[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.] 11 And this [see note at verse 9 above], 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 (Matt. 24:42; Mark 13:33; Luke 21:28-38), where several points of similarity to our verses 11-14 occur" (Alford). For other uses of the imagery, see 1 Cor. 15:34; Eph. 5:14; 1 Thess. 5:6-8: Matt. 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 [517] 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 [518] 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 (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 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 John 14:3; Luke 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 [519] 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.'"] 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. [In this figure "night" stands for the Christian's earthly life, which is constantly being shortened and quickly becomes "far spent." "Day" stands for eternity, that unending day which is swiftly approaching. The passing of the night calls for a cessation of sleep, the dawning of the day demands ever-increasing wakefulness and activity. The Christian's former, unregenerate habits are called "works of darkness," not only because righteousness is emblematically viewed as "white," and sin as "black," but because sin is ashamed of light and consequent exposure (Job 24:13-17; John 3:19-21). Moreover, they are pictured here as a foul night-dress to be "cast off" as a repulsive thing (Eph. 4:22; Col. 2:11; 3:8, 9; 1 Pet. 2:1), and in their place the Christian is to don the works of righteousness, or all the duties of his new life (Eph. 4:23, 24; Rom. 6:4; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Col. 3:10), as defensive [520] armor against temptations, and offensive weapons for an aggressive campaign against the powers of evil, and as the fitting harness in which to report to Christ for present service, the proper garb in which to have him find us should he come suddenly and without warning, for we are his soldiers, and on duty. Some five years before this Paul wrote in similar strains to the Thessalonians, emphasizing the escape from darkness and mentioning the armor (1 Thess. 5:4-8), and about four years after this we find him again using this figurative language in addressing the Ephesians, mentioning the darkness, and emphasizing the armor--Eph. 6:11-18.] 13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day [i. e., as if the day of salvation and the presence of God (Rev. 21:3) were already here]; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. [Here are three couplets of vices. The first pair relate to intemperance in eating and drinking (Luke 21:34). The "revel" (komos) was a drunken carousal; it usually burst forth and paraded the streets, filling the night air with noisy songs, and annoying pedestrians with its buffoonery. Being a favorite entertainment among the devotees of Bacchus, the Romans were accustomed to it from their youth up, and found it hard to resist the old-time fun and frolic once so acceptable. The second pair described the varied forms of sexual lust, libertinism, lascivious dalliance, etc. "Chambering" means literally lying abed. It describes the more definite, and "wantonness" the more general, acts of lewdness and abandoned sensuality. The third pair portray the various forms of venomous and hateful feelings leading to discord, open rupture and brutal violence--feelings the very opposite of love of which the apostle has been discoursing. While these vices may be found singly, they normally go in pairs, and also naturally fall into the order here given. Beginning with revelry in the early evening, how many a poor, sinful youth has passed thence to drunkenness, and thence in turn [521] to sexual uncleanness, and thence once more to strife and passion with his fellows, till, when the night was passed and morning broke, he was found either a murderer or murdered, to the disgrace of his friends and the broken-hearted sorrow of his kindred. Plain speech was needful in Paul's day: alas that it should be so badly needed still!] 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ [Kypke's researches reveal the fact that this bold figure of speech, so little used by us, was very familiar to the writers who were read by those of Paul's day. If a man chose any hero or teacher as an example for his life, or as an object for his imitation, he was said to "put on" that hero or teacher. Chrysostom says it was a common figure. Thus Dionysius Halicarnassus says of Appius and the other decemvirs: "They were no longer the servants of Tarquin, but they clothed themselves with him." Lucian speaks of one "having put on Pythagoras," meaning that to the fullest extent he accepted the great mathematician as his teacher and guide. Some centuries after Paul, Eusebius says of the sons of Constantine, "They put on their father." "The mode of speech itself," says Clark, "is taken from the custom of stage players: they assumed the name and garments of the person whose character they were to act, and endeavored as closely as possible to imitate him in their spirit, words and actions." The initial step by which we put on Christ is by being baptized into him. This great truth Paul had revealed only a few months before he wrote to the Romans (Gal 3:27). Only after the inward change wrought by being born of the water and of the Spirit (John 3:5; Eph. 5:26; Tit. 3:5) are we capable of making the vesture of our outward conduct such that men may see Him and not ourselves in our daily life (Rom. 6:1-11; 2 Cor. 3:2, 3; Eph. 4:24; Col. 2:11-3:10). He becomes to us, then, the wedding garment which guarantees our acceptability to God (Matt. 22:11), and causes us to cast aside our garment of legal righteousness as a filthy rag--Phil. 3:6-11], and make not provision for [522] the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. [We are allowed to make reasonable provision for the just needs of the flesh (Matt. 6:33; Eph. 5:29; 1 Cor. 11:34; 1 Tim. 5:23), but our provision must, as it were, go on tiptoe, and be exercised with extreme caution, so as not to waken in us those slumbering dogs of lust which, if aroused, will tear our spiritual life to pieces. Pool aptly says of our fleshly life, "Sustain it we may, but pamper it we may not." Fulfilling the lusts of the flesh was the main object of life in pagan Rome.]

[TCGR 517-523]