An Urgent Message
Rom 13:11-12 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 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.
The salvation he is referring to is not our justification. We have already been justified. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. But rather the salvation he is referring to is our being delivered out of this present world into glory, to occur on the day of the Lord. "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." 2Peter 3:10-12a Likewise Paul writes concerning the present crisis, "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." 1Cor 7:29-31
There are unnecessary weights, materials things, responsibilities which we take on, and more significantly are the sins we commit. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" Heb 12:1b All these passages contain a sense of urgency which should be characteristic of the Christian life.
As for "the armor of light", he alludes to this also in Eph 6:14-18. And also to the deeds of darkness here "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." Eph 5:11
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources
Rom 13:11-12 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 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.
The salvation he is referring to is not our justification. We have already been justified. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith. But rather the salvation he is referring to is our being delivered out of this present world into glory, to occur on the day of the Lord. "The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming." 2Peter 3:10-12a Likewise Paul writes concerning the present crisis, "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." 1Cor 7:29-31
There are unnecessary weights, materials things, responsibilities which we take on, and more significantly are the sins we commit. "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" Heb 12:1b All these passages contain a sense of urgency which should be characteristic of the Christian life.
As for "the armor of light", he alludes to this also in Eph 6:14-18. And also to the deeds of darkness here "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." Eph 5:11
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources
