it is suitable for Canaan, and you shall keep it on forever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Present and future
I. Present state. Let us think how matters stand, and mend our ways.
1. We have time, i.e., season; a particular opportunity for preparation. Time is a wonderful idea. Compared with eternity it is but a speck in the heavens, a grain of sand on the shore, and yet it has given birth to creation, and its cycles have brought wondrous revelations. The battlefield of good and evil is here. Time reached its majority when the fulness of time came. Millions of money for an inch of time, cried Queen Elizabeth on her death-bed. The bid was too low. Like Cassandra, there was a warning in the voice. The woman in despair of her soul said, Call back time again, then there may be a hope for me: but time is gone for ever! Take time by the forelock.
2. We are too indifferent to the value of time. We turn the day into night by our inactivity, and we sleep when we ought to work. The night means our indifference to the illumination of the Word and Spirit. We see darkly through a glass. When the final day breaks, we shall wonder at the beauties we might have seen before. The boy who was born blind was cured. Some time after the operation he was led out of the dark room, and the shade lifted. He exclaimed, Why didnt you tell me that the earth was so beautiful? When we see Jesus as He is, we shall put some such question. Sleep indicates inactivity to make our election sure. We are like somnambulists, walking among great realities without knowing it.
3. Nevertheless there are hopeful signs. Two words are used in contrast to the above–believed and nearer. There is faith, we have believed in Jesus. By prayer we have advanced some steps. Columbus and his men smelled the breeze before they saw the land. We have a good hope through grace.
II. Future expectation. That is the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1. Freedom from sin.
2. Beyond care and anxiety. Providence to-day has its dark days, but there perpetual light. No tears shall be shed, for no sorrow shall be felt.
3. In possession of immortality. Away with carelessness, and let us be earnest–Work, for the night is coming, etc. (Weekly Pulpit.)
Preparation for Christs coming
I. A solemn responsibility. Knowing the time. Ignorance is a cause of sin, and is sometimes a just excuse for it. A blind man may fall into a pit; a sleeper cannot be blamed for his sleep. But it is different with these spiritual slumberers. The watchmans cry resounds (1Th 5:1-6). Taught from earliest infancy, instructed in schools, with Gods Word open and preached, what can we urge as an excuse for indifference?
II. A condition of danger. It is high time to awake out of sleep. This sleep–
1. Is an infatuation of Satan. He lulls the soul into false security.
2. Comes from the weakness of our nature. Persons in bad health often sleep much.
3. Arises from our own sloth. Like a person sleeping in a house on fire, unless the deadly charm is broken, we must be consumed.
III. An urgent duty. To awake out of sleep. The cry of the gospel trumpet is Awake! As the captain said to Jonah, What meanest thou, O sleeper? so the Holy Spirit says to the sinner. We have here–
1. Life depending on exertion. How many a man has saved his life, home, reputation, by energy! It is so with eternal life.
2. Exertion depending on self-determination. It is for us to wake, and to do so demands an effort.
IV. A solemn motive. Now is our salvation nearer. This may mean–
1. The advance toward final consummation. Every moment brings us closer to the approach of judgment–that day which to the believer is the day of salvation. Each throb of the heart and each beat of the pulse is the requiem of a departed moment.
2. The accumulation of privileges. When the apostle wrote, the good news had advanced. It was easier to awake and believe. And if religion had advanced in those early days, what is it now? Surely, salvation is nearer now; it is about us, in our midst. Will you not awake and enter into the glorious rest of the Son of God? (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The earthly and the heavenly state of the good
I. There is a vast contrast between the two.
1. Here salvation is in process, there in perfection. Now is salvation nearer.
2. Here existence, is night, there day. Life before death is night, suggestive of imperceptibility. The Christian sees through a glass darkly now. His life after death is day. Death opens the eyes on a bright universe.
II. The earthly state is rapidly expiring, the heavenly is about to dawn. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Whilst this is true, even of the youngest Christian, it is pre-eminently true of those who are far advanced in life.
III. The expiring of the earthly, and the approach of the heavenly, are powerful argument for spiritual earnestness. Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.
1. The work we have to do is most urgent.
(1) The renunciation of all evil. Cast off the works of darkness. Ignorance, crime, etc.
(2) The adoption of all good. Put on the armour of light (Eph 6:2-17).
2. The time for accomplishing it is rapidly contracting. Let us awake therefore. The lost years of your existence, the interests of truth, the value of souls calls on you to awake. Sleep not on the shore while the mighty billows of eternity are approaching. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The need of special exertion
Consider–
1. The time.
2. Its claims.
3. Its duties.
4. Its incitements. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Sleeping Christians
I have lately read in the newspaper–I am sure I do not know whether to believe that it is true–an account of a youth in France, twenty years of age, who has been lying sleeping for a fortnight, nourished only upon a little gruel given with a spoon, and that he was in the same state a year ago for nearly a month. Whether this has actually occurred to anybody or not, I have known many cases of Christians who have laid like that spiritually. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The nearness of salvation a motive to vigilance
It is a charge which has been sometimes brought against religion that it cherishes an indolent spirit, and that the assurance of salvation which it gives tends to make men careless about further attainments in excellence. Accusations of this nature are easily repelled by exhibiting the spirit of the gospel, which is a spirit of active goodness, by a reference to many of its precepts, and by detailing the strenuous efforts of its genuine disciples to go on to perfection.
I. Let us attend to the view here given of the privilege of good men–Now is their salvation nearer than when they believed.
1. This expression intimates that, in the day of believing, the souls connection with salvation commences. It is at that happy season that a man is brought from a state of condemnation into a state of acceptance, and that a principle of holiness is implanted in the soul. Then the man begins that course which terminates in everlasting life. The distance between faith and complete salvation has been in some instances short. Quickly has the perfection of glory followed the formation of grace, but in other cases there are many years betwixt them. It belongs to Him to regulate this who is the Author and the Finisher of faith.
2. It is intimated that at death the believers salvation is completed.
3. Christians advanced in life are warranted to conclude that their salvation is very near. How happily is this consideration adapted to lighten the infirmities of old age! Lift up your heads with joy, for your redemption draweth nigh.
II. Let us attend to the view which is here given of the duty required of them.
1. It intimates that saints sometimes fall into a state of indolence and carelessness. How cold and stupid are the hearts of saints in such circumstances when they engage in prayer!
2. The text intimates that Christians ought to rouse themselves up to vigilance and activity. Meditation, casual and unsettled, must give place to eager and fixed contemplation; and with the feelings of a heart which regards Jesus Christ as all, we must follow hard after Him.
3. It intimates that the consideration of our present circumstances will show us the necessity of exciting ourselves to this vigilance and activity. It was peculiarly unsuitable in the Romans to slumber, since the gospel of salvation had so lately arisen on them with healing in its wings. Let it be considered, too, that the present is a time marked by the peculiar activity of some in the cause of Christ. Can you slumber while they thus hold forth the Word of life?
III. Let us now consider how you should be excited to this vigilance and activity by the nearness of your salvation.
1. Here the appeal may be made to your gratitude. Think what God hath done and what He still intends to do for you.
2. Consider how unsuitable sloth is to the prospects before you. You are soon to associate with those who serve God day and night in His temple; and shall you now slumber?
3. Consider how injurious to others your carelessness and sloth may be. If you, whose age and attainments show that your salvation is so near, slumber, it must damp the ardour of the young disciple.
4. Consider how detrimental indolence will be to your own interest and happiness. If you slumber with salvation so near, you will provoke God to awaken you by a shock dreadful and trying. There is another view which may be taken of this argument which may add to its influence. As the ship which is within a few hours sail of the haven has sometimes been driven out to sea to struggle for weeks with winds and waves, till the crew are exhausted with hunger, fear, and toil, so has the indolence of saints been punished by a prolonged stay in this scene of trouble, instead of having an entrance ministered to them abundantly into the kingdom of the Saviour.
Conclusion:
1. How happy are they who have obtained precious faith through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ!
2. Let saints be exhorted to use every means of excitement to this holy activity.
3. Let the consideration of the nearness of salvation reconcile you to affliction and to death.
4. Let the young be exhorted to activity in goodness and piety.
5. Finally, how solemn are the lessons suggested by this subject to unconverted men! Salvation is far from the wicked; and what is most horrible, ye have put it from you, and judged everlasting life unworthy of your acceptance. (H. Belfrage, D.D.)
Approaching salvation
It is the characteristic and the privilege of man that he lives not only in the present, but is able to review the past, and anticipate the future. This faculty is connected with his moral responsibility, and is a sign of his immortal existence. That he very imperfectly employs it is a painful but unquestionable truth. Our contemplation is directed to–
I. An interesting period in the past–when we believed. There are few persons who must not cherish some interesting remembrances. Some, of course, derive more excitement from the past than others, but no remembrances can ever possess a charm to be named with this. He who can look back to when he believed, looks back upon a period of unparalleled moment and eternal influence. When you believed. Think of that event.
1. In the agency by which it was accomplished. Faith did not arise from the spontaneous influence of your own mind, or from the influence of others. It was the work of God wrought upon you by the ministry of His gospel, the private admonition of a friend, the perusal of His Word, or by affliction. But, whatever the instrumentality, faith is the gift of God.
2. In the influences by which it was attended. Then began feelings to which you were before strangers: then arose penitence, impelling you to mourn over your vileness: love, binding you in firm attachment to Him who died for you: hope, irradiating the otherwise darkened future: holiness, beginning the grand process by which it world refine every faculty by assimilating them to the Divine likeness. When you believed, old things passing away and all things becoming new.
3. In the privileges to which it introduced you–pardon and reconciliation with God; righteousness and full acceptance in the Beloved; liberty from the tyranny of sin and of Satan, adoption into the Divine family, etc.
II. An infinite blessing which is future. Our salvation of final reward and happiness. The apostle here–
1. Assumes that faith has an established connection with salvation. Revelation unites in one solemn and most conclusive pledge, that having through grace believed, and being by that grace in that faith preserved, we shall enjoy the delights which are treasured up in the everlasting kingdom. Faith is the first step in the pilgrimage which leads to the celestial rest; the first launch in the voyage which wafts to the celestial haven; the first stroke in the conflict which issues in celestial triumphs.
2. Summons Christians to meditate upon their salvation. As they have been directed to an exercise of memory, so they are directed to an exercise of anticipation. The more you commune with the time when you believed, the more also you will commune with the time when you shall be saved. Turn, then, as from the bud to the flower, from the root to the tree, from the babe to the man, from the faint outlines to the finished picture, from the first tremulous notes of the music to the sounding of the full harmony of the spheres, from the streaks of the early dawn to the splendour of the meridian day. Think of your coming victory over the last enemy, of the flight of your spirit to paradise, of the resurrection of the body, of your public recognition and welcome in your perfected nature by the Judge before the assembled universe, of your enjoyment in that perfected nature of heaven. This is your salvation, and will you not gladly retire from the vulgar objects of this perishing world, and ascending to the summit of the Delectable Mountains, look through the clear azure upon the fair and sublime inheritance which is reserved for you?
3. Urges Christians to recognise their own personal advance towards salvation. Some amongst you are very near to salvation indeed. Your conversion is far back in the distance. And as to those to whom the probabilities of prolonged life may seem strong, how can they tell but that at this very moment they may be on the verge? With every morning dawn, and evening shadow, there ought to be the renewed reflection, Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
III. The practical results which a Christian reference to the past and the future must legitimately secure. There ought to be–
1. The cultivation of Christian holiness. To secure and to advance in holiness was the apostles prominent object. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, etc. If there be any who imagine that the prospects indicated may lead to licentiousness, let them receive their final refutation. Those who are entitled to anticipate salvation must be holy.
(1) To evince the genuineness and reality of their faith. If faith does not purify, it is a fiction.
(2) That they may be morally fitted for the world they have finally to inherit. That world is consecrated to unsullied and universal holiness. Seeing ye look for such things, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?
2. The cultivation of Christian activity. It is high time to awake out of sleep. The wakefulness and diligence here summoned has respect not only to our own salvation, but also to the salvation of others. This must be, that the whole of Christian character may be developed, and that the whole of Christian duty may be performed. Earnest activity in this high vocation is urged by the nearness of our own salvation; and because of the nearness of our own salvation therefore our opportunities for usefulness are rapidly contracting. For this reason it is high time to awake out of sleep.
3. The cultivation of Christian gratitude. Gratitude does indeed become us when we consider the value of the blessings which are imparted, or the principle upon which those blessings are secured and bestowed. (J. Parsons.)
Timely reflections
1. We commonly speak of salvation as the state into which the believer in Jesus is introduced when he passes from death unto life; but here it means eternal glory.
2. Observe the date from which the apostle begins to reckon. He does not say our salvation is nearer than when we were christened or confirmed, but than when we believed. What could ever come of what is before believing? It is all death, and not worth reckoning. But then we started on our voyage to heaven.
3. Between these two points we are now sailing; and at the close of the year it seems meet just to note where we are, and to congratulate my fellow believers that we are nearer the eternal port that when we first slipped our cable. In going to Australia it is the custom to toast Friends behind, till they get half way; and then it changes, Friends ahead. Note–
I. The things behind.
1. Recollect when you believed. Of all days that on which you first left shore was the brightest of all; and you know that those who go to dwell on the other side of the world look back with satisfaction at the day when they left.
2. Since then you have had a good number of storms. You have seen one washed overboard that you thought very dear. You have yourselves suffered loss; happy were you if by that you found peace and safety in Christ. You remember, too, when you had to sail slowly in the thick fog, and keep the whistle sounding. You have been nearly but not quite wrecked. Above all the billows Jehovahs power has kept you.
3. You have had a great deal of fair weather, too, since you left port. We have sailed along with a favouring breeze. Life is not the dreary thing that some men say it is.
4. Behind us, too, how many opportunities of service have we left? Many other ships sailed with us, and some of these, alas! have been wrecked before our eyes; but we had opportunities of bringing some of the shipwrecked ones to safety. Did we always do it?
II. Things ahead.
1. More storms. It is not over yet; but they must be fewer than they were.
2. Fairer winds. Christ will be with us; our communion with Him shall be sweet. There are these Sabbaths ahead, the outpourings of the Spirit, covenant blessings, etc. Let us, then, be comforted, and pass on.
3. More opportunities–and you young people especially should be looking out. Do not let us waste any more.
4. But looking still further ahead, when we remember we are nearer our salvation think of what that salvation will be. First, we shall see Jesus. Oh, what a heaven to be with Him! Then, next to Jesus, we shall be with all the bright spirits who have gone before us. I do not think Rowland Hill was at all foolish when he said to an old woman upon her dying bed, As you are going first, take my love to the four great Johns–John who leaned on Jesuss bosom, and John Bunyan, and John Calvin, and John Knox, and tell them poor old Rowly will be coming by and by. I cannot doubt but that the message was delivered. Conclusion: There are some of you who are not nearer your salvation than when you believed; because, first, you never did believe; and, secondly, that which you are nearer to is not salvation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Cause for spiritual rejoicing
The one reason here urged for spiritual activity and rejoicing is the near approach of the day of complete redemption to the believer. Under the image of night, the apostle represents the state of partial enlightenment and sanctification, and consequent fear and conflict with evil. But the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Now, Paul exclaims, in a transport of joy, is our salvation nearer than when we believed–nearer as to time and space–nearer as it respects completion and reward. Both time and the Spirits work have brought the great consummation nearer. And surely such a fact may well fill us with rejoicing, and spur us on to redoubled efforts to make our calling and election sure.
I. Salvation is nigh.
1. Actually nigh. The night is far spent. Life here is short at best–death is nigh, heaven but a little way off.
2. Relatively nigh.
(1) Nearer than when we believed.
(2) Nearer at the close of each year, each day. Every moment rolls on the gladsome time!
3. Nearer as to the preparation for it. Salvation is a life, a work, a growth, a consummation, a progress from first principles to complete and glorious development and crowning. The Christian is put to school at conversion, and year by year he grows in grace and love and holiness, till his graduation day. His path is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
II. What follows?
1. The night is far spent.
(1) The night of spiritual conflict.
(2) The night of mystery–seeing things as through a glass darkly–will soon see as we are seen, and know as we are known.
(3) The night of sin and suffering. The day that is coming will bring absolute deliverance from evil in every form.
2. The day is at hand. Not only will the darkness be gone for ever, but the day of perfect and eternal sunlight will have come. Not only will there be a deliverance, but a crowning. The salvation will be a salvation from death to life; from sin to holiness; from shame to glory, Divine and everlasting.
3. And this salvation is nearer the Christians grasp to-day than when he first believed. Revolving suns bring it continually nearer. Great promises have already been realised; great victories won; many a rough place passed over and many a weary footstep measured off; many a Sabbath days journey made: and already the delectable hills are in sight; angels are bending over the battlements of heaven to welcome the approaching pilgrim; and soon the conflict will cease, and glory immortal–so long contemplated by faith and longed for–will be a blessed realisation. So near to heaven! So soon to be done with earth and sin and evil and conflict! So soon to stand with the ransomed on the heights of glory and shout, Thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (Homiletic Monthly.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. And that, knowing the time] Dr. Taylor has given a judicious paraphrase of this and the following verses: “And all the duties of a virtuous and holy life we should the more carefully and zealously perform, considering the nature and shortness of the present season of life; which will convince us that it is now high time to rouse and shake off sleep, and apply with vigilance and vigour to the duties of our Christian life; for that eternal salvation, which is the object of our Christian faith and hope, and the great motive of our religion, is every day nearer to us than when we first entered into the profession of Christianity.”
Some think the passage should be understood thus: We have now many advantages which we did not formerly possess. Salvation is nearer-the whole Christian system is more fully explained, and the knowledge of it more easy to be acquired than formerly; on which account a greater progress in religious knowledge and in practical piety is required of us: and we have for a long time been too remiss in these respects. Deliverance from the persecutions, &c., with which they were then afflicted, is supposed by others to be the meaning of the apostle.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And that; or, moreover; the speech is elliptical, something must be understood, as, I say, or add: q. d. Unto this exhortation to Christian love, I further add what follows.
Knowing the time; i.e. considering it is a time of great trial, or time of gospel light.
Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; i.e. to shake off slothfulness, security, and all former sinful courses. See the like, 1Co 15:34; Eph 5:14; 1Th 5:6-8. q.d. Consider, now it is the hour or season to awake or rise up, to lay aside your night clothes, as it is in the following verse.
Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed; or, salvation is nearer to us than when we first began to believe. Some would understand it of temporal salvation, and deliverance from those persecutions which befell the Christians in the infancy of the church; from these they were saved and delivered by the destruction of the Jews their persecutors. This was foretold by Christ, and expected by the Christians; and it was nigher at hand than when they first embraced the Christian faith. But most understand it of eternal salvation, which he says was nearer than when they first believed. In which words is couched another argument to awaken or stir up the believing Romans; the first was taken from the consideration of the time or season; the second, from the nearness of the word. Therefore it should be with them as with those that run in a race; the nearer they come to the goal, the faster they run, lest others should get before them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. And thatrather, “Andthis [do]”
knowing the time, that now itis high timeliterally, “the hour has already come.”
to awake out of sleepofstupid, fatal indifference to eternal things.
for now is oursalvationrather, “the salvation,” or simply”salvation.”
nearer than when wefirst
believedThis is in theline of all our Lord’s teaching, which represents the decisive day ofChrist’s second appearing as at hand, to keep believers ever in theattitude of wakeful expectancy, but without reference to thechronological nearness or distance of that event.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And that knowing the time,…. That it is day and not night, the Gospel day, the day of salvation; in which the grace of God shines forth, like the sun in its meridian glory; life and immortality are brought to light, righteousness and salvation are revealed; and so a time not for sloth and sleep, but business; in which the saints should active in the exercise of grace, and discharge, of duty; owing no man anything but the debt of love; and that the dawn of grace, and day of spiritual light had broke in upon their souls, and dispelled the darkness of sin, ignorance and unbelief; that the darkness was past, and the true light shined, and the sun of righteousness was risen on them: all which they full well knew and were conscious of, and therefore should observe,
that now it is high time for us to awake out of sleep; since sleep is for the night, and not the day; the Alexandrian copy reads, “for you”. This is to be understood, not of the dead sleep of sin, in which unconverted persons are, to be awoke out of which is a work of divine power; but of the carnal security and drowsy frame of spirit which sometimes attend the churches and children of God, the wise as well as the foolish virgins; and lies in grace being dormant in, the soul; in a backwardness to duty, and a slothfulness in the performance of it; in resting in the outward duties of religion; in lukewarmness about the cause of Christ; in an unconcernedness about sins of omission and commission; and in a willingness to continue in such a sluggish frame: all which arise from a body of sin and death, and an over anxious care for the things of the world; from a weariness in spiritual exercises, and an abstinence from spiritual company and ordinances and from outward peace and liberty: such a frame of spirit, when, it prevails and becomes general is of bad consequence to the churches of Christ; the spirit of discerning, care and diligence in receiving members, are in a great measure lost, and so they are filled with hypocrites and heretics; Christ absents himself from them; leanness of soul is brought upon them; and they are in danger of being surprised with the midnight cry: the methods God takes to awaken his people out of such a sleep are various; sometimes in a more gentle way, by the discoveries his love, which causes the lips of those that are asleep to speak; sometimes by severe reproofs in the ministry of the word; and sometimes by sharp persecutions in providence; and at last it will be done by the midnight cry: the argument, showing the reasonableness of awaking out of sleep, and that it was high time to do so, follows,
for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed; by which is meant, not temporal salvation, or a deliverance from the persecution the saints endured in Judea, from their own countrymen, by the departure of them from Jerusalem, a little before its destruction, by the destruction of that city, and the peaceful times of Vespasian; but a spiritual and eternal salvation: not Christ the author of it, who was come to effect it; nor that itself, as obtained, which was now done, finished, and completed; nor the application of it to their souls, which also had been made; but the consummate enjoyment of it in heaven, the salvation of their souls at death, and both of soul and body at the resurrection; consisting in a freedom from every evil, and in a full possession of all that is good and glorious: this is brought nearer to the saints, to their sight and view, as their faith grows and increases; and they are nearer the enjoyment of that than when they first believed; and which is a strong reason why a sluggish, slothful frame should not be indulged; what, sleep, and heaven so near at hand! just at their Father’s house, ready to enter into the joy of their Lord, into his everlasting kingdom and glory, and yet asleep!
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Christian Directory. | A. D. 58. |
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
We are here taught a lesson of sobriety and godliness in ourselves. Our main care must be to look to ourselves. Four things we are here taught, as a Christian’s directory for his day’s work: when to awake, how to dress ourselves, how to walk, and what provision to make.
I. When to awake: Now it is high time to awake (v. 11), to awake out of the sleep of sin (for a sinful condition is a sleeping condition), out of the sleep of carnal security, sloth and negligence, out of the sleep of spiritual death, and out of the sleep of spiritual deadness; both the wise and foolish virgins slumbered and slept, Matt. xxv. 5. We have need to be often excited and stirred up to awake. The word of command to all Christ’s disciples is, Watch. “Awake–be concerned about your souls and your eternal interest; take heed of sin, be ready to, and serious in, that which is good, and live in a constant expectation of the coming of our Lord. Considering,” 1. “The time we are cast into: Knowing the time. Consider what time of day it is with us, and you will see it is high time to awake. It is gospel time, it is the accepted time, it is working time; it is a time when more is expected than was in the times of that ignorance which God winked at, when people sat in darkness. It is high time to awake; for the sun has been up a great while, and shines in our faces. Have we this light to sleep in? See 1Th 5:5; 1Th 5:6. It is high time to awake; for others are awake and up about us. Know the time to be a busy time; we have a great deal of work to do, and our Master is calling us to it again and again. Know the time to be a perilous time. We are in the midst of enemies and snares. It is high time to awake, for the Philistines are upon us; our neighbour’s house is on fire, and our own in danger. It is time to awake, for we have slept enough (1 Pet. iv. 3), high time indeed, for behold the bridegroom cometh.” 2. “The salvation we are upon the brink of: Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed–than when we first believed, and so took upon us the profession of Christianity. The eternal happiness we chose for our portion is now nearer to us than it was when we became Christians. Let us mind our way and mend our pace, for we are now nearer our journey’s end than we were when we had our first love. The nearer we are to our centre the quicker should our motion be. Is there but a step between us and heaven, and shall we be so very slow and dull in our Christian course, and move so heavily? The more the days are shortened, and the more grace is increased, the nearer is our salvation, and the more quick and vigorous we should be in our spiritual motions.”
II. How to dress ourselves. This is the next care, when we are awake and up: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore it is time to dress ourselves. Clearer discoveries will be quickly made of gospel grace than have been yet made, as light gets ground. The night of Jewish rage and cruelty is just at an end; their persecuting power is near a period; the day of our deliverance from them is at hand, that day of redemption which Christ promised, Luke xxi. 28. And the day of our complete salvation, in the heavenly glory, is at hand. Observe then,”
1. “What we must put off; put off our night-clothes, which it is a shame to appear abroad in: Cast off the works of darkness.” Sinful works are works of darkness; they come from the darkness of ignorance and mistake, they covet the darkness of privacy and concealment, and they end in the darkness of hell and destruction. “Let us therefore, who are of the day, cast them off; not only cease from the practice of them, but detest and abhor them, and have no more to do with them. Because eternity is just at the door, let us take heed lest we be found doing that which will then make against us,” 2Pe 3:11; 2Pe 3:14.
2. “What we must put on.” Our care must be wherewithal we shall be clothed, how shall we dress our souls? (1.) Put on the armour of light. Christians are soldiers in the midst of enemies, and their life a warfare, therefore their array must be armour, that they may stand upon their defence–the armour of God, to which we are directed, Eph. vi. 13, c. A Christian may reckon himself undressed if he be unarmed. The graces of the Spirit are this armour, to secure the soul from Satan’s temptations and the assaults of this present evil world. This is called the armour of light, some think alluding to the bright glittering armour which the Roman soldiers used to wear or such armour as it becomes us to wear in the day-light. The graces of the Spirit are suitable splendid ornaments, are in the sight of God of great price. (2.) Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, v. 14. This stands in opposition to a great many base lusts, mentioned v. 13. Rioting and drunkenness must be cast off: one would think it should follows, but, “Put on sobriety, temperance, chastity,” the opposite virtues: no, “Put on Christ, this includes all. Put on the righteousness of Christ for justification; be found in him (Phil. iii. 9) as a man is found in his clothes; put on the priestly garments of the elder brother, that in them you may obtain the blessing. Put on the spirit and grace of Christ for sanctification; put on the new man (Eph. iv. 24); get the habit of grace confirmed, the acts of it quickened.” Jesus Christ is the best clothing for Christians to adorn themselves with, to arm themselves with; it is decent, distinguishing, dignifying, and defending. Without Christ, we are naked, deformed; all other things are filthy rages, fig-leaves, a sorry shelter. God has provided us coats of skins–large, strong, warm, and durable. By baptism we have in profession put on Christ, Gal. iii. 27. Let us do it in truth and sincerity. The Lord Jesus Christ. “Put him on as Lord to rule you, as Jesus to save you, and in both as Christ, anointed and appointed by the Father to this ruling saving work.”
III. How to walk. When we are up and dressed, we are not to sit still in an affected closeness and privacy, as monks and hermits. What have we good clothes for, but to appear abroad in them?–Let us walk. Christianity teaches us how to walk so as to please God, whose eye is upon us: 1 Thess. iv. 1, Walk honestly as in the day. Compare Eph. v. 8, Walk as children of light. Our conversation must be as becomes the gospel. Walk honestly; euschemonos—decently and becomingly, so as to credit your profession, and to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, and recommend religion in its beauty to others. Christians should be in a special manner careful to conduct themselves well in those things wherein men have an eye upon them, and to study that which is lovely and of good report. Particularly, here are three pairs of sins we are cautioned against:– 1. We must not walk in rioting and drunkenness; we must abstain from all excess in eating and drinking. We must not give the least countenance to revelling, nor indulge our sensual appetite in any private excesses. Christians must not overcharge their hearts with surfeiting and drunkenness, Luke xxi. 34. This is not walking as in the day; for those that are drunk are drunk in the night, 1 Thess. v. 7. 2. Not in chambering and wantonness; not in any of those lusts of the flesh, those works of darkness, which are forbidden in the seventh commandment. Downright adultery and fornication are the chambering forbidden. Lascivious thoughts and affections, lascivious looks, words, books, sons, gestures, dances, dalliances, which lead to, and are degrees of, that uncleanness, are the wantonness here forbidden–whatsoever transgresseth the pure and sacred law of chastity and modesty. 3. Not in strife and envying. These are also works of darkness; for, though the acts and instances of strife and envy are very common, yet none are willing to own the principles, or to acknowledge themselves envious and contentious. It may be the lot of the best saints to be envied and striven with; but to strive and to envy ill becomes the disciples and followers of the peaceable and humble Jesus. Where there are riot and drunkenness, there usually are chambering and wantonness, and strife and envy. Solomon puts them all together, Prov. xxiii. 29, c. Those that tarry long at the wine (<i>v. 30) have contentions and wounds without cause (v. 29) and their eyes behold strange women, v. 33.
IV. What provision to make (v. 14): “Make not provision for the flesh. Be not careful about the body.” Our great care must be to provide for our souls; but must we take no care about our bodies? Must we not provide for them, when they need it? Yes, but two things are here forbidden:– 1. Perplexing ourselves with an inordinate care, intimated in these words, pronoian me poieisthe. “Be not solicitous in forecasting for the body; do not stretch your wits, nor set your thoughts upon the tenter-hooks, in making this provision; be not careful and cumbered about it; do not take thought,” Matt. vi. 31. It forbids an anxious encumbering care. 2. Indulging ourselves in an irregular desire. We are not forbidden barely to provide for the body (it is a lamp that must be supplied with oil), but we are forbidden to fulfil the lusts thereof. The necessities of the body must be considered, but the lusts of it must not be gratified. Natural desires must be answered, but wanton appetites must be checked and denied. To ask meat for our necessities is duty: we are taught to pray for daily bread; but to ask meat for our lusts is provoking, Ps. lxxviii. 18. Those who profess to walk in the spirit must not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, Gal. v. 16.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
And this ( ). Either nominative absolute or accusative of general reference, a common idiom for “and that too” (1Cor 6:6; 1Cor 6:8, etc.).
Knowing (). Second perfect active participle, nominative plural without a principal verb. Either we must supply a verb like (let us do it) or (do ye do it) or treat it as an independent participle as in 12:10f.
The season ( ). The critical period, not (time in general).
High time (). Like our the “hour” has come, etc. MSS. vary between (us) and (you), accusative of general reference with (first aorist passive infinitive of , to awake, to wake up), “to be waked up out of sleep” ( ).
Nearer to us ( ). Probably so, though can be taken equally well with (our salvation is nearer). Final salvation, Paul means, whether it comes by the second coming of Christ as they all hoped or by death. It is true of us all.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
And that knowing the time – now. Referring to the injunction of ver. 8. Knowing, seeing that ye know. The time [ ] , the particular season or juncture. Rev., season. See on Mt 12:1. Now [] , better, already.
Our salvation [ ] . Others, however, and better, as Rev., construe hJmwn of us (salvation of us, i e., our) with nearer, and render salvation is nearer to us. This is favored by the order of the Greek words. The other rendering would lay an unwarranted emphasis on our. The reference is apparently to the Lord ‘s second coming, rather than to future glory.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And that, knowing the time,” (kai touto eidotes ton kairon) “And this, knowing or recognizing, the time-season”; what time it is, in relation to the personal, bodily return of Jesus Christ, and an accounting before his judgment seat, 2Co 5:10-12.
2) “That now it is high time to awake out of sleep,” (hoti hora ede humas eks hupnou egerthenai) “it is at this moment (important) an hour for you all to be aroused out of sleep”, a state of lethargy or indifference. It is a time for doing, not dreaming, Mat 25:5 while the “bridegroom tarries,” many tend to sleep still, 1Pe 4:7-8; Eph 5:14-16; Joh 9:4.
3) “For now is our salvation nearer,” (nun gar enguteron hemon he soteria) “For now and continuing forever hereafter is our salvation (deliverance) nearer,” nearer at hand. The allusion is to the believer’s full, complete, perfected salvation or deliverance, involving deliverance from both the power and presence of sin, and the glorified resurrection of the body, Heb 9:28; 1Th 5:4-9.
4) “Than when we believed,” (e hote episteusamen) “Than when we believed, trusted were born again”; nearer in the sense of including being in his likeness, like him, as children of God and members of his church in particular, 1Jn 3:2; Ecc 9:10.
THE PERIL OF SLEEP
A short time ago a locomotive engine was speeding along the Northwest line, whilst the two men who were in it lay fast asleep. A sharp-eyed signal-man, from his look-out, was alert enough to see how matters stood, and without a moment’s delay telegraphed in advance to lay a fog-signal on the line, that the detonation might rouse the sleepers. Happily, it was done in time; and startled from what might have been a fatal slumber, the men shut off steam, reversed the engine, and averted a terrible calamity. It is no breach of charity to suspect that some of you are hasting on to destruction, but know it not, for your conscience is asleep; and I would lay a fog-signal on the line that, ere you pass another mile, the crashing sound may rouse you to your danger, as you hear the voice of eternal truth declaring, “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die!”
-T. Davidson
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. Moreover, etc. He enters now on another subject of exhortation, that as the rays of celestial life had begun to shine on us as it were at the dawn, we ought to do what they are wont to do who are in public life and in the sight of men, who take diligent care lest they should commit anything that is base or unbecoming; for if they do anything amiss, they see that they are exposed to the view of many witnesses. But we, who always stand in the sight of God and of angels, and whom Christ, the true sun of righteousness, invites to his presence, we indeed ought to be much more careful to beware of every kind of pollution.
The import then of the words is this, “Since we know that the seasonable time has already come, in which we should awake from sleep, let us cast aside whatever belongs to the night, let us shake off all the works of darkness, since the darkness itself has been dissipated, and let us attend to the works of light, and walk as it becomes those who are enjoying the day.” The intervening words are to be read as in a parenthesis.
As, however, the words are metaphorical, it may be useful to consider their meaning: Ignorance of God is what he calls night; for all who are thus ignorant go astray and sleep as people do in the night. The unbelieving do indeed labor under these two evils, they are blind and they are insensible; but this insensibility he shortly after designated by sleep, which is, as one says, an image of death. By light he means the revelation of divine truth, by which Christ the sun of righteousness arises on us. (409) He mentions awake, by which he intimates that we are to be equipped and prepared to undertake the services which the Lord requires from us. The works of darkness are shameful and wicked works; for night, as some one says, is shameless. The armor of light represents good, and temperate, and holy actions, such as are suitable to the day; and armor is mentioned rather than works, because we are to carry on a warfare for the Lord.
But the particles at the beginning, And this, are to be read by themselves, for they are connected with what is gone before; as we say in Latin Adhoec — besides, or proeterea — moreover. The time, he says, was known to the faithful, for the calling of God and the day of visitation required a new life and new morals, and he immediately adds an explanation, and says, that it was the hour to awake: for it is not χρόνος but καιρὸς which means a fit occasion or a seasonable time. (410)
For nearer is now our salvation, etc. This passage is in various ways perverted by interpreters. Many refer the word believed to the time of the law, as though Paul had said, that the Jews believed before Christ came; which view I reject as unnatural and strained; and surely to confine a general truth to a small part of the Church, would have been wholly inconsistent. Of that whole assembly to which he wrote, how few were Jews? Then this declaration could not have been suitable to the Romans. Besides, the comparison between the night and the day does in my judgment dissipate every doubt on the point. The declaration then seems to me to be of the most simple kind, — “Nearer is salvation now to us than at that time when we began to believe:” so that a reference is made to the time which had preceded as to their faith. For as the adverb here used is in its import indefinite, this meaning is much the most suitable, as it is evident from what follows.
(409) The preceding explanation of night and day, as here to be understood, does not comport with what is afterwards said on Rom 13:12. The distinction between night and day of a Christian, ought to be clearly kept in view. The first is what is here described, but the latter is what the passage refers to. And the sleep mentioned here is not the sleep of ignorance and unbelief, but the sleep, the torpor, or inactivity of Christians.
That the present state of believers, their condition in this world, is meant here by “night,” and their state of future glory is meant by “day,” appears evident from the words which follow, “for nearer now is our salvation than when we believed.” Salvation here, as in Rom 8:24, and in 1Pe 1:9, means salvation made complete and perfect, the full employment of all its blessings. Indeed in no other sense can what is said here of night and day be appropriate. The night of heathen ignorance as to Christians had already passed, and the day of gospel light was not approaching, but had appeared. — Ed.
(410) The words καὶ τούτο, according to [ Beza ], [ Grotius ], [ Mede ] , etc., connect what follows with the preceding exhortation to love, “And this do, or let us do, as we know,” etc. But the whole tenor of what follows by no means favors this view. The subject is wholly different. It is evidently a new subject of exhortation, as [ Calvin ] says, and the words must be rendered as he proposes, or be viewed as elliptical; the word “I say,” or “I command,” according to [ Macknight ], being understood, “This also I say, since we know the time,” etc. If we adopt “I command,” or “moreover,” as [ Calvin ] does, it would be better to regard the participle εἰδότες, as having the meaning of an imperative, εστε being understood, several instances of which we have in the preceding chapter, Rom 12:9. The whole passage would then read better in this manner, —
11. Moreover, know the time, that it is even now the very time for us to awake from sleep; for nearer now is our salvation than when we
12. believed: the night has advanced, and the day has approached; let us then cast away the works of darkness, and let us put on the
13. armor of light; let us, as in the day, walk in a becoming manner, etc. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom. 13:11.Because we know the time, let us fulfil the law by love. We have been in the dark, but let us awake with the light. , deep sleep; dreams of the present time. Physical death. Spiritual stupor. The image of death. As is duration of time, so is definition of time. It is a portion cut out of time, a season, an opportunity. Salvation.Full spiritual salvation and day of perfect redemption viewed as connected with the universal spread of Christianity. Spiritual salvation in the world of glory. All is night here, in respect of ignorance and daily ensuing troubles.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rom. 13:11
The Christians duty and encouragement.Different views are taken of time. Some seem to regard it as a useless commodity, to be frittered away in vain trifles. Others consider it too short for the work to be accomplished. Thus some hoard and others squander time. The majority do not look beyond the bounds of time. It is not to them fraught with eternal issues. Time, however, to the Christian is important, for it is the pathway to eternity. Time impresses eternity. How solemn the thought! All times thoughts, words, and deeds have a bearing upon the future. How seasonable the petition, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom!
