The present age is the nighttime. When the Lord Jesus returns, day will dawn. The next age will be the daytime. Since the night is advanced and the day is near, we need not only to wake up from sleep, but also to cast off the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light (v. 12). This indicates a warfare.
“Let us walk becomingly as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in immorality and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy” (v. 13). All of these works must be cast aside. They are the works of darkness, and we are the children of the day.
Verse 14 is very important. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.” In verse 12 we are told to “put on the weapons of light” and in verse 14 to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” By placing these two phrases together, we can see that the Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the weapons of light. Furthermore, the phrase “make no provision for the flesh” corresponds to 8:12, where Paul says that “we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to flesh.” The warfare in 13:14 is between the lusts and the Spirit as in Galatians 5:17. Christ is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Thus, we must put on Christ in order to fight the battle against our lusts. Here the warfare does not concern the devil or the principalities in the air as in Ephesians 6:12; it concerns the lusts against which we must fight by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ as our weapons of light. This kind of warfare is different from that in 7:23. There it is the evil law in our flesh warring against the good law in our mind; it has nothing to do with the Spirit. But here it is that we, by putting on Christ, fight against the fleshy works of darkness.
What does it mean to put on Christ? We have been baptized into Christ and are already in Christ (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 3:27). Why then must we still put on Christ? To put on Christ actually means to live by Christ and to live out Christ. Although we are in Christ, we need to live by Christ and to live out Christ practically. We need to have a daily living that is by Christ and that expresses Christ. The expression of Christ in our daily life is our weapon for fighting against the flesh. Since the battle in verse 14 is not against the devil and spiritual wickedness, but against the flesh with all of its lusts, we need to live by Christ. The more we live by Christ, the more He becomes our weapons against the lusts of the flesh.
Paul says that we should “make no provision for the flesh.” We should not supply the flesh with anything. This indicates that the flesh continues to exist. Regardless of how spiritual we become, the flesh can still be revived. The flesh is hungry and desires food, but we must starve it to death, making no provision that will allow it to fulfill its lusts.
What does it mean to make provision for the flesh? Since the young people especially may find it difficult to understand this, I would like to give some illustrations. The present human society is dark and evil, containing numerous provisions for the flesh. Consider, for instance, the newspapers with their pictures and advertisements. I do not believe that anyone is so spiritual that when he sees an evil picture in the newspaper that he will not be influenced. Your experiences will testify to you that when you looked at some of the advertisements and pictures in the newspapers your flesh was aroused. Those movie advertisements were a provision for the flesh. Furthermore, television has also been much used by the enemy to provide food for the hungry flesh. I am not legal to say that Christians should not watch television, but I do say that it is better to keep away from it. Do not think that you are so strong. Suppose there is a deep well nearby. If I do not wish to fall into the well, I should stay away from it and not walk around it. However, if I continue to walk near the well, although I may not fall in it today, I probably will in the future. It is better to be protected and stay away from the well. Likewise, it is dangerous to watch television. If you intend to watch television, you should pray, “Lord, look at the television with me. Be one with me in my spirit to watch television.” If you pray in this way, it may be all right for you to do it. Otherwise, perhaps you should consider giving it up. At any rate, television has been a powerful means for the enemy to make provision for the flesh, and many evil things have occurred as a result of its influence.
As I have said previously, it is difficult to determine in which subsection of the book of Romans to place chapter thirteen. It may be a continuation of chapter twelve. If it does not actually belong to the portion on the living of a normal life, it is at least closely associated with it. So, 12:9 through 13:14 may be considered as a whole portion concerning the living of a normal life. Undoubtedly 12:1-8 concerns the practice of the Body life. Along with this practice of the Body life, we need the living of a normal life which is portrayed in 12:9-21 and possibly in chapter thirteen as well. We should not neglect this part of Romans. All of the verses in this section are very clear, and we need not say much about them. It would be a great help to the young people to memorize some of these verses such as, “Let love be without hypocrisy” and “Abhor what is evil; cleave to what is good” and “Love one another warmly in brotherly love.” These sayings are almost proverbs. If the young people memorize these verses, it will help them to experience the transformation which will give them the living of a normal life to practice the proper church life. Without the living of such a normal life, we are lacking the necessary base for the church life. I believe that this was the reason that, immediately after describing the practice of the church life, Paul presents the requirements of the living of a normal human life. The best presentation of the normal living in the entire Bible is found in these verses. Therefore, we need to pray over them and fellowship with one another concerning them.