Deeper Commentary
ROMANS CHAPTER 13
13:1 The question has been asked as to how the words of Romans 13 can
stand true, with their implication that Government ministers are God’s
representatives, punishing sinners and upholding righteousness, and
therefore should be obeyed. Many believers are pressured by such ministers
to join armies and in other ways too, to break the law of Christ. How, for
example, could those words have been true in Hitler’s Germany or
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan?
First it must be remembered that there are other passages which do command
our submission to human authorities: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance
of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto
governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of
evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of
God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish
men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but
as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear
God. Honour the king” (1 Pet. 1:13-17). Whilst these words stand true,
Peter himself also disobeyed human authority, with the comment that we
must obey God rather than men. When there is a conflict in allegiance
created, we must obey God and disobey anyone or any institution that
commands us to disobey Him. And Paul likewise- the man who was jailed
repeatedly for breaking the law: “Put them in mind to be subject to
principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good
work, To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all
meekness unto all men” (Tit. 3:1,2).
But the Romans 13 passage goes much further, saying that these “ministers”
are ordained by God on His behalf, and therefore must be obeyed.
Logically, therefore, one would have to obey whatever they said. Otherwise
we would always be having to decide whether or not a Government minister
was really ordained in God’s behalf, or not. And Romans 13 seems to imply
that all ministers are “ministers of God”. And so for this passage I wish
to suggest that it specifically refers to submission to the elders and
apostles of the first century ecclesia, empowered as they were with the
miraculous Spirit gifts and direct revelations of wisdom and judgment.
There is great stress in Rom. 13 that these “powers” punish evil /
sinfulness. This is just not true of human Governments. Yet it is
appropriate if the “powers” spoken of here are within the ecclesia. So we
will consider the passage phrase by phrase- and we find that almost every
Greek noun or verb in it is used elsewhere in a specifically ecclesial
context.
“Let every one of you be in
subjection to the governing authorities” (:1).
The Greek for “Higher” means ‘to excel, to be superior, better than, to
surpass”. The same word occurs in Phil. 2:3: “Let nothing be done through
strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves”. We may respect human ministers but we can
scarcely esteem them better than ourselves in a spiritual sense. Yet
authority held by ecclesial elders is earnt and not demanded- based on our
respect of them as brethren more mature in Christ than we are.
“For there is no power but by
God: the powers that be have been ordained…”
“Powers” is
s.w. [same word] 2 Cor. 10:8 “our [apostolic] authority”;
“the power
which the Lord hath given me” (Paul; 2 Cor. 13:10). “Not because we [the
apostles] have not
power”
(2 Thess. 3:9). Those powers are “ordained”- s.w. Acts 15:2 , where Paul
and Barnabas were “determined”, s.w. “ordained”, to go to Jerusalem as
representative elders; the family of Stephanas “addicted themselves”,
literally ‘ordained themselves’, to the work of ministry in the ecclesia.
Note how here as in Rom. 13, the ideas or being
ordained
to be a
minister
also occur
together.
[Ordained] by
God
In the sense of 1 Cor. 12:28: “And God
hath set some
in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues”.
“Therefore whoever resists the
authorities resists…” (:2)
Alexander “hath greatly
withstood
[s.w. resisteth] our words” (2 Tim. 4:15)- the words of elders like Paul.
This doesn’t mean that elders are beyond any criticism- for the same Greek
word is used of how Paul “withstood” Peter when he gave in to legalism and
rejected grace (Gal. 2:11).
“What God has appointed, and those
who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror…”
(:2,3)
“Terror” translates the Greek word used for how “fear” came upon the
ecclesia when the elders exercised their powers of the Holy Spirit (Acts
2:43; 5:5,11). Initially, Corinth showed such “fear” towards Paul (2 Cor.
7:11,15). Elders should rebuke publicly those who sin, that others in the
ecclesia might “fear” (1 Tim. 5:20). The situation in the first century as
far as the authorities of the world are concerned was actually the very
opposite of what we read here in Romans. The same word occurs in 1 Pet.
3:14, telling the believers to endure persecution from the authorities,
not to cave in to their demands, and “be not afraid of their
fear”.
