Romans 13.11-14: The Church As An Eschatological Uprising

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. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13.11-14)

“Besides this” refers back to what Paul has just written regarding the lifestyle of love that is required of the Christian community. Now Paul gives a reason to live this way: because the church is an eschatological uprising, an eschatological community, which bathes in a world drenched in darkness and sin, and as members of the eschatological community—called the church—the Christians therefore are to live in the light of the parousia—the light of the coming of Christ and the inauguration of God’s full-blown kingdom. Paul’s teaching involved the reality of the coming parousia (see 1 Thess 1.9-10, 4.13-18, which Paul wrote prior to writing Romans), and now he is drawing upon what the Roman Christians undoubtedly have been taught by the evangelizing leaders, and he is exhorting them to live in the light of the coming return of Christ. Paul does this beautifully and epically, utilizing apocalyptic imagery.

Paul’s usage of light and darkness as metaphors is an example of this apocalyptic imagery. He writes that the night is far gone and the day is at hand (thus the present time, what one could call “the time between the times”, is the dawn). He calls the way of living in the darkness “the works of darkness”, and Christians are to cast off such works and put on “the armor of light”—the lifestyle demanded of the Light (that is, God’s full and realized kingdom). He emphasizes this again by writing “Let us walk properly as in the daytime” (emphasis mine): Paul acknowledges that the Daytime—the restoration of the universe with the parousia—has not yet arrived, but Christians are to nevertheless live within this framework.

Paul writes that it is time for the Christian community in Rome to wake from sleep. “Sleeping” and its subsequent terms were used in Greco-Roman philosophy to refer to being inattentive to spiritual things; Jesus uses this language in the same way in Mt 24.43 and Mk 13.36. Paul may be referring to the antinomians in the church, addressing them specifically, telling them to wake up and start living as they should be living—that is, in the light of the parousia, living the life of God’s full and realized kingdom—the Daylight—in the here-and-now—the Dawn.

Paul describes what it means to live in the light of the Day. He writes that the Christians are to “cast off” the works of darkness and to “put on” the armor of light. Paul uses this same language in Colossians 3.12-14, where it is linked with baptism. The same language was also used in the early church to refer to repentance. “Which is Paul referring to here?” It is most likely that he is speaking of repentance, which involves turning one’s back on a lifestyle that is antithetical to the desires of God and embracing a lifestyle that is in accordance with the desires of God. Once again, this hints that this may be aimed at the antinomians in the church. However, Paul could also be using this language in the baptismal sense—“You have been baptized into Christ! Act like it!” would be the equivalent. Other scholars believe that Paul is simply borrowing Greco-Roman philosophical language, where “putting on” refers to adopting a moral lifestyle. Whichever route is taken, the end result is the same: the Christians are to abandon the works of darkness and to embrace the armor of light (philosophers often described the battle with the passions in athletic or military imagery; this popular imagery infiltrated Jewish writings of the day, such as the Wisdom of Solomon, where Moses’ armor or weaponry is prayer and incense).

It is worthwhile to note how Paul describes the “works of darkness”—orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, sensuality, quarreling, and jealousy. Orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, and sensuality were classic trademarks of pagan parties, where all the vices mentioned were practiced late into the night. While it may seem that Paul is simply condemning pagans, we must remember that Paul is writing to the Roman Christians, and that he would not be mentioning this if it were not an issue within the church. Remember from Romans 6-8 that antinomians in the church were delving head-first into sin, preaching that God’s grace covered their blatant immorality. The culture of Rome consisted of such parties, and no doubt many of these antinomians were engaging in them without a care in the world. It is likely that Paul is again directly combating them, condemning their pagan revelry—“This is not in line with your identity in Christ, with your baptismal life, so stop it now!” Paul also mentions quarreling and jealousy—internal dissension. This is a perfect lead-in for what he deals with in Romans 14.

The church is God’s eschatological community, called to live holy lives in the patient expectation of Christ’s second coming and the total victory of God. As the church waits, it is to live as if God’s victory has already been made complete. In a sense, the Christian community is to model “heaven on earth”; it is to exist as a radical, counter-cultural community where the virtues of love, selflessness, sacrifice, servitude, and generosity trump the “works of the darkness” such as selfishness, greed, and indifference towards both God and man. The church, as a collective whole, is to model the character of Christ—it is, after all, the Body of Christ—and to exist as a microcosm, an ecosystem, of the kingdom of God here-and-now.