Politics as Usual?

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Philippians 3:20  NASB

Citizenship –  When you read this verse, doesn’t anything seem odd to you?  It doesn’t matter if you read it in the NIV (“but our citizenship is in heaven.”)  Both English translations say pretty much the same thing.  What they say implies something that might not fit the orientation of a Hebrew thinker like Paul.  The Greek word (politeuma) doesn’t quite mean what the English translations suggest, (we mentioned it here).  We have to dig a bit to see why.

Politeuma is only used one time in the New Testament.  It’s part of the polis family of words (our idea of politics).  But rather than being about a citizen, politeuma is really about the state itself, the commonwealth or community administration that governs its members.  The word politeuo means “citizen,” as we see in Acts 22:28, but the emphasis of politeuma is not on the individual who is a citizen but rather on the governing commonwealth.

Read this verse again.  When we read it with the English translation “citizenship,” where does the emphasis lie?  Doesn’t this translation imply that each of us is a citizen?  Doesn’t the translation focus on our individual rights and calling as God’s children?  Doesn’t it suggest that we should be carrying passports issued from heaven?  But what would this verse suggest if the word politeuma were translated “commonwealth” or “community”?  Suddenly the Greek individualism disappears.  Now the verse suggests that we are all one within the commonwealth, that the most important thing is not you and me but rather the relationship we have to the governing administration of heaven.  Now Paul sounds like a Hebrew rather than a Greek.

When you read this verse the first time, did this Greek emphasis on the individual citizenship bother you?  Did it raise a tiny question in the back of your mind?  Did you hear a little voice saying, “Wait a minute!  That’s doesn’t sound very Hebraic to me.  I wonder what the Greek word really means?”  Probably you didn’t think like this.  That’s OK.  That’s why you read expositions like this one – so someone else will raise questions that often go right by us.  But now your awareness has been tweaked.  Now you will have to read with a sharper eye, sorting out the Greek philosophical perspective from the deeper layers of Hebrew thought.

If you step back a few verses, you will find that Paul is exhorting readers to walk according to the governing principles of the commonwealth of heaven.  In other words, live as God expects.  It’s fascinating to notice that there is only one commonwealth of heaven, only one heavenly administration.  Everyone who belongs comes under the same legislation.  One God.  One Torah.  One Messiah.  One community of the saints.

 Topical Index:  politeuma, citizenship, commonwealth, polis, Philippians 3:20