<p>13:12<em> The night is far spent, and the day is at hand- </em>See on :11. Whilst Paul clearly expected the Lord's return in his time, the statement and spirit of it is not wrong. For we are to live <em>as if</em> the day of His coming is imminent. And of course we can die at any moment- and that for us will effectively be His return. The entire Gospel message begins with the usage of the same Greek word: The Kingdom <em>is at hand</em> (Mt. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7 etc.). We are therefore to live in expectation of the imminent breaking forth of God's Kingdom. And in a spiritual sense, the Kingdom has 'come near' s.w. &quot;is at hand&quot; in that our experience of life in Christ is our experience of the eternal life of God's Kingdom (Lk. 10:9 &quot;The Kingdom of God is come near / is at hand to you&quot;). And yet in the literal sense, we see the day approaching s.w. &quot;at hand&quot;, &quot;near&quot;; and we are to draw near to God in response (Heb. 7:19; 10:25). James 4:8; 5:8 are very clear. We draw near to God and He draws near to us, in that the Lord's coming draws near.</p><p><em>Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light- </em>It&rsquo;s been pointed out and exemplified beyond cavil that Paul uses much Essene terminology. I suggest he does this in order to deconstruct it. When he urges the Roman Jews to &ldquo;cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light&rdquo;, calling his converts &ldquo;the children of the light and children of the day&rdquo; (1 Thess. 5:5), Paul is alluding to the Essene ideas. But he&rsquo;s saying that the children of light are to wage spiritual warfare against themselves, their own hearts, quit the things and habits of the flesh etc. &ndash; rather than charge off into literal battle with physical armour against the Romans. Likewise when Paul insists that God hardened Pharaoh&rsquo;s heart (Rom. 9:14&ndash;18), he is not only repeating the Biblical record (Ex. 9:12,16; 33:19), but he is alluding to the way that the Jewish <em>Book of Jubilees</em> claimed that Mastema the personal Satan and not God hardened Pharaoh&rsquo;s heart.</p>