Note that the Greek word for “afraid” occurs in Rom. 13:3- we should be
“afraid” of the powers God has placed in the ecclesia. The fact the two
words occur together in both Romans and Peter leads us to the conclusion:
‘Respect and “fear” those who are elders truly; but don’t fear / respect
those who are elders in name only and are in reality far from grace”.
“[not a terror] to good works, but
to the evil. If you wish to live without fear of the authorities? (:3)
The Greek word for “fear” is the same word in Gal. 2:12, which criticizes
Peter for being “afraid” of the Jerusalem elders who were teaching
legalism. Paul doesn’t mean we should fear an elder merely because they
have the office of an elder; but we fear / respect those who are indeed
spiritually “higher” than us.
“Do that which is good! And you
shall have praise from the same”
This certainly isn’t true of worldly authorities and rulers. They don’t
praise righteousness, and they certainly didn’t in the first century. Yet
the same word is used in 2 Cor. 8:18 of how Timothy was “praised” in the
ecclesias. Good elders and healthy ecclesias will give praise /
encouragement to those who deserve it.
“For he is a minister of God”
(:4)
Gk. Diakonos,
sometimes translated “deacon”. The word is used 31 times in the N.T.,
nearly always about ecclesial elders / ministers / servants. Paul speaks
of himself and Timothy with the very same words: a “minister of God” (2
Cor. 6:4; 1 Thess. 3:2), who therefore ought to be listened to.
…to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he
beareth not the sword in vain
This seems to be a reference to the ability which some elders had in the
first century to execute physical affliction upon those who were
disobedient. Peter smote Ananias and Sapphira dead. Paul seems to warn the
Corinthians that he could “not spare” them if he convicted them of
apostasy on his next visit. It even seems that the sicknesses spoken of in
James 5 are a direct result of sinful behaviour, and the gift of healing
could be exercised by the elders in the case of repentance. Jesus Himself
threatened immediate physical judgment, presumably through the hands of
His representatives, upon some in the ecclesias of Rev. 2,3. Respect for
elders is something taught throughout the N.T. letters- “remember them
that have the rule over you” (Heb. 13:7). Here the writer clearly refers
to elders in the ecclesia, for he bids his readers consider the end of
those men’s faithful way of life and to follow their example. And yet they
are described as ‘rulers’. It’s as if the point is that the real rulers of
a first century believer were not the Roman administrators, but the
ministers of God within their ecclesia. In illiterate ecclesias or those
without access to the written scrolls containing God’s word, the elders
would have played a more critical role in their relationship with God than
in our age.
“…
For he is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is
evil- be afraid! For he carries not the sword in vain. For he is a
minister of God, an avenger of God’s anger to him that does evil.
Therefore you must be in subjection, not only because of God’s anger
against sin, but also for the sake of your conscience. For this cause you
pay tribute also”
(:4-6)
This could be referring to the Lord’s well known example of paying
tribute, and simply saying that the principle of submission to authority
should extend out of the ecclesia, to all those who have power over us- so
long as this does not contradict our conscience toward Christ. But it
could also be a reference to some form of tithing or regular support of
elders. There is historical evidence that this went on early in the
Christian church.
“Be subject” uses a Greek word elsewhere used about submission to elders
(1 Cor. 16:16). Note how the word occurs in 1 Cor. 14:34- the sisters were
commanded “to be under obedience” to their men [Gk.]. I take this to refer
to the need for those sisters to be submissive to their appointed elder.
When we meet the word again in the command “Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:22,24; Col. 3:18; Tit. 2:5; 1
Pet. 3:1,5), I take this as meaning that they should treat him as they
would an elder- in that Paul assumes he will teach and inspire her as the
elders ought to have been doing.
“For they are ministers of God's
service, attending continually upon this very thing” (:6)
The question arises, what thing? If the reference is to
their reflecting of God’s judgment against those who sin, this is simply
not true of human Governments. The first century authorities were
persecuting the Christians, fabricating untruth against them, killing
them, and insisting that those who refused to accept Caesar as Lord be
punished. The words can only be true of the ministers of God of whom we
read elsewhere in the N.T.- i.e., the ecclesial elders.
