Jesus was to be put on

JESUS WAS TO BE PUT ON
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
“But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not
provisionfor the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”
Romans 13:14.
New InternationalVersion
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,
and do not think about how to gratify the desires of
the flesh.
New Living Translation
Instead, clothe yourselfwith the presenceof the Lord
Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways
to indulge your evil desires.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Christian's Duty In The Present Age
Romans 13:11-14
C.H. Irwin The Christian is not to be insensible to the movements of the world. "Knowing the
time," says the apostle (ver. 11). Mr. Spurgeon says he reads the newspapers to see how God is

governing the world. It is well for us to know what are the current beliefs and motives of our
fellow-men.
I. THE CHRISTIAN'S CONFIDENCE.
1. "The night is far spent.
(1) The forces of evil are far spent. Some Christians are always looking on the dark side of
things. They see no traces of the breaking day. With them it is always night. They would have us
believe, with Canon Taylor, that missions are a failure. They would have us believe, with Lord
Wemyss, that prohibition of the liquor traffic is a failure. They would have us believe that
Sunday closing is a failure. But it is those who want such movements to fail that usually
originate such a cry. There is no failure in the forces of right. Failure is written on the forces of
sin. Its night is far spent.
(2) The clouds of mystery will soon be lifted. There are difficulties in reconciling religion and
science. Yet the. difficulties are only apparent. They are only temporary clouds. There are
difficulties in God's providence that we cannot understand. But by-and-by they will all be made
plain. Every mystery will be solved. Now we know in part; but then shall we know even as also
we are known."
(3) The dark hours of pain and sorrow will soon be over. How dark is the hour of sickness! how
dark the hour of bereavement! What shadows disappointment causes to pass over our lives! But
the night is far spent. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."
2. "The day is at hand. The day of our Saviour's coming is rapidly drawing nearer. Already we
may hear the sound of his chariot-wheels. Gradually his kingdom has been making progress in
the earth, his truth has been gaining the victory over error. The Reformation shook off the dust of
centuries from the Word of God. The discovery of printing had already prepared the way for the
spread of the emancipated Bible. Old kingdoms that encouraged error and fostered ecclesiastical
despotism have been falling. New nations have arisen to sway the destinies of the world - the
nations of the Bible-loving, liberty-loving, Anglo-Saxon race. Old wrongs have been redressed.
Our King is coming. The day is at hand."
II. THE CHRISTIAN'S CALL.
1. A call to activity. "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep" (ver. 11). It is plain that this
exhortation is addressed to Christians, for the writer adds, "for now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed." Many Christians are asleep. They are inactive and idle, and are doing
nothing to prepare the way of the Lord. It may be addressed also to the unconverted. This very
passage, the closing part of this thirteenth chapter, was the means of converting St. Augustine.
2. A call to amendment. "Let us cast off the works of darkness" (ver. 12). Some works are
literally works of darkness, as for example those specified in the thirteenth verse. Drunkenness
and impurity are most practised in the night. "They that be drunken are drunken in the night."
But "works of darkness" may be regarded as including all sinful works. Sin loves concealment.
The Christian is to cast off everything that will not bear the light, to have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness. "The day is at hand." How shall we abide the day of our Lord's
coming if we do not, by Divine help, separate ourselves from sin?
3. A call to conflict. "Let us put on the armour of light" (ver. 12). We are to wage war with our
own temptations, and with the evil that is in the world. Let our armour be the armour of light. Let
us not fight the world with its own weapons - with hatred, or bitterness, or deceit. Let our

weapons be good weapons - the weapons of truth, justice, love. They will conquer. Let us never
do evil that good may come.
4. A call to Christ-likeness. "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 14). That is to say, "Be
clothed with his spirit." This is the secret of strength. Like Sir Galahad, whose strength was as
the strength of ten because his heart was pure, the man who is Christ-like in spirit will overcome
all temptations, and will grapple victoriously with all difficulties. This is emphatically a call
which the Christian needs to hear in the present age, when there is so much in the Church as well
as in the world that is contrary to the spirit of Christ. Let us, then, hear the trumpet-call of duty,
and, as we go forth, let us brace up our spirits with the inspiring thought that "the night is far
spent, and the day is at hand." - C.H.I.
Biblical Illustrator
Let us walk honestly, as in the day.
Romans 13:13, 14
Rules .for walking in the dayI. IN GENERAL. Walk honestly (Titus 2:12).
1. Soberly.
2. Righteously.
3. Godly.
II. IN PARTICULAR.
1. Not in rioting and drunkenness (Isaiah 5:13).
(1)This deprives us of the use of reason.
(2)And so, for the present, blots out the image of God.
(3)Makes men unfit for duty (Luke 21:34; Hosea 4:11).
(4)Exposeth a man to all other sin.
(5)Hath a particular curse entailed upon it (Isaiah 5:11; Proverbs 23:1. 29, 30, etc.).
2. Not in chambering and wantonness (Hebrews 13:4). To avoid this —
(1)Be careful to keep a good conscience (Genesis 39:9).
(2)Watch over your spirits (Malachi 2:16).
(3)Pray against it (Psalm 119:37).
3. Strife and envying.
(1)They are signs of a carnal mind (1 Corinthians 3:3; Galatians 5:19, 20; James 3:14, 15).

(2)Proceed only from pride and ignorance (1 Timothy 6:4).
(3)Produce confusion and evil works (James 3:16, 17).
4. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.
(1)By baptism (Galatians 3:27).
(2)By faith, we put on —
(a)His righteousness.
(i)Christ took our nature upon Him (John 1:14).
(ii)Suffered for our sins (Isaiah 53:5. 6).
(iii)By this He expiated our sins, and purchased righteousness for us (1 John 2:2).
(iv)All believers are interested in all His sufferings and righteousness (Galatians 2:16).
(v)Hence their sins are hid, as it were, from the eyes of God (Romans 8:33, 34; Philippians 3:8,
9).
(b)His graces.
(i)Humility (1 Peter 5:5; Matthew 11:29).
(ii)Self-denial (Matthew 16:24).
(iii)Temperance (1 Corinthians 7:31).
(iv)Patience (Luke 21:19; James 1:3).
(v)Thankfulness (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
(vi)Heavenly-mindedness (Philippians 3:20).
(vii)Charity (Acts 10:38; James 1:27).
(viii)Constancy and perseverance (Revelation 2:26).
III. USE.
1. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider —
(1)Your sins are many, and it is only by Him they can be pardoned (1 John 2:1).
(2)Your sins are strong, and only by Him subdued,
(3)God angry, only by Him appeased (Matthew 3:17).
(4)Your hearts corrupted, only by Him cleansed (1 Corinthians 1:2).
(5)Your souls are immortal, and it is only by Him that they can be saved (Acts 16:30, 31).
(Bp. Beveridge.)
How the Christian ought to walk
J. Lyth, D.D.I. CONSISTENTLY — as in the day.
II. TEMPERATELY — subjecting —
1. Appetite.
2. Sense.
3. Passion.

III. LIKE CHRIST.
1. Denying himself.
2. Condemning sin in the flesh.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
Christian sincerity
C. H. Spurgeon.Standing near the remarkable spring at Ewell, in Surrey, and watching the
uprising of the waters, one sees at the bottom of the pool innumerable circles with smaller circles
within them, from which extremely fine sand is continually being upheaved by the force of the
rising water. Tiny geysers upheave their little founts, and from a myriad openings bubble up with
the clear crystal. The perpetual motion of the water and the leaping of the sand are most
interesting. It is not like the spring-head in the field, where the cooling liquid pours forth
perpetually from a spout, all unseen, till it plunges into its channel; nor like the river head where
the stream weeps from a mass of mossy rock; but here are the fountains of earth's hidden deeps
all unveiled and laid bare, the very veins of nature opened to the public gaze. How would it
amaze us if we could in this fashion peer into the springs of human character and see whence
words and actions flow! What man would wish to have his designs and aims exposed to every
onlooker? But why this aversion to being known and read of all men? The Christian's motives
and springs of action should be so honest and pure that he might safely defy inspection. He who
has nothing to be ashamed of has nothing to conceal. Sincerity can afford, like our first parents in
Paradise, to be naked and not ashamed.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
Put on Christ
Matthew Wilks.I. THERE IS A WONDERFUL FITNESS IN CHRIST'S CHARACTER TO
MEET THE CONDITION OF SINNERS. Put on Christ as —
1. Your hope before God.
2. Your sanctification.
3. Your help.
4. Your exemplar.
II. THERE IS THIS FITNESS IN NOTHING ELSE THAN CHRIST.
III. THEREFORE, IF WE WOULD BE HAPPY, WE MUST MAKE USE OF CHRIST FOR
OURSELVES. Put Him on in your —
1. Thoughts.
2. Affections.
3. Conversation.
4. Profession.
(Matthew Wilks.)
How and why we are to put on Christ