I. The Christians knowledge.The Christian is or should be a man who knows. Principally he should know the season, the period, in which he lives. It is difficult in these days to know the season. This is a time of great perplexity. The world has both changed and enlarged since the days of primitive Christianity. The man who knows the time in these days is a man of extensive knowledge. Still, the Christian may know the time as far more advanced than it was eighteen centuries since. He may know that great interests are at stake. He should know that increased activity is demanded, that overwhelming zeal is required. In these days, when wealth on the one side and poverty on the other are increased, when licentiousness, lawlessness, selfishness, and indifference still prevail to an alarming extent, it becomes the Christian to keep his intellect alive to the stirring events of his period.
II. The Christians duty.To awake out of sleep. If the apostles time demanded wakeful spirits, much more do these times. Alas, how many so-called Christians are fast asleep! The enemy is upon them, and they do not heed the approach. Their dreams are of sweet music and of pleasant services. They are not awake to the calls of duty. They become somnambulists, and walk away from the voice of Gods messenger directing them to the post of duty. Such require a thunder-peal from heaven to awake them from sleep. It is consolatory to reflect that some are awake. But none are so wide awake as to be without need of the apostolic injunction which says that it is high time to awake out of sleep. We must shake off the torpor of indifference. Sleepy men are an easy prey to evil. By sleep we put on strength, but by moral sleep we induce weakness. Awake, awake, O Church of the living God, and put on immortal strength!
III. The Christians encouragement.Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The period of completed salvation is fast approaching. Every beat of the minute-hand tells its advent. Salvation in prospect was accomplished when Jesus said, It is finished. Salvation is secured when faith lays hold on the Saviour. Salvation is perfected when the redeemed spirit enters into the perfect rest of heaven; and every moment of the believers life brings that completed salvation nearer. There are two advents to the soul: the first advent when Christ enters into that soul and is in it the hope of glory; the second advent when either Christ will come to the soul at His second coming, or when that soul shall go to be with Christ in paradise. The blest reunion is fast approaching. Here there is a union of faith; yonder there will be a union of sight. We are united with Christ by faith. We shall be reunited, perfectly united, to Christ by blissful vision. That union will be a perfect salvation from all that harasses in the present state. The prospect is stimulating. It quickens the drowsy powers; it delivers from lethargy. As the sailor draws nearer to his native land, after a prolonged absence, every sense is quickened, and he puts on fresh energy. As the runner is nearing the goal he takes quicker steps; his eyes catch a new light; he forgets the strain in his eagerness to win the prize. What buoyancy takes possession of the inventors spirit when after years, it may be, of experimenting he finds himself within measurable reach of the desired discovery! Shall the Christian runner lag when the prize of eternal glory is almost within reach? Shall the Christian sailor sleep, after the storms and buffetings of time, when the clear lights of heaven shine across the intervening waters? The sound of the harpers on the eternal shores greets his ears, and he can no longer slumber. From this dim cloud-land of partial knowledge he is hastening to the sphere of the complete unfolding of many mysteries, and his soul is all eagerness to enter upon the all-revealing light of eternity. It is high time to awake out of sleep, for the times are busy, for the world is pressing close, and the other world is letting down dazzling views of its surpassing glory.
Knowledge of time.We should know time in its:
I. Worth.Estimated at the value of:
1. Life. Time the measure of life of a being capable of thought, endowed with conscience, gifted with immortality.
2. What able to be done during its progress.
II. Responsibilities.Our relation to God. Knowledge of salvation. Duties in our sphere of life. Influence we exert. Ignatius when heard clock strike said, Now I have one hour more to account for.
III. Uncertainty.Commercial institutions and projects abundantly prove this, but he who counts on time presumes on probability that has even more impressively proved its questionableness (Jas. 4:13-14).
IV. Brevity.
V. Powerlessness.It cannot destroy sin or take away its guilt. It cannot act for us. It cannot destroy the soul, though it end the life.
VI. Irrevocableness.G. McMichael, B.A.
Self-denial the test of religious earnestness.By sleep in this passage St. Paul means a state of insensibility to things as they really are in Gods sight. Thus, whether in private families or in the world, in all the ranks of middle life men lie under a considerable danger at this day, a more than ordinary danger, of self-deception, of being asleep while they think themselves awake. How, then, shall we try ourselves? Can any tests be named which will bring certainty to our minds on the subject? No indisputable tests can be given. We cannot know for certain. We must beware of an impatience about knowing what our real state is. We cannot, indeed, make ourselves as sure of our being in the number of Gods true servants as the early Christians were; yet we may possess our degree of certainty, and by the same kind of evidencethe evidence of self-denial. This was the great evidence which the first disciples gave, and which we can give still. The self-denial which is the test of our faith must be daily. The word daily implies that the self-denial which is pleasing to Christ consists in little things. This is plain, for opportunity for great self-denials does not come every day. Thus to take up the cross of Christ is no great action done once for all; it consists in the continual practice of small duties which are distasteful to us. If, then, a person ask how he is to know whether he is dreaming on in the worlds slumber or is really awake and alive unto God, let him first fix his mind upon some one or other of his besetting sins. It is right then almost to find out for yourself daily self-denials, and this because our Lord bids you take up your cross daily, and because it proves your earnestness, and because by so doing you strengthen your general power of self-mastery and come to have such an habitual command of yourself as will be a defence ready prepared when the season of temptation comes. Let not your words run on; force every one of them into cation as it goes; and thus cleansing yourself from all pollution of the flesh and spirit, perfect holiness in the fear of God. In dreams we sometimes move our arms to see if we are awake or not, and so are wakened. This is the way to keep your heart awake also. Try yourself daily in little deeds to prove that your faith is more than a deceit.Newman.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom. 13:11
Christians view of time.What is the true measure of time? I know that the outward measures are accurate enough; and when a man says to his friend, Another year is gone, they understand a certain space which can be precisely computed; but if acts and activity are the true measures of time for us, and not the hands on the clock, nor the changing path of the sun, then it may be well doubted whether in fact we do know at the end of a year what or how much it is that has gone away from us. A year of earnest work in the way of duty and for the cause of God, a year of amusement, a year marked by tasting first and then drinking deep of the foul cup of some new sin, a year marked by a great change of character for the better, in which he that once served sin has made up his mind, through Gods help, to serve it no moreany of these may be included under the phrase, Another year has passed. Out of the looms of time a measured portion of the web of our life has come: the measure the same for all, the texture and the tints how different! Nay, are there not even single minutes in which the scattered lights of our thoughts are gathered into one focus, and burn an indelible imprint into the soul? A man went once to Damascus, and a light from heaven struck him blind, and the Spirit of Christ, more penetrating than that light, sent deep into his conscience the unanswerable question, Why persecutest thou Me? The man was St. Paul, and that minute bore in it the germ of the Church of the Gentiles and of our knowledge of the Redeemer. A careless student was walking with his friend, when a flash of lightning struck the friend dead and awoke the student out of his worldliness. Luther was that student, and the Reformation began from that terrible instant. Minutes like these are not to be reckoned only at their value as fractional portions of a year. Time has a quality as it has a quantity. We cannot be sure that a single day or year may not carry in it the decision of our eternity. There may be no great sign or wonder to tell us so; to all around the weight of another year upon us may seem no greater than in time past. But every part of us is growing. Habits are strengthening, feelings growing calmer, the advice of others losing its influence over us, the circle of those who might have the right to advise is fast contracting. And it is surely possible that when we are only conscious that a year is gone, our whole life, so far at least as life is a state of probation admitting of change and improvement, may have passed away with it.Archbishop Thomson.
High time to awake out of sleep.These words regard Christians themselves. This is undeniable, from the motive subjoined: For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Are believers, then, asleep? Not in the sense they once werethis would be impossible. But there are found even in them some remains of their former depravity. Though the good work is begun in them, it is far from being accomplished. While the bridegroom tarried, even the wise virgins slumbered and slept. Yes, Christians are often in a drowsy frame. This is sadly reproachful. Yet if the address be proper for Christians, how much more necessary is it for those who are entirely regardless of the things that belong to their peace!if we consider how long they have been sleeping! We ought to lament that we have lost any of our precious hours and opportunities. However short it may have been, the time past of our life should more than suffice, wherein we have lived to the will of man. What then should those feel who have sacrificed the whole of their youthperhaps the vigour of mature age? What should those feel who perhaps have grown grey in the service of sin and the world? The later we begin, the more zealous should we be to redeem the advantages we have lost, and to overtake those who were wise enough to set off early. High timeif we consider that the day is arrived and the sun is risen so high. The night is far spent, etc. We can say more than the apostle. The night is spent; the day is fully come. And we are all the children of the light and the children of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others. They that sleep, sleep in the night. Our obligations always increase with our advantages. To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. And the servant that knew his lords will, and prepared not himself, shall be beaten with many stripes; for where much is given much will be required. High timeif we consider the business they have to do. I am doing, said Nehemiah to some who would have interrupted him; I cannot come down to youI am doing a great work. How much more may a Christian say this! He has an enterprise connected with the soul and God and eternity. Some things are desirable, and some are useful; but this is absolutely indispensable
Sufficient in itself alone;
And needful, were the world our own.
Neglect in many a concern is injurious; but here it is ruinousruinous of everything, and ruinous for ever. High timeif we consider the nature of the season in which this difficult and all-important work is to be accomplished. It is short, and there is but a step between us and death. It is uncertain in its continuance, and may be terminated every moment by some of those numberless dangers to which we are exposed: once gone, it can never be renewed. High timeif we consider the danger they are in. If a man were sleeping in a house and the fire were seen, who would not think it high time for him to awake and escape for his life? This is but a weak representation of the danger of sinners. They are condemned already. High time to awake out of sleepif we consider that all besides are awake. God, glorified saints, the children of this generation, devils, and death, are awake. It is high time to awake out of sleep.W. Jay.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 13
Rom. 13:11. Csar wept.When Csar, in Spain, met with a statue of Alexander, he wept at the thought that this illustrious conqueror had achieved so much before he had even begun his career. The man who is awake will accomplish much. Every sight will stir his soul to energy. He will emulate others in good works.
Rom. 13:11. Sunrise from the Righi.Doubtless many readers of these pages have been among the number of the thousands of travellers who each year witness the sunrise from the culm of the Righi. So anxious were you to behold the sight that you rose from your bed the moment you heard the sound of the horn which announced that the night was far spent and the day was at hand. Hastily dressing, you were soon silently and earnestly watching for the first gleam of light in the Eastern sky. It may be that some one of you turned to see whether your friend and fellow traveller was sharing your eager anticipations, and found him wanting. You at once hastened back to the hotel and knocked loudly at his door. He, too, had been awoke by the blast of the horn, but, being weary, was half asleep. You exclaimed, Do you know the time? It is high time to awake out of sleep, for the sight for which you have travelled so far is far nearer than when first you were roused. He, too, was soon among the silent band of watchers, and with you beheld the King of Day as he crowned each snow-capped peak with roseate hues, and lit up the lakes of Lucerne and Zug and Lowerz below, and many a distant valley, until the whole panorama was bathed in his glorious light. St. Paul, as a watchful sentinel in the Church, as one who was eagerly expecting the glorious appearing of his Lord and Master, earnestly exhorts the Christians at Rome to live in no debt but that of love (see Rom. 13:10). He seeks to awaken them from their indifference by reminding them that the day of the Lord, the consummation of their salvation, was nearer than when first they were roused from their sleep of sin. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.Bardsleys Illustrated Texts.
Rom. 13:11-12. The improvement of time.Boyle remarks that sand-grains are easily scattered, but skilful artificers gather, melt, and transmute them to glass, of which they make mirrors, lenses, and telescopes. Even so vigilant Christians improve parenthetic fragments of time, employing them in self-examination, acts of faith, and researches of holy truth, by which they become looking-glasses for their souls and telescopes revealing their promised heaven. Jewellers save the very sweepings of their shops because they contain particles of precious metal. Should Christians, whose every moment of time was purchased for them by the blood of Christ, be less careful of time? Surely its very minuti should be more treasured than grains of gold or dust of diamonds.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Text
Rom. 13:11-14. And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. Rom. 13:12 The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Rom. 13:13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. Rom. 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
REALIZING ROMANS, Rom. 13:11-14
560.
We can indeed know the times and the seasons in one particular. What is it?
561.
In what sense is salvation nearer today than when we first believed?
562.
The eternal morning is about to dawn. Cast off the works of darkness. Would the Christians in Rome be involved in such things? Why does Paul give the command?
563.
What a glorious expression: Armor of light. Explain its appropriateness.
564.
If you are looking for prohibitions against many of the popular sins of our day, you will find them in Rom. 13:13. The incentive for laying such aside is there. What is it?
565.
Do a little research on the meaning of chambering and wantonness.
566.
Please notice that the sins of strife and jealousy are also works of darkness. What are the indications of strife and jealousy?
567.
Is it possible to make no provision for the flesh? The word put ye on is a theatrical word referring to getting into character. How does it apply to us?
Paraphrase
Rom. 13:11-14. This also I command: Form a better judgment of the present season, that it is already the hour for us to awake out of that sleep into which the sensual practices of heathenism have cast us; for now the doctrine of salvation, the gospel, is better understood by us than when we first believed.
Rom. 13:12 The night of heathenish ignorance is drawing to a conclusion, and the day of gospel light is about to shine with meridian splendor in all countries. Let us, therefore, who know this, put off the works of darkness which we used to perform in honor of idols, and let us put on the armor proper for the day of the gospel.
Rom. 13:13 Let us walk about decently habited (dressed) as becometh those who walk in the day, not employing ourselves, like the idolatrous Gentiles, in revellings and in drinking to excess; not in lying with harlots, and in lasciviousness, whether in action, discourse, or dress; nor in quarrelling about riches, or honors, or opinions, and in envying the prosperity of others.
Rom. 13:14 But be ye clothed with the dispositions of the Lord Jesus Christ; his piety, temperance, purity, charity; in short, his whole character; and, like him, make no provision for gratifying the lusts of the flesh.
Summary
It is now time for us to awake from the sleep of the old unregenerate night through which we have been passing, and to do our whole duty in everything. The reason is that the day of salvation will soon be upon us, and for it we must be ready. All our former evil deeds must be utterly abandoned, and the new life in Christ fully assumed. Henceforth we must live for the Savior, not for the flesh.
Comment
The Fact of Salvation Before Us Helps to Enforce These Duties.
Rom. 13:11-14.
We all need an incentive to prompt us to obey. God has surely supplied such. If the eyes of our understanding were enlightened, we should see how near we live to eternity. We can patiently endure hardship and tribulation when we see Heaven just ahead. Each day brings us one day closer to our eternal home. Could it be that some of the saints in Rome were sleepy? The night of life is nearly over; the morning of eternity is already streaking the eastern sky. Wake up! Dress up! Go to work! (We are all working on a night shift.)
We are preparing for another time and place of work, in the Fathers house. To enter here we must have on the armor of light. We cannot have on the panoply of Gods soldier, and the clothes of darkness at the same time. To quote Moses E. Lard on Rom. 13:13 a:
The komos was a sort of carousal in which a number of persons participated, and which commonly ended by the whole party parading the streets with music, songs, and dancing, It was simply a noisy drunken frolic. The komoi were very common among the idolatrous Gentiles, particularly among the devotees of Bacchus. (Romans, pp. 408, 40a)
How could it be said that some Christians were involved in such sins as prostitution and lewdness? In Rome such was the rule among the populace. Many of the saints in the Roman church had once walked in these things. The strong desire to yet practice them was with many. Paul bluntly states that such things cannot be practiced if we are to walk in the light of the eternal day.
The marvelous solution to the whole problem of returning to the old life is found in Rom. 13:14. The expression, put ye on, can have reference to the theater. Actors and actresses put on the character they attempt to portray. It is sometimes called getting into the character. The true actor literally becomes another person. We are not play-actingthis is realbut we are to become the living representation of the Lord Jesus. How shall we do this if we do not know the script? We have a copy of itthe New Testamentin which is found the eyewitness account of our Lord by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Many actors and actresses memorize as much script copy as is in the New Testament to portray one of the prostitutes or drunkards spoken of in Rom. 13:13. We can become another man, another woman, by the transformation of our minds. Christ is then formed within us. It is no longer I that live
Rethinking in Outline Form
4.
Duties to the Civil Government. Rom. 13:1-7 cf. Tit. 3:1; 1Pe. 2:13-17; Mat. 22:17-21; 1Ti. 2:1-2.
a.
Law and order ordained of God. Rom. 13:1.
b.
Law and order a terror to the evil, but a blessing to good. Rom. 13:3-4.
c.
To be in subjection because of wrath and conscience. Rom. 13:5.
d.
Tribute, dues, custom, fear, honor. Rom. 13:6-7.
5.
Duties of Love to All Men. Rom. 13:8-10.
a.
Owe no man anything. Rom. 13:8 a.
This no doubt refers back to the taxes and dues of the preceding verses.
b.
Love your neighbor and you fulfill the law. Rom. 13:8 b Rom. 13:10.
6.
The Fact of Salvation Before Us Helps to Enforce These Duties. Rom. 13:11-14.
a.
Eternal salvation nearer each day. Rom. 13:11 cf. Jas. 5:8; 1Pe. 4:7; 2Pe. 3:8-11; Eph. 5:14; 1Th. 5:1-11.
b.
Cast off darkness and put on armor of light. Rom. 13:12 cf. Eph. 5:11; Eph. 6:11-17.
c.
To walk becomingly. Rom. 13:13 cf. 1Th. 4:12; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:18; 1Pe. 4:3; 2Ti. 2:14; 2Ti. 2:23-24; 1Ti. 6:3-5.
d.
To put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 13:14 cf. Gal. 3:2); Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:9-10; Gal. 5:16-24; 1Pe. 2:11.
350.
What wonderful incentive for obedience has God given us?
351.
In what sense are we all working on a night shift?
352.
What is the preparation necessary for working in the Fathers house?
353.
Explain the meaning of the expression put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) And that, knowing the time.And that there is all the more urgent motive for you to dothis law of love it is the more incumbent on you to practisebecause you know what a critical moment it is in which you are living. The word for time is different from that used in the next clause, and means a definite and critical season.
Awake out of sleep.A striking metaphor. The true, the genuine Christian life is like the state of a man whose eyes are open and whose faculties are all alert and vigorous. All besides, whatever it be, the state of heathenism or of imperfect and lukewarm Christianity, is like the torpor of sleep.
Our salvation.That blissful participation in His kingdom which the Messiah at His Second Coming should inaugurate for His people. (Comp. Rom. 8:19; Rom. 8:23, the manifestation of the sons of God, the redemption of the body; Luk. 21:28, your redemption draweth nigh.)
When we believed.When we first became Christians. Every hour brings the expected end nearer.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(11-14) The Apostle now gives a reason for enforcing this and other duties upon his readers. The end of the world itself is near.
St. Paul, like the other Apostles (comp. 1Pe. 4:7; Rev. 22:20, et al.), certainly believed that the Parusia, or Second Coming of Christ, was near at hand. This was in strict accordance with Mar. 13:32, and resulted naturally from the peculiar form of the Jewish Messianic expectation. A great shock had been given to the disciples by the crucifixion of Him whom they thought to be the Messiah, and though they began to recover from this as soon as they were convinced of His resurrection, they yet could not reconcile themselves to it entirely. The humiliation of the cross was still a stumbling-block to them taken alone, but falling back upon another portion of their beliefs, they looked to see it supplemented, and its shameful side cancelled, by a second coming in power and great glory. Their previous expectations, vague as they were, led them to regard this as part of the one manifestation of the Messiah, and they did not expect to see a long interval of time interposed.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. And that The apostle, with a startling abruptness, as if from a sudden impulse, turns from the law to the great and closing execution of the law at the judgment seat of Christ. He speaks of it as if conceptually and practically standing in close connexion with the close of human earthly existence, whether individual or general. So in 2Ti 4:5-8, when he was assured that his own death was at hand, he held the righteous Judge as conceptually close upon death.
