Put On the Lord Jesus Christ, and Make No Provision for the Flesh (Romans 13:13–14)

Rom. 13:13. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Sin hides in the darkness of night, but in day it fears to show itself openly: for even sinners themselves are ashamed of sin and try to show themselves to be well-behaved before men. This ordinary order the Apostle takes into account and teaches that since we are now “in the day,” in the light of the knowledge of God and in the illuminating grace, it is fitting for us to walk honestly; not in appearance alone, but rather in our inward disposition, in soul and heart: for there too is our day. The blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle by the bodily indicates the spiritual. For even those who have loved an unlawful life commit unlawfulness at night, but by day they take on the appearance of good order. Therefore, it is his desire that after the passing of night and after the cessation of ignorance, we be freed from the deeds of evil.” The same with Ambrosiaster: “People do not sin publicly; therefore let us also act as people act publicly.”

But sin does not always hide. There are states of society when sin boldly breaks forth and is not afraid to boast of the most shameful deeds. The prophet David noted this long ago: “I saw violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.” (Ps. 54:10–12). Nevertheless, it is also true that such shamelessness of sin is only put on and lasts in the expectation that society too sympathizes with such deeds. But it is enough for someone in authority to reveal disapproval, and the unlawful society will scatter and hide. Shame follows sin and always covers the sinner, to a greater or lesser degree. Saint Chrysostom says: “Since the Romans greatly valued public opinion, the Apostle proposes to them as an incentive that by which common people are most moved, namely, a sense of decorum.”

“In what this decorum should consist, the Apostle indicates by pointing out the indecorum which must be avoided. This indecorum was made up of drunkenness, revels, shameful songs, unchaste deeds, quarrels, disputes, and the like. From all of this, he who wishes to live decently must refrain. We Christians are sons of light and of day—we have received the light of faith and the grace of the Spirit. We should not indulge in such deeds or take part in them. These are pagan customs, and they are entirely unfitting for us. The same the Apostle wrote to the Thessalonians, and he set forth the same incentive: we are not in the darkness of night but in the light of day. The night-dwellers get drunk, but we ought to be sober and vigilant (1 Thess. 5:5–7). This is the chief point of the present section, in which the Apostle requires that Christians, while remaining good citizens, refrain, however, from evil customs that have gained currency in pagan societies. The holy Apostle Peter notes that Christians at that time held themselves thus. ‘For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles… in lasciviousness, lusts… in excess of wine, revellings, banquetings… wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot’ (1 Pet. 4:3, 4). From this we must conclude that indulgence in such customs is a sure sign of weakening in the spirit of Christian life and that society in which they prevail is pagan, though covered with the Christian name.”

“Rioting”—“revels at which it is customary to be wild and to defile the tongue with shameful songs; the cause of this is drunkenness. It also becomes the matter of unchastity and the teacher in quarrels and disputes” (the blessed Theodoret). These are “riotous revels which either are established together in shares or arranged in turns by each participant. At them no one thinks it shameful to say and do what is shameful and unholy, because each one regards the revel as his own in a sense. At another’s table shame restrains, but here they gather in order to be shameless under the influence of wine and to enjoy themselves with various sensual pleasures. Therefore the Apostle commands us to avoid such revels” (Ambrosiaster).

“Drunkenness”—excessive use of intoxicating drinks, which darkens the mind and leads to senseless deeds, stirring up shameful lusts. “The Apostle forbids not drinking but drinking without measure; not the use of wine but drunkenness” (Saint Chrysostom). It is the cause of all indecorum at feasts and away from them.

“Chambering,” κοίτη—licentiousness, unlawful association with a woman, and “wantonness,” ἀσέλγεια—means either unbridled lust or unnatural satisfaction of it. “After forbidding riotous revels and drunkenness, the Apostle attached the forbidding of what ordinarily follows—shameless association: for this is the direct fruit of riot” (Ambrosiaster). “The Apostle forbids not association with women but fornication—he prescribes measure in enjoyment” (Saint Chrysostom).

Two sources of passions and passionate deeds are lust and anger. Turning away from the deeds of lust, the Apostle now turns away from the deeds of irritation, from “strife and envying.” Envy is the fruit of pride, which cannot bear for anyone to get ahead of us in any respect. Envy gives birth to strife, ἔρις, which in its peaceful form impels to all kinds of efforts to get ahead again of him who got ahead, but when not peaceful, it picks quarrels, starts disputes, quarrels, and fights, without which no riotous revels are complete. Saint Chrysostom says: “The Apostle strives to extinguish those passions from which other passions are kindled—namely, lust and anger. And therefore he forbids not only these passions themselves but also their source. For lack of sobriety and drunkenness kindle lust most powerfully and inflame anger. Therefore, having first said: ‘not in rioting and drunkenness,’ he then added: ‘not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.’”

Rom. 13:14. But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Those who are baptized have already been clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ; how then does He say: “put you on?”—That was and is a mystical clothing, but this is an active one; there grace accomplishes everything, but here our own effort is also required. “Put you on”—means: show yourselves clothed in Christ, guard in every way this divine clothing upon you, so that everyone sees you clothed in it and understands you in no other way. But what does clothing in Christ itself mean? Either to show yourself always acting as Christ the Lord acted, to display in yourself such properties and dispositions as were in Christ Jesus, so that all who see would say: this is an imitator of Christ, a true follower of Christ. Or to, rejecting all self-reliance and self-confidence, place all hope of success in deeds pleasing to God upon Christ the Lord, surrender yourself to Him, that He may be all-working in us in thoughts, in feelings, in dispositions, in words and deeds, and keep full faith that He, for the sake of this our surrender, will accomplish all that is due in us and will bring us to the blessed end we hope for. The latter clothing is the cause of the former, which cannot be manifested without it. In the present passage it seems more the former is meant, but certainly not without the latter. Saint Chrysostom says of this: “In mentioning vices, the Apostle said: let us cast off the works of darkness. But when he began to speak of virtue, he called it not merely deeds but armour, thereby showing that virtue places its possessor in perfect safety and complete splendor. He did not even stop at this, but, reaching higher, instead of mere raiment gives us something far more exceeding—the Master Himself, the very King. Whoever is clothed in Him fully contains in himself all virtue. When He says: ‘put you on,’ He commands us to wrap ourselves in Him from all sides. He expresses something like this also in other places, namely: ‘if Christ be in you’ (Rom. 8:10); and again: ‘that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith’ (Eph. 3:16–17). The Apostle desires that our soul be the house of Christ, that Christ enwrap us like a garment, be for us everything, both within and without. For Christ is our fullness, as He is ‘the fulness of him that fills all in all’ (Eph. 1:23). He is the way, He is spouse and bridegroom: ‘I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ’ (2 Cor. 11:2). He is the root, and the drink, and the food, and the life: ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me’ (Gal. 2:20). He is the Apostle and the High Priest and the Teacher and the Brother and the Father and the joint heir and the sharer in the grave and the cross. ‘We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life’ (Rom. 6:4, 5). He entreats us: ‘Now then we are ambassadors for Christ’ (2 Cor. 5:20). He protects us before the Father; ‘for he makes intercession for us’ (Rom. 8:34). He is the house and the dweller: ‘he that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him’ (Jn. 6:56). He is the foundation and the cornerstone; and we are His members, His field, His building, His branches, His fellow-workers. And what does He not wish to make us in order somehow to bind and attach us to Himself? All this proves His boundless love for us. Therefore, surrender yourself to Him, awake from sleep, and be clothed in Him; and having clothed yourself, keep your flesh in submission before Him. This is what the Apostle meant when he said: ‘make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof’ (do not extend your care for the flesh to lusts).”

“Provision,” πρόνοια—care, concern. “make not provision…to fulfil the lusts”, μὴ ποιεῖσθε εἰς ἐπιθυμίας—do not act at the prompting of lusts, for the satisfaction of lusts, or do not turn into lusts. The bodily needs—eating, drinking, sleeping, clothing, having shelter, giving rest—cannot go unsatisfied; but this satisfaction is simple and straightforward and requires no great care when one keeps to the natural order. But when someone breaks from this order, then so many artificial needs of the flesh are generated that neither his strength nor his wealth suffice to satisfy them; day and night he toils, and it is never enough—and he bears the yoke like a beast of burden. And he will not throw off these unnatural things; for he has turned them into lusts; and lusts he regards as himself, so that to deny lust anything seems to him like an attack on his life. Thus tyrannical dominion is exercised over those who indulge the flesh, and it does not let them break free from its bonds. But in Christians there should be no place for such slavery to the lusts of the flesh. The lusts of the flesh have tyrannical power where the spirit is stifled. But in Christians the spirit is awakened and raised to powerful authority by God’s grace, and this power first and foremost turns itself to taming the flesh. For the lusts of the flesh are the furthest point of man’s falling; therefore his raising up or arising must necessarily begin with the rejection of them. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). And why is this? Because they have begun to live by the spirit; and having begun to live by the spirit, they ought to walk by the spirit, in contrast to carnal lust (Gal. 5:25). And whoever begins to live by the spirit does so at the same time as he clothes himself in Christ. Therefore the Apostle joined with clothing in Christ the cutting off of the lusts of the flesh.