Robert Hall, M.A.I. WHAT IS INTENDED BY "PUTTING ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST."
In the East garments are of greater importance than with us. The finest were there accumulated,
preserved with the greatest care, and constituted a considerable part of wealth. Hence more
frequent allusions are made to this than we are accustomed to use. In the Bible, qualities of
character are often represented by clothing. Job says, "I put on righteousness as a robe." In Isaiah
the Messiah is introduced as "clad with zeal as with a cloak." Our Lord represents the accepted
character of a believer by the wedding garment of a guest, and Peter exhorts us to be "clothed
with humility," etc. We put on Christ —
1. When we make an open profession of His name. It is not enough to believe. Latent faith can at
the best only edify its possessor. But the Church is intended to be the light of the world. Whoever
conceals his religion must accept the consequence. "Whoso is ashamed of Me," etc.
2. By cultivating an acquaintance with the doctrines, imbuing our minds with the spirit and
sentiments, of the gospel. All the doctrines of Christianity are intended to expel our native
corruption, and raise us nearer to the character and will of God. We cannot then put on Christ,
without the serious perusal of the Scriptures, and the devout contemplation of the Cross.
3. When we imitate His example. Other models are imperfect, and unsafe for universal imitation:
but that challenges our entire pursuit. One great end of His obedience unto death was that He
might leave us an example whose steps we might follow. In order to obey the will of God you
cannot adopt any method so simple and sure as to inquire, "How can I this day act in a manner
most consonant to the mind of Christ?"
II. WHY ARE WE TO PUT ON CHRIST?
1. That Christ may be glorified by us. If we love Him, we shall desire to glorify Him: but what
can tend so much to His glory, as to let men see the efficacy of His doctrine on our character?
Nothing can be so calculated to counteract infidelity and convince men that there is a Saviour.
2. That we may experience religious peace and joy, by making it clear to ourselves that we
belong to Him. You never knew a person, however depressed by poverty or sickness, who, if he
sincerely served the Lord, was not happy.
3. That we may best prepare for a dying hour, and for the solemn scenes beyond. This is to put
on the wedding garment; the want of this, in the day when the King comes in to see the guests,
will leave a man speechless!
(Robert Hall, M.A.)
Putting on Christ
Archdn. Farrar.The Hebrew language one continual picture. Every fact and emotion rendered by
an image. The truth, e.g., that Christ is life, and that apart from Christ is no life, is act forth most
often by vivid metaphors. The general significance of the present metaphor is that the old sinful
life is to be doffed like a soiled and sordid garment, and the new nature which Christ gives and
inspires, is to be put on like a new and shining robe.
I. TRY TO BE LIKE CHRIST. Love what Christ loved, hate what Christ hated. The next clause
helps to explain this part of the meaning, by giving us its opposite.
II. But perhaps you will say, "If that be all, any moralist might, in other language, tell us the
same. We read something like it in every noble teacher. We know in our best moments that we
arc mean, guilty creatures, but we do not know how to be otherwise. You bid us seek for nobler

manners and purer tastes; you might as well bid the snared bird to fly, or the worm to throw off
the rock which is crushing it to earth." Well, the gospel of Christ has broken the snare, and rolled
away the rock. To put on Christ is TO SHARE HIS MIGHT, to come into quickening electric
personal contact with Him, to derive magnetic force from His personality, to live by His Spirit,
and so to be born again and to become a new creature.
III. We look at our ruined selves, our corrupted hearts, our wasted lives, and "abhor ourselves in
dust and ashes." How can we ever stand before God, who chargeth even the angels with folly,
and in whose sight the very heavens are not clean? Ah, but there is yet another and more blessed
meaning of "putting on Christ," and it is TO BE FOUND IN HIM; not trusting in our own
righteousness which is as filthy rags, but BEING CLAD IN THE WHITE ROBE OF HIS
FORGIVING GRACE. How heart-broken have been the last utterances of even the greatest men!
(Grotius. Bacon and Shakespeare in their wills.) Conclusion: Such, then, is the meaning of this
Divine message. Break with your past self; come to Christ for strength, and by prayer to Him and
earnestly seeking Him, be quickened and transformed. And as it means this hope for the future,
and this strength in the present, so also it means forgiveness for the past. Say not, then, that the
meaning is not clear; strive rather to make it yours by blessed experience.
(Archdn. Farrar.)
Putting on Christ
J. Benson.I. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THIS? This is a figurative expression for an interest in
Christ, union with Him, and conformity to Him.
1. As our wisdom, for our illumination.
(1)To give light to our understanding in the knowledge of the Scriptures.
(2)To correct and rectify our judgment on all points of necessary belief.
(3)To inform our conscience in all matters of practice.
(4)To guide our will, and influence our affections, in the subjects of our choice, desire, pursuit,
and expectation.
2. As our righteousness, for our justification.
3. As the source of the Spirit, and of grace, for our sanctification.
4. As our example, for our direction and improvement in holiness. This is considered by
interpreters as the chief thing meant. remarks, "It is a common phrase that a person has put him
on, whom he imitates." The kings of Persia, on their coronation-day, put on a robe which the first
Cyrus wore before he was king, to remind them of imitating his exemplary temper and
behaviour. Certainly one grand end of the appearance of Christ in our nature, was to set us an
example of blamelessness, usefulness, holiness (John 12:26; Colossians 2:6; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 John
2:6). Hence, those that have put on Christ will conduct themselves as directed in the context.
They will walk "honestly," in a manner becoming their privileges.
II. WHY WE OUGHT TO DO SO.
1. That "being clothed, we may not be found naked," destitute of the robe of righteousness, and
garment of salvation.
2. For decency, it being a shame to be unclothed, especially garments being provided for us.

3. For defence against error, sin, misery, the wrath of God, an accusing conscience, and all the
consequences of neglect.
4. For ornament; that we may not be without the wedding garment, and therefore be excluded
from the marriage feast.
(J. Benson.)
Putting on Christ
T. Binney, LL.D.I. THE DUTY ENFORCED.
1. Toput on Christ is to endeavour to be like Him, to have Him on is to succeed in the attempt. It
is the investment of the soul with the virtues which adorned His character, just as a man clothes
his body with articles of dress. Many a man has so done this as to put others in mind of Christ; he
was so Christlike; just as if one of His followers after His departure had put on the garments
which Christ had worn. Does any one of us put others in mind of Jesus?
2. To put on Christ does not mean any mechanical attempts after mere external likeness, as
clothes may be put on a lay figure, or a portrait wrought on canvas. What is meant is not so much
a studied imitation of what in Him may have met the eye of observers, as the culture of a deep
internal sympathy with His Spirit which manifested itself in words and deeds. You may put royal
robes on a corpse, and in particular lights and distances it may seem alive. In the same way a
mere simulated likeness to Christ may be put on a dead spiritual nature; but this, so far from
representing Him, presents only an aggravated image of His worst enemies whom He denounced
as "whited sepulchres." Christ is not to be put on over the natural man, but the natural man
becoming spiritual, a visible Christ comes out as an emanation from within; just as His inward
essential glory came out on the Mount of Transfiguration.
3. To put on Christ is not synonymous with the being clothed with Christ's justifying
righteousness, and so hiding our sins from the sight of God; it rather refers to sanctification — a
subjective participation of life through Christ, and the consequent outgrowth of conformity to
Him. It comes after justification. "As many as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ,"
etc.
4. The precept suggests the moral perfection of Christ. No caution is given, as if there were some
things which were not to be put on. There is no fear of your being too much like Him. It would
not do to speak thus of any one else, however distinguished. In every other character there is
something to be excepted, e.g., Abraham's duplicity, David's bloodguiltiness, etc.
Nevertheless(1) There were things in Christ we cannot and must not imitate. Here we distinguish
between an example and a pattern. The latter is to be literally traced, just as the engraver
produces the facsimile of a painting; the former may be something whose form we cannot repeat,
but whose principle we may imbibe and infuse into other acts different in form but of the same
kind. Thus we cannot like Christ perform miracles, but we can cultivate the spirit of love which
moved Him to do what He did. We shall not be tempted as He was; but the same parts of our
nature will be assailed; and we can learn to resist as He resisted, with the sword of the Spirit. It
might not be right for us to go into the company of sinners as He did, nor employ His terrible
invectives; but we can cherish the spirit which led Him to seek the lost, and sympathise with His
repugnance to evil. We have not Christ's personal religion which had no repentance.(2) There
were many acts of personal holiness and relative virtue which our Lord could not exercise. He
was not a merchant, magistrate, or head of a household. But He embodied the principle of

universal obedience, and fulfilled every obligation arising from all the relations which He could
or did sustain towards God and man. This is what we are to do, and to learn from Him to do.
II. TO WHOM THE DUTY APPERTAINS. The words are addressed to a Christian Church,
who have received the gospel. Those who believe in Christ, and are reconciled to God by Him,
are required to put Him on. But let no man go on sinning in the supposition that some day by
Divine grace he may become converted and then put on Christ. This should be remembered by
the children of Christian families particularly. Let their earliest lesson be to strive to be like
Christ, and after many a failure they may gradually come to a sense of forgiving mercy which
will not be lessened by their endeavours before they knew the precise nature cf their obligations
to Him.
III. HOW IT IS TO BE CARRIED OUT. To put on Christ there must be —
1. A thoroughly honest desire to be like Him. This needs deep consideration and prayer for the
grace of the Holy Spirit.
2. A frequent and devout study of the character of Jesus in order to understand both its form and
spirit.
3. A study of what Christ taught and required.
4. A deliberate and habitual effort to realise all this in personal character and life.
5. Seasons of special self-examination as to likeness or unlikeness to Christ.
6. Carefulness to guard against religious acts becoming formalities.
IV. THE BLESSEDNESS OF FULFILLING THIS DUTY.
1. It constitutes the most solid and satisfactory proof of inward religion. The spiritual processes
of contrition, faith, forgiveness, dec., are all inward and secret, and so there is a necessity for the
practical fruits of these in likeness to Christ, to be brought forth, so that the Christian and others
may have full demonstration that he is born of God.
2. It is the only way of securing that peace and comfort which specifically belong to the religious
life. The peace of the sinner flows into him entirely from without; the peace of a saint from
purified affections and Godlikeness, and in proportion as he puts on Christ will this be secured to
him in Christ's companionship.
3. It is the great secret of spiritual strength, safety, and perseverance. The text gives us the
meaning of "the armour of light."
4. It is the best preparation for the day of His coming, when they only who are like Him will be
able to see Him as He is.
(T. Binney, LL.D.)
Christ's character the soul's true garment
D. Thomas, D.D.The soul requires a garment as well as the body, and the true garment of the
soul is the character of Christ. This is —
I. A MOST INDISPENSABLE GARMENT. Sin has stripped the soul of its true attire, and three
things mark its history everywhere.
1. Moral shame. It shrinks from the eye of scrutiny.
2. Painful exposure. It is at the mercy of the elements around it.