Sleep Life is a night; time and its sublunary engrossments are a sleep; death, judgment, salvation, are the approaching dawn before us; it becomes us to be awake out of sleep, and watch the approaches of the morning, of the glorious day at hand.
High time Urgent reason.
Nearer than Each passing moment draws us nearer to the gates of blessedness.
When we believed We are midway between our first earthly salvation and our final heavenly one.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep, for now is salvation nearer to us than when we (first) believed.’
‘And this –.’ Many would add ‘do’, i.e. ‘and do this’, but while that thought is certainly included, the emphasis is more of ‘have this in mind’ or ‘have this attitude because –.’. This may be seen as referring back to what has just been said concerning love for one’s neighbour as a life to be lived out daily, but more probably it has in mind the content of the whole passage Rom 12:1 to Rom 13:10 with its emphasis on committing oneself to God as a living sacrifice, and being totally transformed, living a life of love. Paul’s aim is to relate this to the vital time in which they and we are living, the period prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the consummation of all things (compare Heb 9:28).
The same urgency should be with us today. We live in the time prior to that day when Christ will sum up all things in Himself (Eph 1:10). Thus with the Day dawning it is a time for stirring ourselves, and awaking out of sleep. This idea of awaking out of sleep was present in the teaching of Jesus (Mar 13:35-36; Luk 12:35-36), and repeated by Paul (Eph 5:14; 1Th 5:6). And the idea of awaking out of sleep is that we should rise early and get on with what has to be done, which includes the spreading of the Gospel. It means stirring ourselves into activity because the daytime has come. And this is in the light of the fact that our salvation ( the final redemption of our bodies and enjoyment of the life to come) is nearer now than it was at that time when we began to believe.
The Scripture sees salvation as past, present and future. In the past we entered into salvation when we were accounted as righteous by faith, when we became reconciled to God through Christ (Eph 2:8-9). From that moment Christ began in us His saving work. In the present it is a day by day experience as God ‘works in us to will and do of His good pleasure’ (Php 2:13). We are ‘being saved’ (1Co 1:18). But in the future it refers to the final completion of our salvation when we are presented perfect before God, and have been made ‘like Him (Christ)’ (Rom 8:29; 1Jn 2:2).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Living In Crisis Days (13:11-14).
Paul commenced this section in Rom 12:1-2 with the call to present our bodies as a holy and acceptable living sacrifice, not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our mind. Now he calls on us, in the light of the possibility of Christ’s second coming, to awaken out of sleep, and to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Note the parallels. ‘Present your bodies a living sacrifice’ with ‘awaken out of sleep’. ‘Do not be conformed to this world’ with ‘cast of the works of darkness’. ‘Be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ with ‘put on the armour of light’. These parallel statements form an inclusio for the whole section.
In the days when lighting was primitive the dawning of the day was the time for getting down to work. Night in the main resulted in a cessation of work. But night turned into day and then the world awoke to go about its daily business. During the night men partied and drank to excess, they indulged in illicit sex and loose behaviour, they fought and were jealous, but when day approached that was all put aside for the business of the day. They donned their working clothes, or their armoured coats, and went about their duties. Paul pictures the Christian life in terms of the dawning of a new day. We are to arise, and then deliberately ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’, and set about the task of daily living.
That to be a non-believer was to walk in darkness, while to be a believer was to walk in the light, was a favourite picture in the teaching of Jesus. He declared that we are to walk in the light, and be the sons of light (those whose lives are lived in the light), thereby knowing where we are going and being in no danger of being tripped up, while to walk in darkness would mean that we would stumble, and would not know where we were going (Joh 8:12; Joh 11:9; Joh 12:35-36; Joh 12:46; Luk 16:8). Similarly in the teaching of Paul we are ‘sons of light’, and have been transported out of the tyrannous kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Eph 5:8-9; Eph 5:11-13; Col 1:13; 1Th 5:4-8).
We should note here that Paul presents a number of consecutive but contrasting pictures in pairs, as follows:
It is time to awake from sleep — salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
The night is far spent — the day is at hand.
Let us cast off the works of darkness — let us put on the armour of light.
‘Walk becomingly as in the day —, not in revelling and drunkenness, etc.’
‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ —and do not make provision for the flesh’
And if we combine them in another way we then obtain two powerful contrasting sequences. ‘It is time to awake from sleep — the night is far spent — let us cast off the works of darkness — not walking in revelling and drunkenness — do not make provision for the flesh.’ In other words the night of our past lives is over. And on the other hand, ‘salvation is nearer than when we first believed — the day is at hand — put on the armour of light — walk becomingly as in the day — put on the LORD Jesus Christ.’ The Christian is to walk in the light of God’s ‘day’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Exhortation to Put on Christ In Rom 13:14-14 Paul exhorts the church to put on Christ Jesus and walk in the light of the Gospel in light of His eminent return and future judgment of the world.
Rom 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 Rom 13:12
Mat 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Joh 1:5, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
Rom 13:12 “and let us put on the armour of light” – Comments – Two men of God in modern times have been given heavenly visions, both describing the children of God as being clothed in light. In his book, I Visited Heaven, Julius Oyet, looked down on earth and saw the believers beaming with a light as they went about on earth. [222] Rick Joyner in his two books, The Call and The Final Quest, describes himself as being clothed with an armor of light, so bright he has to put on an ugly cloak, which he described as a cloak of humility, in order to dim the light. [223] Note other verses to support these visions:
[222] Julius Peter Oyet, I Visited Heaven (Kampala, Uganda: Lifeline Ministries, 1997), 83-84.
[223] Rick Joyner, The Call (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1999); Rick Joyner, The Final Quest (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1977).
Php 2:15, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”
Eph 5:8, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children of light .”
This phrase “put on the armor of light” can mean the same thing as “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” used two verses later in verse 14.
Rom 13:14, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:13
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Rom 13:14
Rom 8:6, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Rom 8:13, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”
Rom 13:14 Comments – Rom 13:14 seems to rephrase Rom 12:1-2, since it is the final verse in a two chapter discourse.
Rom 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Gospel in Relation to Other Believers – Paul then exhorts the church at Rome to treat one’s fellow believer with love as an example to the society and government in which they live (Rom 13:11 to Rom 15:13). Christ’s eminent return is reason enough to follow Paul’s exhortations (Rom 13:11-14). He takes a special problem, which is foods, to show the believers how to work together despite their social differences (Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13).
Christ’s Eminent Return In Rom 13:11-14 Paul gives the church at Rome one reason for walking in love, which is because Christ’s return in eminent and each one will soon have to give an account of their lives to God.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Christian’s walk in light:
v. 11. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
v. 12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let US put on the armor of light.
v. 13. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying;
v. 14. but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. As the Christian’s whole life is a walk in love, with the earnest purpose to conduct himself at all times as one trying to fulfill the will of his heavenly Father, so it is also a walk in light, in righteousness and holiness which is acceptable to God. To this end it is very necessary to avoid being tarnished by the world and its evil ways. The admonition therefore fits most admirably: And knowing this, namely, the time, that the hour is now upon us to awake from sleep. The Christians are acquainted with the time and the circumstances under which they live, and they should therefore attend closely to the lesson which the contemplation of the situation brings home to them. They should not wait, lose no time, but watch with the greatest care in what direction all indications are pointing and what necessity devolves upon them. It is high time, the critical moment, for the believers to awake from sleep, Eph 5:14; 1Th 5:6. The apostle refers to the spiritual sleep, which differs in no essential feature from spiritual death, the sleep of sin. To awake from sleep, to be wide-awake in spiritual matters is the special duty resting upon the Christians, to renounce all sinful walk and conduct, to direct the entire mind and heart to the fulfillment of God’s holy will. This condition was attained in the believers when they were converted, when they turned from darkness to light, from unrighteousness to righteousness, from the power of Satan to God. But the work of regeneration begun in that moment or at that time must be continued through life; there must be ceaseless progress in sanctification. That is the business of the Christian, so far as his own spiritual life is concerned, ever to be alert and attentive, lest he fall back and be snared in his former sins and lusts. In this sense the entire life of a Christian is a continual conversion; in this sense, also, this admonition is always timely, for the new man in the heart must daily come forth and arise.
Why it is now, always, time for the believers to be wide-awake and alert the next sentence shows: For now is our salvation nearer than when we began to believe. The salvation of the believers is near. Just as the children of God in the Old Testament, beginning with Eve, were always watchful and alert for the coming of the Messiah and never permitted their interest to lag although a number of millenniums went by without bringing the promised salvation, thus the believers of the New Testament are ever on the lookout for their final redemption. Everything that pertains to the perfect salvation of the believers has been accomplished, and they are therefore eagerly awaiting the dawn of the final great redemption, when the final deliverance from all evil will come to them. At the time when we attained to faith, we were chiefly concerned with deliverance from the wrath of God, with our justification in His sight, Gal 2:16. But now that we have attained to the reconciliation with God, the eyes of our faith are directed in eager longing to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1Co 1:7.
In order to stimulate our watchfulness and to work proper alertness in our hearts, the apostle adds: The night has advanced, the day is very near; it is almost time for the dawn to break. The day on which our final salvation will be completed upon us, the day which brings us the full possession of the blessings of our Savior, is the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, Php_1:6 ; Php_2:10 ; 1Th 5:2; 1Co 3:13. The night which precedes this glorious day is the period of this world. The time in which we are living is night, being governed by sin and death; the prince of darkness has his work in the children of unbelief. At the present time the believers are sighing: Watchman, what of the night? But we know it is the last hour. But a little while, and the dawn of eternity will break; the day of our salvation will come, and with it our reward of mercy, our eternal salvation.
But this being true, let us, then, lay aside the works of darkness, and let us rather put on the weapons of light. Because the day of eternal blessedness is about to dawn, therefore we should take off and cast aside, like an unclean garment, the works of darkness, the works which men commonly commit in the dark, the sins which they do not n-ant the omniscient eye of God to see. Acts that cannot bear the light of day should be shunned at all times by Christians, but especially now that the great day of final redemption is so near. Instead of the filthy garment of such works the Christians should put on, clothe themselves with, the weapons of light. Paul does not speak of garments, but of weapons, armor of light, because a righteous conduct is also a steady battle with the forces of darkness, Eph 6:10-17. The new man was indeed created in the believers in Baptism, but they still have the sinful old Adam to crucify and subdue, not to speak of the hostile world and Satan. Therefore the war must be waged without ceasing, particularly in view of the fact that the night of this world will be ended soon, and salvation will dawn. Therefore we hasten to the coming of the day of God with all holy conversation and holiness, 2Pe 3:11-12, therefore we strive to be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, Php_1:10-11 .
And again Paul shouts his warning admonition: As in the day, let us conduct ourselves honestly in our walk; let us live with all decency, in a proper, seemly, decorous manner. This manner of living excludes three sins to which there was great temptation in Rome, the capital of the world: intemperance, impurity, discord. Children of God will not walk and be found engaged in feastings, carousals, nor in intoxications; all the disorderly conduct which characterized the great heathen feasts then and now must be absent from the conduct of Christians. They will also not be found in chambering, in forbidden sexual intercourses, nor in any kind of wantonness and lasciviousness, sins of all kinds against the Sixth Commandment, many unnatural and revolting sins being practiced then as now. Children of God also cannot take part in quarrels, wranglings, and rivalry, in discord of any kind. All these works are found in the children of unbelief. But they all cannot bear the light of the great day, they cannot stand in the sight of the holy God; on their account the wrath of God will come upon the unbelievers, Eph 5:6. Christians, therefore, although subjected to the most insidious temptations on the part of the children of this world, seconded by their own lusts and desires, must conquer all these evil affections and sins.
As the apostle has warned the Christians against the great trespasses which threaten to stain their soul, so he also holds before them the positive side of their conduct: Rather put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Savior and Lord, whom we have put on in Baptism, Gal 3:27, we should continue to put on day after day, we should clothe our soul in His example and model, and follow Him on the paths of sanctification. Christ lives in His believers, in their entire life and conduct, and the virtues of Christ, His holiness, pureness, chastity, love, goodness, humility, kindness, are evident in all their words and deeds. And thus, with the image of Christ as their greatest ornament, the believers are looking forward to that great day when they shall finally be renewed after the image of Him that created them. Incidentally, therefore, the Christians do not make provision for the flesh for the purpose of gratifying its sensual appetites or any evidence of the corrupt nature. To take proper care of the body, to keep it in health by fulfilling the demands of a sensible hygiene, that is the duty of every Christian. But the great danger is that the body is spoiled by false tenderness, by an excessive care which tends to arouse, instead of subduing, the desires and lusts. Since this would interfere decidedly with the calling of the Christians and with their preparation for the coming of the great day, therefore they will avoid this danger with its temptations and keep themselves pure.
Summary
The apostle enjoins obedience to government as an agency of God, love for one’s neighbor as the fulfillment of the Law, and an open and honest behavior in view of the fact that the day of the Lord is near.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rom 13:11. Nearer than when we believed Than when we declared our belief. Markland. Than when we declared the faith. Heylin. It seems by this and the following verse, says Mr. Locke, as if St. Paul looked upon Christ’s coming as not far off; to which there are several other concurrent passages in his Epistles: see 1Co 1:7. But with all due respect to Mr. Locke, Grotius, and other learned men who favour this sentiment, I am fully satisfied that they have been mistaken, misunderstanding the particular passages of Scripture which they have adduced, and the true state of things in the present instance. That St. Paul did “not look upon Christ’s coming as not far off,” or as if it might happen while he and the men of that generation were living, is incontestably evident from 2Th 2:1. &c. where he professedlyrefutes this erroneous opinion. The case was this: the Thessalonians had mistaken some expressions in his first letter; just in the same manner, probably, as Mr. Locke and others have mistaken the like passages. He had told them, 1Th 5:2-4. That the day of the Lord so suddenly cometh, as a thief in the night; and that their only security against being surprised, or overtaken unawares, by that day, was their not being in darkness, but enjoying the light of the Gospel: Rom 13:4-5. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all children of the light. This, their being forewarned of it, and furnished with all proper means to prepare for it, was their only security against being surprised by the coming of our Lord to judgment. Now taking this in connection with what he had said just before (1Th 4:15.), We which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord.They concluded, as Mr. Locke does in respect to the sentiment of the Apostle, that the Lord would come while they were alive, and hereby were much alarmed and disturbed. But this notion was not only false, but of very bad tendency; and therefore the Apostle, with much earnestness, corrects the mistake in a second Epistle, ch. Rom 2:1, &c. where he plainly declares that he did not believe the coming of the Lord was at hand; and that he knew by the spirit of prophesy, that before the coming of the Lord, there would be a falling away, or great apostacy in the Christian church, and that the man of sin would appear, and erect a spiritual Anti-Christian tyranny in the temple, or church of God. Most certainly the Apostle knew that the coming of Christ would not be till several ages after the time in which he lived: and no doubt all the apostles knew this as well as he. And yet he, and the other apostles, always speak as if the coming of Christ, and the day of the Lord, the day of judgment, were near at hand; and accordingly exhort Christians to watch, and to keep themselves in readiness, that they may not be surprised by it; as in the present passage, Php 4:5, 1Th 5:2, Heb 10:37, Jam 5:7-9, 1Pe 4:7, 2Pe 3:10-12. Our blessed Lord also knew very well that he should not come while that generation to whom he preached, was alive: and yet he exhorts that generation to watch and have all things in readiness, that they might not be surprised by his coming; Mat 24:42; Mat 24:51; Mat 25:13, Mar 13:33; Mar 13:37. Luk 21:34; Luk 21:38 and after his ascension, Rev 22:7; Rev 22:12; Rev 22:20. This is the current language and sense of our Lord and his apostles. They represent his coming as at hand,as drawing nigh, and admonish their hearers to watch, lest his coming should find them unprepared; though they knew his coming would not be till many ages after these persons whom they so exhorted, were dead, and in their graves. But how shall we reconcile this seeming inconsistency?Thus:”The time of our Lord’s coming coincides, or happens at the same time with the time of our death; how near to, or how far soever from his coming we happen to die.” To confirm this proposition, we need advance but one argument, out of more that might be produced; it is this: certainly our Christian course [of preparatory duties, sufferings, watchings, patience, &c.] ends when we die: but Christ comes when our Christian course ends; or, our Christian course in this like terminates in the coming of Christ. This is evident from the following texts: 1Co 1:8; Php 1:6; Php 1:10; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 1:7; 1Ti 6:11-15; 2Ti 4:7-8; Jam 5:7; 1Pe 1:5; 1Pe 1:13; 2Pe 3:11-12; and Rev 2:25; Rev 3:11. In short, throughout the New Testament, we are never exhorted to prepare for death, but always for the coming of our Lord, &c. From all which it appears, that the end of our Christian course, and consequently of our present life, is the coming of our Lord; when the faithful shall receive the salvation, the crown of righteousness, which he will give to them that love his appearing.An aweful, important, awakening truth! of great weight and force in religion; infinitely worthy of our most serious consideration every day and hour of our life! That which is here called our salvation, is in Jud 1:3 termed the common salvation; that is, that salvation, or rest, which we have all a promise left of obtaining, as all the Israelites had a promise left of entering into the land of Canaan, even they who fell short through unbelief, Heb 4:1-2. The beautiful and lively metaphor in Rom 13:11-12 is very observable. This present imperfect state of trial, he compares to the night; and the salvation and glory we have in prospect, to the day: he supposes Christians in name maybe asleep, negligent of their most importantconcerns, or immersed in sensuality: as the Apostle therefore of Christ, and a preacher of the Gospel, he knocks at the chamber-door, and calls to them, “It is high time to awake out of sleep; the day appears, the glorious day of your everlasting salvation. Awake, awake! throw off the loose clothes which cover you in the night, and in which it is unseemly to appear before men; and put on that comely dress, which is agreeable to the day, and gives a decent and honourable appearance in the world:” meaning that disposition and conversation which are agreeable to the Gospel, lovely in the eyes of good men, and which fits us to appear among the blessed in the realms of light.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 13:11 . For compliance with the preceding exhortation to love, closing with Rom 13:10 , Paul now presents a further weighty motive to be pondered, and then draws in turn from this (Rom 13:12 ff.) other exhortations to a Christian walk generally.
] our and that, i.e. and indeed, especially as you, etc. It adds something peculiarly worthy of remark here a further motive particularly to be noted to the preceding. See on this usage, prevalent also in the classics (which, however, more frequently use ), Hartung, I. p. 146; Baeumlein, Partik . p. 147. Comp. 1Co 6:6 ; 1Co 6:8 ; Eph 2:8 ; Phi 1:28 ; Heb 11:12 . That to which here points back is the injunction expressed in Rom 13:8 , and more precisely elucidated in Rom 13:8-10 , , . . . The repetition of it is represented by , so that thus attaches itself to the injunction which is again present in the writer’s conception, and hence all supplements (Bengel and several others, ; Tholuck, ) are dispensed with. The connection of with (Luther, Glckler) complicates the quite simple language, as is also done by Hofmann, who makes the object of , and brings out the following sense: “ and having this knowledge of the time, that , or, and so knowing the time, that .” Even in Soph. O. T. 37 is simply and indeed; the use of as absolute object is irrelevant here (see Bernhardy, p. 106; Khner, II. 1, p. 266), because in the sense of in such a manner would necessarily derive its more precise contents from what precedes . That which Hofmann means, Paul might have expressed by . . ; Khner II. 1, p. 238.