Saint Chrysostom speaks at length on this: “As above the Apostle forbade not the use of wine but drunkenness, not married life but licentiousness, so now he forbids not care for the flesh but care that extends to lusts, that is, beyond what is needed. But that he himself commands care for the flesh—listen to how he says to Timothy: ‘Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake’ (1 Tim. 5:23). Similarly in all else have care for the flesh, but for maintaining health, not for gratifying sensuality. For it no longer counts as care when you add fuel to the fire and heat the furnace. And so that you may more precisely know when care for the flesh extends to lust and avoid such care, imagine people given to drunkenness, gluttony, devoted to finery and amusements, living an effeminate and luxurious life—and then you will understand what the Apostle said. Such people, whatever they do, do it not for maintaining health but for pleasure, for inflaming lust. On the contrary, you, clothed in Christ, put away all this; in your care for the body, keep in view only that it be healthy, and apply care to the body only so far as is necessary for health; extend it no further. Instead, devote all your care to spiritual things.”

Then, having depicted how carnal life is sleep from which those who love such a life await a most bitter awakening after death, Saint Chrysostom adds: “I entreat you, awake from sleep, tear out these thorns with root—and sober yourself from drunkenness, from which comes sleep. I offer my counsel especially to those who love to feast with friends. Such feasts cannot be called either pleasure or rest; on the contrary, they are punishment and torment. Pleasure consists not in shameful talk but in fitting conversation, not in being stuffed, but in being satisfied. But in saying this, I do not forbid you to come together and dine with one another; I only require that you not shame yourselves; I desire that your pleasure be true pleasure and not turn into punishment, into torment, into drunkenness and wild merriment (which brings headaches and various diseases). Let the pagans learn that Christians know better than all how to make merry, but to make merry while observing decorum. For it is said: ‘Rejoice in the Lord with reverence’ (Ps. 2:11). How then should one rejoice? By speaking spiritual songs, performing prayers, singing psalms instead of shameful songs. In this way Christ Himself will be present at your table and will fulfill your feast with blessing—when you pray, when you sing spiritual songs, when you invite the poor to share with you what is provided, when you maintain decorum and moderation at your feast. In this way your gathering place will become God’s church, when instead of unseemly shouts and applause, you sing the praises of the Master of all. Do not tell me that a different custom is now established; rather, correct what is evil. ‘Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God’ (1 Cor. 10:31). But from your feasts come evil desires; from them comes licentiousness; from them your wives fall into contempt while wanton women are honored; from them homes collapse, thousands of evils are born—and all falls into disorder. To avoid all this, let us be clothed in Christ and always remain with Him. For to be clothed in Christ means to not be without Him for a moment, but always to show Him in yourself through your holiness and righteousness. And concerning friends, in order to express their strong love and unbreakable bond, we say that one is clothed in another. For he who is clothed appears as that in which he is clothed. So let Christ always be visible in us. And when will He be visible in us? When we imitate His deeds. What then did Christ do? ‘The Son of man has not where to lay his head’ (Lk. 9:58). And you imitate Him. When it was necessary to eat food, Christ ate barley bread. When He was on a journey, He had neither horses nor other beasts of burden, but walked on foot, even to exhaustion. When it was necessary to sleep, He lay, instead of a pillow, on the stern of a boat. When it was necessary to recline, He ordered people to sit on the grass. His garments were inexpensive; He often walked alone, having no one with Him. Furthermore, consider all His words and deeds, on the cross and amid various mockeries, and indeed His whole life—and strive to imitate it. In this way you will be clothed in Christ, when you do not extend your care for the flesh to lusts.”

Having shown how Christians ought to live and conduct themselves as Christians and as members of civil society, the Apostle: