Philippians 3:20

ἡμῶν γὰρ. The link of thought with Philippians 3:18 is easily traced; “Such thoughts and lives are wholly alien to ours; for &c.”

“While the earliest MSS. all read γάρ, the earliest citations (with several versions [e.g. Vulg., autem]) have persistently δέ. I have therefore given δὲ as a possible alternative; although it is probably a substitution for γάρ, of which the connexion was not very obvious” (Lightfoot).

τὸ πολίτευμα. R.V. text, “citizenship”; margin, “or, commonwealth.” A.V., “conversation” (which is the rendering of all our older versions, except Wyclif’s, which has “lyvyng”). This represents the conversatio of the Vulg.; “the intercourse of life” (see above, note on πολιτεύεσθε, Philippians 1:27). The meaning is thus, in effect, “We live and move (on earth) as those who are (spiritually) in heaven.”

The word πολίτευμα occurs here alone in Biblical Greek. In classical Greek it denotes (a) an act, or measure, of government; e.g. τῶν τοιούτων πολιτεύματων οὐδὲν πολιτεύομαι (Demosth., 107. 16); (b) the governing body of a state, a “government”; (c) the constitution of a state, e.g. τὸ τῆς δημοκρατίας πολίτευμα (Æschin., 51. 12). This latter meaning obviously is most in point here. St Paul means that Christians are citizens of the heavenly city or realm, free of its privileges, but therefore also “obliged by their nobility” to live on earth as those who belong to heaven. Ἐπὶ γῆς διατρίβουσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐν οὐρανῷ πολιτεύονται, says the writer of the Ep. to Diognetus (Philippians 3:9), cent. ii., probably with this passage in his mind. Meanwhile, for reasons to be further given from below (on ἐξ οὗ) it seems at least possible that St Paul’s thought, in the use of πολίτευμα here, glided from “citizenship,” or “commonwealth,” almost to “city”; it at least bordered upon locality. The translation “seat of citizenship” may thus not unfairly represent it.

ἐν οὐρανοῖς. “In the heavens.” (The word is self-defined; the article is not necessary.) A very frequent plural in Biblical Greek; the classics always use the singular.—For the Heavenly City cp. Galatians 4:26, ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ: Hebrews 12:22, πόλις θεοῦ ζῶντος, Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουράνιος (so Revelation 3:12; see 21, 22). It is called Οὐρανόπολις (Euseb., Dem. Ev. iv. p. 126, οὐρανόπολις, ἡ�: Clem. Alex. Pæd. II., xii. 119, τὰς δώδεκα τῆς οὐρανοπόλεως πύλας), with its οὐρανοπολῖται (Œcum. in c. IX. ad Hebræos; οὐρανοπολῖταί εἰσιν οἱ πιστοί, εἰ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς τέως πολιτεύονται).—St Augustine’s great work, de Civitate Dei (about A.D. 420), contains a wealth of illustrations of the idea of this passage. To him, at the crisis of the fall of the imperial City, the Christian appears as citizen of a State which is the antithesis, not of civil order, which is of God, but of “the world,” which is against Him. This holy State, or City, exists now, and works for good through its citizens, but it is to be completed and revealed only when eternal glory begins. See Smith, Dict. Chr. Biography, i. 221.

The thought of the City was dear to St Augustine. The noble medieval lines of Hildebert, Me receptet Syon illa, Urbs beata, urbs tranquilla (see Trench, Sacred Lat. Poetry, p. 332, with pp. 312–320), quoted at the close of Longfellow’s Golden Legend, come almost verbatim from Augustine, de Spiritu et Animâ, c. LX.: O civitas sancta, civitas speciosa, de longinquo te saluto, ad te clamo, te requiro.

ἐξ οὗ. The pronoun cannot refer directly to the plural οὐρανοί. It must either be the mere adverbial equivalent of ὅθεν, or it must refer to πολίτευμα. The first explanation is simple; and it is asserted (see Winer, Gr. of N.T. Greek, ed. Moulton, p. 177) that ἐξ οὗ is used for ὅθεν. But the evidence produced is, to say the least, inconclusive. The reference of οὗ to πολίτευμα seems preferable. St Paul seems to use πολίτευμα with, so to speak, a local notion in it.

καὶ σωτῆρα�. “We are actually waiting for, as our Saviour, &c.” Ἀπεκδέχομαι by its form suggests a “waiting” full of persistence and desire. It occurs elsewhere, Romans 8:19, ἡ� … ἀπεκδέχεται, κτλ.: 23, στενάζομεν, υἱοθεσίαν�: 25, διʼ ὑπομονῆς�: 1 Corinthians 1:7, ἀπεκδεχομένους τὴν�. ἡμῶν Ἰ. Χ.: Galatians 5:5, ἐλπίδα δικαιοσύνης�: Hebrews 9:28, ὀφθήσεται τοῖς αὐτὸν�: 1 Peter 3:20, ἀπεξεδέχετο (so read) ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ μακροθυμία. Of these passages all but the last (and perhaps Galatians 5:5) refer to the Lord’s longed for Return in glory, ἡ μακαρία ἐλπίς (Titus 2:13), which everywhere shines out in the N. T. as the Promise of promises to the believer and to the Church.

Σωτῆρα. At His coming He will complete our “salvation” by accomplishing the ἀπολύτρωσις τοῦ σώματος, and so realizing in all its aspects our νἱοθεσία (Romans 8:23) in Himself. With σωτήρ here compare Romans 13:1, ἐγγύτερον ἡμῖν ἡ σωτηρία: where “salvation” has the same reference to the Lord’s Return.

κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. The full designation well accords with the holy hope and joy of the context.