Where Is Your Citizenship?
In fall 2022, we are entering into a new voting season here in the United States: the midterm elections. Where I live (northwest Arkansas), we have been subjected to political advertisements, billboards, and door hangers for months already. Political pundits describe the midterms as a mandate that will demonstrate the current will of the people for the presidential election in 2024. Our culture will try to divide us into categories like Red and Blue, Liberal and Conservative, or followers of this media source versus that media source (each of which claims to be fair in their treatment of the issues.)
Americans take their citizenship seriously.
The ancient city of Philippi was a city in which citizenship mattered. The city was established in 356 BC, and later named after Philip of Macedon, who conquered the area—a politically astute move to make the conqueror happy! The city waxed and waned in importance. In 42 BC, a major battle in the Roman civil war was fought nearby. The Roman general Octavius granted land and settlement to some of his wounded soldiers and those who were set to retire. Over the next ten years, as he became the emperor Augustus, he sponsored many of his veterans to return to Philippi and settle down, endowing them lands for their retirement. Augustus also granted Philippi special tax status and other benefits, granting it the benefit of treatment like a city of the Italian Peninsula.
In Philippi, there were citizens… and then there was everybody else.
The Philippians participated in a societal game, one in which they wanted to make themselves look as important and polished and perfect as possible. The game was the cursus honorum, or “the honors race.” “Honor was a ‘public commodity’ that was based on how one was perceived by others in society,” and all aspects of life were directed towards the gaining and keeping of honor. If you had money, you might build an important monument, help in the construction of a building or social improvement, or sponsor a civic festival or celebration. You might contribute to the local temple or use your wealth to gain influence by lending money to those who needed it.
But the cursus honorum wasn’t reserved for the elite or wealthy; everyone at all socio-economic levels played the game, too. They would join religious cults or voluntary organizations to gain prominence. They would try to serve the city in some civic capacity, gaining honor and status through their service. Even enslaved individuals would participate in the game. Think of it like 1st-century social media: everyone put on an act to gain fame and honor.
As the church kicked off, they ministered to people from all walks of life: a prominent business woman, an enslaved and possessed girl, a jailer and his family… And because of their actions on behalf of the enslaved girl, they were arrested, beaten, and jailed without a trial. The next day, Paul displayed his “passport”: I am a Roman citizen; what gives you the right to treat us this way? In a place that values citizenship above all else, and the gaining of honor, Paul shames the governmental leaders not for his benefit and not to gain honor for himself, but to protect this fledgling church.
And the church didn’t just survive; it thrived. We don’t know any metrics (number of congregations, weekly attendance, average giving), and we don’t really know many names (just three: Euodia, Syntyche, and Clement), but this is Paul’s only letter written to elders and deacons of a congregation, so they are large enough to require structure.
If you boil the letter down to its essence, I believe 1:27 sums it up well: "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ….” Live in such a way that you are living for the Gospel in every way—socially, physically, economically, spiritually. Every part of your life should proclaim what you believe.
But Paul uses an interesting word here: politeuô. It’s actually a political word of the time, and it means “to live or act as a citizen.” So if we change the wording to reflect that translation… “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves as citizens of the gospel of Christ.” Paul states that God’s kingdom surpasses all other identities and loyalties, priorities and claims on your heart; it should be the focus of your love and attention. The Gospel which you have believed surpasses, exceeds, outweighs them all! The Gospel changes everything, and all that we hold dear must be shaped by the beliefs we hold and the life/hope we’ve found through Jesus.
Live as citizens of the Gospel. In a place that valued Roman citizenship above all else, Paul calls them to a different citizenship, a better citizenship—the Gospel, which has brought them into the Kingdom of God. Paul states it even more plainly in 3:20: "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ….”
Our hope and our expectations are in Christ and from Christ. Above all else, the Gospel shapes our lives—our identity, our character, our actions, our interactions, our priorities. As believers, it unites us through what we have in common: the lordship of Jesus. Conduct yourselves as citizens of the Gospel.
As American citizens, we get to participate in our governmental system. So, here’s my one political statement of this article: If you vote, good for you; make good choices. If you don’t, for whatever reason, good for you, too. After you drop your ballot, remember: God is God, and there is no other. Render unto Caesar what is his… and render to God what is God’s. Remember, you are citizens first and foremost of the Gospel. Live like it, and let that citizenship unite us during this season of potential division.
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[1] See Joseph Hellerman, Reconstructing Honor in Roman Philippi: Carmen Christi as Cursus Pudorum (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 100-106.
