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 armour of light.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
night	νὺξ nux	G3571	"night" (literally or figuratively) · noun — nominative singular feminine
spent	προέκοψεν proekopsen	G4298	to drive forward (as if by beating) · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
day	ἡμέρα hēmera	G2250	day · noun — nominative singular feminine
hand	ἤγγικεν. ēngiken	G1448	to make near · verb — perfect active indicative, 3rd person singular
us	ἀποθώμεθα apothōmetha	G659	to put away (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist middle subjunctive, 1st person plural
therefore	οὖν oun	G3767	(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
off	ἀποτίθημι apotíthēmi	G659	to put away (literally or figuratively)
works	ἔργα erga	G2041	toil (as an effort or occupation) · noun — accusative plural neuter
darkness	σκότους, skotous	G4655	shadiness · noun — genitive singular neuter
and	καί kaí	G2532	and
on	ἐνδυσώμεθα endusōmetha	G1746	to invest with clothing (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist middle subjunctive, 1st person plural
armour	ὅπλα hopla	G3696	an implement or utensil or tool (literally or figurativ… · noun — accusative plural neuter
light	φωτός. phōtos	G5457	compare G5316 (φαίνω) · noun — genitive singular neuter

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Ezekiel 18:31-32 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O…
Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
2 Corinthians 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
Colossians 3:8-17 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Ephesians 6:11-18 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your…
Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 13:11–end

We are here taught a lesson of sobriety and godliness in ourselves. Our main care must be to look to ourselves. Four things we are here taught, as a Christian's directory for his day's work: when to awake, how to dress ourselves, how to walk, and what provision to make. I. When to awake: Now it is high time to awake (Rom 13:11), to awake out of the sleep of sin (for a sinful condition is a sleeping condition), out of the sleep of carnal security, sloth and negligence, out of the sleep of spiritual death, and out of the sleep of spiritual deadness; both the wise and foolish virgins slumbered and slept, Mat 25:5. We have need to be often excited and stirred up to awake. The word of command to…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 13:12

The night--of evil is far spent, the day--of consummated triumph over it is at hand: let us therefore cast off--as a dress the works of darkness--all works holding of the kingdom and period of darkness, with which, as followers of the risen Saviour, our connection has been dissolved. and let us put on the armour of light--described at length in Eph 6:11-18.

Adam Clarke on Romans 13:12

The night is far spent - If we understand this in reference to the heathen state of the Romans, it may be paraphrased thus: The night is far spent - heathenish darkness is nearly at an end. The day is at hand - the full manifestation of the Sun of righteousness, in the illumination of the whole Gentile world approaches rapidly. The manifestation of the Messiah is regularly termed by the ancient Jews יום yom, day, because previously to this all is night, Bereshith rabba sect. 91, fol. 89. Cast off the works of darkness - prepare to meet this rising light, and welcome its approach, by throwing aside superstition, impiety, and vice of every kind: and put on the armor of light - fully receive th…

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John Gill on Romans 13:12

The night is far spent,.... Not of Jewish darkness, which was gone, and was succeeded by the Gospel day; nor of former ignorance in Gentilism and unregeneracy, for that was past, and the true light shined; much less of security in the latter day, which was not yet come on; rather of persecution and distress for Christ's sake; but it is best of all to understand it of the present time of life; so it is called by the Jews (g), , "this world is like to the night": and which, in the best of saints, is attended with imperfection and darkness, errors and mistakes, in principle and practice, in doctrine and conversation; however, it is far spent, and in a little time will be over: the day is at…

The Church Fathers

"Night" refers to the time of ignorance, whereas "day" refers to the time after the Lord's coming.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

By "day" Paul means the time since the coming of Christ, for his appearing has made it much easier to tell the difference between good and evil. "Night" refers to the time before his coming.
— Theodore of Mopsuestia, PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

Paul said this, yet look at how many years have passed since then! Yet what he said was not untrue. How much more probable it is that the coming of the Lord is near now, when there has been such an increase of time toward the end!
— Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 77

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Armor · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Arms, Military · Illustrative of: Spiritual armour — Illustrative of: Spiritual armour
Commandments · PRECEPTS OF PAUL. EXPLICITLY STATED OR IMPLIED IN DIDACTIC EPISTLES — PRECEPTS OF PAUL. EXPLICITLY STATED OR IMPLIED IN DIDACTIC EPISTLES
Darkness · .OF SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS — .OF SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
Early Rising · Illustrates spiritual diligence — Illustrates spiritual diligence
Holiness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Night · Used figuratively — Used figuratively
Rising · .Il — .Il
Roman Empire, The · Allusions to military affairs of: Use of the panoply or defensive armour — Allusions to military affairs of: Use of the panoply or defensive armour
Second Coming Of Christ, The · Should be always considered as at hand — Should be always considered as at hand
Warfare Of Saints · Armour for: Called armour of light — Armour for: Called armour of light

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Romans 13:12

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 13:11–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 13:12

Adam Clarke on Romans 13:12

John Gill on Romans 13:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Romans 13:12

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Romans 13:11–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Romans 13:12

Adam Clarke on Romans 13:12

John Gill on Romans 13:12

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Romans 13:11–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Romans 13:12-13