Knowing the time, that Christ the Lord has come and enlightened us, or that He is about to come and the eternal day will dawn, let us put away the works of darkness: revelry, drunkenness, and the like. The latter sense fits the course of the speech better.
Knowing the time. Clearly the Apostle presents knowledge of the time as an inducement to action in accordance with it. The Savior also reproached the Jews: "Hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of heaven and earth; but how do you not discern this time?" (cf. Lk 12:56).
He meant that, if they had understood, they would not have persisted in unbelief and opposition to Him. This understanding would have compelled them to act in an entirely different way.
He said the same to Jerusalem at His triumphal entry into it: "If you had known, even you, in this your day, the things that make for your peace," that is, for peace, good order, and salvation.
But it did not know. Not knowing, it did not act as it should, and so brought heavenly punishments upon itself. For He says, "because you did not know the time of your visitation" (cf. Lk 19:42-44).
This was the visitation of the Lord, not only on that occasion, but in His coming to earth in general.
The Apostle now says the same: knowing the time, clearly recognizing what it obliges us to do. It obliges us not to sleep, but to watch, and to put away dark and nocturnal works.
The time means the coming of Christ. Which coming, the first or the second? Understand the first, and understand the second also. Both are day.
At the first, the Sun of righteousness, Christ our God, shone forth, and the day of the knowledge of God began. At the second, the radiant resurrection and restoration of all things will shine forth, and the eveningless day of blessed and eternal life will dawn.
When you compare the first coming with the time before it, it is day. When you compare it with the second, it is only the dawn of day.
Whichever time one understands, both cry aloud to each of us: arise, enough sleeping. So a good master cries to his sons and workers: arise, it is time to work.
Meditation and remembrance of Christ's coming, both the first and the second, have always been the strongest inducement to withdraw from evil works and advance in good works.
They move us to rise from sleep and begin to watch, to cast off negligence and take up zeal for salvation and for the works that lead to it.
Turning his thought to the Second Coming, Chrysostom says here: "After prescribing everything needful, the Apostle urges the Romans toward good works by the very shortness of time. The time of judgment, he says, already stands at the doors.
"So he wrote to the Corinthians: 'the time is short' (cf. 1 Cor 7:29). Likewise to the Hebrews: 'Yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not delay' (cf. Heb 10:37).
"There he spoke to encourage those who labored and to console those weakened by frequent temptations. Here he wants to awaken those who sleep. Indeed, this apostolic word is useful for us in both cases.
"What, then, does this mean: 'it is already the hour for us to rise from sleep'? It means that the day of resurrection is near, the dread judgment is near, the day kindled like a furnace is near.
"Therefore we must already put away negligence."
Ambrosiaster, keeping his attention on the first coming, writes: "To rise from sleep means to do good as in the day, openly. For at night, in secret, forbidden deeds are usually done.
"But we, being in the state of those enlightened, that is, in the knowledge of God, and knowing what we must follow, must strive in every way to live purely and holily.
"We must shake off the sleep of ignorance and negligence."
"For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed." Keeping attention on the first coming of Christ, we refer the words "when we believed" to Old Testament times. Then men only hoped for and awaited Christ the Savior, with full faith that He would come.
Now we have already seen Him, heard Him, and handled Him. Even then there was salvation through faith in Him who was to come, but now it is nearer to us.
Now the Savior Himself is with us. He clothes us in Himself, nourishes us with Himself, and gives every divine power "for life and piety" (cf. 2 Pet 1:3).
Therefore it is in no way fitting for us to sleep. We must watch and labor vigilantly.
When it is working time and the weather is fair, no one allows himself sleep. All hurry to work, lest they miss the favorable time.
So we Christians, having such a favorable time for salvation, must strain every effort toward doing only what works salvation, while turning away from everything that harms it.
The Apostle impresses this also upon the Corinthians, saying: "As fellow workers we also entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation" (cf. 2 Cor 6:1-2).
Yet it is clear that this thought also passes over to meditation on the Second Coming. If you let the appointed time pass, the day of God's judgment will come.
What will you say then, and how will you justify yourself, if He finds you sleeping or occupied with dark works of the night?
Therefore Ambrosiaster writes: "It is clear that those who, after the bath of rebirth in the font of baptism, live well and are zealous for works of love, are not far from the glory of the promised resurrection.
"For a good Christian life is a sign of future salvation."
Chrysostom says on these words: "Do you see how the Apostle expressed the nearness of the resurrection to them? With the passage of time, he says, the present life is being exhausted, while the life of the age to come comes nearer to us.
"If you are ready and have fulfilled all that God commanded, then this day will be a day of salvation for you. Otherwise, do not hope for it.
"Yet the Apostle persuades the Roman Christians not by presenting bitter consequences, but by pointing to blessings. In this way he strives to draw them away from attachments to the present.
"Moreover, it is no wonder that at first, soon after accepting the faith, when zeal was still at its strength, they were distinguished by greater fervor, while over time their zeal weakened.
"Therefore the Apostle teaches that one must act in precisely the opposite way. As time goes on, one must not grow weak, but burn more intensely.
"The nearer the King is to us, the more ready we must be. The nearer the reward is, the more we must rouse ourselves to contests.
"Those who compete in a race do this. When they draw near the goal and the reward, then with greater zeal they strain their last strength.
"Therefore the Apostle said: 'For now our salvation is nearer than when we believed.'"
When we believed, that is, when we accepted the faith of Christ, salvation was farther from us. This means the Second Coming of Christ, when it will be revealed whether someone is saved or not.
But after that, the longer one lives, the nearer it becomes. As much time as we have lived after baptism, by so much has it drawn nearer.
Yet until the Second Coming arrives, for each of us the hour of death is the same as that coming itself. Blessed Photius in Oecumenius writes: "By salvation the Apostle means the end of life, because then it is revealed whether one is worthy of salvation and blessedness."
Such teachings are offered if the Second Coming is understood in the words cited. But it is more direct to understand the first coming in them, as the following words also show.
THEOSIS