13 With right behaviour as in the day; not in pleasure-making and drinking, not in bad company and unclean behaviour, not in fighting and envy.
Envy, uncontrolled drinking and feasting, and such things: of which I give you word clearly, even as I did in the past, that they who do such things will have no part in the kingdom of God.
That you may be respected by those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
For the purpose of God for you is this: that you may be holy, and may keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh; So that every one of you may keep his body holy and in honour; Not in the passion of evil desires, like the Gentiles, who have no knowledge of God;
But give attention to yourselves, for fear that your hearts become over-full of the pleasures of food and wine, and the cares of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly, and take you as in a net:
And do not take overmuch wine by which one may be overcome, but be full of the Spirit;
For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error; Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him. For if, after they have got free from the unclean things of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again taken in the net and overcome, their last condition is worse than their first.
Because for long enough, in times past, we have been living after the way of the Gentiles, given up to the desires of the flesh, to drinking and feasting and loose behaviour and unclean worship of images; And they are wondering that you no longer go with them in this violent wasting of life, and are saying evil things of you: But they will have to give an account of themselves to him who is ready to be the judge of the living and the dead.
For the rest, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things have honour, whatever things are upright, whatever things are holy, whatever things are beautiful, whatever things are of value, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, give thought to these things. The things which came to you by my teaching and preaching, and which you saw in me, these things do, and the God of peace will be with you.
Only, as far as we have got, let us be guided by the same rule. Brothers, take me as your example, and take note of those who are walking after the example we have given. For there are those, of whom I have given you word before, and do so now with sorrow, who are haters of the cross of Christ; Whose end is destruction, whose god is the stomach, and whose glory is in their shame, whose minds are fixed on the things of the earth. For our country is in heaven; from where the Saviour for whom we are waiting will come, even the Lord Jesus Christ:
Then put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh, unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of strange gods;
So that your lives might be pleasing to God, who has given you a part in his kingdom and his glory.
But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true. This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One. For where envy is, and the desire to get the better of others, there is no order, but every sort of evil-doing.
So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk, Be full of desire for the true milk of the word, as babies at their mothers' breasts, so that you may go on to salvation;
My loved ones, I make this request with all my heart, that, as those for whom this world is a strange country, you will keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh which make war against the soul; Being of good behaviour among the Gentiles; so that though they say now that you are evil-doers, they may see your good works and give glory to God when he comes to be their judge.
For the evil which overtakes them is the reward of their evil-doing: such men take their pleasure in the delights of the flesh even in the daytime; they are like the marks of a disease, like poisoned wounds among you, feasting together with you in joy; Having eyes full of evil desire, never having enough of sin; turning feeble souls out of the true way; they are children of cursing, whose hearts are well used to bitter envy;
It gave me great joy to see some of your children walking in the true way, even as we were ordered to do by the Father.
But if you are given to fighting with one another, take care that you are not the cause of destruction one to another. But I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh.
And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief: But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.
And further, these are uncertain through wine, and have gone out of the right way through strong drink: the priest and the prophet are uncertain through strong drink, they are overcome by wine, they have gone out of the way through strong drink; their vision is false, they go wrong in their decisions. For all the tables are covered with coughed-up food, so that there is not a clean place.
Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house; Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David; Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.
But if that evil servant says in his heart, My lord is a long time in coming; And is cruel to the other servants, taking his pleasure with those who are overcome with wine; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he is not looking for him, and in an hour of which he has no knowledge, And will have him cut in two, and will give him a part in the fate of the false ones: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow.
Now there was a certain man of great wealth, who was dressed in fair clothing of purple and delicate linen, and was shining and glad every day.
They were feasting and taking wives and getting married, till the day of the overflowing of the waters, when Noah went into the ark, and they all came to destruction. In the same way, in the days of Lot; they were feasting and trading, they were planting and building;
Have you not knowledge that evil-doers will have no part in the kingdom of God? Have no false ideas about this: no one who goes after the desires of the flesh, or gives worship to images, or is untrue when married, or is less than a man, or makes a wrong use of men, Or is a thief, or the worse for drink, or makes use of strong language, or takes by force what is not his, will have any part in the kingdom of God.
Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:
If we are living by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us be guided. Let us not be full of self-glory, making one another angry, having envy of one another.
I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you,
And be living in love, even as Christ had love for you, and gave himself up for us, an offering to God for a perfume of a sweet smell. But evil acts of the flesh and all unclean things, or desire for others' property, let it not even be named among you, as is right for saints; And let there be no low behaviour, or foolish talk, or words said in sport, which are not right, but in place of them the giving of praise. Being certain of this, that no man who gives way to the passions of the flesh, no unclean person, or one who has desire for the property of others, or who gives worship to images, has any heritage in the kingdom of Christ and God.
For you at one time were dark, but now are light in the Lord: let your behaviour be that of children of light
Only let your behaviour do credit to the good news of Christ, so that if I come and see you or if I am away from you, I may have news of you that you are strong in one spirit, working together with one soul for the faith of the good news;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 13
Commentary on Romans 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
There are three good lessons taught us in this chapter, where the apostle enlarges more upon his precepts than he had done in the foregoing chapter, finding them more needful to be fully pressed.
Rom 13:1-6
We are here taught how to conduct ourselves towards magistrates, and those that are in authority over us, called here the higher powers, intimating their authority (they are powers), and their dignity (they are higher powers), including not only the king as supreme, but all inferior magistrates under him: and yet it is expressed, not by the persons that are in that power, but the place of power itself, in which they are. However the persons themselves may be wicked, and of those vile persons whom the citizen of Zion contemneth (Ps. 15:4), yet the just power which they have must be submitted to and obeyed. The apostle had taught us, in the foregoing chapter, not to avenge ourselves, nor to recompense evil for evil; but, lest it should seem as if this did cancel the ordinance of a civil magistracy among Christians, he takes occasion to assert the necessity of it, and of the due infliction of punishment upon evil doers, however it may look like recompensing evil for evil. Observe,
Rom 13:7-10
We are here taught a lesson of justice and charity.
Rom 13:11-14
We are here taught a lesson of sobriety and godliness in ourselves. Our main care must be to look to ourselves. Four things we are here taught, as a Christian's directory for his day's work: when to awake, how to dress ourselves, how to walk, and what provision to make.