The Greek phrase for “attending continually” is a catchphrase usually
employed to describe the zealous pastoral care of the early apostles:
“These all continued with one accord in prayer…continuing
daily with one accord…and breaking bread…we will give ourselves
continually to prayer, and to the ministry [another Romans 13 idea!]
of the word” (Acts 1:14; 2:46; 6:4). By using the phrase, Paul is
undoubtedly pointing us back to the example of the early apostles /
elders.
“Render to all their dues” (:7)
The Greek for “dues” is found in Rom. 15:27 about the due which the
Gentile believers owe to materially support their Jewish brethren. We have
no ‘due’ to this world (Rom. 13:8 Gk., s.w.), but our due is to love each
other in the brotherhood. But admittedly Paul does seem in the next verses
to extend the principle of submission further than just within the
ecclesia. In the same way as elders should only be respected if they had
earnt that respect, and were leading brethren in the way of Christ, so too
the authorities of the world should only be followed insofar as they did
not lead believers into disobedience to Christ: “…tribute to whom tribute
is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou
shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law” (:8-10 AV).
We must remember that the Romans 13:1 passage about submission to human
authority was written before Nero's persecution of Christians. It seems to
be written on the assumption that justice is being done by officialdom.
Romans seems to have been written around AD60. The background situation in
Rome, to which Paul was speaking, needs to be understood if we are to
understand Paul in his context. In AD58 there were major revolts in Rome
against the taxation system (as recorded in Tacitus, Annals
13.50,51). Jews were exempt from paying some taxes (they were allowed to
pay them to the temple in Jerusalem); and Roman citizens also were exempt.
There was therefore a huge amount of resentment from the Gentile,
non-Roman citizen population who had to pay heavy taxes (1). It could well
be that some of the Roman Christians were tempted to share in this unrest;
and Paul is instead urging them to obey those who had the rule over them,
in the sense of paying their taxes, rendering tribute to whom tribute was
due. Ben Witherington, one of academic scholarship's most well-known and
learned students of Paul, significantly doesn't see in the Romans 13
passage any suggestion that Christians should therefore bear arms, as this
would contradict Paul's teaching about non-violent response to
evil in the same section of Romans; rather does he understand the teaching
about submission to authorities as being specifically in this taxation
context (2).
(1) Tacitus, Historiae 5.5.1, Josephus, Antiquities Of The
Jews 16.45,160-161; references in Ben Witherington, The Paul
Quest (Leicester: I.V.P., 1998) p. 180.
(2) Ben Witherington, The Paul Quest (Leicester: I.V.P., 1998)
pp. 178-184. He comments that "most ancient persons [took] it for granted
that governing authorities have their authority from God" (p. 181). When
Paul writes this to the Romans, he could well be quoting a well-known
maxim- and thus using it in order to persuade the Roman Christians to pay
their taxes.
13:1 Let every one of you be in subjection to the governing
authorities. For there is no
power but by God, and the powers that be have been ordained by God-
I have suggested the possibility of this section referring to
elders within the church. But it is also possible to understand the
section as referring to civil powers, seeing that this was written before
Nero's persecution of the Christians. We would then have a classic example
of where Paul's letters address specific issues within a very specific
time limited context. What he writes here about the nature of 'the powers
that be' was true for the Rome ecclesia at that point in time; but it was
not true for them some years later under Nero's persecution, nor was it
true for believers under Hitler etc.
13:2 Therefore whoever resists
the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will
incur judgment- Judgment from the powers that be, rather than
condemnation from God. The implication is that there were individuals
within the church at Rome who were seriously misbehaving and would face
criminal justice as a result. The letter of 1 Peter seems to address the
same problem in the Jewish congregations of southern Turkey. Put this
together with the shameful behaviour of the church at Corinth, and the
similar very bad issues addressed in the other NT epistles. Titus is
warned to strengthen the eldership, whilst there were many very bad
behaviours amongst the congregation on Crete; and we find the same
approach taken in advising Timothy about the mess at Ephesus. The overall
picture is rather poor; the impression is of churches composed of many who
seriously misbehaved, living alongside some wonderfully spiritual
examples. The Lord's letters in Revelation give the same impression. Yet
churches of our age face the problem of supposedly stronger members
quitting because of the perceived unspirituality of the majority. And we
see that there was no way that Paul was advising disfellowship of immoral
members of the congregation apart from in nuanced and extreme situations
such as 1 Corinthians 5.
