Romans 13:13 calls believers to live openly and decently, as people who belong to the day rather than the night. Paul lists the kinds of behavior that do not fit that life: wild partying, sexual immorality, and bitter rivalry. The apostle Paul wrote this to the Christians in Rome, a mixed congregation of believers from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds living in the capital of the empire.
Let us walk properly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, and not in strife and jealousy.
Romans 13:13 (WEB)
What Romans 13:13 Means
The verse begins with the picture of walking. In Paul’s writing, the way a person walks stands for the overall direction and habits of their life. Paul asks readers to walk “properly,” which means in a way that is fitting, respectable, and visible to others. He compares this to daytime, when people can see what is happening and have no reason to hide.
Then he names three pairs of behaviors that do not belong to that kind of life. The first pair is reveling and drunkenness, which describes excessive partying and the loss of self-control that comes with it. The second pair is sexual promiscuity and lustful acts, which points to sexual sins and the appetites behind them. The third pair is strife and jealousy, which describes the quarrelling and envy that poison relationships inside a community.
The verse does not promise that a believer will never struggle with these things. It describes the direction a Christian is meant to take and gives a clear contrast to the old life. Paul is calling for a pattern of living, not claiming that the struggle is over.
The Context of Romans 13:13
Paul wrote Romans, and the letter is generally dated to the late 50s AD, probably from Corinth. He was writing to a church he had not yet visited, so the letter lays out the gospel and its practical consequences in full. Romans 12 and 13 move from worship and love within the body of Christ to how believers should live under civil authority and in a wider world that often rejected their faith.
In the verses just before, Paul says that love does no harm to a neighbor and sums up the law in love. Verse 11 urges readers to wake up, because salvation is nearer now than when they first believed. Verse 12 uses the image of night ending and day arriving, telling believers to throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Verse 13 therefore grows out of that picture: since the day has come, the works of the night no longer fit. This setting shows that the verse is less a list of rules and more an appeal to live in line with the time God has brought about.
Key Phrases in Romans 13:13
Ephesians 5:8
For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light…
(WEB)
Paul tells the Ephesians that they were once darkness but are now light in the Lord, and so they should walk as children of light. This pairs closely with the day and night imagery in Romans 13:13.
Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
(WEB)
This passage gives a longer list of the works of the flesh, including strife, jealousy, drunkenness, and sexual sin. It shows how the same concerns run through Paul’s teaching across different letters.
A Short Prayer From Romans 13:13
Lord, you have brought me out of the night and given me a place in your day. I confess the places in my life where I still walk in the dark, whether in excess, in unclean desires, or in envy and quarrelling with those around me. Help me to see these things clearly and to bring them to you honestly. Make my daily steps reflect the light I have received, so that my life can be open before you and before others. Amen.
