ACC ~ Romans 13 v14

MODEST DRESS. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Let the wife always make use of a plain dress, dignified, softer than that allowed her husband but not one that offends grossly against modesty nor one made with a view only to softness. Let the clothes be in keeping with the person’s age, with the individual himself, the place, his character and occupation. The apostle well advises us: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 3.11.56.

PUT ON CHRIST. ORIGEN: We have often said that Christ is wisdom, righteousness, holiness, truth and all the other virtues. Therefore anyone who has acquired these has put on Christ. For if all these are Christ, then the person who has them must of necessity have Christ as well. Whoever has them will not bother about the flesh. The apostle speaks here with some care, because he knows that we must take some thought for the needs of the flesh. It is the excesses and lusts of the flesh, not its basic needs, which must be avoided. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

ORIGEN: The Lord Jesus Christ himself … is said to be the clothing of the saints. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.3.2.

DIODORE: This means that we should imitate Christ in what we do and show him to others in the way we behave. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.

WEARING THE WEDDING GARMENT. AMBROSIASTER: Paul wants everything the law forbids not to be desired, or if it is desired, to be overcome. … To put on Christ means to cut oneself off from every sin and wickedness, so that at the wedding banquet one will not be found without a new garment and be shamefully thrown out into the darkness. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

NOT TO GRATIFY EXCESSIVE DESIRES. CHRYSOSTOM: Here Paul no longer speaks of works, but rather he rouses his hearers to greater things. When he was speaking of vice he talked about its works, but now that he is speaking about virtue, he does not speak about works but about armor. … Even more strikingly, he talks about the Lord Jesus Christ as the garment we are to put on, for whoever is clothed with him has all virtue.

When Paul says “make no provision for the flesh,” he is not speaking of necessities but of ex-cess. That is why he adds the qualifying phrase: “to gratify its desires.” HOMILIES ON ROMANS 24.

MAKE NO PROVISION FOR THE FLESH. AUGUSTINE: Provision for the flesh is not to be condemned if it has to do with the needs of bodily health. But if it is a question of unnecessary delights or luxuries, a person who enjoys the delights of the flesh is rightly chastised. For in that case he makes provision for the desires of the flesh, and “he who sows in the flesh will reap corruption in the flesh.” AUGUSTINE ON ROMANS 77.

WALK AS HE WALKED. PELAGIUS: Christ alone should be seen in us, not the old self, for “one who says he abides in Christ should walk as he walked.” PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

EXPECTING RESURRECTION. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Paul wants to say that by the regeneration of baptism we have been conformed to Christ and become members of the one body of the church, of which he is the head, and so we must put him on in the understanding of what we are expecting, in that we hope to share in his resurrection. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH.