Romans 13:8-14
The Debt We Owe Others – Love (vv. 8-10)
- Love looks to bless one’s neighbor
- Love looks to honor the Lord
The Day in Which We Must Serve – Light (vv. 11-12)
- Wake up
- Dress up
- Step up
The Direction in Which We Must Walk – The Lord (vv. 13-14)
- Walk away and out of the world’s darkness
- Walk toward and into the Lord’s Light
- Wearing your faith in Christ
More to Consider
Expressing divine love is a Christian’s constant responsibility, but it is especially crucial in understanding the present time (lit., “knowing the season”). Paul was not referring to time in general but to the end-time and to the imminent return of the Lord Jesus. It is a time, therefore, for spiritual vigilance and industriousness: wake up from your (some mss. have “our,” which conforms to the context) slumber (cf. Eph. 5:14; 1 Peter 5:8). This need for alertness is because our salvation (ultimate or final salvation realized at the return of the Savior; cf. Rom. 8:23; Heb. 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5) is nearer now than when we first believed (cf. James 5:8). Each passing day in the faith brings final salvation and deliverance closer.
John A. Witmer, “Romans,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 491.
Dr. Mitchell was impressing upon us that we are not under the Law when we're in Christ, but we're under a new law -- the law of LOVE. He used this to illustrate: In America there is a law stating a woman must take care of her child. So, a man comes to a new mother's home. He says "Are you taking care of your baby? The Law says you have to." The woman, tenderly holding her baby, said, "I don't need a law to make me take care of my baby." Why? Because she loves her baby! She feeds him, holds him, changes him because she loves him. I no longer need the Law because I'm under Christ -- a law of LOVE.
Source Unknown.
Philosophers sometimes spoke of a soul inattentive to spiritual matters as being asleep. Paul’s image of sleeping in the light of Christ’s impending return probably harks back to Jesus’ own teaching (Mt 24:43; Mk 13:36). Most Greeks expected history to continue as normal or believed that the universe moved in cycles; but most Jews, like Paul, were anticipating its climax in the imminent future.
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ro 13:11.
