Passages · Philippians 3:17-21
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"Citizenship" in Philippians 3:20 translates the Greek politeuma (a commonwealth, the state a person belongs to), a word found nowhere else in the New Testament. Philippi was a Roman colony, a city whose people counted themselves Romans while living far from Rome. The verse speaks in those terms: our politeuma is in heaven. It then looks from there to here. Heaven is where the commonwealth is, and it is "from where we also wait for a Savior." Earlier in the letter the matching verb, live as citizens, is addressed to the same readers (1:27).
πολίτευμα politeuma, Greek — translated "citizenship" — a commonwealth, the state a person belongs to; "conversation" in the King James Version (Philippians 3:20)
3:17 Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example. 3:18 For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ, 3:19 whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things. 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 3:21 who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself.
3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 3:19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Paul is writing to the church at Philippi, which Acts describes as "a Roman colony" (Acts 16:12). This passage sets two ways of walking side by side: people "who think about earthly things," and a community whose commonwealth is somewhere else. It closes a chapter in which Paul has listed his own standing by birth and training and counted it as loss (3:4-8).
"Our citizenship" (3:20) — politeuma (a commonwealth, the state a person belongs to). The word covers both the body of citizens and membership in it, which is why translations move between "citizenship" and "commonwealth." Philippi knew the idea well. In Acts, the men who accuse Paul there describe themselves as "being Romans" (Acts 16:21). The verse gives the church another answer to the question of where they belong.
"Let your way of life be worthy" (1:27) — the verb is politeuesthe (live as citizens), from the same root. It appears in the New Testament only here and in Acts 23:1. Most English versions translate it as conduct in general, and the link to 3:20 disappears. In the Greek the two verses hold together: live as citizens here (1:27); the commonwealth is there (3:20).
"Is in heaven" (3:20) — the verb is hyparchei (exists, is in place), a verb that can carry more than a plain "is." Paul used the same verb of Christ in 2:6, "existing in the form of God." The commonwealth is not described as something that will be. It is there now.
"We also wait for a Savior" (3:20) — sōtēr (savior, deliverer). This is the only time the word appears in the letter. In the Greek-speaking world it was also a title given to kings and emperors. The verse puts it, alongside "Lord," on someone who is awaited from heaven.
"The body of our humiliation" (3:21) — tapeinōsis (lowliness), from the word family used of Christ in 2:8, "he humbled himself." And "conformed" is symmorphos (sharing the same form), which carries morphē (form) from 2:6-7. The vocabulary of chapter 2 comes back here as a promise about the readers' own bodies.
"Our conversation is in heaven" and "our citizenship is in heaven" — the King James Version reads "conversation," which in 1611 meant a person's conduct or way of life, not talk. It uses the same word at 1:27, so the King James keeps the link between the two verses that most later versions lose, though "conversation" no longer says to a reader what it said then. "Citizenship" and "commonwealth" are the modern choices. Both translate politeuma.
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