3. Robing expedients. From the time that our first parents sewed their fig leaves, every, soul has
been busy at some garment. The old Pagan world was full of such manufactures, nor is the
modern religious world destitute of such self-made robes, but they are all "filthy rags."
II. A MOST PRECIOUS GARMENT. The most valuable thing in the world is moral goodness,
whose most perfect form is the character of Christ. This garment is —
1. Ever beautiful. "How great is His beauty." "We beheld His glory," etc. The highest beings in
the universe admire this robe.
2. Ever enduring. The costly robes of princes shall rot, even the heavens themselves shall be
folded up as a vesture, but the character of Christ shall last for ever.
III. A MOST AVAILABLE GARMENT. We are constantly putting on the characters of others.
This assimilation is a law of our social being. Our characters are formed on the principle of
imitation. The character of Him is most easily attainable by us. He has the most —
1. Lovableness. He whom we love most we shall imitate most. Christ is infinitely lovable.
2. Accessibleness. He, if lovable, with whom we can have the most free, constant, and
uninterrupted access, will impress us most easily with his characteristics. Christ is ever with us.
"Our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."
(D. Thomas, D.D.)
The garment of salvation
R. Cecil, M.A.I. WHAT IS IT TO PUT ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? It implies the taking
of —
1. His merit.
2. His spirit and temper.
3. His badge, and making a public profession of being His servants.
II. HOW ARE WE TO DO THIS? By —
1. An internal application of Him. Thus we put on Christ before God, and make Him our only —
(1)Plea.
(2)Ground of justification.
(3)Hope of glory.
2. An external profession of Him, by works before men.
(R. Cecil, M.A.)
The believer's dress
T. Robinson, D.D.cast every other in the shade.
I.COSTLY. It cost the King of Glory His life and death (Philippians 2:6-8).
II.COMFORTABLE. It fills the soul with peace and joy (Romans 15:13).
III.COMPLETE. It leaves not part of body or soul exposed (Colossians 2:10).
IV.COMELY, in the eyes of God, angels, and men (Ezekiel 16:14).
V.GLORIOUS (2 Corinthians 3:18).

VI.DURABLE (Hebrews 13:8).
VII.DIVINE (Jeremiah 23:6).
(T. Robinson, D.D.)
The best dress
J. Edmond, D.D.(Children's Sermon): — It is —
I. A NEW DRESS.
1. It is not our natural dress.
2. It is of peculiar excellence.
II. A RICH DRESS. To put on Christ is to put on —
1. Humility, as the tunic, always worn, fitting the body close.
2. Love, as the cloak, often taken off to cast round others.
3. Truth, as the girdle, making the wearer strong and ready for work.
4. Obedience, as the sandals.
III. A CHURCH DRESS, because —
1. It is the best. It is right to wear the best dress in church.
2. It is sacred.
IV. A COURT DRESS. You will wear this dress in heaven. Keep it well, then; you are to see the
King in it.
(J. Edmond, D.D.)
The drama of life
T. R. Stephenson.The apostle meant, "Personify Christ; act His part" Never it is true, shall we be
perfect as the Master was; but by patience, prayer, and effort we may come to resemble Him
closely. A young artist may be twitted as he sits before his model with, "Are you vain enough to
think that you can paint as well as Titian or Turner?" He will reply, "No, but I hope by industry
to make fair copies of their pictures."
I. DIRECTIONS.
1. Study your part well. No success without this. Alexander carried a copy of Homer with him in
all his campaigns. Eminent orators have studied Demosthenes and Cicero. Lord Wolseley has
made war his one study. How widely Dickens observed! So success in our line cannot be
achieved without habitual regard to Christ. "Beholding as in a glass," etc. A saint had a vision of
Christ on which he gazed so long that he afterwards found in his own hands and feet the marks
of the nails. A mere fable, but one with an impressive moral.
2. Attend to private preparation. Solitary discipline has ever preceded public proficiency in
musicians, soldiers, etc. Communion with God will keep us right in our fellowship with man.
3. Be an enthusiast. He who has no higher ambition than to get through his part will never be a
good actor. "How comes it," asked a bishop of Garrick, "that I, in expounding Divine truths,
produce so little effect, while you so easily rouse the deepest feelings of your audience by the

representation of your fiction?" "Because," said the actor, "I recite fiction as if it were truth,
while you deliver truth as if it were fiction."
II. ENCOURAGEMENTS.
1. You have a prompter — the Holy Ghost, "He shall bring all things to your remembrance," etc.
Napoleon III. wrote, "I always make my great uncle my model, his spirit accompanying me, and
enabling me to succeed in the same." We may make a higher boast than that.
2. Others have acted their part well.
3. Never mind though you act badly at first. When Kemble made his first appearance he was
laughed down; so was Disraeli.
4. You will be applauded if you act your part well — by God and the good.
(T. R. Stephenson.)
Persuasives and dissuasives
J. Lyth, D.D.Here is —
I. A PERSUASIVE TO HOLINESS — put on Christ.
1. His humility and self-denial.
2. His meekness and patience.
3. His purity and fervent zeal.
II. A DISSUASIVE FROM SIN.
1. Guard against its occasions.
2. Check the first desire.
3. Mortify its lusts.
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ
C. A. Bartol.There are two methods of moral improvement: first, acting from ourselves
according to an abstract principle; and, secondly, living over again the example of actual
excellence. It is the latter method to which the text points. It is certainly a very remarkable power
which God has given us, of realising in ourselves a character different from our own. We cannot
fail to see in such a constitution the Divine purpose, not only that we should enter into the feeling
of others, but moreover that we should enrich our own nature; not be confined strictly to our
native tendencies and original biases, but borrow others' wisdom, copy others' virtue, and
incorporate into our own being a thousand exotic excellences. A consideration of some of the
modes in which this representing, realising power operates may help us to understand it as a
moral faculty, and consecrate it to the highest uses. Do we not see a very familiar display of it in
the genius of the poet, by which he conceives of characters — creatures of his imagination, yet
true to nature — distinguished from one another and from himself in their modes of thought and
actuating passions, and, through all the variety of situations in which they may be placed,
severally well sustained? Nothing is more common than this representation in the Bible itself.
Sacred historian, psalmist, and prophet are continually figuring certain characters before our
minds as examples or warnings. The parables of our Lord are commonly but portraitures to our
spiritual fancy of diverse moral characters; and we can learn the lesson He intends only by a

vigorous use of this representing and reproducing power. The exercises, too, of the human voice
in recitation and oratory, only set before us in tones what the pen has first traced in simple words.
From the child that is taught to speak the sentiments of some saint or martyr in his earliest
declamations at school, to the grave debater in legislative halls; from the narrator at the fireside,
to the lively rehearser of inspired pages of human composition, or the edifying reader of the
sacred Word of God, what do we see throughout but this very endeavour of the soul to personate
and put on the meaning and feeling of some other character, and, so far as it is understood and
believed to be a noble character, to adopt, appropriate, and live over again its nobleness? Or, to
illustrate the subject from more homely, universally known facts, the strong working of this
assimilating power of the soul will not be doubted by any who have noticed how in daily life we
continually fashion each other, and are fashioned by those we are with; who have observed the
contagion of custom in a community, the transfer of manners, the mutual likeness often obtaining
both of moral traits and visible expression between husband and wife, and more or less all the
dwellers under a single roof, and, in short, the transforming force upon our own hearts from the
scenes we enter, the presence we stand in, the books we read, the images we contemplate. This
impersonation of the soul, in the use and actual bearing of every man, exceeds in subtlety and
extent all the imaginations that poetry has ever expressed. Therefore is not the Divine wisdom
toward us shown, when the Scripture fixes on this fundamental instinct as a moral power to be
dedicated, for its main employment, to our spiritual growth? Like the painter who drew in a
single likeness the transcript of what was best in each selected countenance, we shall be
continually transferring from the vast galleries of Providence and Holy Writ, from the society of
the present and the past, and from the face of those on earth or in heaven, the manifold moral
beauty which is "every creature's best," and thus put that imitative and personating faculty, by
which we pass into another's heart, to its highest designed use. The justice we admire, the charity
we love, the holy zeal and endurance we revere, the fervent adoration and self-devotion which
makes our hearts burn — all these we possess and become. The whole gospel is preached and
summed up in that single exhortation. "To put on Christ"; "to be found in Him, not having our
own righteousness"; to be "clothed" with His meekness and humility; to have "His spirit," and
"the same mind in us that was also in Him"; to open our hearts for His "abode," and have Him
"formed within us, the hope of glory" — who but recognises at once, in this so controverted and
abused language, the burden of the New Testament? And wherein is the sense of this language, if
not in the appropriation of His worth to our nature, by the force of sympathy, and of a twofold
spiritual consciousness operating to unite Him to ourselves? Thus the Divine graces of His
character are not impressed in the way of mere commandment alone; but, as the beauty of the
landscape and the fragrance of flowers possess our outward senses, so these finer influences sink
into the deeper perceptions of the spirit. No poet's imagination, no speaker's expression, no
artist's fancy, no friendship's experience, and no other character on the historic pages can work
on us the elevating transformation which we feel in gazing on our Master as He appears in the
artless evangelic accounts, till our whole thought becomes identified with the object of our
regard, and He appears to us, not in human articles of theoretic belief, but shines with a living
glory into our real knowledge and love. Neither can any simple self-culture, which has perhaps
been too much our method, any laborious efforts of will, any works or merits of ours, suffice for
our salvation, and lift us into the highest Divine frame, without this admiring absorption of mind
into the model and mould of perfection, by which we "put on Jesus Christ."
(C. A. Bartol.)
Robed in Christ's righteousness