] not considerantes (Grotius and others), but: since you know the (present) period, namely, in respect of its awakening character (see what follows).
. . .] Epexegesis of . : that , namely, it is high time that we finally (without waiting longer, see Klotz, ad Devar . p. 600) should wake out of sleep . does not belong to , but to ., and by is denoted figuratively the condition in which the true moral activity of life is bound down and hindered by the power of sin . In this we must observe with what right Paul requires this of the regenerate (he even includes himself). He means, forsooth, the full moral awakening, the ethical elevation of life in that final degree, which is requisite in order to stand worthily before the approaching Son of man (see immediately below, . . .); and in comparison with this the previous moral condition, in which much of a sinful element was always hindering the full expression of life, appears to him still as, , which one must finally lay aside as on awakening out of morning slumber. The Christian life has its new epochs of awakening, like faith (see on Joh 2:11 ), and love to the Lord (Joh 14:28 ), and the putting on of Christ (Rom 13:14 ). This applies also in opposition to Reiche, who, because Christians were already awakened from the ethical sleep, explains as an image of the state of the Christian on earth, in so far as he only at first forecasts and hopes for blessedness , quite, however, against the Pauline mode of conception elsewhere (Eph 5:14 ; 1Th 5:6 ff.; comp. also 1Co 15:34 ).
. . .] Proof of the preceding . . . The is related to not as the line to the point (Hofmann, following Hartung), but as the objective Now to the subjective (present in consciousness); comp. on the latter, Baeumlein, Partik . p. 140 ff. is related to (comp. on Gal 1:10 ) as line to point.
] Does this belong to the adverb (Beza, Castalio, and others, including Philippi, Hofmann), or to (Luther, Calvin, and others, following the Vulgate)? The former is most naturally suggested by the position of the words; the latter would allow an emphasis, for which no motive is assigned, to fall upon .
] the Messianic salvation , namely, in its completion, as introduced by the Parousia, which Paul , along with the whole apostolical church, regarded as near, always drawing nearer, and setting in even before the decease of the generation . Comp. Php 4:5 ; 1Pe 4:7 ; see also Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 426. Not recognising the latter fact, notwithstanding that Paul brings emphatically into account the short time from his conversion up to the present time of his writing ( ), commentators have been forced to very perverted interpretations; e.g. that deliverance by death was meant (Photius and others), or the destruction of Jerusalem, a fortunate event for Christianity (Michaelis, following older interpreters), or the preaching among the Gentiles (Melanchthon), or the inner , the spiritual salvation of Christianity (Flacius, Calovius, Morus, Flatt, Benecke, Schrader, comp. Glckler). Rightly and clearly Chrysostom says: , , . Comp. Theodore of Mopsuestia: , . But the nearer the blessed goal, the more wakeful and vigilant we should be.
.] than when we became believers; 1Co 3:5 ; 1Co 15:2 ; Gal 2:16 ; Mar 16:16 ; Act 19:2 , and frequently.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1912
THE NEARNESS OF SALVATION A MOTIVE TO DILIGENCE
Rom 13:11. Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
SO contracted are the views which many have of the Gospel, that they account nothing worthy of that name, except what relates primarily and expressly to the great subject of redemption. But the Gospel comprehends duties as well as privileges: nor can any minister preach it aright, if he do not guard his audience against every species of sin, and inculcate the performance of every kind of duty. Nor are any persons to be excepted from such pastoral charges. The Apostles themselves needed to be warned against hypocrisy [Note: Luk 12:1.] and a recurrence to corrupt habits [Note: Luk 21:34-36.]: and they also in their turn have transmitted similar warnings to the Christian world in all ages. It was to believers that St. Paul addressed the words before us: and I conceive myself to be discharging a most solemn duty whilst I call your attention to,
I.
His injunction
Every believer is prone to relapse into a state of stupor
[The wise virgins slumbered and slept, no less than the foolish [Note: Mat 25:5.]. The Church of Ephesus, too, amidst their many exalted virtues, needed to be reproved for having left their first love [Note: Rev 2:3-4.]. And who does not feel that the caution given to the children of light in the Thessalonian Church, is applicable to himself [Note: 1Th 5:2-7.]? In truth, there are seasons, even with the best of men, when the divine life comparatively languishes within them, and when the things which remain in them are in appearance at least ready to die [Note: Rev 3:2.]
This may arise from different causes: sometimes from the cares of this world pressing upon the mind; sometimes from the deceitfulness of riches, or the gratifications of sense beguiling the soul [Note: Mat 13:22.]; and sometimes from the abounding of iniquity in those around us [Note: Mat 24:12.]. But from whatever it proceeds,]
It is high time that we awake out of sleep
[With all of us much time has been lost: and how little remains, who can tell? At all events we have a great work to do; and no man should relax his labours, till he can say, Father, I have glorified thee on earth; I have finished the work which thou hast given me to do [Note: Joh 17:4.].
I call you then, my brethren, to arise, and do your first works, lest God abandon you to the power of your great adversary, and to the evils of your own hearts. If St. Paul felt the need of keeping his body under and bringing it into subjection, lest by any means, after having preached to others he himself should become a cast-away [Note: 1Co 9:26-27.], think not that such care and such fear are unsuitable to you. To the most stable amongst you I would say, Beware, lest being led away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own steadfastness [Note: 2Pe 3:17.]; and to the most confident amongst you all, Be not high-minded, but fear [Note: Rom 11:20.]. Let every one of you look to himself, that he lose not the things which he has wrought, but that he receive a full reward [Note: 2 John, ver. 8.].]
To impress on your minds this admonition, let me call your attention to,
II.
The consideration with which it is enforced
Salvation is the prize held forth to all who believe in Christ: and who shall adequately express or conceive what is comprehended under this term? Yet this, with all the blessedness attached to it, is daily hastening towards you.
You are daily nearer to,
1.
The termination of all your conflicts
[Whilst you are in this life, you must of necessity have trials of some kind to sustain. A corruptible crown is not gained without much exertion, much less is a heavenly crown: the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence; and the violent take it by force [Note: Mat 11:12.]. But there is a rest remaining for you [Note: Heb 4:9.]; and that rest is now very near at hand. Look then at the racer in his course: does not the thought of his having nearly finished his labours animate him to increased exertions? So then should you forget the things that are behind, and press on to the goal for the prize of your high calling [Note: Php 3:13-14.]; and never think that you have attained any thing as long as any thing remains to be attained.]
2.
The completion of all your hopes
[Soon will Gods work of grace be perfected within you, and a crown of glory be awarded to you as having been faithful unto death [Note: Rev 2:10.]. And will you by listlessness and indifference endanger the loss of all the glory and felicity of heaven? Awake, I say, and run with patience the race that is set before you, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith [Note: Heb 12:2.]. Make more use of the great principles of the Gospel than ever you have yet done. Look more to Christ [Note: Isa 45:22.]: live more entirely by faith upon him [Note: Gal 2:20.]. Get his image more formed upon your hearts. Live only for him, and to him [Note: Rom 14:7-8.]: and speedily shall you be seated with him upon his throne [Note: Rev 3:21.], and be a joint-heir with him of his inheritance [Note: Rom 8:17.].]
But let me not close without a few words to unbelievers
[If believers need such an admonition as this, what, think ye, do ye need? What words can ever be too strong for you, who have never fled to Christ for refuge, or believed in him for the saving of your souls? Truly your end also is near: but who can tell what that end shall be [Note: 1Pe 4:17.]? Alas! an inspired Apostle declares to you, that your judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and your damnation slumbereth not [Note: 2Pe 2:3.]. Surely then it is high time for you to awake out of sleep; for, if death find you unprepared to meet your God, your condition will be such, that it would be better for you that you had never been born.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.
There would be a considerable difficulty in the right apprehension of what the Apostle here saith, of awakening out of sleep, if he had not in the preceding part of this Epistle sufficiently shewn, that the Church was not only in an awakened state, but in a truly converted and justified state before God. But, beheld in this point of view, all difficulty is at once removed, and the words of the Apostle, in those few verses, appear in all the loveliness of exhortation to the Church of God. The sleep which the Apostle had in view, is that sleep too common among believers, to which God’s dear children are but too much addicted. Not the sleep of death, for they have passed from death unto life. You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: Eph 2:1 . But it means a sleepy, drowsy frame of mind, such as the Church complained of, and out of which the Lord called her, Son 5:2 , see Commentary there. The wise, virgins, as well as the foolish, are described as fallen into a state of sleep while the bridegroom tarried, Mat 25:5 , see Commentary also. If I detain the Reader over the view of the Apostle’s words, it shall only be to observe, that the Church of God in all ages bath been but too often discovered in this state; and, perhaps, in none more than in the present. And, therefore, if with an eye to the account, as here stated by the Apostle, we consider the high time Paul mentions, of awakening out of sleep, as if personally directed by the Holy Ghost to each child of God, to whom this Poor Man’s Commentary may come, I shall hope the Lord will commission it to usefulness.
Every child of God, though in a justified state before God, in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, may be said to be in a sleepy, drowsy frame of soul, when grace is not in lively exercise, and the goings forth upon the Person, and blood, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ are not continual. Time was, when the Day-spring from on high first dawned upon the soul, and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God first shone in the face of Jesus Christ; that his name was as the richest ointment poured forth. The soul ran, yea, fled to Christ, like as on the chariots of Amminadib. And the heart was prompted to ask of ail we met, saw ye him whom my soul loveth? If this be not the case now, is it not because a sleepiness is crept into the soul? If the bread of life is not daily sought for with the same keen desire as before, can anything be plainer, than that the appetite is wanting? Reader! what view have you of this state of the case? Certainly if you and I do not feel our daily need of Jesus, yea, if a sense of our wants, and his all-sufficiency to supply, do not make him increasingly precious, somewhat is sadly out of tune in the heart. Though rooted in Christ, yet it is a wintry season, when the branches have neither leaves nor fruit. This was the charge which the Lord brought himself against his Church at Ephesus. Though the Lord knew her works, and her labor, and her patience, and bore testimony to her as his; yet, Jesus charged her with coldness. She had not lost all love to Him, but she had left her first love, Rev 2:1-7 . Oh! my poor heart! What reproach is it, that He to whom I owe so much, should have so little of my affections! And, while I need him more, should manifest that love less! Reader! Is it your case? If so, is it not as Paul saith, high time to awake out of sleep?
But let us go one step further. From whence doth this spring, and where is the seat of the disease? Very plain it is, that the mind revolts at it, and the regenerated soul is continually reproaching itself in consequence thereof. The child of God feels evident principles of a different nature and tendency within him. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. Like Paul, with the mind we serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So that there are two I’s in every renewed man’s nature. There is the I which serves the law of God. And there is the I which serves the law of sin. And painful and humbling as this review is, yet is it a blessed discovery, and which can never be made but by the Spirit’s teaching. The carnal, unawakened, unregenerated man knows it not; yea, indeed, it is impossible he should, for he feels it not, neither doth it exist in him. His spiritual part is unawakened, but remains as he was born, dead in trespasses and sins. So that there is no conflict in his heart. A dead soul can make no opposition to a living body, wholly employed under one form or other, in making provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. It is only when by the quickening and regenerating influences of the Holy Ghost, the soul, which by nature is dead in trespasses and sins, is brought forth into life, that the warfare begins, and which never ends until the body drops into the grave.
Reader! do not dismiss the subject without taking with you the suitable improvements from it. There is much in it to humble the best and most faithful followers of the Lord. And there are some things connected with it, which under grace, may lead to other improvements. Let me beg my Reader’s indulgence to offer a few words upon each. In the first place, there is much to humble the child of God, both before God, and to his own heart, when he beholds in himself those remains of indwelling corruption, and that he carries about with him such a body of sin and death, which harrass and afflict the soul. What poverty, what leanness in spiritual enjoyments it occasions! How barren are ordinances, when grace is low, and corruption high ? The heart is like a captive in prison, when neither a sense of sin, nor of mercy, for the time, affects. A sense of want will quicken the desire; and when God the Holy Ghost creates an hungering in the soul, and spreads Jesus with his banquet open to view, everything is blessed then in the enjoyment. But, when the Lord the Comforter is away, and the soul asleep; means of grace, though still followed, degenerate into a mere form; and, however the shadow remains, the substance is wanting. Moreover, the evil of this drowsiness is not confined to the person of the child of God only, which is under its distressing influence, the whole Church is injured by it, Christ is dishonored, and, not unfrequently, occasion is afforded thereby for the enemy to blaspheme. While men slept, saith Jesus, (in that beautiful parable of the good seed,) the enemy sowed tares. And to what cause so likely is it in the present hour, that we can ascribe the awful heresies which have sprung up among us, even to the denying of the Lord that bought them; as the lukewarm, indifferent spirit, which hath been manifested in the Churches, to the great and distinguishing doctrines of our most holy faith? That temporizing conduct, that wish to avoid giving offence, that endeavour to make the iron and the clay join, in, bringing together men of the most opposite principles, under the specious pretext of promoting the Lord’s glory, by propagating his holy word; while concealing and keeping in the back ground an open profession of some of his most blessed truths, which truly honor him; what are all these, but some of the sad, sad consequences of a sleepy state of the Church, instead of casting off, and having no fellowship with the works of darkness, but as true soldiers of Jesus Christ, putting on the whole armor of light ?
But I said, there are some things connected with this view of a sleepy frame in the Church, or in any individual of the Church, which, under grace, may lead to other improvements. And I will beg to mention a few of them. And, first. Nothing can be more evident, than that one gracious purpose, which the Lord intended from it is, to make sin appear exceeding sinful No man, no angel, no, nor all the creatures of God, can tell, what sin is; or have they any adequate conceptions of its awfulness. The child of God therefore shall be taught, and feelingly taught too, somewhat of its dreadful nature, from the remains of in-bred and in-dwelling corruption in himself; and as the Prophet saith, thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord, thy God, and that my fear in not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, Jer 2:19 .
Secondly. This consciousness of a body of in-bred, in-dwelling sin, from which the soul, though renewed by grace, cannot disentangle itself, neither will be able, until life is over, serves, under grace, to keep open a constant spring of true sorrow and repentance in the heart. Paul the Apostle, though he had been caught up to the third heaven, and was himself a chosen vessel before God; yet was so sensible of this distressed state, that he went in great mourning of heart. Oh! wretched man that I am, (said he,) who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? Rom 5:21 . It is very blessed to have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead, 2Co 1:9 .
Thirdly. Perhaps there is hardly a cause, which relates to the state of the redeemed soul, groaning under the remains of corruption, more striking to shew, how the Lord overrules evil for good, than when by this process the believer is divorced from all self-righteousness. Nothing but the continual humblings of sin under grace, can accomplish this blessed purpose. We are so wedded to some fancied goodness in our poor fallen nature, that it requires frequent mortifications from human infirmities, to teach us what we are. And very blessed it is, when humbled to the dust before God, to be rooted out of it. The child of God is living nearer to the Lord, when humbled for some renewed instance of infirmity, than when lifted up, in some fancied work of self-righteousness. And far better is he that is made watchful and jealous over his own heart, by reason of conscious sin, than he that is made proud and secure in fancying himself something when he is nothing.
But fourthly, and above all. Whatever tends to endear Christ, and enhance to the soul the preciousness of Jesus, must be blessed. And, what can accomplish this purpose more, than a sense of our daily, momently need of him? Precious Lord! let me be anything, or nothing, yea, worse than nothing, so that my soul be humbled and my God be exalted as the Lord my righteousness! Oh! for grace to win Christ, and to be found in him: not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ; the righteousness which is of God by faith! Phi 3:8-9 .
Reader! it will be blessed, if your soul, and my soul, be taught, to mourn in secret, over a nature, which in its highest attainments, is still the subject of sin. And do not forget, how much we owe to grace, in thus having brought us acquainted with ourselves, to hide pride from our eyes! And, how blessed it is in God, to give us grace, to acknowledge before God, those remaining corruptions. And, let me beg the Reader to mark it down, as an unerring rule of grace in the heart, when we are led to see our corruptions, and to acknowledge them. But for grace, we should not have known them. Blessed be God! that while we are led to see, and know, and feel, what poor creatures we are in ourselves; we are led to see, and know, and enjoy also, our interest in Jesus. Oh! the preciousness of that holy Scripture: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound? that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Ver. 11. To awake out of sleep ] While the crocodile sleepeth with open mouth, the Indian rat gets into his stomach, and eateth through his entrails. While Ishbosheth slept upon his bed at noon, Baanah and Rechab took away his head. Security ushereth in destruction. Go forth and shake yourselves, as Samson did when the Philistines were upon him; lest Satan serve you, at least for your souls, as Captain Drake did the Spaniard at Taurapasa in the West Indies, for his treasure; he found him sleeping securely on the shore, and by him 13 bars of silver to the value of 40,000 ducats, which he commanded to be carried away, not so much as once waking the man. (Camden’s Elisa.) Or lest Christ himself deal by us, as Epaminondas did by the watchman, whom he found asleep; he thrust him through with his sword, and being blamed for so severe a fact, he replied, Talem eum reliqui, qualem inveni, I left him as I found him.
For now is our salvation nearer ] Stir up yourselves, therefore, and strain toward the mark. There is a Greek word ( ) signifying the end of a race, which is derived of a word that signifieth to spur or prick forward ( ). Surely, as they that run their horses for a wager, spur hardest at the race’s end; so, sith our salvation is nearer now than ever it was, therefore we should run faster now than ever we did. When a cart is in a quagmire, if the horses feel it coming, they’ll pull the harder; so must we, now that full deliverance is hard at hand. Rivers run more speedily and forcibly when they come near the sea, than they did at the spring; the sun shineth most amiably towards the going down. Tempus iam est (said old Zanchius to his friend Sturmius, who was elder than he) ut ad Christum et caelum stelliferum a terra properemus, &c. It is even high time for you and me to hasten to heaven; as knowing that we shall shortly be with Christ, which is “far far the better,” Phi 1:23 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 14 .] Enforcement of the foregoing, and occasion taken for fresh exhortations, by the consideration that THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
11. ] , and this , i.e. ‘ and let us do this ,’ viz., live in no debt but that of love (see reff.), for other reasons, and especially for this following one.
] “The Inf. Aor. here, as after verbs of willing, ordering, &c., betokens the completion of the act in question. See Winer, 45. 8 (edn. 6, 44. 7).” De Wette.
here = the state of worldly carelessness and indifference to sin, which allows and practises the . The imagery seems to be taken originally from our Lord’s discourse concerning His coming: see Mat 24:42 ; Mar 13:33 , and Luk 21:28-36 , where several points of similarity to our Rom 13:11-14 occur.
. . . .] , as Luk 21:28 , and ch. Rom 8:23 , of the accomplishment of salvation . [is best] taken with , ‘ nearer to us ,’ see ch. Rom 10:8 , [though] , Luk 21:28 , seems [at first sight] to favour the usual connexion with .
.] we first believed ; see reff. Without denying the legitimacy of an individual application of this truth, and the importance of its consideration for all Christians of all ages, a fair exegesis of this passage can hardly fail to recognize the fact, that the Apostle here as well as elsewhere (1Th 4:17 ; 1Co 15:51 ), speaks of the coming of the Lord as rapidly approaching . Prof. Stuart, Comm. p. 521, is shocked at the idea, as being inconsistent with the inspiration of his writings. How this can be, I am at a loss to imagine. “OF THAT DAY AND HOUR KNOWETH NO MAN, NO NOT THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN, NOR [EVEN] THE SON: BUT THE FATHER ONLY.” Mar 13:32 .
