‘And this, knowing the season, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep, for now is salvation nearer to us than when we (first) believed.'
‘And this --.' Many would add ‘do', i.e. ‘and do this', but while that thought is certainly included, the emphasis is more of ‘have this in mind' or ‘have this attitude because --.'. This may be seen as referring back to what has just been said concerning love for one's neighbour as a life to be lived out daily, but more probably it has in mind the content of the whole passage Romans 12:1 to Romans 13:10 with its emphasis on committing oneself to God as a living sacrifice, and being totally transformed, living a life of love. Paul's aim is to relate this to the vital time in which they and we are living, the period prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the consummation of all things (compare Hebrews 9:28).
The same urgency should be with us today. We live in the time prior to that day when Christ will sum up all things in Himself (Ephesians 1:10). Thus with the Day dawning it is a time for stirring ourselves, and awaking out of sleep. This idea of awaking out of sleep was present in the teaching of Jesus (Mark 13:35-36; Luke 12:35-36), and repeated by Paul (Ephesians 5:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:6). And the idea of awaking out of sleep is that we should rise early and get on with what has to be done, which includes the spreading of the Gospel. It means stirring ourselves into activity because the daytime has come. And this is in the light of the fact that our salvation (the final redemption of our bodies and enjoyment of the life to come) is nearer now than it was at that time when we began to believe.
The Scripture sees salvation as past, present and future. In the past we entered into salvation when we were accounted as righteous by faith, when we became reconciled to God through Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). From that moment Christ began in us His saving work. In the present it is a day by day experience as God ‘works in us to will and do of His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). We are ‘being saved' (1 Corinthians 1:18). But in the future it refers to the final completion of our salvation when we are presented perfect before God, and have been made ‘like Him (Christ)' (Romans 8:29; 1 John 2:2).