C. H. Spurgeon.The moment the man believes in Jesus Christ he is in the righteousness of Christ
— perfectly righteous; he has put upon him the Saviour's garments. You heard Mr. Weaver say
on this platform — I thought it was a good illustration — that one day he met with a very poor
man who was in rags. This man being a Christian, he wished to befriend him; he told him if he
would go home with him, he would give him a suit of clothes. "So," said Richard, "I went
upstairs and took off my second best, and put on my Sunday best, for I did not want to give him
my best. I sent the man upstairs, and told him he would find a suit which he could put on; it was
my second best. So after he had put on the clothes, and left his rags behind, he came down and
said, 'Well, Mr. Weaver, what do you think of me?' 'Well,' I said, 'I think you look very
respectable.' 'Oh, yes, but, Mr. Weaver, it is not me; I am not respectable, it is your clothes that
are respectable.' And so," added Mr. Weaver, "so is it with the Lord Jesus Christ; He meets us
covered with the rags and filth of sin, and He tells us to go and put on not His second best, but
the best robe of His perfect righteousness; and when we come down with that on, we say, 'Lord,
what dost Thou think of me?' and He says, 'Why, thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in
thee.' We answer, 'No, it is not me, it is Thy righteousness; I am comely because Thou art
comely; I am beautiful because Thou art beautiful.'"
(C. H. Spurgeon.).
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(14) Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.—A continuation
of the metaphor introduced in Romans 13:12. So invest and identify yourselves with the spirit of
Christ as to reproduce it in your outward walk and conduct.
Make not provision for the flesh.—Take no thought for the flesh, so as to supply a stimulus to its
lusts. A life of luxury and self-indulgence is apt to excite those fleshly impulses which the
Christian should try rather to mortify. He therefore warns his readers not to give their thoughts to
such things.
Benson CommentaryHYPERLINK "/romans/13-14.htm"Romans 13:14. But put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ — A strong and beautiful expression for the most intimate union with him, and the
being clothed with all the graces which were in him; including the receiving, in faith and love,
every part of his doctrine; obeying his precepts, imitating his example, and adorning ourselves
therewith as with a splendid robe, not to be put off; because it is the garb intended for that eternal
day, which is never to be followed by night. The apostle does not say, “Put on purity and
sobriety, peacefulness and benevolence;” but he says all this, and a thousand times more, at once,
in saying, Put on Christ. And make not provision for the flesh — To raise foolish and sinful
desires in your hearts, or, when they are raised already, to devise means to gratify them.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary13:11-14 Four things are here taught, as a Christian's
directory for his day's work. When to awake; Now; and to awake out of the sleep of carnal
security, sloth, and negligence; out of the sleep of spiritual death, and out of the sleep of spiritual
deadness. Considering the time; a busy time; a perilous time. Also the salvation nigh at hand. Let
us mind our way, and mend our pace, we are nearer our journey's end. Also to make ourselves
ready. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore it is time to dress ourselves. Observe
what we must put off; clothes worn in the night. Cast off the sinful works of darkness. Observe
what we must put on; how we should dress our souls. Put on the armour of light. A Christian
must reckon himself undressed, if unarmed. The graces of the Spirit are this armour, to secure

the soul from Satan's temptations, and the assaults of this present evil world. Put on Christ; that
includes all. 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;
and in both, as Christ anointed and appointed by the Father to this ruling, saving work. And how
to walk. When we are up and ready, we are not to sit still, but to appear abroad; let us walk.
Christianity teaches us how to walk so as to please God, who ever sees us. Walk honestly as in
the day; avoiding the works of darkness. Where there are riot and drunkenness, there usually are
chambering and wantonness, and strife and envy. Solomon puts these all together, Pr 23:29-35.
See what provision to make. Our great care must be to provide for our souls: but must we take no
care about our bodies? Yes; but two things are forbidden. Perplexing ourselves with anxious,
encumbering care; and indulging ourselves in irregular desires. Natural wants are to be
answered, but evil appetites must be checked and denied. To ask meat for our necessities, is our
duty, we are taught to pray for daily bread; but to ask meat for our lusts, is provoking God, Ps
78:18.
Barnes' Notes on the BibleBut put ye on - Compare Galatians 3:17. The word rendered "put ye
on" is the same used in Romans 13:12, and is commonly employed in reference to "clothing" or
"apparel." The phrase to "put on" a person, which seems a harsh expression in our language, was
one not infrequently used by Greek writers, and means to imbibe his principles, to imitate his
example, to copy his spirit, to become like him. Thus, in Dionysius Halicarnassus the expression
occurs, "having put on or clothed themselves with Tarquin;" i. e., they imitated the example and
morals of Tarquin. So Lucian says, "having put on Pythagoras;" having received him as a teacher
and guide. So the Greek writers speak of putting on Plato, Socrates, etc. meaning to take them as
instructors, to follow them as disciples. (See Schleusner.) Thus, 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. In "all" respects the Lord Jesus was unlike what had been specified in the previous
verse. He was temperate, chaste, pure, peaceable, and meek; and to "put him on" was to imitate
him in these respects; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22; Isaiah 53:9; 1 John 3:5.
And make not provision - The word "provision" here is what is used to denote "provident care,"
or preparation for future needs. It means that we should not make it an object to gratify our lusts,
or study to do this by laying up anything beforehand with reference to this design.
For the flesh - The word "flesh" is used here evidently to denote the corrupt propensities of the
body, or those which he had specified in Romans 13:13.
To fulfil the lusts thereof - With reference to its corrupt desires. The gratification of the flesh was
the main object among the Romans. Living in luxury and licentiousness, they made it their great
object of study to multiply and prolong the means of licentious indulgence. In respect to this,
Christians were to be a separate people, and to show that they were influenced by a higher and
purer desire than this grovelling propensity to minister to sensual gratification. It is right, it is a
Christian duty, to labor to make provision for all the real needs of life. But the real wants are
few; and with a heart disposed to be pure and temperate, the necessary wants of life are easily
satisfied; and the mind may be devoted to higher and purer purposes.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary14. But—to sum up all in one word.
put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ—in such wise that Christ only may be seen in you (see 2Co 3:3;
Ga 3:27; Eph 4:24).
and make no provision—"take no forethought."

for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof—"Direct none of your attention to the cravings of your
corrupt nature, how you may provide for their gratification."
Note, (1) How gloriously adapted is Christianity for human society in all conditions! As it makes
war directly against no specific forms of government, so it directly recommends none. While its
holy and benign principles secure the ultimate abolition of all iniquitous government, the
reverence which it teaches for magistracy, under whatever form, as a divine institution, secures
the loyalty and peaceableness of its disciples, amid all the turbulence and distractions of civil
society, and makes it the highest interest of all states to welcome it within their pale, as in this as
well as every other sense—"the salt of the earth, the light of the world" (Ro 13:1-5). (2)
Christianity is the grand specific for the purification and elevation of all the social relations;
inspiring a readiness to discharge all obligations, and most of all, implanting in its disciples that
love which secures all men against injury from them, inasmuch as it is the fulfilling of the law
(Ro 13:6-10). (3) The rapid march of the kingdom of God, the advanced stage of it at which we
have arrived, and the ever-nearing approach of the perfect day—nearer to every believer the
longer he lives—should quicken all the children of light to redeem the time, and, seeing that they
look for such things, to be diligent, that they may be found of Him in peace, without spot and
blameless (2Pe 3:14). (4) In virtue of "the expulsive power of a new and more powerful
affection," the great secret of persevering holiness in all manner of conversation will be found to
be "Christ IN US, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27), and Christ ON US, as the character in which
alone we shall be able to shine before men (2Co 3:8) (Ro 13:14).
Matthew Poole's CommentaryPut ye on the Lord Jesus Christ; he exhorted, Romans 13:12, to put
on the armour of light; now, to put on Jesus Christ. This is necessary, for though grace may help
to defend, yet it is Christ and his righteousness only that can cover us (as a garment doth our
nakedness) in the sight of God. To put on Christ, is to receive him and rest upon him by faith; as
also to profess and imitate him. You have the same phrase, Galatians 3:27.
Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof: by flesh, here, some understand the
corrupt nature; others, the body. When he says,
make not provision for the flesh, he doth not mean, that they should not provide things necessary
for the body; this is allowed, Ephesians 5:29 1 Timothy 5:23; we are no where commanded to
neglect or macerate our bodies; but he means, that we should not gratify it in its sinful lusts or
lustings: see 1 Corinthians 11:27. Sustain it we may, but pamper it we may not: we must not
care, cater, or make projects for the flesh, to fulfil its inordinacics and cravings.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleBut put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,.... As a man puts on his
clothes when he rises in the morning: the righteousness of Christ is compared to a garment, it is
the best robe, it is fine linen, clean and white, and change of raiment; which being put on by the
Father's gracious act of imputation, covers the sins and deformities of his people, defends them
from divine justice, secures them from wrath to come, and renders them beautiful and acceptable
in his sight: which righteousness being revealed from faith to faith, is received by faith, and
made use of as a proper dress to appear in before God; and may be daily said to be put on by the
believer, as often as he makes use of it, and pleads it with God as his justifying righteousness,
which should be continually: moreover, to put on Christ, and which indeed seems to be the true
sense of the phrase here, is not only to exercise faith on him as the Lord our righteousness, and to
make a profession of his name, but to imitate him in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty;

to walk as he walked, and as we have him for an example, in love, meekness, patience, humility,
and holiness:
and make not provision for the flesh; the body: not but that due care is to be taken of it, both for
food and clothing; and for its health, and the continuance and preservation of it by all lawful
methods; but not so as
to fulfil the lusts thereof; to indulge and gratify them, by luxury and uncleanness: it is a saying of
Hillell (k), "he that increases flesh, increases worms"; the sense his commentators (l) give of it is,
that
"he that increases by eating and drinking, until he becomes fat and fleshy, increases for himself
worms in the grave:''
the design of the sentence is, that voluptuous men, who care for nothing else but the flesh, should
consider, that ere long they will be a repast for worms: we should not provide, or be caterers for
the flesh; and, by pampering it, stir up and satisfy its corrupt inclinations and desires.
(k) Pirke Abot, c. 2. sect. 7. (l) Bartenora in Pirke Abot, c. 2. sect. 7. Vid. Fagium in ib.
Geneva Study BibleBut {l} put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh,
to fulfil the lusts thereof.
(l) To put on Christ is to possess Christ, to have him in us, and us in him.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/romans/13-14.htm"Romans 13:14. Ἐνδύσασθε τ. κύρ.
Ἰ. Χρ.] This is the specifically Christian nature of the εὐσχημόνως περιπ. But the expression is
figurative, signifying the idea: Unite yourselves in the closest fellowship of life with Christ, so
that you may wholly present the mind and life of Christ in your conduct. In classical Greek also
ἐνδύεσθαί τινα denotes to adopt any one’s mode of sentiment and action. See Wetstein and
Kypke. But the praesens efficacia Christi (see Melanchthon) is that which distinguishes the
having put on Christ from the adoption of other exemplars. Comp. Galatians 3:27; Ephesians
4:24; Colossians 3:12; and on the subject-matter, Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:17; Photius in
Oecumenius: πῶς δὲ αὐτὸν ἐνδυτέον; εἰ πάντα ἡμῖν αὐτὸς εἴη, ἔσωθεν καὶ ἔξωθεν ἐν ἡμῖν
φαινόμενος. Observe further, that the having put on Christ in baptism was the entrance into the
sonship of God (Galatians 3:27), but that in the further development of the baptized one each
new advance of his moral life (comp. on Romans 13:11) is to be a new putting on of Christ;
therefore it, like the putting on of the new man, is always enjoined afresh. Comp. Lipsius,
Rechtfertigungsl. p. 186 f.
καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς κ.τ.λ.] and make not care of the flesh unto lusts, i.e. take not care for the flesh to
such a degree, that lusts are thereby excited. By μὴ the πρόνοιαν ποιεῖσθαι εἰς ἐπιθ. together is
forbidden, not (as Luther and many) merely the εἰς ἐπιθ., according to which the whole sentence
would resolve itself into the two members: τῆς ς. πρόνοιαν μὲν ποιεῖσθε, ἀλλὰ μὴ εἰς ἐπιθ. In
that case μὴ must have stood after ποιεῖσθε (see Romans 14:1); for a transposition of the
negation is not to be assumed in any passage of the N. T.
τῆς σαρκός] is emphatically prefixed, adding to the putting on of the Lord previously required,
which is the spiritual mode of life, that which is to be done bodily. The σάρξ is here not
equivalent to σῶμα (as is frequently assumed; see on the other hand Calovius and Reiche), but is