And to reason, as Stuart does, that because Paul corrects in 2Th 2 the mistake of imagining it to be immediately at hand (or even actually come , see note on there), therefore he did not himself expect it soon, is surely quite beside the purpose. The fact, that the nearness or distance of that day was unknown to the Apostles , in no way affects the prophetic announcements of God’s Spirit by them, concerning its preceding and accompanying circumstances. The ‘ day and hour ’ formed no part of their inspiration: the details of the event, did . And this distinction has singularly and providentially turned out to the edification of all subsequent ages. While the prophetic declarations of the events of that time remain to instruct us, the eager expectation of the time, which they expressed in their day , has also remained, a token of the true frame of mind in which each succeeding age (and each succeeding age a fortiori ) should contemplate the ever-approaching coming of the Lord. On the certainty of the event , our faith is grounded: by the uncertainty of the time our hope is stimulated, and our watchfulness aroused. See Prolegg. to Vol. III. ch. v. iv. 5 10.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 13:11-14 . In the closing verses of the chapter Paul enforces this exhortation to mutual love as the fulfilling of the law by reference to the approaching Parousia. We must all appear (and who can tell how soon?) before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body: if the awe and the inspiration of that great truth descend upon our hearts, we shall feel how urgent the Apostle’s exhortation is. : cf. 1Co 6:6 ; 1Co 6:8 . In classical writers is commoner. It sums up all that precedes, but especially Rom 13:8-10 . : is not “the time” abstractly, but the time they lived in with its moral import, its critical place in the working out of God’s designs. It is their time regarded as having a character of its own, full of significance for them. This is unfolded in . . . (without waiting longer) is to be construed with : “it is time for you at once to awake” (Gifford). No Christian should be asleep, yet the ordinary life of all is but drowsy compared with what it should be, and with what it would be, if the Christian hope were perpetually present to us. : for now is salvation nearer us than when we believed, has here the transcendent eschatological sense: it is the final and complete deliverance from sin and death, and the reception into the heavenly kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation was always near, to the faith of the Apostles; and with the lapse of time it became, of course, nearer. Yet it has often been remarked that in his later epistles Paul seems to contemplate not merely the possibility, but the probability, that he himself would not live to see it. See 2Co 5:1-10 , Phi 1:23 . : when we became Christians, 1Co 3:5 ; 1Co 15:2 , Gal 2:16 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Romans
LOVE AND THE DAY
SALVATION NEARER
Rom 8:11
There is no doubt, I suppose, that the Apostle, in common with the whole of the early Church, entertained more or less consistently the expectation of living to witness the second coming of Jesus Christ. There are in Paul’s letters passages which look both in the direction of that anticipation, and in the other one of expecting to taste death. ‘We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord,’ he says twice in one chapter. ‘I am ready to be offered, and the hour of my departure is at hand,’ he says in his last letter.
Now this contrariety of anticipation is but the natural result of what our Lord Himself said, ‘It is not for you to know the times and the seasons,’ and no one, who is content to form his doctrine of the knowledge resulting from inspiration from the words of Jesus Christ Himself, need stumble in the least degree in recognising the plain fact that Paul and his brother Apostles did not know when the Master was to come. Christ Himself had told them that there was a chamber locked against their entrance, and therefore we do not need to think that it militates against the authoritative inspiration of these early teachers of the Church, if they, too, searched ‘what manner of time the Spirit which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand . . . the glory that should follow.’
Now, my text is evidently the result of the former of these two anticipations, viz. that Paul and his generation were probably to see the coming of the Lord from heaven. And to him the thought that’ the night was far spent,’ as the context says, ‘and the day was at hand,’ underlay his most buoyant hope, and was the inspiration and motive-spring of his most strenuous effort.
Now, our relation to the closing moments of our own earthly lives, to the fact of death, is precisely the same as that of the Apostle and his brethren to the coming of the Lord. We, too, stand in that position of partial ignorance, and for us practically the words of my text, and all their parallel words, point to how we should think of, and how we should be affected by, the end to which we are coming. And this is the grand characteristic of the Christian view of that last solemn moment. ‘Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.’ So I would note, first of all, what these words teach us should be the Christian view of our own end; and, second, to what conduct that view should lead us.
I. The Christian view of death.
But some one may say, ‘Is a man not saved till after he is dead?’ Is salvation future, not coming till after the grave? No, certainly not. There are three aspects of that word in Scripture. Sometimes the New Testament writers treat salvation as past, and represent a Christian as being invested with the possession of it all at the very moment of his first faith. That is true, that whatever is yet to be evolved from what is given to the poorest and foulest sinner, in the moment of his initial faith in Christ, there is nothing to be added to it. The salvation which the penitent thief received on the cross is all the salvation that he was ever to get. But out of it there came welling and welling and welling, when he had passed into the region ‘where beyond these voices there is peace’-there came welling out from that inexhaustible fountain which was opened in him all the fullnesses of an eternal progress in the heavens. And so it is with us. Salvation is a past gift which we received when we believed.
But in another aspect, which is also emphatically stated in Scripture, it is a progressive process, and not merely a gift bestowed once for all in the past. I do not dwell upon that thought, but just remind you of a turn of expression which occurs in various connections more than once. ‘The Lord added to the Church daily such as were being saved,’ says Luke. Still more emphatically in the Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle puts into antithesis the two progressive processes, and speaks of the Gospel as being preached, and being a savour of life unto life ‘to them that are being saved,’ and a savour of destruction ‘to them that are being lost.’ No moral or spiritual condition is stereotyped or stagnant. It is all progressive. And so the salvation that is given once for all is ever being unfolded, and the Christian life on earth is the unfolding of it.
But in another aspect still, such as is presented in my text, and in other parallel passages, that salvation is regarded as lying on the other side of the flood, because the manifestations of it there, the evolving there of what is in it, and the great gifts that come then, are so transcendently above all even of our selectest experiences here, that they are, as it were, new, though still their roots are in the old. The salvation which culminates in the absolute removal from our whole being of all manner of evil, whether it be sorrow or sin, and in the conclusive bestowal upon us of all manner of good, whether it be righteousness or joy, and which has for its seal ‘the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body,’ so that body, soul, and spirit ‘make one music as before, but vaster,’ is so far beyond the germs of itself which here we experience that my text and its like are amply vindicated. And the man who is most fully persuaded and conscious that he possesses the salvation of God, and most fully and blessedly aware that that salvation is gradually gaining power in his life, is the very man who will most feel that between its highest manifestation on earth, and its lowest in the heavens there is such a gulf as that the wine that he will drink there at the Father’s table is indeed new wine. And so ‘is our salvation nearer,’ though we already possess it, ‘than when we believed.’
Dear brethren, if these things be true, and if to die is to be saved into the kingdom, do not two thoughts result? The one is that that blessed consummation should occupy more of our thoughts than I am afraid it does. As life goes on, and the space dwindles between us and it, we older people naturally fall into the way, unless we are fools, of more seriously and frequently turning our thoughts to the end. I suppose the last week of a voyage to Australia has far more thoughts in it about the landing next week than the two or three first days of beating down the English Channel had. I do not want to put old heads on young shoulders in this or in any other respect. But sure I am that it does belong very intimately to the strength of our Christian characters that we should, as the Psalmist says, be ‘wise’ to ‘consider our latter end.’
The other thought that follows is as plain, viz. that that anticipation should always be buoyant, hopeful, joyous. We have nothing to do with the sad aspects of parting from earth. They are all but non-existent for the Christian consciousness, when it is as vigorous and God-directed as it ought to be. They drop into the background, and sometimes are lost to sight altogether. Remember how this Apostle, when he does think about death, looks at it with-I was going to quote words which may strike you as being inappropriate-’a frolic welcome’; how, at all events, he is neither a bit afraid of it, nor does he see in it anything from which to shrink. He speaks of being with Christ, which is far better; ‘absent from the body, present with the Lord’; ‘the dissolution of the earthly house of this tabernacle’-the tumbling down of the old clay cottage in order that a stately palace of marble and precious stones may be reared upon its site; ‘the hour of my departure is at hand; I have finished the fight.’ Peter, too, chimes in with his words: ‘My exodus; my departure,’ and both of the two are looking, if not longingly, at all events without a tremor of the eyelid, into the very eyeballs of the messenger whom most men feel so hideous. Is it not a wonderful gift to Christian souls that by faith in Jesus Christ, the realm in which their hope can expatiate is more than doubled, and annexes the dim lands beyond the frontier of death? Dear friends, if we are living in Christ, the thought of the end and that here we are absent from home, ought to be infinitely sweet, of whatever superficial terrors this poor, shrinking flesh may still be conscious. And I am sure that the nearer we get to our Saviour, and the more we realise the joyous possession of salvation as already ours, and the more we are conscious of the expanding of that gift in our hearts, the more we shall be delivered from that fear of death which makes men all their ‘lifetime subject to bondage.’ So I beseech you to aim at this, that, when you look forward, the furthest thing you see on the horizon of earth may be that great Angel of Death coming to save you into the everlasting kingdom.
Now, just a word about
II. The conduct to which such a hope should incite.
Further, says Paul, this hopeful, cheerful contemplation of approaching salvation should lead us to cast off the evil, and to put on the good. You will remember the heart-stirring imagery which the Apostle employs in the context, where he says, ‘The day is at hand; let us therefore fling off the works of darkness’-as men in the morning, when the daylight comes through the window, and makes them lift their eyelids, fling off their night-gear-’and let us put on the armour of light.’ We are soldiers, and must be clad in what will be bullet-proof, and will turn a sword’s edge. And where shall steel of celestial temper be found that can resist the fiery darts shot at the Christian soldier? His armour must be ‘of light.’ Clad in the radiance of Christian character he will be invulnerable. And how can we, who have robed ourselves in the works of darkness, either cast them off or array ourselves in sparkling armour of light? Paul tells us, ‘Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh.’ The picture is of a camp of sleeping soldiers; the night wears thin, the streaks of saffron are coming in the dawning east. One after another the sleepers awake; they cast aside their night-gear, and they brace on the armour that sparkles in the beams of the morning sun. So they are ready when the trumpet sounds the reveille, and with the morning comes the Captain of the Lord’s host, and with the Captain comes the perfecting of the salvation which is drawing nearer and nearer to us, as our moments glide through our fingers like the beads of a rosary. Many men think of death and fear; the Christian should think of death-and hope.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rom 13:11-14
11Do 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. 12The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
Rom 13:11
NASB”do this”
NKJV”and do this”
NRSV”Besides this”
TEV”You must do this”
NJB”Besides”
This is a way of linking what follows (Rom 13:11-14) with what precedes (Rom 13:9-10). Be doers of the word, not just hearers (cf. Jas 1:22-23; Jas 1:25)! Love must be put into action.
“knowing the time” This is a perfect active participle. This term for time (kairos) was used in the sense of a special period of time, not regular chronological time (chronos). Believers must live in (1) the light of the any-moment return of Christ and (2) the new age has dawned.
“that it is already the hour” This metaphor, “the hour” (used often in John’s Gospel), refers to a special moment (similar to kairos) in God’s redemptive plan (cf. Rom 3:26; 1Co 7:29; 1Co 10:11; Jas 5:8; 1Pe 4:7; 2Pe 3:9-13; 1Jn 2:18; Rev 1:3; Rev 22:10). It is used both of the times of Jesus’ crucifixion and return.
“sleep” This term is used here metaphorically of moral and spiritual laxity (cf. Eph 5:8-14; 1Th 5:6). Words only have meaning in a specific context. Be careful of a fixed definition. All words have several possible meanings (semantical field).
“for now salvation is nearer” Salvation is an initial decision and a process (see Special Topic at Rom 10:14). Salvation will not be complete until believers have their new bodies (cf. 1Jn 3:2; 1Th 4:13-18; Heb 9:28; 1Pe 1:5). Theologically this is called “glorification” (Rom 8:30). It is the hope of every generation of Christians to expect the Lord back in his or her lifetime (cf. Luk 21:28). Paul was no exception (cf. 1Th 4:15).
“than when we believed” Christianity begins with a decision (instantaneous justification and sanctification), but must result in a godly lifestyle (progressive sanctification, see Special Topic at Rom 6:4) and ends in Christlikeness (glorification). One must accept God’s offer in Christ (cf. Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16; Rom 10:9-13). This initial decision is not the end, but the beginning!
Rom 13:12 “The night is almost gone” This refers to the present evil age which is already being destroyed and replaced (cf. 1Co 7:29-31; 1Co 10:11; Jas 5:8; Eph 5:8; Eph 5:14; 1Jn 4:7; 2 John 2:17-18; Rev 1:3; Rev 22:10). See Special Topic at Rom 12:2. Paul, and especially John, use the contrast between dark and light, as did the Dead Sea Scrolls.
“the day is at hand” This is a perfect active indicative. These are the last days (cf. Php 4:5; Jas 5:9). We have been in the last days since Jesus’ incarnation. They will last until His glorious return. All believers since the first century are surprised by such a long delay in Christ’s return. However, the new age has dawned in Christ.
This note on the nearness of Christ’s return is taken from the “Crucial Introduction” to my commentary on Revelation. See it free online at www.freebiblecommentary.org .
“SIXTH TENSION (imminent return of Christ vs. the delayed Parousia)
Most believers have been taught that Jesus is coming soon, suddenly, and unexpectedly (cf. Mat 10:23; Mat 24:27; Mat 24:34; Mat 24:44; Mar 9:1; Mar 13:30). But every expectant generation of believers so far has been wrong! The soonness (immediacy) of Jesus’ return is a powerful promised hope of every generation, but a reality to only one (and that one a persecuted one). Believers must live as if He were coming tomorrow, but plan and implement the Great Commission (cf. Mat 28:19-20) if He tarries.
Some passages in the Gospels (cf. Mar 13:10; Luk 17:2; Luk 18:8) and I and 2 Thessalonians are based on a delayed Second Coming (Parousia). There are some historical events that must happen first:
1.world-wide evangelization (cf. Mat 24:15; Mar 13:10)
2.the revelation of “the man of Sin” (cf. Mat 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2; Revelation 13)
3.the great persecution (cf. Mat 24:21; Mat 24:24; Revelation 13)
There is a purposeful ambiguity (cf. Mat 24:42-51; Mar 13:32-36)! Live everyday as if it were your last but plan and train for future ministry!”
“lay aside. . .put on” These are aorist middle subjunctives, which give a note of contingency. The implication is “you yourselves lay aside. . .put on once for all or decisively.” Both God and mankind are active in both justification (repentance and faith) and sanctification (godly living). This clothing metaphor is very common in Paul’s writings. Believers are to take off their sleeping clothes and put on their battle array (cf. Eph 4:22-25; Col 3:10; Col 3:12; Col 3:14). We are Christian soldiers preparing for the daily spiritual battle (cf. Eph 6:10-18). See note in NIDNTT, vol. 1, pp. 315-316.
“the armor of light” This is probably an allusion to Isa 59:17. Believers must decisively put on the armor and weapons of righteousness (cf. 2Co 6:7; 2Co 10:4; Eph 6:11; Eph 6:13; 1Th 5:8). God’s armor is available to believers but they must
1. recognize their need
2. recognize God’s provision
3. personally and intentionally implement it into their daily thought and life
There is a daily spiritual battle! See Clinton F. Arnold, Three Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare.
Rom 13:13 “Let us behave properly” This is an aorist active subjunctive, literally, literally “walk.” This was a Hebrew idiom for lifestyle (cf. Eph 4:1; Eph 4:17; Eph 5:2; Eph 5:15). Paul uses it over 33 times.
The list of sins in this verse are made up of three pairs of two terms. The terms have some semantic overlap. It is possible they are meant to be synonyms. See SPECIAL TOPIC: VICES AND VIRTUES at Rom 1:28-32.
These terms may relate to the tension between believing Jews and Gentiles in the Roman church. The new Gentile believers may have been continuing (1) some of their immoral pagan worship practices or (2) acting arrogantly against the returning believing Jewish leaders who had left briefly because of Nero’s edict which banned all Jewish rites in Rome.
“not in carousing and drunkenness” This referred to sexual immorality which was linked in pagan religious rituals to drunkenness. In the list of the sins of the flesh in Gal 5:21, these terms are also listed side by side.
“not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality” This pair seems to overlap the first pair. The second term is used extensively in the NT (cf. Mar 7:22; 2Co 12:21; Gal 5:19; Eph 4:19; 1Pe 4:3; 2Pe 2:7). If the first pair focuses on drunkenness, this pair focuses on sexual immorality, even a socially uncontrolled abandonment to sensuality.
“not in strife and jealousy” These terms speak of strife between people (cf. Gal 5:20). This may have been the result of the inappropriate conduct of the first two pairs. If these are addressed to Christians (cf. 1Co 3:3; Col 3:8), they reflect some of the pagan religious practices which must stop in believers’ lives. However, in context this verse is a contrast to believers, so in that sense, it would be a warning.
Rom 13:14 “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” This metaphor relates to the royal robe of King Jesus now placed on the shoulders of believers (positional sanctification). Some scholars see it as an allusion to baptismal clothing. This clothing metaphor is first mentioned in Rom 13:12. It is a way of showing believers’ new position in Christ. It also emphasized the fact that believers must implement their new lifestyle choices (progressive sanctification) because of their new position in Christ (cf. Eph 4:22; Eph 4:24; Col 3:8). In Gal 3:27 this truth is expressed as a statement of fact, indicative; here it is expressed as an imperative (aorist middle), a command.
This tension between the indicative statement and the imperative is the tension between our position in Christ and our striving to possess that position (see Special Topic at Rom 6:4). We are “saints” (holy ones) at the moment of salvation, but we are admonished to be “holy.” This is the biblical paradox of a full and free salvation in Christ and the clarion call for Christlikeness!
“make no provision” This is a present middle imperative with the negative particle. This grammatical form usually means to stop an act already in process. This seems to imply that some Christians in Rome were living inappropriate moral lives. This may have been a carry over from their pagan worship practices.
