while today

I’m a citizen of the City of Grandville. I live here. I’m a citizen of the State of Michigan. I live here. I’m a citizen of the United States of America. I live here. But Paul claims, “But our citizenship is in heaven…” (Philippians 3:20, ESV).

I obviously don’t live in heaven at the moment, although I want to be headed there. What does it mean for me to be a citizen of the New Jerusalem? Paul uses this language in a section of ethical instruction – “join in imitating me…” (Philippians 3:17, ESV). This occurs in a context where for some “their god is their belly.” Paul is writing to Philippi, a Roman colony. How would they have understood citizenship? Are there insights for us? C.B. Caird examines the background.

Paul was by birth a Roman citizen, and Philippi was a Roman colony, i.e., a city situated in one of the provinces, but with the full rights of Roman citizenship… Citizenship of Rome had first been extended to the whole of Italy, and then under the Empire, had been granted to cities in the provinces where veterans from the army were settled, and occasionally to individuals distinguished in public service. The purpose of this policy was that the colonies should be centres of Roman culture, law and influence through which eventually the provinces would become thoroughly Roman; and so successful was it that even in the course of the first century A.D. many of the most distinguished figures in Roman life were of provincial extraction. With this model in mind Paul depicts Christians as holders of the citizenship of heaven, established in the provinces of God’s empire as the means by which the whole might be brought within the influence of his reign.*

While we are on our way to that city, we are to spread the culture and influence of Jerusalem that is above. We are helping extend the borders of the kingdom. Christians are outposts of heaven.  

*G.B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible, pp. 179-180

Peter calls Christians sojourners and exiles (1 Peter 1:1, 1:17, 2:11). The words convey the idea of someone who lives in a place that is not his or her home. This person is a temporary resident. Peter wants us to view life that way. Our home is heaven. We reside here temporarily, but we are always to live true to the ways of heaven.

That means in many ways we will be like our neighbors. We are not to be odd just for the sake of being odd. But it also means that in many ways we will be different.

The Epistle to Diognetus grasps this same but different aspect of Christian living. It was written between A.D. 150 to 225 – a time in which Christians were defending their faith in the circumstances of persecution. The author is unknown. Yet it contains a very thought provoking description of what it means for Christians to be temporary residents.

For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country, language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own, nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice an eccentric life-style. This teaching of theirs has not been discovered by the thought and reflection of ingenious men, nor do they promote any human doctrine, as some do. But while they live in both Greek and barbarian cities, as each one’s lot was cast, and follow the local customs in dress and food and other aspects of life, at the same time they demonstrate the remarkable and admittedly unusual character of their own citizenship. They live in their own countries, but only as aliens; they participate in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign. They marry like everyone else, and have children, but they do not expose their offspring. They share their food but not their wives. They are “in the flesh,” but they do not live “according to the flesh.” They live on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws; indeed in their private lives they transcend the laws. They love everyone, and by everyone they are persecuted.

*The Epistle of Diognetus 5:1-11 in M.W. Holmes, translator, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, p. 541.

Peter tells his readers that they were ransomed from the futile ways passed down from their forefathers (1 Peter 1:18). Later in the letter, he says:

With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery… 1 Peter 4:4, ESV

The word “surprised” is intriguing because it has literary connections in the letter that are not obvious in English. The word translated “surprised” is based on the xeno root which means stranger or foreigner (as in xenophobia, the fear of strangers or foreigners). The standard Greek lexicon defines it this way.

to cause a strong psychological reaction through introduction of someth. new or strange, astonish, surprise*

This connects with a theme within 1 Peter. Peter addresses his readers as “exiles of the dispersion” (1:1). In 1:17, he tells them “to conduct yourself with fear (or reverence) throughout the time of your exile.” In 2:11, he writes:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 ESV

Since we are redeemed from futile ways, we will be different from the world around us. We will seem like foreigners even in our native land, because we are citizens of heaven. This surprise on the part of others should not catch us off guard. It means we are preparing ourselves for another world.

*A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, p.684.