that which composes the material substance of man, as the source and seat of sensuous and sinful
desires, in contrast to the πνεῦμα of man with the νοῦς. Paul purposely chose the expression,
because in respect of care for the body he wishes to present the point of view that this care
nourishes and attends to the σάρξ, and one must therefore be on one’s guard against caring for
the latter in such measure that the lusts, which have their seat in the σάρξ, are excited and
strengthened. According to Fritzsche, Paul absolutely forbids the taking care for the σάρξ (he
urges that σάρξ must be libidinosa caro). But to this the expression πρόνοιαν ποιεῖσθε is not at all
suitable. The flesh, so understood, is to be crucified (Galatians 5:24), the body as determined by
it is to be put off (Colossians 2:11), its πράξεις are to be put to death (Romans 8:13), because its
φρόνημα is enmity against God and productive of death (Romans 8:6-7). The σάρξ is here rather
the living matter of the σῶμα, which, as the seat of the ἐπιθυμίαι, in order to guard against the
excitement of the latter, ought to experience a care that is to be restricted accordingly, and to be
subordinated to the moral end (comp. on σάρξ, 1 Corinthians 7:28; 1 Corinthians 15:50; 2
Corinthians 4:10-11; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 12:7; Galatians 2:20;
Galatians 4:13-14). In substance and in moral principle, the ἀφειδία σώματος (Colossians 2:23)
is different from this. Chrysostom aptly observes: ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐ τὸ πίνειν ἐκώλυσεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ
μεθύειν, οὐδὲ τὸ γαμεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀσελγεῖν, οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸ προνοεῖν τῆς σαρκὸς, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἰς
ἐπιθυμίας, οἷον τὸ τὴν χρείαν ὑπερβαίνειν. Moreover it is clear in itself, that Paul has added the
second half of Romans 13:14 in view of what is to be handled in chap. 14, and has thereby
prepared the way for a transition to the latter.
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK "/romans/13-14.htm"Romans 13:14. ἀλλὰ ἐνδύσασθε
τὸν Κ. Ἰ. Χριστὸν, ἀλλὰ emphasises the contrast between the true Christian life and that which
has just been described. The Christian puts on the Lord Jesus Christ, according to Paul’s
teaching, in baptism (cf. Galatians 3:27), as the solemn deliberate act in which he identifies
himself, by faith, with Christ in His death and resurrection (chap. Romans 6:3). But the Christian
life is not exhausted in this act, which is rather the starting-point for a putting on of Christ in the
ethical sense, a “clothing of the soul in the moral disposition and habits of Christ” (Gifford); or
as the Apostle himself puts it in Romans 6:11, a reckoning of ourselves to be dead to sin but
alive to God in Christ Jesus. Every time we perform an ethical act of this kind we put on the
Lord Jesus Christ more fully. But the principle of all such acts is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in
us (chaps. 6–8), and it is the essential antagonism of the spirit to the flesh which determines the
form of the last words: καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς πρόνοιαν μὴ ποιεῖσθε εἰς ἐπιθυμίας. It is to inquire too
curiously if we inquire whether σάρξ here is used in the physiological sense = the body, or in the
moral sense = libidinosa caro (as Fritzsche argues): the significance of the word in Paul depends
on the fact that in experience these two meanings are indubitably if not inseparably related.
Taking the flesh as it is, forethought or provision for it—an interest in it which consults for it,
and makes it an object—can only have one end, viz., its ἐπιθυμίαι. All such interest therefore is
forbidden as inconsistent with putting on the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges14. But put ye on, &c.] For similar language see
Galatians 3:27; (where Baptism is to be viewed in its ideal, as involving and sealing the
acceptance and confession of Christ.) Cp. also Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10. Here again (see
Romans 13:12, last note,) observe how the new effort of the life of grace is spoken of as if it
were its beginning.
the Lord Jesus Christ] Here the Saviour is presented as the soul’s armour and arms. Cp. Romans
13:12. By means of Him, beheld by faith, adored, accepted, and welcomed as the Guest of the

soul, sin is to be resisted and subdued. Grace is to come, above all other means, by means of
personal dealings with Him.
and make not provision, &c.] Lit. make not forethought of the flesh. The clause, of course,
means (under a sort of euphemism) “positively deny the flesh;” but it specially suggests the sad
thought of the elaborate pains with which so often sin is planned and sought.—See the close of 1
Corinthians 9 for St Paul’s own practical comment on this precept.
to fulfil the lusts thereof] Lit., simply, unto lusts; with a view to (evil) desires.
An instructive parallel is Colossians 2:23, where probably render, “not of any value with a view
to [resisting the] gratification of the flesh.” Mere ascetic rules there stand contrasted with the
living grace of the personal Saviour here.
This verse is memorable as the turning-point of St Augustine’s conversion. In his Confessions
(VIII. 12) he records how, at a time of great moral conflict, he was strangely impelled by a voice,
perhaps the cry of children at play, (“Take and read, take and read,”) to open again the Epistles
of St Paul (codicem Apostoli) which he had recently been reading. “I read in silence the first
place on which my eyes fell; Not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provision for the flesh in its lusts. I neither cared, nor needed, to read further. At the close of the
sentence, as if a ray of certainty were poured into my heart, the clouds of hesitation all fled at
once.”—The following words, But him that is weak in faith receive ye, were pointed out to him
just after by his friend Alypius, to whom Augustine shewed the present verse. Augustine was at
the time so slightly read in the Scriptures that he was not aware (he says) of this context till
Alypius, with an application to himself, drew his attention to it.
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK "/romans/13-14.htm"Romans 13:14. Τὸν) Here is summarily
contained all the light and power of the New Testament, as it is the whole of salvation
[everything that is wrong being excluded.—V. g.] 1 Corinthians 6:11.—Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, Jesus
Christ) ch. Romans 6:3-4.—σαρκὸς, of the flesh) This has respect to ch. 7 and 8.—πρόνοιαν,
care) The care of the flesh is neither forbidden in this passage as bad, nor praised as good, but it
is reduced to order and fortified against the dangers to which it is liable, as something of a
middle character [between bad and good], and yet in some respects the object of suspicion.
Πρόνοια, previous [anticipatory] care of the flesh is opposed to holy hope.—ἐπιθυμίας, lusts) of
pleasure and passion: with this comp. Romans 13:13 [and ch. Romans 6:7.]
Vincent's Word StudiesProvision (πρόνοιαν)
Etymologically akin to take thought for, in 13:17.
Flesh
In the moral sense: the depraved nature.

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Part 2
• Resource by
John Piper
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For
salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is
at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us
walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality
and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
After chapters 1–11 of his letter to the Romans, Paul begins to unfold for us the kind of life that
flows from the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to do for us
what the law could not do, namely, take away our guilt and condemnation before God. So
chapters 12 and 13 have been descriptions of the kind of life people will live if they truly
embrace Christ as the Savior, Lord, and supreme Treasure of their lives.
And the main mark of this life—this Christ-embracing, gospel-dependent life—is love. We saw
it all through chapter 12 and we have seen it in chapter 13—owe no one anything except to love.
Let every obligation, every duty, every job be an act of love. If you really love the way Christ
loves, you fulfill the whole law. The law is summed up in this: love each other, and love your
enemy.
And do this all the more, Paul says, because you know the time in which you live (v. 11).
Knowing the time well helps you love people the way you should. What is this time? That’s what
we saw two weeks ago. In brief, it’s the time between Christ’s first coming and his second
coming. We live in overlapping times. The age of forgiveness and righteousness and life and
peace and purity and health and light and joy has come with the arrival of Jesus Christ two
thousand years ago. But the old age of guilt and sin and death and strife and sickness and
darkness and misery still remains. We live in the overlap of these two ages. In Christ we are
forgiven and accepted and empowered for holiness and love, but nothing is perfect yet on this
earth. We still struggle with sin; we still get sick; we still die.

But Paul’s emphasis in this text is not on the darkness that is passing away but on the light that is
already dawning. The emphasis is that if the dawn of the age to come has arrived, then the sun of
righteousness and joy and perfect peace will surely rise on the horizon in due time.
The Time in Which We Live
l "
What then does Paul say about this time in which we live?
He says in verse 12a: Look, “the night is far gone; the day is at hand.” Don’t set your mind on
the darkness and how long it has lasted. Set your mind on the truth that the day of Christ’s
second appearing—the sunrise—is at hand because the dawn of Christ’s first appearing has
arrived. The powers of darkness are broken. It is only a matter of time till they give way entirely
to the sun of righteousness.
And he says in verse 11b: “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” Your
freedom from sinning, your perfect health, your perfect ability to enjoy Christ is getting closer
every day. Every groan in this mortal body brings you closer to glory.
And he says in verse 11a: “The hour has come for you to wake from sleep.” This is not a time for
glitzy sleepwalking. Be careful. Everything in the world that does not waken more faith in Christ
puts you to sleep. Most of the world thinks it is broad awake when it is sound asleep.
Entertainment-saturated people who do not treasure Christ above all are like skydivers who think
that the wind passing through their fingers at 120 miles an hour is the ultimate thrill of being
alive when in fact they have no parachutes and the gravity that pulls them inexorably to the
ground is the wrath of God. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not
obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).
This is not a time for sleepwalking—or sleep skydiving. This is a time to wake up and get
dressed and love your neighbor as you love yourself—in Mounds View and everywhere else.
What to Wear and How to Live When You Wake Up from
the Sleepwalk
l "
So we turn now to the last part of this paragraph where Paul tells us what to wear and how to live
when we wake up from the sleepwalk of unbelief into the light of his presence and power. Start
with me at verse 12: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of
darkness and put on the armor of light.” You see the words “so then.” This means that the way
we live and what we wear follows from the time. The day is at hand; so then take off your
pajamas—take off your deadly sleepwalking clothes—and put on . . . Put on what?
Paul chooses a word that implies that the Christian life is not just a wakeful life, but a wakeful
battle. He says, “So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
While we were sleepwalking in unbelief—oblivious to the reality of Christ—we walked in
darkness and the clothing we wore was “works of darkness.” Now God awakens us from the
stupor of unbelief, we embrace Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of our lives and put on . .
. armor—weaponry. Because the Christian life is a battle. To be awake is to be at war.

