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Advent · First Sunday in Advent · Year A

Romans 13:(8-10) 11-14

The Night Is Far Gone

November 30, 2025

The Vigil, John Pettie
The Vigil, John Pettie, 1884Tate, London
A young man kneels alone all night before an altar, keeping watch over his armour before being made a knight.The night is far gone, the day is near; let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.John PettieA Scottish painter who made his name in London with historical genre scenes painted with a loose, confident touch.Tate, LondonThe national collection of British art and of international modern art, founded on a sugar fortune and now spread across four sites.Tate, London
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelMatt. 21:1-11Mt 21:1-11Alt. GospelMatt. 24:36-44Mt 24:36-44
EpistleRom. 13:(8-10) 11-14Rom 13:(8-10) 11-14
Old TestamentIsa. 2:1-5Is 2:1-5
PsalterPs. 122Ps 122

Overview & Insights

“The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” (Romans 13:12)

The bracketed verses ground the appeal that follows. Love is called the fulfilling of the law, and Paul demonstrates it by listing commandments from the second table of the Decalogue and summing them with Leviticus 19:18, so that the debt owed to a neighbour is the one debt never discharged. What follows changes the register from ethics to time: the addressees are to act because they know the kairos, and because the night is far gone, an image that places the present in the last hour before dawn. Two figures carry the exhortation, one military, the weapons of light put on in place of the works of darkness, and one sartorial, the command to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 14), clothing oneself with a person. These are the verses Augustine read in the Milan garden (Confessions 8.12), and their sense of a day at hand is why Advent opens here.

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Take it further: Romans 13:(8-10) 11-14

Commentary

Commentary on Romans 13:11-14Commentary on Rom 13:11-14 Working Preacher

Luther Seminary commentary on this exact Advent 1 epistle, on living now into the new identity Christ gives before his return.

Epistle: Romans 13:(8-10)11-14 (Advent 1: Series A)Epistle: Rom 13:(8-10)11-14 (Advent 1: Series A) 1517

1517's Advent 1 Series A treatment of the full pericope including the bracketed verses 8-10, warning against turning it into a bare Christmas moralism.

Romans 13:11-14 CommentaryRom 13:11-14 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Walks through Paul's 'understand the time' call and the night/day, dirty-clothing imagery of vv.11-14.

Romans 13 Commentary: The urgency to love and walk right with GodRom 13 Commentary: The urgency to love and walk right with God Enduring Word

David Guzik's verse-by-verse notes on vv.11-14, on waking from sleep and 'putting on' Christ daily.

Romans 13:11-14Rom 13:11-14 Precept Austin

Verse-by-verse word-study commentary quoting vv.11-14 directly and unpacking 'armor of light' and 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ.'

Background & Word Study

Romans 13:11 InterlinearRom 13:11 Interlinear Bible Hub

Greek interlinear for v.11 ('knowing the time... salvation nearer'), useful for the 'understand the present time' word study.

The Church Fathers

Romans 13 - CatenaRom 13 - Catena Catena Bible

Patristic catena keyed to the whole chapter, including the closing exhortation in vv.11-14.

Sermons & Reflections

Our appetites and our lives (Romans 13:11-14)Our appetites and our lives (Rom 13:11-14) The Christian Century

Reflection specifically titled on Romans 13:11-14 for Advent 1A, on readiness and what we feed ourselves while we wait.

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