Date: 4/4/19
Lesson # 27
Title: A REMINDER OF OUR TRUE CITIZENSHIP, AND THE HOPE IT ENTAILS (Phl. 3:20-21)
• “Special Notes” and “Scripture” are shown as endnotes.
• NIV Bible is used throughout unless noted otherwise.
Scripture: (Philippians 3:20-21, NIV)
20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Introduction
This lesson contrasts the hopeless future of the lost with the glorious prospects that face Christians in these final verses of chapter 3. The hope of the Christian is based first upon the fact that heaven is his home and that his real citizenship {a] is there. A Christian is assured that his real home is in heaven and that he is only temporally related to this world, its governments, and its problems. Christians will one day experience all the special privileges of our heavenly citizenship because we belong to Christ.
Commentary
(3:20) But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
But our citizenship is in heaven.
Since the Philippians lived in a colony whose citizens regarded distant
Rome {b] as their native city, they would be quick to grasp Paul’s metaphor which shows that heaven is the true homeland of believers.
At this point, we should consider what Paul said in 1:27, for it will help to clarify today’s lesson: “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” Here he points to the one essential thing which demands the Philippians’ immediate attention, no matter what happens to Paul. “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” He lives and works with the knowledge that he may be thrown in jail or killed at any time. The words translated as, “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ,” literally means, behave as citizens of heaven. Paul wants their life as a Christian community to be worthy of the gospel of Christ. This idea would be naturally suggested to the apostle by his residence in Rome and would appeal to the Philippians, as a Roman colony, which was a reproduction of the parent commonwealth on a smaller scale. Paul’s one concern, whether present or absent, is to hear of their united stand for the truth of the gospel against the adversaries [v. 28] who oppose it. [Jude 3: “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.”]. Since the call to stand fast in one spirit is further defined as a striving together with one soul, no sharp distinction can be drawn, between these terms, which are here virtually used as synonyms in order to underline the need for spiritual unity (Acts 4:32).
As aliens who have here no continuing city. Their life is not rooted in earthly things to which they owe no allegiance, for they belong by the adoption of grace to that heavenly city whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11:10; Gal. 4:26; Eph. 2:19; 1 Peter 2:11). It is because the Christian’s affections are centered upon the things above that his earthly walk will be very different from the walk of those whose minds are still captivated by what is purely temporal (Col. 3:1-3).
And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Moreover, it is from heaven that we eagerly await the advent of a Savior, for it is in His capacity as a Savior that the Lord Jesus Christ will complete our final deliverance (v. 21). Instead of pinning their hopes upon the doubtful divinity of an earthly emperor, believers look for the coming of a Savior, who has the power both to free them from the bondage of death and to bestow on them the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom. 8:21).
It is from heaven rather than from earth that a Christian may be expecting the coming of his Lord as stated by Paul, “From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” According to John 14:2, Christ is in heaven preparing the place for His future bride, the church. Accordingly, in keeping with the promise of John 14:3, He is coming again for His church, and hence the church can be looking to the heavens for the return of their Savior.
(3:21) who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
In contrast to the false claims of the perfectionists, Paul here shows that the tension between the “already” and the “not yet” of the Christian’s present state can only be resolved when Christ returns to glorify His people. But the fact that the “prize” of perfection must be bestowed by an act of divine power offers no loophole for the spiritually lazy, for in the meantime all believers must be like the Olympic athlete who spares no effort to gain the goal which still lies before him (vv. 11-14).
Paul cannot conceive of any salvation which does not embrace the whole man, yet his doctrine of the resurrection is no abstract theory but the living truth of his own experience. In his encounter with the Risen Christ, he witnessed the objective reality of “the body of His glory,” while his subjective insight into the significance of this truth was imparted to him by the inward illumination of the Spirit (Gal. 1:16). He has told us (v. 10) of the gradual process by which the Christian is, in this life, in the course of conforming to Christ’s death. The process we learn here is to be consummated by the change of fashion of the body, from the natural to the spiritual (1 Cor. 15:44), in the resurrection. Then the entire man, body and soul, shall be conformable,?assimilated alike in outward form and in inward truth, to the Glory of the Lord.
The ultimate process of perfection to which Paul alluded earlier in this chapter will also have its consummation at the time when Christ comes for His own. At that time, Christ “who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” The miracle of the resurrection will be accomplished by the same omnipotent power which enables Christ to bring all things under His rule (2:10, 11). His is a sovereign power to which all things are subordinate; all earthly power and authority, enemies and death (1 Cor. 15:24-27; Eph. 1:21, 22).
Here the apostle directs his readers’ attention to the obvious fact that our body is “vile,” that is, our “humble” or “lowly” body, “our body of humiliation.” Our body needs to change by an act of God. This puts attaining perfection beyond the power of any Christian as long as he has his present body. Paul does not dwell here upon the sinfulness of the body, its mortality, or decay, but sums it all up as a body of humiliation suited for this life, but not for glory. When the Lord comes, this body will be transformed into a body like the glorious body of Christ. The Greek word translated “change” means “to fashion anew” or “transform.” The result is that it will be “like His glorious body.”
The eager expectation of the return of the Lord and of the fulfillment of promises for our glorification is the hallmark of Christians walking in fellowship with their Lord. It is then that our longing for perfection will be realized.
It is clear here, as earlier in the chapter, that attaining perfection prior to this climactic event in the life of a Christian is an impossibility. A Christian can be assured, however, that his strivings and longings for perfection, in this life, although only partially realized, will someday be satisfied when he stands in God’s presence. Then, as the apostle John expresses it, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).
In a modern world that has so many evidences of the wickedness of man and the transitory glory of man’s attainments, the same principles which encouraged Paul can encourage us today to triumph in Christ. Our hope, like his, whether we are in prison or in freedom, is to be looking for our Savior from heaven. It is only then that our hearts which long for perfection will attain the full experience of being like Him.
Scripture and Special Notes
[a} Here “citizenship” means the total way of life; it means a totally new lifestyle.
[b} The city of Philippi was a Roman colony. In Philippi, the laws of Rome were enforced. The people wore the same kind of clothing styles that were worn in Rome. They spoke Latin. Everything in Philippi was like it was in Rome because it was a colonial city.
