The
concept of heavenly citizenship II
Abreham
G.
3:17
Join
together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as
you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18
For,
as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with
tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19
Their
destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory
is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20
But
our citizenship
is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ, 21
who,
by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control,
will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his
glorious body.
(emphasis mine)
A.
Meaning
The
term citizenship (Politeuma
in
Greek) is
defined as commonwealth or state.1
Another definition is a
group of people identifying themselves as part of a political
structure or government or community.2
The third meaning is a colony.3
Based
on these definitions we can understand that Politeuma
refers to the commonwealth or state to which a community or group of
people belong. Hence, for Paul, Christians irrespective of time and
space, belong to heaven, thus their citizenship is heavenly.
The
Amharic Bible renders the term citizenship “አገራችን”
(our
homeland), a
description that focuses on the place where we belong to or
ultimately end up in rather than the life that we have at the present
time. The KJV (King James Version) tried to carry the nuance of the
idea of citizenship in its choice of the term “conversation”,
which also means “conduct” or “behavior”, an idea that sums
up everything a person is and does. Most modern and revised
translations including NKJV (New KJV) have gone with the idea of
“citizenship”. I believe they understood that Paul's emphasis is
not where believers belong as much as who they are in this world, a
people who live by the rules that govern heaven. His primary
intention was not to stress that the Philippians will ultimately end
up in heaven. He was trying to show them that they belong to a
different state or commonwealth and thus need to live in ways that
reflect this reality.
B.
Historical connection
Paul
does not frequently use the term citizenship in his literatures.4
I believe his choice of the word has close ties with the history and
status of Philippi and its inhabitants. A century before Paul wrote
this epistle, Augustus Caesar had declared Philippi a Roman city.5
The city's residents included army veterans, relocated farmers, and
of course slaves. The Cesars did not want the veterans to crowd Rome
fearing that in cases of turmoil they would rather not deal with a
discontented bunch of army retirees. That justifies their relocation
to newly incorporated colonies, such as Philippi. Thus,
"Philippi was governed as if it was an Italian soil and its
administration reflected that of Rome in almost every respect."6
The
upgrading of Philippi to a Roman city and its residents, if not all,
to Roman citizenship brought extensive property rights and tax
privileges.7
The
need for political stability (not to mention the insanity of some of
the Caesars) sparked a chain of reaction that led to the introduction
of the “imperial cult” – the worship of Rome and Caesar8.
That was the price the Philippians had to pay to maintain their
status. The city practiced the cult as proof of its loyalty to Rome.
The hostility the Christians faced stemmed from their refusal to
participate in these rituals (Phil 2:28-30)9.
In the
Book of Acts chapter 16 Luke narrates the genesis of the church of
Philippi. He describes Philippi's status as a Roman colony, and the
people as citizens of Rome. Their allegiance was to the city of Rome
and/or Caesar, who claimed to be the supreme “lord”, “protector”,
and “savior” of Rome and what it supposedly represents – the
downing of a new era of enlightenment, civility, and order.10
A mint (coin), that was discovered in Thessaloniki describing Caesar
as “god”, is further evidence to the prevalence of imperial cult
in those days.11
At any rate, the status of Roman citizenship created a sense of
pride, patriotism, and sometimes antisemitism. Yet, Paul, Timothy,
Silas and Luke came to this city and introduced a new King named
Jesus. This was treasonous, or to be precise, unlawful.12
Nonetheless, Lidia responded to their message followed by a slave
girl, and a prison guard. These early converts who might or might not
have been Roman citizens themselves changed their allegiance from
Caesar to Jesus when they responded to the proclamation (kerugma) of
Paul and his company. Although they were residents of Philippi, and
possibly citizens of Rome, they chose to live as though they were a
colony of heaven.
C.
Implication
The
church at Philippi was a heavenly colony and its members were citizens
of the heavenly “empire” (kingdom of God).13
In the early days of Christian history many understood the call to
heavenly life as a call to monasticism and abdication of civil
liberties. I do not think Paul had that in mind. Rather his intention
was to explain to the Philippians that their hope of heaven (whatever
its appearance will be) and the coming Savior should inform their
life as Roman citizens. Heaven as a future hope poses no
threat to
the Caesars of Rome or the authorities of Philippi in
so much as it does as a present reality that informs the Christian
community's choices and decisions. Paul was not in anyway implying
that the Philippians, or any other citizen, should abdicate their
privileges or duties as Roman citizens. He was rather saying that
they should revisit their priorities in life, and reevaluate their
choices to make sure they reflect who they were. They were heavenly
citizens living in Philippi and
their "Caesar (allow me to use the term), Lord and Savior"
comes from heaven. He will bring justice and healing into this broken
world. The hope of a coming Savior who would execute justice would
make the Christian community treat each other and the outside
community justly.
This
would bring any Christian community into a sharp conflict with the
"Caesars" of this world. The Philippians were heavenly
citizens. So are we. That is our identity. Whether born or
naturalized citizens of any earthly empire, we are a politeuma,
a commonwealth, a colony of
heaven. When we identify ourselves as such we pose a treat to any
Caesar, past or present.
At this point one might ask “how do people of heaven behave?”
To be continued . . .
1BDAG
(A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early
Christian Literature).
2Bockmuehl,
Markus. The
Epistle to the Philippians.
Black's New Testament Commentary. Ed. Henry Chadwick. Hendrickson
Publishers. 1998. 233.
O'Brien, Peter T. The
Epistle to the Philippians.
A Commentary on the Greek Text. The New International Greek
Testament Commentary. Ed., I. Howard Marshall and W. Ward Gasque.
Grand Rapids: MI: Eerdmans.
3Fee,
Gordon D. Paul's
Letter to the Philippians.
NICNT. Ed. Gordon D. Fee. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company. 1995. 162
4See
O'Brien 459.
6O'Brien
460
7Bockmuehl
4.
8Oakes,
Peter. Re-mapping
the Universe: Paul and the Emperor in 1 Thessalonians and
Philippians. J5NT
27.3 (2005) 7-8
9Ibid
8-10
10
See Acts 17:7-8 Considering the status of Thessaloniki as a Roman
colony and its residents' unswerving allegiance to Caesar,
the accusation they brought against the original recipients of the
gospel indicates the kind of opposition Christians faced. The
incident also echoes the charge in Acts 16:20-21.
11Oakes
8
12Phil
16:21
13Fee
162
Can't wait for part III!
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