Pick your poison. As we prepare for the 250th birthday of the United States, what is the proper position when it comes to citizenship and the Christian? 1) Citizens of heaven should have next to no contact with the citizens of this world. The danger of being corrupted is too great. 2) Citizens of heaven should obey without reservation everything the kingdoms of this world tell them. Civil disobedience would compromise our witness. 3) Citizens of heaven should leverage their citizenship (and maybe even their patriotism – which is not the same as nationalism) to advance the gospel. I’ll opt for number three.
OLD TESTAMENT
Citizenship in the ancient world of the Old Testament was quite involved. By 3500 B.C., city-states developed that served as cultural centers for people. Out of these came an established hierarchy inherited by birth with little possibility of changing one’s status. There was the king and his royal family, the wealthy class, the working class, and the slaves. By the time of the Greek empire, citizenship was no longer in the polis but was concentrated in political and military agreements. For the Jews who wanted to be part of these cities and agreements, they often had to surrender their biblical values (Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, 144). By the time of the Romans, in addition to the emperor, five classes of citizenry existed: The Senate, the Equestrian Order (i.e., lesser kings and military leaders), the Municipalities, the Military, and the Freedmen (i.e., former slaves).
NEW TESTAMENT
By the time of the New Testament, citizenship revolved around being a member of the city (polis). Both privileges and responsibilities were part of being a Roman citizen. One became a citizen by birth (Acts 21:39) or by purchase (Acts 22:28). When Jesus was born (Luke 2:1-20), Roman citizenship was roughly 4,233,000. By the time of Paul’s ministry, it had grown to 6,000,000. The privileges were many: the right to vote, hold office, serve in the military, purchase, possess, sell, and bequeath property, enter a legal contract, have a fair trial, appeal to Caesar, and avoid a scourging.
TWO KINGDOMS
A Christian is a member of two kingdoms – one from above and one from below. Since the believer is a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20), should not that believer be the best citizen on earth? The question remains, “How should a Christian leverage their earthly citizenship?” This question leads to another one. “How did the earliest church do this?”
The nine writers of the New Testament leveraged their earthly citizenship for the gospel in different ways. The Lord’s brothers said little about it other than cautioning us not to be too cozy with the world (James 4:4) and to admit the reality of scoffers on this stained planet (Jude 18). Matthew’s, Mark’s, Peter’s, and the Hebrew writer’s postures were to endure the oppressions of Rome (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14; Hebrews 12:1-8; 1 Peter 4:12-19), while John attempted to warn Rome to remember who rules kings on earth (John 19:36; 19:11; Revelation 1:5; 13:10; chapters 18-20). Luke and Paul seemed to be the most open to leveraging citizenship for the gospel. We will come to their perspective, but as in all things, Let’s Start with Jesus (a book title by Dennis Kinlaw).
JESUS
Jesus was a citizen of Israel but lived under Roman oppression. He leveraged his rights with both camps in several ways. 1) He complied when nothing huge was at stake (Luke 2:1-20). Mary was great with child when the holy family made their way to Bethlehem for the taxation, but they were able to do it. 2) He accommodated overreach (Matthew 5:41). Roman soldiers spared no kindness in demanding that the public carry their pack, but people can, in the name of the gospel, go the second mile. 3) He acknowledged the existence of two kingdoms (Matthew 22:15-22). These kingdoms are not equal, but they both exist. 4) He objected when Rome (or Israel) was wrong (Matthew 10:34; 12:1-14; 15:7-9). 5) He delivered the word when his authority was challenged (Luke 20:1-7). 6) He confronted the powers when they got out of their lane (John 7-8). 7) He argued effectively when pressed (John 18:33-40). [By the way, we have all but lost the ability to argue with civility.] 8) He yielded to suffering when the powers got out of control (Matthew 27:32-44).
PAUL
Perhaps even beyond Jesus in his primarily Jewish context, it was the Roman citizen Paul who, along with his personal physician and traveling companion Luke, leveraged his citizenship best for the gospel. Let’s start with Luke. This only Gentile to write a life of Christ told “Most Excellent Theophilus” (Luke 1:3) the story of Jesus. And he wrote volume one with an eye toward volume two so that the converted Theophilus (Acts 1:1) might know the story of the earliest church. Luke details how the earliest believers were persecuted by the Jews because the Jews did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. They were persecuted by the Gentiles because the Gentiles didn’t like the moral excellence of the Christians, plus attendance at the pagan temples was in decline. They were persecuted by the Romans because the Romans perceived that the Christians were not patriotic. They wouldn’t worship Caesar. So, no doubt one thing Luke was trying to do implicitly was to show that Christianity could thrive in the Empire and actually be a help to the Empire. This may be part of his apologetic purpose.
But the golden child of leveraging his citizenship for the gospel was the Apostle Paul. He did this in many ways: 1) He knew the rules. In the same way that Jesus knew how, in his own Jewish and Roman trials, the rules were probably being broken (Matthew 26:57-69), Paul also knew when the powers had overextended themselves (Acts 16:35-40; 22:22-29; 25:11). He refused to leave a bad precedent for future missionaries so he took his sweet time getting out of Philippi – until a public apology could be made. He knew he was a Roman-born citizen, and with that right, he could appeal any case to Caesar himself. 2) He used proper decorum (Acts 22:3; 23:1; 24:10; 25:8; 26:2-3). Paul made use of the speech conventions of his day, as practiced by Cicero and Aristotle and summarized by Quintilian. He knew something about the parts of a formal defense (e.g., exordium, narratio, partito, confirmatio, refutatio, and perotatio). 3) He spoke the language of the customer (Acts 22:1-2). Speaking Greek or Latin would have won him no prizes with his enemies, so he used Aramaic. 4) He used his testimony (Acts 22:3-21; 26:4-23). Paul knew his story and used it effectively. 5) e He He He He knew when to run and when to stay (Acts 9:23-25; 14:6; 16:35-40; 17:10-15; 18:11, 18; 19:10; 28:30-31). When no good purpose can be served by staying, it may be time to move on, but if running would put others at risk, stay and fight. 6) He talked sense and showed some street smarts (Acts 22:22-29; 23:1-10, 16-23; 26:24-29). Paul could read the room and act accordingly – uniting it or dividing it.
AGILITY
If I were to choose one word that sums all of this up, it would be agility. Paul had buckets of it. He was comfortable on the farm in Lystra, or the university at Athens, or the highest court in Rome. He could, on occasion, lose it (Acts 23:1-5), but God always helped him land on his feet. May God help us do the same as we leverage our dual citizenship for the gospel.