13:3 For rulers are not a terror
to good works, but to the evil. If you wish to live without fear of the
authorities- then do that which is good! And you shall have praise from
the same- As noted on :2, this implies there was serious
criminal misbehaviour amongst some in the church at Rome. And yet Paul
writes in such warm terms about the church in chapter 1. This is the great
challenge of Christianity; to accept the weakness of others, not turn away
from it nor justify it, within the larger framework of knowing that they
too are partakers of grace and salvation.
13:4 For he is a minister of God
to you for good. But if you do that which is evil- be afraid! For he
carries not the sword in vain- The mention of the sword implies the
death penalty, which means that the church contained members guilty of
serious criminal misbehaviour.
For he is a minister of God, an
avenger of God’s anger to him that does evil- The connection is with
how the same word is used in 12:19: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but
leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written: Vengeance is Mine, I will
repay, says the Lord". It would be possible to conclude that some within
the church were behaving in a criminal way towards others in the church,
doing things to them which warranted the death penalty. And yet Paul has
so much to say to them about grace and the certainty of salvation by
faith. These considerations enable us to review chapters 1 and 2, which
seem to speak as if murder and some of the worst forms of sexual
perversion and abuse were being practiced within the church, just as they
were by Israel in the desert.
13:5- see on 1 Jn. 3:18.
Therefore you must be in
subjection, not only because of God’s anger against sin, but also for the
sake of your conscience-
God's judgment would be manifest through the local authorities. But
subjection to the authorities was not just in order to avoid judgment
against sin, but because of a sense of conscience. Those authorities
represented Him, and therefore quiet obedience to them was part of
conscience towards God.
13:6 For this cause you pay tribute also- In the opening commentary
on Romans 13:1 I gave evidence that in Rome there was widespread objection
to paying taxes. Paul assumes their obedience- "you pay tribute". This is
a great feature of Paul- he had such a positive spirit about brethren whom
he knew to be far less than himself spiritually.
For they are ministers of God's
service, attending continually upon this very thing- This kind of religious language led me to suggest in the
opening commentary that the authorities in view may in fact be within the
church. But if not, then we can say that the language of the sanctuary is
being consciously used about the ministers of the state. Just as believing
slaves were to see their masters as representing Christ, so the Roman
believers were to see tax collectors as requiring obedience as if
they were part of the Divine system of things. And this is one of the arts
of spiritual life- to see all our human interactions in this world as
being performed as unto the Lord we have in Heaven and within the context
of His system.
13:7 Render to all their dues.
Tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear,
honour to whom honour-
This could mean 'to all magistrates', and surely Paul has his mind on
the Lord's command to render unto Caesar what is his due (Mt. 22:21)
rather than get involved in any form of anti-Caesar movement on the basis
of refusing to pay taxes. The Christian movement indeed rejected Caesar as
Lord, but there was no need to articulate this through not paying taxes to
him. But the next verse shows that Paul develops a wider context here. Not
simply should taxes be paid, but a general spirit of respect towards
others, including "honour".
13:8- see on Rom. 1:14.
Owe no one anything, apart from to love one another- The 'owing'
would be in the context of accumulating tax debts in the hope they would
never be demanded or enforced. Or perhaps Paul does literally feel that
material debt to others is to be avoided at all costs. He has spoken of
honouring and respecting persons in :6 and :7, and he sees keeping out of
debt as a way of ensuring that we can respect persons for who they are and
without the background factor of appearing to respect those to whom we are
in debt. In low income situations, petty debt is a way of life; perhaps
Paul is urging avoiding this. The debt we have is to love others, for we
have been so loved by the Lord, and we are to realize that our need to pay
that back must be articulated in terms of loving our neighbour- not that
we can ever repay our debt to the Lord. Paul's conception of love to the
world around him was clearly rooted in the need to preach to them, rather
than provide material help. He felt he had a debt to love others (Rom.
