Watching for the Day.
Romans 13:11-12 a. And this (do) the punctual payment of love's debts as men aware of the crisis.. It is the hour of waking: the night has far advanced, etc. Between these sentences intervenes Romans 13:11 b: now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The older Roman Christians (see e.g. Romans 16:7), like Paul, had long watched for Christ's great day (1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, etc.). Salvation (cf. Romans 5:10), beginning with justification, extends to the redemption of the body (see Romans 3:24; Romans 8:23; cf. Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 1:14, etc.).
Romans 13:12 b - Romans 13:14 sounds the reveillé. The works of darkness are the night-raiment to be exchanged for the weapons of light (cf. Ephesians 5:8-11) the armour for the day's battle (see 1 Thessalonians 5:8; Ephesians 6:13 ff.) The thought of a final struggle attending the Messiah's advent pervaded contemporary Apocalyptic: see Daniel 11, Enoch 90: 16, etc.; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:5-12; Revelation 16:13-16. The warrior must have no part in the foulness and quarrelsomeness of night-revellers (Romans 13:13; cf. Revelation 19:14). Putting on his Captain's character (cf. Romans 8:29, Galatians 3:27), he forgoes all planning for sensual gratification.