Romans 13:14 - Wearing Jesus!

Rom.13:14; Wearing Jesus!

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

Rom 13:14 (NCV)  But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus 
Christ and forget about satisfying your sinful self. 

Rom 13:14 (CEV)  Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as 
the clothes you wear.  Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish 
desire. 

Rom. 13:14 (NLT) But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of 
you, and don't think of ways to indulge your evil desires. 

Rom. 13:14 (GWT) Instead, live like the Lord Jesus Christ did, 
and forget about satisfying the desires of your sinful nature. 

Rom 13:14 (EAV)  But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ 
(the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a 
stoop to thinking about the evil cravings of our physical nature] to 
[gratify its] desires (lusts). 

These last verses have been rendered famous in the Christian 
church for more than 1,400 years, as being the instrument of the 
conversion of Augustine. (Adam Clarke Commentary) 

This passage must be forever famous, for it was through them 
Augustine found conversion. He tells the story in his Confessions. He was 
walking in the garden. His heart was in distress, because of his failure 
to live the good life.  He kept exclaiming miserably, "How long? 
How long? Tomorrow and tomorrow--why not now? Why not this hour an 
end to my depravity?" Suddenly he heard a voice saying, "Take and 
read; take and read." It sounded like a child's voice; and he racked 
his mind to try to remember any child's game in which these words 
occurred, but could think of none. He hurried back to the seat where his 
friend Alypius was sitting, for he had left there a volume of Paul's 
writings. "I snatched it up and read silently the first passage my eyes 
fell upon: `Let us not walk in revelry or drunkenness, in immorality 
and in shamelessness, in contention and in strife. But put on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, as a man puts on a garment, and stop living a life 
in which your first thought is to gratify the desires of Christless 
human nature.' I neither wished nor needed to read further.  With the 
end of that sentence, as though the light of assurance had poured 
into my heart, all the shades of doubt were scattered. I put my 
finger in the page and closed the book: I turned to Alypius with a calm 
countenance and told him." [Barclay Commentary] 

How do we clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ? First we 
identify with Christ by being baptized (Galatians 3:27). This shows our 
solidarity with other Christians and with the death, burial, and 
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Second, we exemplify the qualities Jesus showed 
while he was here on earth (love, humility, truth, service). In a 
sense, we role-play what Jesus would do in our situation (see Ephes. 
4:24-32; Colossians 3:10-17). We also must not give our desires any 
opportunity to lead us into sin. Avoid those situations that open the door 
to gratifying sinful desires.  [Life Application SB] 

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. This amounts to appropriation--the 
deliberate, conscious acceptance of the lordship of the Master--so that all 
is under his control--motives, desires, and deeds.... believers have 
already put on Christ, according to Galatians 3:27, at conversion and 
baptism. But there is always room for decisive renewal, for fresh 
advance.... If union with Christ is to be experientially successful, it must 
be accompanied by a constant reckoning of oneself as dead to sin 
and alive to God and his holy will. [Expositors Bible Commentary] 

Put ye on: means to imbibe his principles, to imitate his 
example, to copy his spirit, to become like him.... to put on the Lord 
Jesus means to take him as a pattern and guide, to imitate his 
example, to obey his precepts, to become like him, etc.... He was 
temperate, chaste, pure, peaceable, and meek; and to "put him on" was to 
imitate him in these respects; (Barnes' Notes) 

Putting on (being clothed with Jesus Christ) signifies receiving 
and believing the Gospel; and consequently taking its maxims for the 
government of life, having the mind that was in Christ... "To be clothed with 
a person" is a Greek phrase, signifying to assume the interests of 
another-- to enter into his views, to imitate him, and be wholly on his 
side.... Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, i. e. receive his doctrine, copy 
his example, and seek the things which belong to another life;.. 
(Adam Clarke Commentary) 

Verse 14 gives us the dual responsibility of the believer: 
positively, to "put on Christ"--that is, make Christ Lord of your daily life; 
negatively, to "make no provision for the flesh"--that is, deliberately avoid 
that which tempts you to sin. [Wiersbe Expository Outlines] 

Victory demands that the believer act. He is to clothe himself 
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to stop making provision 
(forethought) for the flesh to arouse desires for that which God has 
forbidden. [Wycliffe Bible Commentary] 

The spiritual nature is described as a person putting on a new 
garment, Jesus Himself. When clothed with Him, people should seek to live 
according to His guidance rather than by following the old nature of the 
flesh. [Disciple SB] 

Seek to please Christ and not self. Live as He would live. 
[Disciple SB] 

Put on righteousness of Christ, for justification. Put on the 
Spirit and grace of Christ, for sanctification. The Lord Jesus Christ 
must be put on as Lord to rule you as Jesus to save you; [Matthew 
Henry Commentary] 

Notice with what solemnity the Apostle gives the master His 
full, official formal title here, "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. " 
Do we put Him on as Lord: bowing our whole wills to Him, and 
accepting Him, His commandments, promises, providences, with glad 
submission? Do we put on Jesus, recognizing in His manhood as our Brother 
not only the pattern of our lives, but the pledge that the pattern, 
by His help and love, is capable of reproduction in ourselves? Do 
we put Him on as "the Lord Jesus Christ, " who was anointed with 
the Divine Spirit, that from the head it might flow, even to the 
skirts of the garments, and every one of us might partake of that 
unction and be made pure and clean thereby? . . . Are we daily, as sure 
as we put on our clothes in the morning, putting on Christ the 
Lord? . . . "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," and do it day by day, 
and then you have "put on the whole armor of God." (EMS) [Spirit 
Filled Life Devotional SB] 

Christ Himself is the Christian's panoply. But this life with 
which he has been clothed must be continually renewed in the 
day-by-day experience of growth in sanctification.... The Christian who 
perseveres in this transforming experience will more and more perfectly 
imitate the life and character of Christ and reflect Him to the world. 
[SDA Commentary] 

"Christ IN US, the hope of glory" , and Christ ON US, 
as the character in which alone we shall be able to shine before 
men <2 Cor. 3:3>. (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary) 

We are to live such holy lives that His beauty will glisten in 
the darkness. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary] 

"Clothe yourselves with the LORD Jesus Christ." We're to slip 
into Jesus, and wear Him everywhere we go. We're to look like Him. 
Walk like Him. Talk like Him. Act like Him. In fact, we're to be 
Jesus to others. What a challenge. To wear Jesus so well that no one 
will notice the difference. To be in Him. And to let Him be fully in 
me. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary] 

Without Christ, we are naked (spiritually), (Matthew Henry's 
Commentary) 

Gal. 5:16 (KJV) This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye 
shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.