Romans 13:13-14

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Paul tells us to behave decently, as in the daytime. It’s still nighttime, but we ought to have our day clothes on. We ought to be who we are, children of the light. We ought to be wearing Christ even in the darkness. Galatians 3:27 says that we as believers have already put on Christ. Galatians is talking about justification; here we are talking about sanctification. The same thing is evident in “putting on the new man.” See Ephesians 4:22-24 and Colossians 3:9-12. We must not behave as if it’s still nighttime, even though it is. We need to avoid party sins or substance abuse, orgies and drunkenness, which tend to occur at night; we need avoid chamber sins or sexual lusts, sexual immorality and debauchery, which often happen behind closed doors when the lights are off; we need to avoid sins that desire attention or control, dissension and jealousy, which stem from pride.

People notice the clothes you wear; do they see you wearing Christ? Do they see you wearing the ugliness of the flesh, which the world thinks is beautiful. To us it seems like a harsh expression to speak of putting on a person, but the Greeks understood this language to mean “to imitate a person’s example, to copy his spirit, to become like him.” Christ is the light, so we clothe ourselves with Him, putting on the armor of light, Christ, visible as the fruits of the Spirit of Christ.