It is difficult to explain the NT teachings about carnal Christianity. The NT authors present mankind’s condition in black and white terms. A carnal Christian is a contradiction in terms. Yet it is a reality of our “already” but “not yet” lives. Paul categorized humanity into three groups (1Co 2:14 to 1Co 3:1):
1. natural men (lost humanity), Rom 2:14
2. spiritual men (saved humanity), Rom 3:1
3. men of flesh (carnal Christians or baby Christians), Rom 3:1
“the flesh in regard to its lusts” Paul knew all too well the continuing dangers of our fallen Adamic nature (cf. Romans 7; Eph 2:3), but Jesus gives us the power and desire to live for God (cf. Romans 6). It is an ongoing struggle (cf. Rom 8:5-7; 1Jn 3:6-9). See Special Topic: Flesh (sarx) at Rom 1:3.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
knowing. App-132.
time = season. Greek. kairos.
high time. Greek. hora. See 1Jn 2:18 (hour).
awake = be awakened. App-178.
out of. App-104.
believed. See Rom 1:16. App-150.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11-14.] Enforcement of the foregoing, and occasion taken for fresh exhortations, by the consideration that THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 13:11. , and this) supply do, those things, which are laid down from ch. Rom 12:1-2, and especially from Rom 13:8.-) the time [opportunity, season] abounding in grace, ch. Rom 5:6., Rom 3:26; 2Co 6:2.-, the hour) viz. it is. This word marks a short period of time. We take account of the hour for [with a view to] rising.-, already) without delay; presently after there occurs , at the present time [now].- , out of sleep) The morning dawns, when man receives faith, and then sleep is shaken off. He must therefore rise, walk and do his work, lest sleep should again steal over him. The exhortations of the Gospel always aim at HIGHER AND HIGHER DEGREES of perfection, [something farther beyond], and presuppose the oldness of the condition in which we now are, compared with those newer things, which ought to follow, and which correspond to the nearness of salvation.-) construed with , which is included in , rather than with ; for in other passages it is always called either the salvation of God, or salvation absolutely, not our salvation, [which Engl. Vers. wrongly gives]; comp. on this nearness of salvation, Gal 3:3; Gal 5:7. In both places the apostle supposes, that the course of the Christian, once begun, thereupon proceeds onward continually, and comes nearer and nearer to the goal. Paul had long ago written both his epistles to the Thessalonians; therefore when he wrote of the nearness of salvation, he wrote considerately [for he here, after having had such a time meanwhile to consider, repeats his statement], comp. 1Th 4:15, note. Observe also: he says elsewhere, that we are near to salvation, Heb 6:9 : but here, that salvation, as if it were a day, is near to us. He who has begun well ought not to flag, when he is near the goal, but to make progress [deficere, proficere: not to recede, but proceed].- ) Salvation to be consummated at the coming of Christ, which is the goal of hope, ch. Rom 8:24, and the end of faith, 1Pe 1:9. The making mention of salvation is repeated from ch. 5 and 8. [Moreover from that whole discussion, this exhortation is deduced, which is the shorter, in proportion as that was the longer.-V. g.]- ) than at the time, when we began to believe at the first, and entered upon the path described, ch. 1-4; so, , to take up faith, [to accept it, to become believers] Act 4:4; Act 4:32, and in many other places. [He, who has once begun well, from time to time approaches either nearer to salvation, or salvation, as it is said here, comes nearer to him. He has no need to feel great anxiety, excepting the eagerness of expectation.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 13:11
Rom 13:11
And this, knowing the season,-This refers to the duties already enjoined, and urges on them to live a holy and exemplary life.
that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep:- [Since a glorious day had dawned upon them in their reception of the gospel, there is brought upon them the grave responsibility of strenuous effort and activity in the service of God. The image of awakening out of sleep is often used in order to designate the rousing up from a state of comparative inaction to one of strenuous effort. (See 1Co 15:34; Eph 5:14; 1Th 5:6).]
for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. -[The salvation is not from sin, which the Romans already had (Rom 6:3-4; Rom 6:17), but the completion of it in the glorification awaiting them when the Lord should come (1Pe 1:4-5). The constant expectation of the Lord is the very attitude of mind which Christ himself enjoined in his repeated warnings. That expectation had from the first been modified by the caution: Of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven. (Mat 24:36). In Pauls mind the expectation was vivid (1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:17), but the caution was not forgotten (1Th 5:1-2; 2Th 2:1). We should be prepared for the light of eternal day, just as one might say death is always near and live in the power of such a sentiment, though the death is long postponed. The language here, as elsewhere on this topic, is adapted to every generation of believers who, not knowing the time, can at least say salvation is nearer.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
nearer
“Nearer” in the sense of the full result of salvation in glory. (See Scofield “Rom 1:16”). Also, 1Jn 3:2.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
knowing: Isa 21:11, Isa 21:12, Mat 16:3, Mat 24:42-44, 1Th 5:1-3
it is: Jon 1:6, Mat 25:5-7, Mat 26:40, Mat 26:41, Mar 13:35-37, 1Co 15:34, Eph 5:14, 1Th 5:5-8
for now: Ecc 9:10, Luk 21:28, 1Co 7:29-31, 1Pe 4:7, 2Pe 3:13-15, Rev 22:12, Rev 22:20
Reciprocal: Pro 6:9 – when Pro 19:15 – casteth Pro 20:13 – open Pro 24:33 – General Son 3:2 – will rise Son 7:9 – those that are asleep Isa 56:1 – for Hos 4:11 – take Joe 1:5 – Awake Mat 5:16 – your light Mar 13:33 – General Mar 13:36 – he find Luk 12:40 – General Luk 21:34 – your hearts Eph 5:16 – Redeeming Phi 2:12 – own 1Th 5:4 – are 1Th 5:6 – let us not Heb 10:25 – as ye Heb 12:1 – let us lay 1Pe 5:8 – sober 2Pe 1:20 – Knowing Rev 1:3 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:11
Rom 13:11. Wake out of sleep denotes arousing from indifference and becoming more active in the service of the Lord. Salvation nearer. If we are faithful until death or until Jesus comes whichever occurs first our salvation will be assured. Of necessity, then, the passing of the days brings us nearer to that reward.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 13:11. And this. It is not necessary to supply anything; the sense is: and ye should the rather do this, i.e., Move one another (Rom 13:8), as afterwards expanded.
Knowing the season; since ye know the season. What this means is then explained: that it is already time, etc. We prefer this rendering as more exact
For you. The received text has us. which does not appear in the E. V., but the oldest authorities support you, which is the subject of the following infinitive. We therefore supply you in our explanation of the preceding part of the verse, the whole being hortatory in its tone.
To awake out of sleep; it is already time that you should awake out of sleep. Meyer joins already with the infinitive clause, which seems unnecessary. Since this exhortation is addressed to Christians, sleep must be taken in a relative sense, and explained of the state of worldly carelessness and indifference to sin, which allows and practices the works of darkness. The imagery seems to be taken originally from our Lords discourse concerning his coming: see Mat 24:42; Mar 13:33, and Luk 21:28-38, where several points of similarity to our Rom 13:11-14 occur (Alford).
For now (not the same word as already) is salvation nearer to us (or, is our salvation nearer) than whom we first believed. This is the motive for the preceding exhortation. Of the renderings we give, the former is favored by the order of words in the original. First believed is a correct paraphrase, indicating the single act of faith with which the Christian life began. Salvation is regarded by most of the recent commentators as referring to the second coming of Christ. Others object to this view on the ground that it implies a mistaken expectation on the part of the Apostle, as well as because either the word coming, or, appearing, would be used, if that were the sense. The latter objection is not of much weight, since the word salvation often has a future reference, and in the Apostles mind the blessedness of the future was intimately associated with the coming of the Lord. Further, even if Paul had a personal hope that the Lord would soon return, that did not interfere with his so writing that his teaching corrected the errors of others, because it was itself inspired. He himself knew that he could not know the time; and therefore he could not, and did not, teach any error on this point. Indeed, the very statements which are used to prove that he had this expectation prove even more clearly their own adaptation to the needs of the waiting church. They have been literally true in their application to Christians for centuries. On this great subject the Apostle taught the truth, as well as rebuked error. But Stuart, Hodge, and others maintain quite strongly the exclusive reference to the deliverance from present evil, the consummation of salvation for the individual believer in eternity. Undoubtedly we must accept such an application and press it as a motive, but the other view seems to be the correct one.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here begins the last part of the chapter, which treats of our duty towards ourselves, namely, sobriety, temperance, mortification of sin, and all the works of darkness, such as rioting and drunkenness, chambering and wantonness, and the like; and the argument or motive which the apostle uses in this verse to excite and quicken the converted Romans to the last-mentioned duties, is drawn from the consideration of their present state and condition; they were believers, the gospel light was risen upon them, and they were nearer salvation now than when they first believed: Now is your salvation nearer than when you believed. this, by the way, is a meditation full of comfort to a gracious person; every breath he draws, draws him a degree nearer to perfect happiness; he is nearer heaven, nearer his reward, than when in the infancy of his faith; therefore let him gird up the loins of his mind, and be more cheerful and more laborious in the Lord’s work.
Lord! how transporting is it to thy faithful ones, to consider how small a matter is betwixt them and their complete salvation! no sooner is their breath gone, but the full desire of their souls is come; their salvation is near, very near, much nearer than when they first believed. But, O! what a meditation of terror is it to a wicked person! his damnation is near, and every hour nearer and nearer; there is but a puff of breath betwixt him and hell; ere long his last breath and his last hope will expire together.
Lord! give sinners heart to consider, that a graceless man ere long will be a hopeless man; the state he was born in was sad, the state he is now in is worse, but the state he will shortly be in, without conversion, will be unspeakably worst of all: his damnation is near, it slumbereth not.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 13:11-12. And that That is, do this to which I exhort you; fulfil the law of love in all the instances above mentioned; knowing the time Greek, , the season, that it is the morning of the day of the gospel, a season of increasing light and grace, but hasting away: that now it is high time to awake out of sleep Out of that sleep into which you had fallen during the darkness of heathenism, or before your illumination by divine truth and grace; that state of insensibility of, and unconcern about, things spiritual and eternal in general, and your own salvation in particular; to awake to a sense of the infinite importance of the truths and duties revealed to you in the gospel, and of the near approach of death and judgment, which will put a period to your state of trial, and fix you in a state of final and eternal retribution. It is therefore high time that you should labour, to the utmost of your power, to improve every opportunity of receiving and doing good, and of prosecuting the great business of life) which is to secure the favour of God, a conformity to his image, and your own everlasting happiness. For now is our final salvation Our eternal glory; nearer than when we at first believed It is continually advancing, flying forward upon the swiftest wings of time, and that which remains between the present hour and eternity is, comparatively speaking, but a moment. The night is far spent The night of heathenish ignorance and error; the day Of gospel light and grace; is at hand Greek, , hath approached, hath dawned: the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to us who sat in darkness and in the region of the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. The night, also, of the present life is far spent, during which we often confound truth and error, duty and sin, and the day of eternity is at hand, is drawing near, even that day which will show every thing in its proper colours and forms. Let us therefore cast off the works, only suitable to, or excusable in, a state of darkness That is, let us abandon all manner of wickedness which is wont to be practised in the night, or in a state of ignorance, error, and folly; and let us put on the armour of light For, being soldiers, it is our duty to arm and prepare for fight, inasmuch as we are encompassed about with so many enemies. In other words, let us be clothed with all Christian graces, which, like burnished and beautiful armour, will be at once an ornament and a defence to us, and which will reflect the bright beams that are so gloriously rising upon us.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Twenty-seventh Passage (13:11-14). The Expectation of Christ’s coming again a Motive to Christian Sanctification.
This passage is the counterpart of that with which the apostle had begun his moral teaching, Rom 12:1-2. There he had laid down the principle: a living consecration of the body to God under the guidance of a mind renewed by faith in the mercies of God. This was, as it were, the impelling force which should sustain the believer in his twofold spiritual and civil walk. But that this course may be firm and persevering, there must be joined to the impelling force a power of attraction exercised on the believer’s heart by an aim, a hope constantly presented to him by faith. This glorious expectation is what the apostle reminds us of in the following passage. The passage, Rom 12:1-2, was the foundation; this, Rom 13:11-14, is the corner-stone of the edifice of Christian sanctification.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
[At Rom 12:1-2 Paul began this hortatory division of his Epistle by reminding his readers of the past mercies of God, making of those blessings which lay behind them a strong motive, impelling them by every sense of gratitude to go forward in the Christian life. He here closes his exhortation with an appeal to the future rewards of God, summed up in that endless and glorious day of salvation which lay before them, attracting them by every sense of heavenly aspiration to continue on in the faith-life. Thus the spiritual forces of memory and hope are made use of by the apostle to push and pull his readers heavenward.] And this [see note at Rom 13:9], knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep [“The imagery seems to be taken originally from our Lord’s discourse concerning his coming (Mat 24:42; Mar 13:33; Luk 21:28-38), where several points of similarity to our verses 11-14 occur” (Alford). For other uses of the imagery, see 1Co 15:34; Eph 5:14; 1Th 5:6-8; Mat 25:1-13 . Sleep is a figurative expression denoting that moral inattention, indifference and carelessness which permits sin. Out of this torpor the Christian is evermore striving to rouse himself, and into it the worldling is as constantly seeking to resign himself, that conscience, fear, and other awakening influences, may not disturb him. To be fully aroused is to be keenly and thoroughly conscious of all spiritual facts and responsibilities, all truths and possibilities. Some need to make the effort to come back to consciousness: all need to keep up their efforts to prevent the return of drowsiness. The warning here is addressed to Christians. “Whiles the crocodile sleepeth with open mouth,” says Trapp, “the Indian rat gets into his stomach, and eateth through his entrails. While Ishbosheth slept upon his bed at noon, Baanah and Rechab took away his head. Security ushereth in destruction. Go forth and shake yourselves as Samson did when the Philistines were upon him; lest Satan serve you for your souls, as Captain Drake did the Spaniard at Tamapasa in the West Indies for his treasure; he found him sleeping securely upon the shore, and by him thirteen bars of silver to the value of forty thousand ducats, which he commanded to be carried away, not so much as waking the man. Or lest Christ himself deal by us as Epimonidas did by the watchman whom he found asleep: he thrust him through with his sword; and being blamed for so severe a fact, he replied, ‘I left him as I found him'”]: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed. [Paul meant that his readers were nearer that state of final blessedness which we call salvation than they were when they were converted. The thought that each day takes from us forever an opportunity of service, and that it also brings us that much nearer the time of accounting, is a most powerful incentive to action; “one of the most awakening exhortations,” says Plumer, “that can be presented. The Judge standeth before the door. Eternity is at hand.” (Comp. Heb 10:25) In and of itself “nearer” does not necessarily imply that Paul expected the speedy approach of Christ; but the context, full of suggestion of a day about to dawn, does imply close nearness. In fact, the need of the immediate awakening suggested by “already it is time,” lies as–much in the rapidity as in the certainty of Christ’s coming: a coming so rapid that the interval had appreciably diminished since Paul’s readers had entered on the new life. Now, the second coming of Christ may be viewed under two aspects; i. e., either as racial or individual. In either case it is speedy, but the comparative speed, or the proportion of speed, is measured far differently, for the centuries of the life of the race are long compared with the brief span of life apportioned to each individual. Viewed racially, the long night of heathenish darkness was drawing to a close. The day began to dawn when Christ was born. An increase of light came when he gathered his first disciples, and now the full light, and consequently the salvation accompanying the second coming of the Christ, was spiritually (rather than temporarily) nearer than when believers first began to gather to the Master. While such a construction is well suited to the large ideas of Christ’s coming, we yet prefer the more personal construction which limits the range of view to the individual. For the members of the church at Rome the day began to dawn at the hour of their conversion, and since then the advancing years had brought them nearer their salvation. There is, moreover, no direct mention of the Lord’s coming; but it is clearly implied. This implication, however, suits the idea of the individual Christian’s entrance into the Lord’s presence by death as readily as does the Lord’s approach to all in the hour of final judgment. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2Co 5:8; Phi 1:23 . We naturally look upon death as a going on our part; but may it not likewise be truly a coming on the part of Christ? (See Joh 14:3; Luk 12:37) Surely to the individual Christian salvation speedily grows nearer after conversion, and this night period of sin and sorrow soon gives place to the day of salvation, the state of eternal blessedness and peace and joy unending, and the brevity of the individual life is far more of a stimulus than the brevity of the race life. The commands of our Saviour to watch for his coming are a constant tonic if viewed as addressed to the individual, but they lose in power if viewed from the standpoint of the race. There are many apparently unfulfilled prophecies which delay our expectation that he will come for final judgment in the next year or two at least, but there is nothing, prophetic or otherwise, which justifies any one in feeling assured that he may not come for us individually before nightfall. “Stir up yourselves, therefore,” says Trapp, “and strain toward the mark. There is a Greek word (nuosta) signifying the end of the race, which is derived of a word that signifieth to spur or prick forward. Surely as they that run their horses for a wager spur hardest at the race’s end, therefore, since our salvation is nearer now than ever it was, we should run faster now than ever we did. When a cart is in a quagmire, if the horses feel it coming they pull the harder; so must we, now that full deliverance is hard at hand. Rivers run more speedily and forcibly, when they come near the sea, than they did at the spring: the sun shineth most amiably toward the going down. ‘It is even high time for you and me,’ said old Zanchius to his friend Sturmius, who was elder than he, ‘to hasten to heaven; as knowing that we shall be with Christ, which is far, far better.'”]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
GODS BRIGHT DAY AND SATANS DARK NIGHT
11. And knowing this time that it is already the hour when we should wake out of sleep: for our salvation is nearer than when we believed.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rom 13:11-14. Watching for the Day.
Rom 13:11-12 a. And this (do)the punctual payment of loves debtsas men aware of the crisis. . . . It is the hour of waking: the night has far advanced, etc. Between these sentences intervenes Rom 13:11 b: now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The older Roman Christians (see e.g. Rom 16:7), like Paul, had long watched for Christs great day (1Co 1:8, 1Th 5:2, etc.). Salvation (cf. Rom 5:10), beginning with justification, extends to the redemption of the body (see Rom 3:24, Rom 8:23; cf. Eph 1:7; Eph 1:14, etc.).
Rom 13:12 b Rom 13:14 sounds the reveill. The works of darkness are the night-raiment to be exchanged for the weapons of light (cf. Eph 5:8-11)the armour for the days battle (see 1Th 5:8, Eph 6:13 ff.) The thought of a final struggle attending the Messiahs advent pervaded contemporary Apocalyptic: see Daniel 11, Enoch 90:16, etc.; cf. 2Th 2:5-12, Rev 16:13-16. The warrior must have no part in the foulness and quarrelsomeness of night-revellers (Rom 13:13; cf. Rev 19:14). Putting on his Captains character (cf. Rom 8:29, Gal 3:27), he forgoes all planning for sensual gratification.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 11
Than when we believed; when we first believed.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
SECTION 43 PUT OFF THE WORKS OF DARKNESS
CH. 13:11-14
And this, knowing the season, that the hour has come for you at once to arise from sleep. For now is salvation nearer to us than when we believed. The night has advanced; and the day is come near. Let us put of then the works of the darkness, and let us put on the weapons of the light. As in the day, let us walk becomingly; not with revelling and drunkenness, not with debauchery and wantonness, not with strife and emulation; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the flesh take no forethought, to gratify desires.
Rom 13:11-12 a. And do this, viz love your neighbour.
Season: as Rom 3:26, etc.: it is defined by the hour to arise from sleep. Cp. Eph 5:14; 1Th 5:6.
For now etc.: reason for rising from sleep, viz. because the time already elapsed since we put faith in Christ has brought us so much nearer to the day of complete deliverance.
Salvation: final deliverance from the conflict of life; as in Rom 5:10; Rom 10:10.
Believed: the mental act by which we received as true the testimony of Jesus, as in 1Co 3:5; Act 4:4 etc.; as distinguished from the abiding state of those who believe, e.g. Rom 1:16; Rom 3:22.
The night: the present obscurity, in contrast to the eternal day. These words emphasise the foregoing metaphor.
Rom 13:12 b. Practical application of the metaphor.
Put-off: as nightclothes are laid aside in the morning: same word in Act 7:58; Eph 4:22; Eph 4:25; Col 3:8; Heb 12:1; Jas 1:21; 1Pe 2:1.
The works of the darkness: our past acts, in harmony with the darkness in which we walked, not knowing where we were going or what we were doing: a list given below.
Put-on: constantly used of clothes and weapons, e.g. Mat 6:25; 1Co 15:53-54; Gal 3:27; Eph 4:24; Eph 6:11; Eph 6:14; Col 3:10; Col 3:12; 1Th 5:8.
Weapons of the light: cp. Rom 6:13; 2Co 6:7.
Since the night is almost over and the day is dawning, Paul bids us wake up from sleep and throw aside the sinful acts which belong to the darkness now passing away: and, since the dawning light can overspread the land only by conflict and victory, in which we are called to share, he bids us gird on our sword as soldiers of the light.
