Paul’s Citizenship

by: Geoffrey Cox

Where is home for you? Are you happy there? Do you aspire to someplace better? For Christians the ultimate answer to the question, “Where is your home?” is “heaven.”

Philippi was founded as a retirement colony for Roman soldiers. The Philippians were justly proud of their Roman citizenship. For that matter, Paul too could appreciate the value of his own Roman citizenship. It came in handy more than once, when he was faced with arrest and interrogation.

But here he contrasts earthly and heavenly citizenship. Paul wants the Philippians (and us) to value our eternal citizenship, and realize that while we may rightly love our countries and communities, we really are aliens here. So we don’t set our minds on the things of this world. Like many refugees today, we look forward to returning someday to our native homeland. Or rather, for us, to the return of our king from our heavenly homeland to establish his kingdom in the world in which we now live. And, for us with our failing bodies, we also look forward to that day when the Lord will transform them to be like his glorious resurrection body.