Part 3 of 5 of the theme 'Christian and politics' by Gijs van den Brink
A text that has received much attention in the last 25 years is Phil. 3:20.
"For we are citizens of a kingdom in the heavens, from which we also expect the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior" (NBG) or as the NBV says "But we have our citizenship in heaven, and from there we expect our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul talks in Phil. 3:18-20 about errorists who live like god in France and are totally and exclusively earthly-oriented (vs. 19). In contrast, believers behave completely differently. After all, they do not belong to the earthly, he says, but have a "citizenship" in heaven. The word politeuma "Citizenship, (politically independent) community, colony" was a familiar concept to the Philippians. The city of Philippi was a Roman colony (Acts 16:12) and even a very privileged one. The city could boast in the ius italicum, the "Italian law," the highest privilege a Roman colony outside Italy could be granted. This status meant, among other things, that the citizens of Philippi possessed Roman citizenship, and they were proud of that.
As the inhabitants of Philippi possess the citizenship of Rome, so we as believers have the citizenship of heaven, where Christ is (cf. Gal. 4:26; Eph. 1:11; 2:6,19: fellow citizens, see also Col. 3:1-4). So we live on this earth and there we also have a nationality of the country where we were born. But in addition, therefore, we belong to a heavenly kingdom and that citizenship transcends that of the country on earth.
This does not mean that we should withdraw from the world. No, we form a colony of heavenly citizens on earth and represent the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
This is also beautifully expressed by Paul in 2 Cor. 5:20 "We are ambassadors of Christ; God makes his appeal through us. On behalf of Christ we ask: be reconciled to God.' Paul uses the word presbeuō, "to be an envoy, ambassador. The word is used for acting as a representative or ambassador of a higher authority, often the government.
In the NT, it is believers who "act as representatives or ambassadors" for the sake of Christ, and so Paul elsewhere says he is "an ambassador" for the sake of the Gospel (Eph. 6:19-20). Here again we find the same thought. We may live in the Netherlands or other country, but our real identity is a different one. We belong to and are in the service of God's Kingdom, which is more important than any country on earth.
Author: Gijs van den Brink
From: Study Bible Magazine
This is part 3 of 5 concise blog on the topic of "Christian and politics" from Study Bible Magazine, Some of which we will be posting online in the near future. We hope this will help you understand the Bible better!