Rom 13:13-14. Expansion, positive and negative, of the foregoing exhortation.
As in day: in the light of the dawning day, which even before the sun has risen is sufficient to guide our steps. It keeps up the metaphor of Rom 13:12.
Becomingly: with good appearance suitable to the daylight in which we walk. Same word in 1Th 4:12; 1Co 14:40.
Revelling etc.: sins belonging specially to the night. They are the works of the darkness in Rom 13:12.
But put on etc.: parallel to put on the weapons of the light.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ: as men put on clothing, which, though distinct from them, yet when put on becomes almost a part of them. Paul bids us enter into union with Christ so close that He will become the close environment in which we live and move. Same phrase in Gal 3:27 : cp. Eph 4:24; Col 3:10, a somewhat different conception. Since union with Christ enables us to do Gods work even in face of enemies, to put on Christ is (Rom 13:12) to put on the weapons of the light: cp. 1Pe 4:1.
No forethought: as in Rom 12:17.
The flesh: the material and constitution common to all human bodies and characterized by various desires: cp. Rom 6:12, Gal 5:16; Gal 5:24. The prohibition to take forethought for the flesh is limited to one improper aim of such forethought, viz. to gratify its desires.
The metaphor of Rom 13:12 deserves careful study. The present life is compared to a night spent in rioting and sleep. The coming of Christ will bring the eternal day. Already it is dawning; and in the light of that day-dawn His servants walk. The light is in conflict with darkness; and it is our privilege to join in the battle and hasten the victory. Paul announces that morning has come; that the time for revelry has gone. He bids the sleepers to awake, to cast aside the character in which they have wrapped themselves and lain so long, unconscious of the realities of the coming day, and to grasp their sword to do battle for the light. He bids them put on, as their complete defence and their resistless weapon, the character and living presence of their anointed Master, Jesus; and urges them, since the night is past, to think no more of indulgence or revelry.
On the spiritual significance of light and darkness, compare carefully 1Th 5:1-11; Eph 5:7-16.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
13:11 {11} And that, knowing the time, that now [it is] high time to awake out of sleep: for now [is] our salvation nearer than when we believed.
(11) An application taken from the circumstances of the time: which also itself puts us in mind of our duty, seeing that this remains, after which the darkness of ignorance and wicked affections by the knowledge of God’s truth is driven out of us, that we order our life according to that certain and sure rule of all righteousness and honesty, being fully grounded upon the power of the Spirit of Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. Conduct in view of our hope 13:11-14
Paul’s thought moved from identifying responsibilities to urging their practice. What lies before us as Christians provides essential motivation for doing so.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
"This" refers to the duties urged earlier, not only in this chapter but in chapter 12 also. It is important that we follow God’s will carefully because the final phase of our salvation will take place very soon (i.e., glorification, cf. 1Pe 1:9). We must be ready to meet the Lord and to give an account of our stewardship to Him (cf. Rom 14:10; Php 3:20; 1Th 5:6; 1Co 15:34). It is possible for us to go through our lives as believers lethargic and insensible, but such a condition is not wise in view of what lies ahead of us.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 28
CHRISTIAN DUTY IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORDS RETURN AND IN
THE POWER OF HIS PRESENCE
Rom 13:11-14
THE great teacher has led us long upon the path of duty, in its patient details, all summed up in the duty and joy of love. We have heard him explaining to his disciples how to live as members together of the Body of Christ, and as members also of human society at large, and as citizens of the state. We have been busy latterly with thoughts of taxes, and tolls, and private debts, and the obligation of scrupulous rightfulness in all such things. Everything has had relation to the seen and the temporal. The teaching has not strayed into a land of dreams, nor into a desert and a cell: it has had at least as much to do with the market, and the shop, and the secular official, as if the writer had been moralist whose horizon was altogether of this life, and who for the future was “without hope.”
Yet all the while the teacher and the taught were penetrated and vivified by a certainty of the future perfectly supernatural, and commanding the wonder and glad response of their whole being. They carried about with them the promise of their Risen Master that He would personally return again in heavenly glory, to their infinite joy, gathering them forever around Him in immortality, bringing heaven with Him, and transfiguring them into His own celestial Image.
Across all possible complications and obstacles of the human world around them they beheld “that blissful hope”. {Tit 2:13} The smoke of Rome could not becloud it, nor her noise drown the music of its promise, nor her splendour of possessions make its golden vista less beautiful and less entrancing to their souls. Their Lord, once crucified, but now alive for evermore, was greater than the world; greater in His calm triumphant authority over man and nature, greater in the wonder and joy of Himself, His Person and His Salvation. It was enough that He had said He would come again, and that it would be to their eternal happiness. He had promised; therefore it would surely be.
How the promise would take place, and when, was a secondary question. Some things were revealed and certain, as to the manner; “This same Jesus, in like manner as ye saw Him going into heaven”. {Act 1:11} But vastly more was unrevealed and even unconjectured. As to the time, His words had left them, as they still leave us, suspended in a reverent sense of mystery, between intimations which seem almost equally to promise both speed and delay. “Watch therefore, for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh”; {Mar 13:35} “After a long time the Lord of the servants cometh, and reckoneth with them”. {Mat 25:19} The Apostle himself follows his Redeemers example in the matter. Here and there he seems to indicate an Advent at the doors, as when he speaks of “us who are alive and remain”. {1Th 4:15} But again, in this very Epistle, in his discourse on the future of Israel, he appears to contemplate great developments of time and event yet to come; and very definitely, for his own part, in many places, he records his expectation of death, not of a deathless transfiguration at the Coming. Many at least among his converts looked with an eagerness which was sometimes restless and unwholesome, as at Thessalonica, for the coming King, and it may have been thus with some of the Roman saints. But St. Paul at once warned the Thessalonians of their mistake; and certainly this Epistle suggests no such upheaval of expectation at Rome.
Our work in these pages is not to discuss “the times and the seasons” which now, as much as then, lie in the Fathers “power”. {Act 1:7} It is rather to call attention to the fact that in all ages of the Church this mysterious but definite Promise has, with a silent force, made itself as it were present and contemporary to the believing and watching soul. How at last it shall be seen that “I come quickly,” and “The day of Christ is not at {Rev 22:12; Rev 22:20, 2Th 2:2} were both divinely and harmoniously truthful, it does not yet fully appear.” But it is certain that both are so; and that in every generation of the now “long time the Hope,” as if it were at the doors indeed, has been calculated for mighty effects on the Christians will and work.
So we come to this great Advent oracle, to read it for our own age. Now first let us remember its wonderful illustration of that phenomenon which we have remarked already, the concurrence in Christianity of a faith full of eternity, with a life full of common duty. Here is a community of men called to live under an almost opened heaven; almost to see, as they look around them, the descending Lord of glory coming to bring in the eternal day, making Himself present in this visible scene “with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God,” waking His buried saints from the dust, calling the living and the risen to meet Him in the air. How can they adjust such an expectation to the demands of “the daily round”? Will they not fly from the City to the solitude, to the hilltops and forests of the Apennines, to wait with awful joy the great lightning flash of glory? Not so. They somehow, while “looking for the Saviour from the heavens,” {Php 3:20} attend to their service and their business, pay their debts and their taxes, offer sympathy to their neighbours in their human sadnesses and joys, and yield honest loyalty to the magistrate and the Prince. They are the most stable of all elements in the civic life of the hour, if “the powers that be” would but understand them; while yet, all the while, they are the only people in the City whose home, consciously, is the eternal heavens. What can explain the paradox? Nothing but the Fact, the Person, the Character of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not an enthusiasm, however powerful, which governs them, but a Person. And He is at once the Lord of immortality and the Ruler of every detail of His servants life. He is no author of fanaticism, but the divine-human King of truth and order. To know Him is to find the secret alike of a life eternal and of a patient faithfulness in the life that now is.
What was true of Him is true for evermore. His servant now, in this restless close of the nineteenth age, is to find in Him this wonderful double secret still. He is to be, in Christ, by the very nature of his faith, the most practical and the most willing of the servants of his fellow men, in their mortal as well as immortal interests; while also disengaged internally from a bondage to the seen and temporal by his mysterious union with the Son of God, and by his firm expectation of His Return. And this, this law of love and duty, let us remember, let us follow, knowing the season, the occasion, the growing crisis; that it is already the hour for our awaking out of sleep, the sleep of moral inattention, as if the eternal Master were not near. For nearer now is our salvation, in that last glorious sense of the word “salvation” which means the immortal issue of the whole saving process, nearer now than when we believed, and so by faith entered on our union with the Saviour. (See how he delights to associate himself with his disciples in the blessed unity of remembered conversion; “when we believed.”) The night, with its murky silence, its “poring dark,” the night of trial, of temptation, of the absence of our Christ, is far spent, but the day has drawn near; it has been a long night, but that means a near dawn; the everlasting sunrise of the longed for Parousia, with its glory, gladness, and unveiling. Let us put off, therefore, as if they were a foul and entangling night robe, the works of the darkness, the habits and acts of the moral night, things which we can throw off in the Name of Christ; but let us put on the weapons of the light, arming ourselves, for defence, and for holy aggression on the realm of evil, with faith, love, and the heavenly hope. So to the Thessalonians five years before, {1Th 5:8} and to the Ephesians four years later, {Eph 6:11-17} he wrote of the holy Panoply, rapidly sketching it in the one place, giving the rich finished picture in the other; suggesting to the saints always the thought of a warfare first and mainly defensive, and then aggressive with the drawn sword, and indicating as their true armour not their reason, their emotions, or their will, taken in themselves, but the eternal facts of their revealed salvation in Christ, grasped and used by faith. As by day, for it is already dawn, in the Lord, let us walk decorously, becomingly, as we are the hallowed soldiers of our Leader; let our life not only be right in fact; let it show to all men the open “decorum” of truth, purity, peace, and love; not in revels and drunken bouts; not in chamberings, the sins of the secret couch, and profligacies, not-to name evils which cling often to the otherwise reputable Christian-in strife and envy, things which are pollutions, in the sight of the Holy One, as real as lust itself. No; put on, clothe and arm yourselves with, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself the living sum and true meaning of all that can arm the soul; and for the flesh take no forethought lust-ward. As if, in euphemism, he would say, “Take all possible forethought against the life of self (), with its lustful, self-willed gravitation away from God. And let that forethought be, to arm yourselves, as if never armed before, with Christ.”
How solemnly explicit he is, how plainspoken, about the temptations of the Roman Christians life! The men who were capable of the appeals and revelations of the first eight chapters yet needed to be told not to drink to intoxication, not to go near the house of ill fame, not to quarrel, not to grudge. But every modern missionary in heathendom will tell us that the like stern plainness is needed now among the new-converted faithful. And is it not needed among those who have professed the Pauline faith much longer, in the congregations of our older Christendom?
It remains for our time, as truly as ever, a fact of religious life-this necessity to press it home upon the religious, as the religious, that they are called to a practical and detailed holiness; and that they are never to ignore the possibility of even the worst falls. So mysteriously can the subtle “flesh,” in the believing receiver of the Gospel, becloud or distort the holy import of the thing received. So fatally easy it is “to corrupt the best into the worst,” using the very depth and richness of spiritual truth as if it could be a substitute for patient practice, instead of its mighty stimulus.
But glorious is the method illustrated here for triumphant resistance to that tendency. What is it? It is not to retreat from spiritual principle upon a cold naturalistic programme of activity and probity. It is to penetrate through the spiritual principle to the Crucified and Living Lord who is its heart and power; it is to bury self in Him, and to arm the will with Him. It is to look for Him as Coming, but also, and yet more urgently, to use Him as Present. In the great Roman Epic, on the verge of the decisive conflict, the goddess-mother laid the invulnerable panoply at the feet of her Aeneas; and the astonished Champion straightway, first pondering every part of the heaven-sent armament, then “put it on,” and was prepared. As it were at our feet is laid the Lord Jesus Christ, in all He is, in all He has done, in His indissoluble union with us in it all, as we are one with Him by the Holy Ghost. It is for us to see in Him our power and victory, and to “put Him on,” in a personal act which, while all by grace, is yet in itself our own. And how is this done? It is by the “committal of the keeping of our souls unto Him,” {1Pe 4:19} not vaguely, but definitely and with purpose, in view of each and every temptation. It is by “living our fife in the flesh by faith in the Son of God”; {Gal 2:20} that is to say, in effect, by perpetually making use of the Crucified and Living Saviour, One with us by the Holy Spirit, by using Him as our living Deliverer, our Peace and Power, amidst all that the dark hosts of evil can do against us.
Oh, wonderful and all-adequate secret; “Christ, which is the Secret of God!” {Col 2:2} Oh, divine simplicity of its depth.
“Heavens easy, artless, unencumberd plan”!
Not that its “ease” means our indolence. No; if we would indeed “arm ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” we must awake and be astir to “know whom we have trusted”. {2Ti 1:12} We must explore His Word about Himself. We must ponder it, above all, in the prayer which converses with Him over His promises, till they live to us in His light. We must watch and pray, that we may be alert to employ our armament. The Christian who steps out into life “light heartedly,” thinking superficially of his weakness, and of his foes, is only too likely also to think of his Lord superficially, and to find of even this heavenly armour that “he cannot go with it, for he hath not proved it”. {1Sa 17:39} But all this leaves absolutely untouched the divine simplicity of the matter. It leaves it wonderfully true that the decisive, the satisfying, the thorough, moral victory and deliverance comes to the Christian man not by trampling about with his own resolves, but by committing himself to his Saviour and Keeper, who has conquered him, that now He may conquer “his strong Enemy” for him.
“Heavens unencumbered plan” of “victory and triumph, against the devil, the world, and the flesh,” is no daydream of romance. It lives, it works in the most open hour of the common world of sin and sorrow. We have seen this “putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ” victoriously successful where the most fierce, or the most subtle, forms of temptation were to be dealt with. We have seen it preserving, with beautiful persistency, a lifelong sufferer from the terrible solicitations of pain, and of still less endurable helplessness – every limb fixed literally immovable by paralysis on the ill-furnished bed; we have seen the man cheerful, restful, always ready for wise word and sympathetic thought, and affirming that his Lord, present to his soul, was infinitely enough to “keep him.” We have seen the overwhelmed toiler for God, while every step through the day was clogged by “thronging duties,” such duties as most wear and drain the spirit, yet maintained in an equable cheerfulness and as it were inward leisure by this same always adequate secret, “the Lord Jesus Christ put on.” We have known the missionary who had, in sober earnest, hazarded his life for the blessed Name, yet ready to bear quiet witness to the repose and readiness to be found in meeting disappointment, solitude, danger, not so much by a stern resistance as by the use, then and there, confidingly, and in surrender, of the Crucified and Living Lord. Shall we dare to add with the humiliating avowal that only a too partial proof has been made of this glorious open Secret, that we know by experiment that the weakest of the servants of our King, “putting on Him,” find victory and deliverance, where there was defeat before?
Let us, writer and reader, address ourselves afresh in practice to this wonderful secret. Let us, as if we had never done it before, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Vain is our interpretation of the holy Word, which not only “abideth, but liveth forever,” {1Pe 1:23} if it does not somehow come home. For that Word was written on purpose to come home; to touch and move the conscience and the will, in the realities of our inmost, and also of our most outward, life. Never for one moment do we stand as merely interested students and spectators, outside the field of temptation. Never for one moment therefore can we dispense with the great Secret of victory and safety.
Full in face of the realities of sin-of Roman sin, in Neros days; but let us just now forget Rome and Nero; they were only dark accidents of a darker essence-St. Paul here writes down, across them all, these words, this spell, this Name; “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Take first a steady look, he seems to say, at your sore need, in the light of God; but then, at once, look off, look here. Here is the more than Antithesis to it all. Here is that by which you can be “more than conqueror.” Take your iniquities at the worst; this can subdue them. Take your surroundings at the worst; this car, emancipate you from their power. It is “the Lord Jesus Christ,” and the “putting on” of Him.
Let us remember, as if it were a new thing, that He, the Christ of Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles, is a Fact. Sure as the existence now of His universal Church, as the observance of the historic Sacrament of His Death, as the impossibility of Galilean or Pharisaic imagination having composed, instead of photographed, the portrait of the Incarnate Son, the Immaculate Lamb; sure as is the glad verification in ten thousand blessed lives today of all, of all, that the Christ of Scripture undertakes to be to the soul that will take Him at His. own terms-so sure, across all oldest and all newest doubts, across all gnosis and all agnosia, lies the present Fact of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then let us remember that it is a fact that man, in the mercy of God, can “put Him on.” He is not far off. He presents Himself to our touch, our possession. He says to us, “Come to Me.” He unveils Himself as literal partaker of our nature; as our Sacrifice; our Righteousness, “through faith in His blood”; as the Head and Lifespring, in an indescribable union, of a deep calm tide of life spiritual and eternal, ready to circulate through our being. He invites Himself to “make His abode with us”; {Joh 14:23} yea, more, “I will come in to him; I will dwell in his heart by faith.” {Rev 3:20, Eph 3:17} In that ungovernable heart of ours, that interminably self-deceptive: heart, {Jer 17:9} He engages to reside, to be permanent Occupant, the Master always at home. He is prepared thus to take, with regard to our will, a place of power nearer than all circumstances, and deep in the midst of all possible inward traitors; to keep His eye on their plots, His foot, not ours, upon their necks. Yes, He invites us thus to embrace Him into a full contact; to “put Him on.”
May we not say of Him what the great Poet says of Duty, and glorify the verse by a yet nobler application?-
“Thou who art victory and law When empty terrors overawe, From vain temptations dost set free, And calmst the weary strife of frail humanity!”
Yes, we can “put Him on” as our “Panoply of Light.” We can put Him on as “the Lord,” surrendering ourselves to His absolute while most benignant sovereignty and will, deep secret of repose. We can put Him on as “Jesus,” clasping the truth that He, our Human Brother, yet Divine, “saves His people from their sins”. {Mat 1:21} We can put Him, on as “Christ,” our Head, anointed without measure by the Eternal Spirit, and now sending of that same Spirit into His happy members, so that we are indeed one with Him, and receive into our whole being the resources of His life.
Such are the armour and the arms. St. Jerome, commenting on a kindred passage, {Eph 6:13} says that “it most clearly results that by the weapons of God the Lord our Saviour is to be understood.”
We may recollect that this text is memorable in connection with the Conversion of St. Augustine. In his “Confessions” (8:12) he records how, in the garden at Milan, at a time of great moral conflict, he was strangely attracted by a voice, perhaps the cry of children playing: “Take and read, take and read.” He fetched and opened again a copy of the Epistles (“codicem Apostoli”), which he had lately laid down. “I read in silence the first place on which my eyes fell; Not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts. I neither cared, nor needed, to read further. At the close of the sentence, as if a ray of certainty were poured into my heart, the clouds of hesitation fled at once.” His will was in the will of God.
Alas, there falls one shadow over that fair scene. In the belief of Augustines time, to decide fully for Christ meant, or very nearly meant, so to accept the ascetic idea as to renounce the Christian home. But the Lord read His servants heart aright through the error, and filled it with His peace. To us, in a surrounding religious light far clearer, in many things, than that which shone even upon Ambrose and Augustine; to us who quite recognise that in the paths of homeliest duty and commonest temptation lies the line along which the blessed power of the Saviour may best overshadow His disciple; the Spirits voice shall say of this same text “Take and read, take and read.” We will “put on,” never to put off. Then we shall step out upon the old path in a strength new, and to be renewed forever, armed against evil, armed for the will of God, with Jesus Christ our Lord.