He uses the “put on” language again in verse 14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” So we need
to ask how the armor of light and the Lord Jesus Christ relate to each other. What’s the
difference, if any, between putting on the armor of light in verse 12 and putting on the Lord Jesus
Christ in verse 14?
You Already Are Children of God—Now Dress, Live, and
Fight Like It
l "
Before I ask that let me make something clear lest we try to wage this battle as if it were not
already won. The whole assumption here is that those of you who belong to Christ are children
of the day. You have already passed from darkness to light. You have already been transferred
from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of Christ. You are already new creatures in
Christ. You are already children of God. What remains is for you to dress like it, to live like it,
and to fight like it. The clothes, the fight do not make you a child of the light. They show that
you are a child of the light.
This is plain in the flow of the book of Romans—that chapters 1–11 precede chapters 12 and 13.
First we get right with God by faith in what Christ has done. Then we dress and live and fight
like people of the day. But this is even more clear in two other places where Paul talks about
putting on the clothes of a believer. Listen to Colossians 3:12: “Put on then, as God's chosen
ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” You are
already God’s chosen ones, God’s holy ones, God’s loved ones. Now he says, put on the
character that reflects your new identity.
And the one other place in all the New Testament where Paul speaks of “putting on Christ”
describes it as something already done. Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized
into Christ have put on Christ.” Baptism is an acting out of what happens by faith in conversion.
And what happened was: You put on Christ, once and for all. Which means that the command to
put on Christ is a call to become what you are—a Christ wearer.
So keep in mind as we move forward now that putting on the armor of light or putting on Christ
in verses 12 and 14 are not instructions to become a Christian all over again. Paul is calling us to
be what we are in Christ. You are children of the light, children of the day. Now dress like it, live
like it, fight like it.
What Are the Weapons of Light, and How Does Putting
Them on Relate to Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ?
l "
So then what are the weapons of light in verse 12? And how does putting them on relate to
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 14?
I think the answer is given in 1 Thessalonians 5:7-8. You recall we looked at this text last time
and said that it is the closest parallel in Paul to what he says here in Romans 13:11-14. Paul is
using the very same language and addressing the same issues. He says, “Those who sleep, sleep
at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be

sober, having put on [and here comes the “armor of light”] the breastplate of faith and love, and
for a helmet the hope of salvation.”
So Paul mentions two pieces of personal armor, namely, breastplate and helmet, and he defines
what he means by each. By the breastplate he means faith and love. And by the helmet he means
the hope of salvation. So the armor of light are faith, hope and love.
So we come back to Romans 13:12 and the meaning now becomes: “So then let us cast off the
works of darkness and put on the armor of light,” that is, let us put on faith and hope and love. In
this world of sleepwalking, everywhere you turn there is a weapon of darkness aimed at your
chest and your head—your emotions and will and reason. And the aim of these worldly weapons
is not to scare you. Just the opposite. They aim to lull you into glitzy, entertainment-saturated
sleep.
And Paul says, we must wake up to the battle we are in. We must put on the armor of light. We
must put on faith and hope and love. Only these can keep us awake. Only these can break the
power of the sleeping pills of television and advertising and sex and drink and success and the
praise of man.
But that’s too vague. Saying that the armor of light is faith and hope and love is way too vague.
Faith in what? Hope in what? Love for what? And now we bring in the parallel of verse 14.
Verse 12 says put on the armor of light. Verse 14 says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the link
between them now is faith and hope and love. So I take verse 14 to mean at least “Put on faith in
Lord Jesus Christ; put on hope in the Lord Jesus Christ; put on love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Putting on Christ each day doesn’t mean wearing him as an imposition, or nuisance, or a burden.
It means wearing him as protection—that is, trusting him, and wearing him as the supplier of all
your future needs—that is, hoping in him—and wearing him as your supreme treasure—that is,
loving him.
Put on Jesus Christ means put him on as the parachute for your skydiving behind enemy lines. It
means put him on as the high-impact protective anti-explosive suit when you disarm the bombs
of the devil. It means put him on as the asbestos fire-proof suit when you rescue sinners from the
flames of hell. It means put him on as a bullet proof vest when you confront the pistols of sin and
unbelief.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ means put him on as a badge that admits you to all the resources of
heaven that you need to do his will. It means put him on as the best intercom system that ever
was so that there can be constant communication with the one whom you love above all others
and who is himself everything you need. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ means trust him, hope in
him, cherish him for all these things.
So the night is far gone, the day is at hand; take off the pajamas of sin and put on the armor of
light. The Christian life is not just waking; it is war. The armor of light is faith and hope and
love. So put on faith in Jesus and hope in Jesus and love for Jesus. That is what it means to put
on the Lord Jesus Christ.

How Do We Put on the Lord Jesus Christ?
l "
And how do you do that? We could answer this question simply from the nature of faith and
hope and love themselves. Faith comes from hearing, so put on Christ by listening to the word of
God about Christ. Hope comes from promises, so put on Christ by remembering the promises of
Christ. Love comes by the loveliness of Christ, so put on Christ by calling to mind his beauty.
But there is a signal in this text itself that confirms that we are on the right track in answering
this way about how to put on Christ. Verse 14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” The word “provision” means literally
“forethought,” and the whole sentence would go like this: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
don’t let any thought in your head that would lead to a sinful desire—not just to the gratification
of the sinful desire, but even the desire itself.
And we all know how this works—male and female, young and old. We know that by thinking
certain thoughts we can awaken certain sinful desires. Paul gives us three categories of sinful
desires and what they produce. They are just samples. Verse 13: “Let us walk properly as in the
daytime, 1) not in orgies and drunkenness, 2) not in sexual immorality and sensuality, 3) not in
quarreling and jealousy.” 1) Inordinate desires for drink—or we might say, “substance abuse”
(alcohol, drugs, nicotine, caffeine, etc.). 2) Inordinate desires for sex—whether fornication or
adultery or incest or bestiality or pornography. 3) Desires for attention and preeminence and
control that produces quarreling and jealousy.
And the point of verse 14b (“make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires”) is “Don’t let
any thought in your head that gives rise to these sinful desires.”
If you are bored, or lonely, or tired, or discouraged, or feeling hopeless, don’t ponder the relief of
alcohol or drugs. They simply put you to sleep; they stir up the sleepwalking that Paul calls the
works of darkness. It’s like going to work in your pajamas. Don’t let those thoughts in your head.
Frustrated housewife or working mom, married to a man who never learned affection, never
learned tenderness, never learned how to simply talk about what matters to you, don’t daydream
about romantic Mister Perfect. Don’t let those thoughts into your head.
Frustrated husband or single man, who wonders why there is no woman to embrace or why the
woman you have doesn’t want to embrace, do not let illicit thoughts into your mind. Don’t put
them there with your fantasy and don’t do it with your computer. 12% of all websites are
pornographic. 25% of all search engine requests are related to pornography. Internet revenue
from pornography is $2.5 billion a year. Don’t be conformed to this darkness. The night is far
gone. The day is at hand. Put on the armor of light. Put on Christ. Don’t let thoughts into your
mind that waken sinful desires.
Or what about quarreling and jealousy? If you have been wronged—maybe 30 years ago—or
your have been overlooked, or belittled, or misunderstood, or abandoned, don’t let these thoughts
into your head. They are a provision for the flesh. They awaken resentment and anger and envy
and covetousness and jealousy. Don’t let these thoughts into your head, says the Lord.
How? Sometimes just trying to resist them reminds you of them. The answer is not mainly by
direct resistance—though that is very important. We should indeed say NO! to a rising thought
that would lead to sinful desire. But the answer is mainly in putting on the Lord Jesus Christ—

that is, calling to mind the words of God that awaken more faith in Jesus, and calling to mind the
promises of God that awaken more hope in Jesus, and calling to mind the beauty of Christ that
awakens more love to Jesus. This is the confirmation I was talking about.
Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ is not just the alternative to making provision for the flesh. It is
the way we keep from making provision for the flesh.. It’s the way we kill these sinful thoughts.
It’s the way we keep them from even arising. When you put on the armor of light—daily (or
hourly!) fresh faith in Christ, hope in Christ, love for Christ—it is hard for the works of darkness
to cling to you. They are pushed out by the light. If your eye is good (if you see Christ as your
treasure) your whole body will be full of light.
Owe No One Anything But Love
l "
Now let me close by reminding you that this whole paragraph is continuing the command of
verse 8 to owe no one anything but to love. It’s about how you love other people. It’s about the
motivation that comes from knowing that the day of peace and joy and righteousness have
dawned and we are people of the day not of the night. And it’s about how love looks in this day
of fading darkness and dawning light.
Very specifically, we learn from verse 13 (and these three categories of sin) that what God has
joined together for our good, love does not tear apart. God has joined body and mind for our
good. God has joined body and the covenant of marriage for our good. God has joined
communities of forgiveness for our good.
When you drink or do drugs so that your mind ceases to be a faithful guide for the behavior of
your body, you tear apart mind and body which God has joined together for our good. That is not
what love does.
When you cultivate sexual stimulation—whether in your mind or in your body—with a person
with whom you have no marriage covenant, you tear apart what God has joined together for our
good. That is not what love does.
When you savor thoughts of one-upmanship or of your own preeminence or control, or when you
brood over wrongs done to you, you are preparing for quarrels and jealousy and discord, and you
tear communities apart. That is not what love does.
Rather love does the opposite. It keeps the mind clear by putting on Christ and rules the body.
Love keeps the covenant of marriage clear as a picture of Christ and his church and rules the
body. It keeps the community of Christ clear as a blood-bought blessing and subdues jealousy
and quarreling by putting on Christ.
That is what verse 13 means when it says, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime.” So,
Bethlehem: walk properly. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. Walk properly. Walk in
love. Show Mounds View this afternoon that sharing the light of Christ is what we love to do.

