And when he repeats that the fulfilling of the law is love, understand this, as before, of that part of
the law which refers to mankind; for the first table of the law, which contains what we owe to God,
is not here referred to at all.
Romans 13:11-14
- Hoc enim, quum noverimus tempus, quia
hora est qua jam e somno expergiscamur (nunc - 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. enim propior est salus nostra quam quum
credi-dimus,) - Nox progressa est, dies vero
appropinquavit: abjiciamus ergo opera
tenebrarum, et induamus arma lucis. - 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 Sicut in die decenter ambulemus; non
comessationibus neque ebrietatibus, neque - Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not
in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness, not in strife and envying. eubilibus neque lasciviis, neque contentione
neque aemulatione: - Sed induamini Dominum Iesum Christum,
et carnis curam ne agatis ad concupiscentias. - But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof
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
(^409) The preceding explanation of night and day, as here to be understood, does not comport with what is afterwards said on
Romans 13:12. The distinction between night and day of a Christian, ought to be clearly kept in view. The first is what is here