Romans 13:14 - Wearing Jesus!
Romans 13:14 - Wearing Jesus!
Romans 13:14 (KJV) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Romans 13:14 (NCV) But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus
Christ and forget about satisfying your sinful self.
Romans 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.
Romans 13:14 (NLT) But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of
you, and don't think of ways to indulge your evil desires.
Romans 13:14 (GWT) Instead, live like the Lord Jesus Christ did,
and forget about satisfying the desires of your sinful nature.
Romans 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 Bible 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.
GLOW Presentation:
http://institutefortransformation.com/media/GLOW_Presentation.pdf