Romans 13:12

The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. [In this figure "night" stands for the Christian's earthly life, which is constantly being shortened and quickly becomes "far spent." "Day" stands for eternity, that unending day which is swiftly approaching. The passing of the night calls for a cessation of sleep, the dawning of the day demands ever-increasing wakefulness and activity. The Christian's former, unregenerate habits are called "works of darkness," not only because righteousness is emblematically viewed as "white," and sin as "black," but because sin is ashamed of light and consequent exposure (Job 24:13-17; John 3:19-21). Moreover, they are pictured here as a foul night-dress to be "cast off" as a repulsive thing (Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 2:11; Colossians 3:8-9; 1 Peter 2:1), and in their place the Christian is to don the works of righteousness, or all the duties of his new life (Ephesians 4:23-24; Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Colossians 3:10), as defensive armor against temptations, and offensive weapons for an aggressive campaign against the powers of evil, and as the fitting harness in which to report to Christ for present service, the proper garb in which to have him find us should he come suddenly and without warning, for we are his soldiers, and on duty. Some five years before this Paul wrote in similar strains to the Thessalonians, emphasizing the escape from darkness and mentioning the armor (1 Thessalonians 5:4-8), and about four years after this we find him again using this figurative language in addressing the Ephesians, mentioning the darkness, and emphasizing the armor-- Ephesians 6:11-18]