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Romans Commentary Chapters 9-16  /  Romans 13:11 – 14 Walk in the Light, Not in Darkness  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 6
The teacher says early Christians recognized Romans 13’s list (rioting, drunkenness, immorality, wantonness, strife, envying) as describing “the wanton banquets of the pagans”; what does that identification reveal about early Christian boundaries with surrounding culture, and where do modern Christians tend to blur those boundaries while still “put[ting] on the appearance of disciplined conduct”?
Another way to ask: The teacher says Romans 13 describes pagan party life in that culture. What does that show about how early Christians drew lines with the surrounding culture, and where do Christians today blur those lines while still looking “disciplined” on the outside?

Direct Answer The identification shows early Christians drew clear boundaries against common social entertainment when it was tied to drunkenness, sexual looseness, and quarrels—especially the pagan feast culture. The lesson implies boundary-blurring happens when people still participate in “night” behaviors but maintain a respectable “daytime” appearance.

Support from Transcript:

  • Bercot: “From the description Paul gives… the early Christians recognized that he was particularly describing the wanton banquets of the pagans.”
  • “In their feasts, some are inclined to act lewdly… obscene songs,” and “All these things are caused by drunkenness.”
  • Drunkenness is called “the parent of wantonness and the teacher of strife and quarrels.”
  • The lesson describes pagan gatherings with “excessive banqueting… seductive flutes… lustful movements,” “garlands,” “excess drinking,” and immorality treated as ordinary.
  • It also notes hypocrisy: sinners commit sin “in the night,” but “during the daytime, they put on the appearance of disciplined conduct.”
Discussion Follow-ups Where can Christians today keep the “appearance” of discipline while adopting the same entertainment-and-excess patterns? What would it mean to “cast off” those works rather than re-labeling them?

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