13:8); yet also a debt to preach (Rom. 1:14). His debt was to love in the
form of preaching.
For he that loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law- The law
was fulfilled by the Lord's death on the cross. The death of the cross is
the ultimate love of neighbour as self, the final honour, respect,
submission etc. which forms the context here. The Lord's work and death
can therefore really be participated in by us- in the small daily things
of life such as kindness and respect to others.
13:9 For this, you shall not
commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not
covet- and if there be any other commandment- Paul's
references to the Gospels suggests that he had carefully meditated upon
the passages to which he consciously alludes. The fact and way in which he
alludes rather than quotes verbatim reflects the fact he had
thought through and absorbed the teaching of the passages rather than
learning them parrot fashion. For example, in Mt. 19:18,19 the Lord Jesus
combines two quotations from the Law: Ex. 20:12-16 followed by Lev. 19:18.
Paul, in a different context, to prove a different point, combines those
same two passages, although separating them by a brief comment (Rom.
13:9). This surely indicates that he had meditated upon how his Lord was
using the Law, and mastered it so that he could use it himself.
It is summed up in this word,
namely: You shall love your neighbour as yourself- The
intention of all the various laws was "love". Likewise the fruit of the
Spirit is in the singular- "love". Love is the point of maturity to which
we are all travelling (1 Cor. 13). The cross was the fulfilling of all law
in that there love was articulated to its ultimate term.
13:10 Love works no evil to his neighbour. Love therefore is the
fulfilment of the law- This looks at love from a negative aspect-
love is the summation of all commandments, it is positively a loving of
neighbour; but also working no evil is likewise another way of putting it.
Yet the two sides are in parallel- positively, proactively doing good to
neighbour is the same as working no evil to neighbour. This addresses the
idea that 'I do no evil to others; I just keep myself to myself and have
my own personal beliefs about Jesus, sit behind my screen and press the
right buttons at times, no need for church, I just believe in my heart'.
Such an attitude is increasingly popular in our disconnected and
dysfunctional world, where people seem unable to cope with personal
relationships. But to work no evil is part of doing proactive good. And
remember that love is the fulfilment of the law, as epitomized in the
Lord's death upon the cross. One could go further, and argue that by not
doing the proactive love to neighbour, we are actually working evil to
neighbour- for sins of omission are every bit as real [before God] as sins
of commission. Perhaps Paul has in mind the LXX of Prov. 3:27-29, where
withholding good from our neighbour is paralleled with devising evil
against him or her.
13:11 And consider this too:
Knowing the time, that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep-
God actually saw us as saved right from the beginning of the
world; He purposed, and effectively it was done. Perhaps this is the
hardest thing our faith has to grapple with. "Knowing the time, that for
us, the hour already is to be aroused out of sleep" and be resurrected
(Rom. 13:11 YLT) may mean (contrary to the implication of the AV) that for
us who are with God now, the time of resurrection and salvation is now
with us, and therefore we should live lives which answer to this fact. The
day of salvation is in that sense today (2 Cor. 6:2 Gk.). So sure
is God's word that it is as if the concept of a delay between its
utterance and the fulfilment is something not to be considered. Thus "the
vision" is an ellipsis for 'the fulfilment of the vision' in Hab. 2:3.
Although our day by day spirituality fluctuates, God is beyond time. He
sees us either as an essentially good tree bringing forth good fruit, or
as essentially bad (Mt. 7:23). And yet my sense is that here we have yet
another example of where the early believers fully expected the Lord's
return in their lifetimes. This was not simply because they were mistaken,
or because the Lord's scheduled return in the first century was delayed
because the church wasn't ready for it. This expectation of the Lord's
soon return is, it could be argued, actually part of the Christian faith.
We are to live in expectation of His imminent return, whether or not we
consider current events to align with the relevant prophecies.