CHRIST PUT ON NO. 2132
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAYMORNING, FEBRUARY23,
1890, BYC. H. SPURGEON,AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE,
NEWINGTON.
“But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh,
to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Romans 13:14.
CHRIST must be in us before He canbe on us. Divine grace puts Christ
within, and enables us to put on Christ without. Christ must be in the heart by
faith before He can be in the life by holiness. If you need light from a lantern,
the first business is to light the candle inside it; and then, as a consequence,
the light shines through to be seenof men. When Christ is formed in you, the
hope of glory; do not concealyourlove to Him, but put Him on in your
conduct as the glory of your hope! As you have Christ within as your Savior,
the secretofyour inner life, so put on Christ to be the beauty of your daily
life. Let the external be brightened by the internal, and this shall be to you
that “armor of light” which all the soldiers of the Lord Jesus are privileged to
wear. As Christ is your food, nourishing the inner man, so put Him on as your
garments covering the outer man. “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is a
very wonderful expression. It is most condescending on our Lord’s part to
allow such an exhortation. Paul speaks the mind of the Holy Spirit, and the
word is full of meaning. Oh, for divine grace to learn its teaching!It is full of
very solemn warning to us, for we need a covering thus divinely perfect. Oh,
for grace to practice the command to put it on! The apostle does not so much
say, “Take up the Lord Jesus Christ, and bear Him with you,” but, “Put on
the Lord Jesus Christ” and thus wear Him as the garment of your life! A man
takes up his staff for a journey or his sword for a battle; but he lays these
down again after a while. You are to put on the Lord Jesus as you put on your
garments, and thus He is to coveryou, and to become part and parcelof your

outward appearance, surrounding your very self as a visible part of your
manifest personality. “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This we do when
we believe in Him: then we put on the Lord Jesus Christas our robe of
righteousness. Itis a very beautiful picture of what faith does. Faith finds our
manhood naked to its shame; faith sees that Christ Jesus is the robe of
righteousness provided for our need; and faith, at the command of the gospel,
appropriates Him, and gets the benefit of Him for it. By faith the soul covers
her weaknesswith His strength, her sin with His atonement, her folly with His
wisdom, her failure with His triumphs, her death with His life, and her
wanderings with His constancy. Byfaith, I say, the soul hides itself within
Jesus till Jesus, only, is seen, and the man is seenin Him. We take not only His
righteousness as being imputed to us, but we take Himself to be really ours;
and so His righteousness becomes ours as a matter of fact. “By the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous.” His righteousness is setto our account,
and becomes ours because He is ours. I, though long unrighteous in myself,
believe in the testimony of God concerning His SonJesus Christ, and I am
accountedrighteous, even as it is written, “Abraham believed God, and it was
counted to him for righteousness.”The riches of Godin Christ Jesus become
mine as I take the Lord Jesus Christ to be everything to me. But, you see, the
text does not distinctly refer to this greatmatter, for the apostle is not
referring to the imputed righteousness ofChrist. The text stands in connection
with precepts concerning matters of everyday practicallife, and to these it
must refer. It is not justification, but sanctificationthat we have here.
Moreover, we cannotbe saidto put on the imputed righteousness ofChrist
after we have believed, for that is upon us as soonas we believe, and needs no
more putting on! The command before us is given to those who have the
imputed righteousness ofChrist, who are justified, who are acceptedin Christ
Jesus. “Putyou on the Lord Jesus Christ” is a word to you that are saved by
Christ, and justified by His righteousness!You are to put on Christ, and keep
putting Him on in the sanctifying of your lives unto your God. You are,
everyday, to continually more and more wearas the garment of your lives the
characterof your Lord.
Christ Put On Sermon #2132
www.spurgeongems.org Volume 36

2
2
I will handle this subjectby answering questions. First, Where are we to go
for our daily garment? “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Secondly, What is
this daily garment? “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Thirdly, How are we
to act towards evil when we are thus clad? “And make not provision for the
flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” And then I will finish with the consideration
of the question, Why should we hastento put on this matchless garment? For,
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us put on the armor of light.”
I. May the Holy Spirit help us while we, in the first place, answerthe inquiry,
WHERE ARE WE TO GO FOR OUR DAILY GARMENT? Beloved, there is
but one answerto all questions as to our necessities. We go to the Lord Jesus
Christ for everything! To us, “Christ is all.” “He is made of God unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, andsanctification, and redemption.” When you
have come to Christ for pardon and justification, you are not to go elsewhere
for the next thing. Having begun with Jesus, you are to go on with Him, even
to the end, “for you are complete in Him,” perfectly storedin Christ, fully
equipped in Him. “It pleasedthe Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.”
Every necessitythat can ever press upon you betweenthis life in the
wilderness and yonder sea of glass before the throne of God will be found in
Christ Jesus!You ask, “Whatam I to do for a vesture which will befit the
courts of the Lord? for armor that will protect me from the assaults ofthe
foe? for a robe that will enable me to act as a priest and king unto God?” The
one answerto the much-including question is, “Put you on the Lord Jesus
Christ.” You have no further need; you need not look elsewhere fora thread
or a shoe lace. So, dear friends, I gather from this that if we seek anexample,
we may not look elsewhere thanto our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not written,
“Put you on this man or that,” but, “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” The
model for a saint is His Savior. We are very apt to selectsome eminently
gracious oruseful man to be a pattern for us; a measure of goodmay result
from such a course, but a degree of evil may also come of it. There will always
be some fault about the most excellent of our fellow mortals, and as our
tendency is to caricature virtues till we make them faults, so is it our greater
folly to mistake faults for excellences, andcopy them with careful exactness,

and generallywith abundant exaggeration!By this plan, with the best
intentions, we may reachvery sadresults. Follow Jesus in the way, and you
will not err. Let your feet go down exactly in His footprints, and you cannot
slide. As His grace enables us, let us make it true that, “as He was, so are we in
this world.” You need not look beyond your Lord for an example under any
circumstances!Of Him you may inquire as of an unfailing oracle. You need
never inquire what is the generalcustom of those about you; for the broad
road of the many is no wayfor you. You may not ask, “Whatare the rulers of
the people doing?” You follow not the fashionof the great, but the example of
the greatestofall! “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ” will apply to eachone
of us. If I am a tradesman, I am not to ask myself, On what principles do
other traders conduct their business? Notso. What the world may do is no
rule for me. If I am a student I should not inquire—how do others feel
towards religion? Let others do as they will; it is for us to serve the Lord! In
every relationship in the domestic circle, in the literary world, in the sphere of
friendship, or in business connections, I am to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
If I am perplexed, I am bound to ask, “Whatwould Jesus do?” And His
example is to guide me. If I cannot conceive ofHis acting in a certain way,
neither must I allow myself to do so; but if I perceive, from His precepts, His
spirit or His actions, that He would follow such-andsucha course—to that line
I must keep. I am not to put on the philosopher, the politician, the priest or
the popularity hunter; I am to put on the Lord Jesus Christby taking His life
to be the model upon which I fashion my own life. From our text I should also
gather that we are to go to the Lord Jesus Christ for stimulus. We want not
only an example, but a motive—an impulse and constraining powerto keepus
true to that example. We need to put on zealas a cloak, andto be coveredwith
a holy influence which will urge us onward. Let us go to the Lord Jesus for
motives. Some fly to Moses, andwould drive themselves to duty by the
thunders of Sinai. Their designin service is to earn eternal life, or prevent the
loss of the favor of God. Thus they come under law, and forsake the true way
of the believer which is faith. Not from dread of punishment or hope of
reward do believers serve the living God—we put on Christ, and the love of
Christ constrains us. Here is the spring of true holiness: “Sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.”A
strongerforce than law has gripped you; you serve God, not as servants

whose sole thought is the wage, but as children, whose eye is on the Father and
His love. Your motive is gratitude to Him by whose precious blood you are
redeemed. He has put on your cause,
Sermon #2132 ChristPut On
Volume 36 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
3
3
and therefore you would take up His cause. I pray you, go not to the steep
sides of Sinai to find motives for holiness;but hastento Calvary, and there
find those sweetherbs of love which shall be the medicine of your soul. “Put
you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Coveredwith a consciousness ofHis love, and
fired with love to Him in return, you will be strong to be, to do, or to suffer as
the Lord God may appoint. Need I saynever find a reasonfor doing right in
a desire to win the approbation of your fellow men? Do not say, “I must do
this or that in order to please my company.” That is poor life which is
sustainedby the breath of other men’s nostrils! Followers ofJesus willnot
wearthe livery of custom, or stand in awe of human censure. Love of
commendation and fear of disapprobation are low and beggarlymotives; they
swaythe feeble many, but they ought not to rule the man in Christ. You must
be moved by a far higher consideration:you serve the Lord Christ, and must
not, therefore, become the lackeyofmen. His glory is to be your one aim! And
for the joy of this, you must treat all else as a light thing. Here we find our
spur—“The love of Christ constrains us.” Beloved, the text means more than
this! “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ,” that is, find in Jesus your strength.
Although you are saved, and are quickened by the Holy Spirit so as to be a
living child of the living God, yet you have no strength for heavenly duty
exceptas you receive it from above. Go to Jesus for power!I charge you,
never say, “I shall do the right because I have resolvedto do it; I am a man of
strong mind; I am determined to resistthis evil, and I know I shall not yield. I
have made up my mind and there is no fear of my turning aside.” brother, if
you rely upon yourself in that way, you will soonprove to be a brokenreed!
Failure follows at the heel of self-confidence. “Putyou on the Lord Jesus

