Romans 13:11-12
What is written? (ESV)
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.
What does it say?
Do this knowing the time is urgent to wake from any slothfulness. We are closer to salvation than when we first believed. The night is nearly past and the day is at hand, therefore remove any unrighteous works from your lives and put on the armor of light.
What is its immediate context?
Paul is offering encouragement to the Christians in Rome. He has given some specific, practical instructions for daily life in the previous chapter (including to love one another – 12:10). In this chapter Paul turns to how a Christian should submit to and live under “governing authorities” (vs 1). He relates the Old Law and its commandments to the fulfillment and culmination of “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is just as Jesus had approved the lawyer’s summation of the Law (Luke 10).
How Romans 13:11-12 is applied across Bible answers
Was the end of all things at hand (1 Peter 4:7)?
Paul uses "at hand" to describe the present reality, not something yet to come at all. It was an immutable state of the present condition.