For now is our salvation nearer to us than when we first believed-
The "salvation" is "the day" of the Lord's return (:12). We are
chronologically nearer to that final salvation than when we first
believed. This suggests a specific start point for 'first belief';
confirming that there is a specific point when a person becomes a
believer, rather than belief being something drifted into as a result of
upbringing or exposure to Christian preaching. And that specific point in
time is surely baptism. "Nearer" uses the same word used by the Lord in
saying that we know His coming is 'near' because of the fulfilment of the
signs in the Olivet prophecy (Mt. 24:32,33). Those signs were indeed
fulfilled- His coming was indeed scheduled for the first century. But it
was delayed, because the required preconditions of Israel's repentance,
the spreading of the Gospel and the required spiritual fruit in the church
were just not met. And so it has been delayed until our days. And we face
the same urgent challenges in those same areas which the early church
failed in.
13:12 The night is far spent, and the day is at hand- See on
:11. Whilst Paul clearly expected the Lord's return in his time, the
statement and spirit of it is not wrong. For we are to live as if
the day of His coming is imminent. And of course we can die at any moment-
and that for us will effectively be His return. The entire Gospel message
begins with the usage of the same Greek word: The Kingdom is at hand
(Mt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7 etc.). We are therefore to live in expectation of the
imminent breaking forth of God's Kingdom. And in a spiritual sense, the
Kingdom has 'come near' [s.w. "is at hand"] in that our experience of life
in Christ is our experience of the eternal life of God's Kingdom (Lk. 10:9
"The Kingdom of God is come near / is at hand to you"). And yet in the
literal sense, we see the day approaching [s.w. "at hand", "near"]; and we
are to draw near to God in response (Heb. 7:19; 10:25). James 4:8; 5:8 are
very clear. We draw near to God and He draws near to us, in that the
Lord's coming draws near.
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on
the armour of light- It’s been pointed out and exemplified beyond
cavil that Paul uses much Essene terminology. I suggest he does this in
order to deconstruct it. When he urges the Roman Jews to “cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armour of light”, calling his converts
“the children of the light and children of the day” (1 Thess. 5:5), Paul
is alluding to the Essene ideas. But he’s saying that the children of
light are to wage spiritual warfare against themselves, their own hearts,
quit the things and habits of the flesh etc. – rather than charge off into
literal battle with physical armour against the Romans. Likewise when Paul
insists that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Rom. 9:14–18), he is not only
repeating the Biblical record (Ex. 9:12,16; 33:19), but he is alluding to
the way that the Jewish Book of Jubilees claimed that Mastema
[the personal Satan] and not God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
13:13 Let us behave decently- Gk. 'honestly'. The context has
spoken of paying taxes and not behaving as criminals.
As in the day- The "day" spoken of in the context is that of
the Lord's coming and His Kingdom. We are to live the kind of life we
shall eternally live in God's Kingdom. In this sense we have the eternal
life.
Not in revelling and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and
debauchery, not in strife and jealousy- We will not spend eternity
doing these things, so we should not be doing them now. Again we sense
that all these things were going on in the church at Rome, and yet Paul
still speaks so lovingly and positively of them all. The very same set of
issues were clearly evident in the church at Corinth. Again [see on :2]
the picture of the early converts is not very pleasant. All the more
commendable therefore are those faithful ones who lived out their
spiritual lives within such churches; and the Lord's letters in Revelation
make just that point. But we note they were never exhorted to quit
fellowship or association with the weak mass of Christian believers.
13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ- We must even after
baptism "put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Rom. 13:14; Eph. 4:14; Col. 3:12,14;
1 Thess. 5:8), even though at baptism we put on the Lord Jesus
(Gal. 3:27; Col. 3:10) and in prospect the flesh was co-crucified with
Christ's flesh (Rom. 6:6,18). By putting off the things of the flesh and
putting on the things of the Lord in our lives, we live out the baptism
principle again; and thereby we are "renewed in the spirit of your mind"
(Eph. 4:22-24). See on Col. 2:6. Baptism in this sense is an ongoing
experience of death and resurrection with the Lord.
And make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires-
This is the simple key to overcoming temptation. "Provision" is related to
the word for 'providence'. God's overall providence in calling, planning
and predestinating us to salvation has been mentioned earlier by Paul in
this letter. Our response is to likewise seek to structure our own lives
so that we do not provide opportunities for the flesh, but rather for the
Spirit.
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