Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
In the previous section Paul outlined the marks of Christian behavior toward the various segments of society. Among themselves there ought to be genuine love. If there is to be any competitiveness among the saints, it ought to be exhibited in the manner that each one gives deference toward the other. Simply put, the church is to be characterized by its love for the brethren (Romans 12.9-13). Beyond that the true Christian returns good for evil. This is one of the main ways he disarms those who oppose the gospel (12.14-21). Regarding the governing authorities, every person should willingly be subject to those appointed over them, recognizing that God has sovereignly ordered the affairs of this world for his own purposes (13.1-7). What belongs to Caesar should be given to him, and what belongs to God should be rendered to him (Matthew 22.21). Following these points Paul gives a general guideline about how Christians should behave toward their neighbors. So he returns to the all inclusive command of love: the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
LOVE OF NEIGHBOR (13.8-10)
Paul segues from the Christian’s obligation to pay his taxes (Romans 13.7) to an exhortation to full his obligation to love his neighbor. In pointing out that the debt one owes to love cannot be completely paid, Paul returns to the central theme begun in 12.9-21. “Love is an obligation as well; we owe it to one another, for where God’s word and Spirit are effective, love rules our mind and volition. And we are required to obey it; if we undo this obligation, it becomes our guilt. But love is distinct from all legal obligations because it has no boundaries. All other debts can be paid off; every legal obligation can be fulfilled, for each one requires only a limited effort. Love, on the other hand, does not desire the avoidance of individual evils, nor the production of particular goods; it is the will that desires community, and it enters us into the community with everything we are. Hence love cannot end; it lasts as long as life does. Hence it also accomplishes everything the law requires, for the community cannot endure if the other’s right is refused” (Adolf Schlatter, Romans: The Righteousness of God, p. 245).
The Levitical law prohibits retribution of one Hebrew against another; indeed, it requires that God’s people love one another: You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD (Leviticus 19.18). There was considerable debate among Jesus’ contemporaries as how best to summarize the Mosaic law. Jesus did it by linking Deuteronomy 6.4 (Shema) and Leviticus 19.18 when he was confronted by a lawyer (at the prompting of the Pharisees) with the question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus responded with, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the prophets” (Matthew 22.36-40). In the upper room he gave his disciples a “new commandment” that they should love one another as he loved them (John 13.34-35). Paul understands the law as being fulfilled in Christ. When he says the one who loves another has fulfilled the law, he is not saying there is no place for the ten commandments. Indeed, “he includes the prohibitions against adultery, murder, stealing and coveting as part of the law of love” (Thomas Schreiner, Paul: Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ, p. 325). Elsewhere in Paul’s epistles he includes other commands and prohibitions of the Decalogue (e.g., 1 Corinthians 5.10-11; 6.9; Galatians 5.20; Ephesians 4.25; 6.2). That Paul intends that the few things he mentions here ought not to be construed as exhaustive is evident from his comment: … and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Other commands from the Mosaic law are included in the law of love as well. Similarly, in 1 Timothy 1:10 Paul says “if there is anything else opposed to sound teaching,” suggesting that other commands could be cited. Surely love receives the priority in both Romans and 1 Timothy (1 Tim 1:5). The affections of the heart are the essence of love, for what is in the heart will flow into one’s life. That is probably why Paul speaks of anger and bitterness more than murder. Still, love must not be separated from external commands, even commands that come from the Mosaic law. No one can claim to be “loving” and at the same time commit adultery, murder, steal, or covet. Commands give some texture to love so that it does not float in an airy-fairy sphere. People may feel very loving in their hearts, but their lives contradict their feelings. Paul believed that some elements of the law were still normative for believers since the prohibitions against idolatry, adultery, murder, stealing, lying and coveting are still in force, as is the injunction to honor one’s parents. (Schreiner, p. 326)
Believers are subject to the law of Christ (Galatians 6.2; 1 Corinthians 9.19-21). The law of love is one that Jesus himself took from the Mosaic law and made central to his teaching (cp. Douglas Moo, Romans, p. 817). At its heart, love is the supreme activity of the believer. Those who love are practicing the presence of God and fulfilling the prayer, Thy kingdom come.
THE URGENCY OF THE HOUR (13.11-12)
Christians cannot live the way they once did, namely, without any thought for the future. They know that the great day of the Lord (eschaton) is coming when they will see Christ face to face and their salvation will then be completed (1 Corinthians 15.49-58; 2 Corinthians 4.16-5.10; 2 Thessalonians 1.7b-10; cp. 1 John 3.1-3). “The early text encourages Christians to look at the present in light of the past: by virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, the ‘old age’ has been transcended by the new one. The Christian is to live out the values of that new age, appropriating the power available in the gospel to renew the mind and transform conduct. The text now before us shifts the perspective, encouraging Christians to look at the present in light of the future. … Christians are not only to ‘become what we are’; we are also to ‘become what we one day will be’” (Moo, p. 818).
There is an unquestionable urgency to the Christian life. In Jesus’ eschatological discourse he repeatedly cautioned his hearers to be mindful of the times and watchful of their behavior. For example, in the parable of the ten virgins five are foolishly unprepared to meet the bridegroom during the night, while the other five are ready for his coming, whether by day or night. When the foolish virgins showed up late to the marriage feast asking for admittance, they were told: Truly, I say to you, I do not know you. So Jesus says, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour (Matthew 25.12-13). The present age is morally corrupt and believers need to discern between right and wrong: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise by as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil (Galatians 5.16). Moreover, they need to live in light of the coming day of Christ’s return and the final day of judgment.
The kingdom has been inaugurated but it has not been fully realized. So too with the believer’s salvation, he has been justified by his faith in Christ and he is becoming more like him (sanctified). But salvation will only be complete when Christ returns and the believer becomes like him (glorified, cp. Romans 8.29-30). Though Paul is anticipating the coming of Christ, and may even hope to be alive at his return (1 Thessalonians 4.15), the urgency of his message is not predicated on the immediacy of the Parousia. Rather, it is based on the imminentness of Christ’s second Advent. The certainty of Christ’s return is undisputed in Paul’s theology; it is the next great event in God’s plan. This is the great and “blessed hope” for all Christians (Titus 2.11-14). They live their lives on the cusp of the this next cosmic intersection between heaven and earth. “‘On the certainty of the event, our faith is grounded: by the uncertainty of the time, our hope is stimulated, and our watchfulness aroused.’ Christ’s return is the next event in God’s plan; Paul knew it could take place at any time and sought to prepare Christians—both in his generation and in ours—for that ‘blessed hope’” (Moo, p. 822). The night is almost spent and the great day of the Lord is at hand. So wakeup and don’t miss the coming of the Son!
PUT ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (13.12-14)
So what is a Christian to do? Paul, by way of three imperative couplings, instructs the Christian how he ought to behave. First, cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Those who are conformed to the pattern of this age are morally lax and have been lulled into a state of complacency. Even if the believer is not actively engaged in acts of moral turpitude, he cannot afford to let down his guard or be unmindful of the dangers that surround him. Christian, the protagonist of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, was constantly tempted or besieged by the things of this world. All believers are in danger of being seduced by the world, but the power of God at work in the believer’s life is greater than the temptations of the evil one: But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one (2 Thessalonians 3.3; cp. Ephesians 1.19; 1 Thessalonians 5.24). Thus, the Christian is fully armored against the schemes of the devil: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6.10-12).
So then, the Christian ought to conduct himself properly, as one whose actions are being observed by everyone in the full light of day. He ought to have nothing to do with the activities associated with carousing late into the night. The immorality of drunkenness and sexual impropriety are often associated with late night dissipation. The sins of quarreling, jealousy and a critical disposition that leads to divisiveness in the body of Christ are encouraged by the prince of darkness, but certainly not limited to the sins of the night.
Finally, Paul says the believer should put on the Lord Jesus Christ himself and make no provision for the flesh. This passage brings to mind the image of baptism. “As a result of our baptism / conversion, we have been incorporated into Christ, sharing his death, burial, and (proleptically [a descriptive word that anticipates a later action or event]) his resurrection (Rom. 6:3-6). Our ‘old man,’ our corporate identity with Adam, has been severed (Rom. 6:6); and in its place, we have become attached to the ‘new man’ (Col. 3:10-11; Eph. 2:16), Jesus Christ himself (cf. Eph. 4:13), whom we have ‘put on’ (Galatians 3:27). But our relationship to Christ, the new man, while established at conversion, needs constantly to be reappropriated and lived out, as Eph. 4:25, with its call to ‘put on the new man’ makes clear. Against this background, Paul’s exhortation to ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’ means that we are consciously to embrace Christ in such a way that his character is manifested in all that we do and say (Moo, pp. 825-26).
Here it is, then. Christ has accomplished salvation for the believer and as the cataclysmic end of all things is approaching, the believer is prompted not to accommodate this world in any way, but to live unreservedly for Christ.