Christ.” I charge you; do not rely upon what you have acquired in the past.
Say not in your heart, “I am a man of experience, and therefore I can resist
temptation which would crush the younger and greenerfolk. I have now spent
so many years in persistentwell-doing that I may reckonmyself out of danger.
Is it likely that I should ever be led astray?” O sir, it is more than likely! It is a
fact already! The moment that a man declares he cannotfall, he has already
fallen from sobriety and humility! Your head is turned, my brother, or you
would not talk of your inward perfection! And when the head turns, the feet
are not very safe. Inward conceitis the mother of open sin; make Christ your
strength and not yourself—nor your acquirements or experiences. “Putyou
on the Lord Jesus Christ” day by day, and make not the rags of yesterdayto
be the raiment of the future. Getfresh grace!. Saywith David, “All my fresh
springs are in You.” Getall your powerfor holiness and usefulness from
Jesus, and from Him alone. “Surelyin the Lord have I righteousness and
strength.” Rely not on resolves, pledges,methods, prayers; but lean on Jesus,
only, as the strength of your life. “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is
a wonderful word to me because it indicates that in the Lord Jesus we have
perfection. I shall in a moment or two show you some of the virtues and graces
which are resplendent in the characterofour Lord Jesus Christ. These may
be likened to different parts of our armor or garments: the helmet, the shoes,
and the breast-plate. But the text does not say, “Put on this quality or virtue of
the Lord Christ,” but, “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” He Himself—as a
whole—is to be our array! Not this excellence orthat, but Himself! He must
be to us a sacredoverall. I know not by what other means to bring out my
meaning—He is to coverus from head to foot. We do not so much copy His
humility, His gentleness, His love, His zeal, His prayerfulness, but Himself.
Endeavorto come into such communion with Jesus Himself that His character
is reproduced in you! Oh to be wrapped about with Jesus—feeling, desiring,
acting as He felt, desired, and acted!What a raiment for our spiritual nature
is our Lord Jesus Christ! What an honorable robe for men to wear!Why, in
that case ourlife would be hid in Christ, and He would be seenof us in a life
quickened by His Spirit, swayedby His motives, sweetenedwith His
sympathy, pursuing His designs, and following in His steps!When we read,
“Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ,” it means receive the whole characterof
Christ, and let your whole characterbe conformed to His will. Cover your

whole being with the whole of the Lord Jesus Christ! What a wonderful
precept! Oh, for grace to carry it out! May the Lord turn the command into
an actual fact. Throughout the rest of our lives may we be more and more like
Jesus, that the purpose of Godmay be fulfilled wherein we are “predestinated
to be conformedto the image of His Son.” Once more, observe the specialty
which is seenin this garment. It is specially adapted to eachindividual
believer. Paul does not say merely to one person, “Put you on the Lord Jesus
Christ,” but to
Christ Put On Sermon #2132
www.spurgeongems.org Volume 36
4
4
all of us, “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Can all the saints put on Christ,
whether babes, young men, or fathers? You could not all of you wear my coat,
I am quite certain; and I am equally certainthat I could not wearthe
garments of many of the young people now present; but here is a matchless
garment which will be found suitable for every believer—withoutexpansion
or contraction!Whoever puts on the Lord Jesus Christhas put on a robe
which will be his glory and beauty! In every case the example of Jesus is
admirably suited for copying. Suppose a child of God should be a king—what
better advice could I give to him, when about to rule a nation, than this: “Put
on the Lord Jesus Christ”? Be such a king as Jesus would have been! No, copy
His royal character!Suppose, on the other hand, that the personbefore us is a
poor woman from the workhouse;shall I say the same to her? Yes, and with
equal propriety; for Jesus was very poor, and is a most suitable example for
those who have no home of their own. O worker, put on Christ, and be full of
zeal! O sufferer, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and abound in patience!
Yonder friend is going to the Sunday schoolthis afternoon. Well, in order to
win those dear children to the Savior, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” who
said, “Allow the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not.” In His
sacredraiment you will make a goodteacher!Are you a preacher, and about
to address thousands of persons? How better canI advise you than that you

put on Christ, and preach the gospelin His ownloving, pleading, earnest
style? The preacher’s model should be His Lord. This is our preaching gown,
our praying surplice, our pastoralrobe—the characterand Spirit of the Lord
Jesus;and it admirably suits eachform of service! No man’s example will
preciselyfit his fellow man, but there is this strange virtue about the character
of Christ, that you may all imitate it, and yet be none of you mere imitators.
He is perfectly natural who is perfectly like Christ. There need be no
affectation, no painful restraint, no straining. In a life thus fashionedthere
will be nothing grotesque or disproportionate, unmanly or romantic. So
wonderfully is Jesus the SecondAdam of the new-born race, that each
member of that family may bear a likeness to Him, and yet exhibit a clear
individuality. A man advanced in years and wisdom may put Him on, and so
may the leastinstructed, and the freshestcomeramong us! Pleaseremember
this—we may not choose examples;but eachone is bound to copy the Lord
Jesus Christ. You, dear friend, have a specialpersonality; you are such a
person that there is not another exactly like you, and you are placed in
circumstances so peculiarthat no one else is tried exactly as you are; to you,
then, is this exhortation sent, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is absolutely
certain that for you, with your personal singularity, and peculiar
circumstances, there canbe nothing better than that you array yourself in this
more than royal robe. You, too, who live in ordinary circumstances,and are
only tried by common temptations— you are to “put on the Lord Jesus
Christ”; for He will also be suitable for you. “Oh,” cries one, “but the Lord
Jesus neverwas exactly where I am!” You say this from lack of knowing
better, or from lack of thought; He has been tempted in all points like as you
are. There are certain relationships which the Lord Jesus could not literally
occupy, but then He took their spiritual counterpart. For instance, Jesus could
not be a husband after the flesh. Does anyone demand how He could be an
example for husbands? Listen! “Husbands, love your wives, evenas Christ
also loved the church and gave Himself for it.” He is your model in
relationship which, naturally, He never sustainedbut which, in very deed He
has more than fulfilled. Wherever you may be, you find that the Lord Jesus
has occupiedthe counterpart of your position, or else the position is sinful,
and ought to be stopped. In any place, at any hour, under any circumstances,
in any matter, you may put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and never fear that your

array will be unsuitable. Here you have a summer and winter garment—good
in prosperity as well as in adversity. Here you have a garment for the private
chamber or the public forum, for sickness orfor health, for honor or for
reproach, for life or for death. “Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ” and in this
raiment of workedgold you may enter into the King’s palace, and stand
among the spirits of just men made perfect! II. Secondly, trusting to the Holy
Spirit, let us inquire WHAT IS THIS DAILY GARMENT? The Lord Jesus
Christ is to be put on. May the Spirit of God help us to do so! We see how the
sacreddress is here describedin three words. The sacredtitles of the Son of
God are spreadout at length—“Putyou on the Lord—Jesus—Christ.”Put
Him on as Lord. Call Him your Masterand Lord, and you will do well. Be His
servant in everything! Submit every faculty, every capacity, everytalent, and
every possessionto His government. Submit all that you have and are to Him,
and delight to acknowledgeHis superior right and His royal claim to you. Be
Christ’s man, His servant,
Sermon #2132 ChristPut On
Volume 36 Tell someone todayhow much you love Jesus Christ.
5
5
under bonds to His service forever—finding therein life and liberty. Let the
dominion of your Lord coverthe kingdom of your nature. Then put on Jesus.
Jesus means a Savior—in every part be coveredby Him in that blessed
capacity. You, a sinner, hide yourself in Jesus, yourSavior, who shall save you
from your sins. He is your sanctifier driving out sin and your preserver
keeping sin from returning. Jesus is your armor againstsin. You overcome
through His blood; and in Him you are defended againstevery weaponof the
enemy. He is your shield, keeping you from all evil. He covers you all over like
a complete suit of armor, so that when arrows of temptation fly like a fiery
shower, they may be quenched upon heavenly mail, and you may stand
unharmed amid a showerof deaths. Put on Jesus, and then put on Christ. You
know that Christ signifies “anointed.” Now, ourLord is anointed as Prophet,
Priest, and King, and as such we put Him on. What a splendid thing it is to

put on Christ as the anointed Prophet, and to acceptHis teaching as our
creed! I believe it. Why? Because He said it! This is argument enoughfor me.
Mine not to argue, or doubt, or criticize—the Christ has said it, and I, putting
Him on, find in His authority the end of all strife. What Christ declares, I
believe; discussionends where Christ begins. Put Him on, also, as your Priest.
Notwithstanding your sin, your unworthiness, your defilement, go to the altar
of the Lord by Him who, as Priest, has takenawayyour sin, clothed you with
His merit, and made you acceptable to God! In our greatHigh Priestwe enter
within the veil. We are in Him. By faith we realize this, and so put Him on as
our Priestand lose ourselves in His acceptedsacrifice. OurLord Jesus is also
anointed to be King. Oh, put Him on in all His imperial majesty by yielding
your every wish and thought to His sway!Set Him on the throne of your
heart. As you have submitted your thoughts and understanding to His
prophetic instructions, submit your actionand your practicallife to His kingly
government. As you put on His priesthood, and find atonementin Him, so put
on His royalty and find holiness in Him. I now wish to show the description
given in Colossians 3—fromthe 12th verse. I will take you to the wardrobe for
a minute, and ask you to look over the articles of our outfit. See here, “Put on
therefore”— you see everything is to be put on; nothing is to be left on the
pegs for the moths to eat, nor in the window to be idly staredat. You put on
the whole armor of God. In true religion everything is designedfor practical
use. We keepno garments in the drawer—we have to put on all that is
provided. “Put on therefore, as the electof God, holy and beloved, tender
mercies, kindness.” Here are two choice things—mercyand kindness—silken
robes, indeed! Have you put them on? I am to be as merciful, as tender-
hearted, as kind, as sympathetic, as loving to my fellow men as Christ Himself
was. Have I reachedthis point? Have I ever aimed at it? Who among us has
put on these royal robes? See what follows—thesechoice things come in
pairs—“humbleness of mind, meekness.”These choicegarments are not so
much esteemedas they should be. The cloth of one called, “Proud-of-Heart,”
is very fashionable, and the trimmings of Mr. Masterful are much in request.
It is a melancholy thing to see whatgreatmen some Christians are. Truly the
footman is bigger than his master! How some who would be thought saints
can bluster and bully! Is this to put on the Lord Jesus Christ? Point me to a
word of our Lord’s in which He scoldedand tyrannized, and overrode any

Jesus was to be put on

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus was to be put on

Similar to Jesus was to be put on (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus was to be put on