“For our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20)
Paul says to the Philippian Christians: “For our citizenship is in heaven”. Commentators agree that accent should be on the word ‘our’. In contrast to others our citizenship is in heaven. Some people in overseas colonies spoke loftily about their citizenship being in Rome or Jerusalem. Their homeland then governed how they lived and behaved. But—says the Apostle Paul to the Philippian Christians, and to us—ours is in heaven and hence our behaviour here is directed and governed by the authority of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
We could compare it to when Captain Arthur Phillip and the first colonists (with a group of convicts) came to Australia. They did not say, “Well, we’ve come to settle here so we’ll adopt the way of life of the aboriginal people who are already here”. No, they came as citizens of the United Kingdom and, over against the pagan life of the aborigines, the colonists sought to establish the culture of the British in accordance with its Constitution. Instead of adopting the spiritual dreamtime myths of the ‘first nations’ people, they sought to uphold the Protestant beliefs, values and norms of the ‘mother country’. The government ‘back home’ required the colonists to be governed by laws and a culture of behaviour in accordance with the mother country whose citizenship they maintained. Moreover, missionaries who accompanied the early settlers sought to teach the aborigines the truth of God’s Word. The colonists knew that the ancient primitive people inhabiting this continent, steeped in superstition and heathen practices, needed Christianity and so the colonists sought to reflect and promote the culture of their motherland. They knew that they were here not to further their own interest first but were governed in their conduct by the interests of the United Kingdom which they represented.
At the time of the Apostle Paul, a colony of retired veteran Roman soldiers and their families had been established at Philippi, in Macedonia. They were proud of being Roman citizens and sought to civilise the country in which they had settled. Their fashions followed that of the Roman homeland, the laws of Rome governed their behaviour and they revered the Roman gods. They acted as a buffer against a return to barbarism by those living in Philippi, Macedonia. Their whole walk of life reflected the culture of Rome. Whilst permitting a degree of freedom to those from other cultures, Rome governed the actions of these Romans and put its stamp on the way of life at Philippi,1 for their citizenship was in Rome.
In Philippi there was also a bunch of Jews. The Romans gave them a lot of freedom and a certain political status, provided they respected Roman laws and customs.2 These Jews maintained that their citizenship was in Jerusalem, the ‘city of David’, and they sought to be governed by Israelite culture. They had their synagogues and the Old Testament laws of Moses with its food laws, ceremonies and sacrifices. These Jews continued to expect a great son of David who would save them. They rejected the Christian belief that the great Son of David, the promised Saviour, had come in the person of Jesus Christ and they rejected the Christian claims that in Christ the Old Testament ceremonies and sacrifices had been fulfilled. In fact, the Jews fiercely opposed the Christians and stirred up the rulers and others against the Christians (Acts 12:3). By claiming that their citizenship was in Jerusalem, they demonstrated that they had not understood the prophetic fulfilment in Christ of the whole temple worship.
Yet when Paul says “But our citizenship is in heaven” he is not just reacting against the Romans and Jews but also against those whose citizenship is earthly focussed. The Christians in Philippi were not only to be distinguished from Romans and Jews but also from deviant Christians within the church. Apparently there were those whose focus was on ‘earthly things’; people who, although their citizenship was in heaven, began to live according to the laws of the ‘earth’; they adjusted their lives to accommodate the sinful style of the world. Their “god is their belly” and their “glory is in their shame” (Phil. 3:19). But Paul says: you must not accommodate that way of life “for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ”. If Christian ‘colonists’ in Philippi started living in the style of the world they would be unfaithful to their calling. They would betray their heavenly citizenship and the interests of Christ’s heavenly kingdom.3
But perhaps the greatest attack on the Christians’ heavenly citizenship came not just from those who promoted a lax worldly lifestyle but from those who introduced heresies. They were the Judaists, those who believed in Christ but not as a complete Saviour. These Judaists constituted the greatest danger for the Christians because theirs was a compromised gospel. It was Christ plus something of their own doing. For example, Christ plus circumcision (Acts 15:1). Paul calls them ‘the mutilation’, ‘dogs’, ‘evildoers’ (Phil. 3:2). They rejected the cross of Christ, emptying it of its power, and promoted a ‘do-it-yourself religion’ which leads to death.4
One can understand that this was an immense attraction for the new converts because it meant a reduction in persecution and it gave people a good feeling of ‘we’re not so bad after all’ and ‘we can contribute something towards our salvation’. But thereby they devalued the work of Christ as our complete Saviour, just as so many Christians, having embraced Arminian ideas, do today. It is against these Judaist Christians, in particular, that the Apostle Paul focussed his attacks. He warns the Christians not to be ensnared by their views. Thereby the true church would become the false church.5 By compromising, these “Christ plus something else” Christians, in effect, continued to promote Christians as being citizens of the old Jerusalem.
In contrast to those who see their citizenship in Jerusalem, who are governed by the way of life of Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul now says, “but our citizenship is in heaven”. To be sure, at a national-political level we are citizens of the Roman empire, but as Christians we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We won’t find our utopia here on this earth. Nor salvation through a compromise religion. Nor are we here to serve our own pleasure. But we have a calling to reflect here below the style of the kingdom above to which we belong and of which we became citizens when Christ our Saviour ascended into heaven.6
The fact that our citizenship is in heaven means that we, reformed believers, have become strangers here on earth to all those whose citizenship is grounded here on earth, who live for this life or have a wrong view of salvation. Our salvation rests entirely in Jesus Christ and it is from heaven that we await His second coming. Meanwhile, as temples of the Holy Spirit, our lifestyle here on earth is governed by the words of our great heavenly King and Lord Jesus Christ. Our heavenly citizenship governs our thoughts, words and actions while we are here in this earthly ‘colony’ where we seek to conform culture and life to the will of the Great King. Now, having been purchased by His precious blood, we will show in our walk of life that we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven by more and more living here below each day in thankful obedience to God’s holy law.7
1 Rev. W. Huizinga, sermon held in FRC Mt Nasura, Feb. 2025, “Your citizenship is in heaven”, https://youtube.com/watch?v+bUX7KJQYAbo&t+4933s
2 Ibid. See also Acts 16:20, 21
3 B. Holwerda, “Ons Moederland in de Hemelen”, De Wijsheid Die Behoudt, Oosterbaan en Le Cointre, 1957, p. 158
4 Huizinga, op. cit.
5 C. van der Waal, “Ons Politeuma”, in Wat staat er eigenlijk?Oosterbaan en Le Cointre, Goes, 1971, pp. 180-185.
6 Holwerda, p. 157.
7 Lords Day 48, Heidelberg Catechism.