By Gregg S. Morrison
The fourth and final requirement related to Christian citizenship is a favorable disposition to our eternal home — heaven — not simply our earthly home. This favorable disposition takes on three characteristics. First, Paul states that our commonwealth is in heaven and from it we await a Savior. A favorable disposition to heaven involves the patient anticipation of the day when our Lord Jesus will come and “change our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (3:21). Second, this waiting is not simply a test of endurance, but of confident expectation of Jesus’ return and of our eventual resurrection from the dead (3:11).
Finally, as we wait and hope, we are to “stand firm” in the Lord (4:1). Standing firm in the Lord means we do not rely on self or others to meet needs or provide encouragement. Rather standing firm in the Lord is a military term that implies that we lock arms with him (like soldiers used to do) and lean on him for everything — including the hope and expectation that we shall be reunited with him one day. Perhaps it is this notion of “standing firm” that permitted Paul to speak so confidentially that “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (4:19).
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Conclusion
The basic principles of Christian citizenship parallel those requirements for citizenship in the United States. There is to be an attachment, but to Jesus as Savior and Lord, not to the U.S. Constitution. One should possess a knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ himself, not simply the facts and figures about him like a student of U.S. history might know about government. Third, all Christians (not just the super-Christians) should strive for good cruciform character, not simply good moral character as is required for U.S. citizenship. And finally, a Christian citizen must be favorably disposed to an eternal home, from which we wait and hope for a Savior and upon whom we stand firm.
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Gregg S. Morrison is adjunct professor of Greek and New Testament at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama.
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NOTES:
1. http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/index.htm, accessed on 01 July 2005.
2. The language of 3:20 is: “a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” All quotes are from the RSV, unless otherwise noted.
3. Herbert W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (rev. by Gordon M. Messing; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920), 678.
4. The phrase “Savior and Lord” is more common in the Petrine literature (2 Peter 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18). In Luke 2:11, the shepherds are told that “today a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord.” Jude (v. 25) calls God Savior and Jesus “the Lord.”
5. On this point, see Frank J. Matera, New Testament Christology (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1999), 254.
6. NIV.
7. James I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1973), 20-28, especially 21-22.
