Romans 13:12 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 armor of light. It is a habit of the Apostle Paul to present almost everything in its dual aspect — e.g., the "flesh" fails and corrupts; the "spirit" quickens and nourishes; "sin" condemns and slays; "grace" justifies, purifies, saves; "death " is swallowed up of "life." Here is the same method in another of its applications. There is one who is told the night is almost gone; that the morning is coming, that it is time to put off all the works of darkness, and to stand waiting for the glow of the sunrise. And he wishes to do it. But how hard the work is! How difficult to distinguish! These "works of darkness" are not all wicked and horrible. They are things that may be helpful or inimical, according to circumstances. "And here I stand," one has to think, "in the dark, to watch against evil, to put it away, to keep it away." No! you would have little chance of coming out of it into morning in that way — in the way simply of resistance to evil by inward strength and wisdom. Our apostle never proposes action in that way. He had tried it, and knew what it ended in. "Try it," saith he, "in this way." "Put off"; and in the same act, "put on." Put on what? Not "the works of light," although he might have said that with propriety; but "the armour of light" — thus conveying to us the sentiment that Christian faith, in proportion as we live in it, and Christian virtues, in proportion as we put them on, become a soldier's armour. Live the Christian life fully, and you will become like an armed man. Put on this armour, then. It can be done easily, quietly. Many a gentle soul is clad in it. Many a battle is fought and won without dust, or noise, or blood — by soul-confidence; by heart faith; by patient waiting; by looking to Christ; by longings for heaven. Courage! you who are striving, and you who are weary, and you who are longing for more than you can express. "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." (A. Raleigh, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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