Literally, “and this.” The expression recalls the preceding injunction to owe nothing but love, which is itself the summary of the Christian duties prescribed in chs. 12; 13. As an urgent motive for the fulfillment of these duties, Paul now appeals to what has always been one of the strongest incentives to Christian living—the belief in the nearness of the second coming of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 7:29; Heb. 10:25, 37; 1 Peter 4:7).
Time.
Gr. kairos. This term does not apply to time in general but to a definite, measured, or fixed time, or to a critical period or season (see on Mark 1:15; cf. 1 Cor. 7:29; Rev. 1:3). The believers in Rome could not but be aware of the critical time in which they lived. Hence Paul urges them to shake off all lukewarmness and indolence, to put a stop to self-indulgence, and to put “on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Literally, “for us to awake.” Important textual evidence (cf. p. 10) may be cited for the reading “for you to awake.”
Sleep.
The preparation needed for the great day of God demands of Christians a wakeful vigilance. Compare the parable of the Ten Virgins, who “all slumbered and slept” (Matt. 25:5; cf. 1 Thess. 5:6).
Salvation nearer.
By “salvation” Paul evidently means the coming of Christ in power and glory, and all that the has already described as taking place at that time: “the manifestation of the sons of God” (ch. 8:19), “the redemption of our body” (v. 23), and the deliverance of nature “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (v. 21).
We believed.
That is, we first believed. The tense of this verb in the Greek points back to the first acceptance of the Christian faith (cf. Acts 19:2; 1 Cor. 3:5; 15:2). The constant expectation of the coming of the Lord is the attitude of mind that Christ Himself enjoined in His repeated warnings (see Matt. 24). This expectation had from the first been qualified by the caution, “of that day and hour knoweth no man” (Matt. 24:36), and Paul was not unmindful of this caution (see 1 Thess. 5:1, 2; 2 Thess. 2:1, 2). Nevertheless, his anticipation of that great day was none the less vivid (see 1 Thess. 4:15, 17; 1 Cor. 15:51, 52). Other NT writers shared the same mood (see 1 Peter 4:7; 2 Peter 3; 1 John 2:18; Rev. 22:12, 20; cf. Ev 695; AA 265).
The fact that time has continued longer than was expected does not mean that the word of God has failed. There is a work to be done and there are conditions to be met before Christ can come (see Ev 694-697). In the meantime, for the individual believer, a continuing and vital sense of the shortness of time and the imminence of the return of Christ is an indispensable motivation to complete the necessary work and meet the required conditions. For it remains ever true that for those who sleep in lukewarm self-indulgence the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and “they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:3).