Day 17 Living in the Already / Not Yet Kingdom
The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature Romans 13:12-14
So, the time is already here for us to wake up (13:11); our salvation is nearer than it was (13:11) and the night is starting to give place to the day (13:12). This is the familiar tension between the ‘now already’ of Christ’s first coming and the ‘not yet’ of His second.
The ‘so’ in the middle of 13:12 (‘So let us put aside the deeds of darkness …’) marks the transition from understanding the times to living accordingly. Paul gives three appeals. The first two are first person plural so Paul includes himself (‘So let us … Let us …’) while the third changes to second person plural and is a summons to his readers (‘Rather clothe yourselves …’). All three are double sentences with a negative contrasting a positive.
‘So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light’ (13:12). Because of the hour we must not only wake up and get up, but get dressed as well. We are to take off our ‘night clothes,’ ‘the deeds of darkness,’ and put on the equipment of a soldier, ‘the armor of light.’ The Christian life is not a sleep but a battle.
From the right clothing to the right behaviour, ‘Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, (as if the day had already dawned), not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy’ (13:13). This is ‘night-time’ behaviour and Christians are day-time people.
And finally, ‘clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature’ (13:14). In Galatians 3:27 Paul wrote that those who are in Christ ‘have clothed’ themselves with Christ. Here this ‘clothing’ is something we still need to do or, more likely, to keep doing. The context suggests that clothing ourselves with Christ is for our protection. It is not Christ-likeness alone that we are to take on (as in Colossians 3:12) but Christ Himself, living under Him as Lord of our life.
Paul contrasts our protective clothing in Christ with the clothing of the flesh (‘orgies and drunkenness … sexual immorality and debauchery …dissension and jealousy’ [3:13]). We are told not only not to gratify these desires but ‘not think about how to’ not to make any ‘provision’ for them, to be ruthless in putting them to death (8:13).
Romans 13 began with instruction about how to be good citizens (13:1-7) and good neighbours (13:8-10). It ends here with why we should be. There is no greater incentive to living rightly than the expectation of Christ’s return. Being rightly related to the state (which is God’s minister) and the law (which is fulfilled in loving our neighbour) only happens when we are rightly related to the day of Christ’s coming. Although both the state and the law are divinely instituted on earth, both are temporary and will end with the second coming. That day is steadily approaching. Our calling is to live in the light of it and to behave in the continuing night as if the day had dawned, enjoying the ‘now already’ of God’s kingdom in the certain knowledge that what is still ‘not yet’ will soon arrive.