Politeuomai
Politeuomai
The the Greek verb politeuomai,[1] means "to be a citizen" or "to administer civil affairs, manage the state" and is also from the Greek word polites[2]. What it means "to be a citizen" or "to administer civil affairs" as is the duty of every citizen will differ with different forms of government. In a democracy or indirect democracy[3] there may be the responsibility to vote and then obey the outcome of the vote. In a Republic[4] where the people to some degree are free from things public the daily ministration as a government of, for and by the people.[5]
Appearance of Politeuomai
- Philippians 1:27 "Only let your conversation be <4176>[1] as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;"
The term politeuomai[1] is defined "to be a citizen" and "to administer civil affairs, manage the state" which we see Paul doing his ministry providing emergency relief and a daily bread for Christians through out the world.
In Philippians 1:27 with the words "Only let your conversation be" Paul is telling us “to behave only as a citizen” of Christ's government, The Kingdom of God.
That is the Kingdom or government he took away from the Pharisees.[6]
He appointed that Kingdom[7] to His Apostles because he deemed them to be worthy of the Gospel of Christ which is the Gospel of the kingdom of God. Matthew some times used a word translated "heaven"[8] to describe the kingdom because Jews were familiar with Herod's plan for the kingdom of God.
Paul is not merely having a conversation nor was he just being charitable but was conducting the administration of the civil affairs and managing the estate of the Kingdom of God.
Early Christians had a daily ministration rightly divided bread from house to house.[9] This was the practice of Pure Religion that was unspotted by the exercising authority of the world of Rome because it was not like the governments of the the gentiles who only provided to the people through Legal charity.[10]
Christians only ate of the welfare tables of the early Church and not of the tables of Social Welfare State because those entangled the people in covetous practices which were a snare and was idolatry.[11]
The word is also used in Acts 23:1:
- "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men [and] brethren, I have lived <4176> in all good conscience before God until this day."
Paul was brought before the priest who were a pare of the government that had moved from fervent charity commanded by Moses to legal charity , the means and method of those tables that were a snare.[12]
Was he saying that he had been a citizen and administered civil affairs?
The practices and polity of governments may differ giving them a peculiar identity.[13] The Early Church, its means and methods, made it substantially different than what we see today. They made the followers of Christ far less dependent upon the welfare State of Rome.
Early Christians would not apply for the daily bread of Rome through its public religion of legal charity which was dependent upon covetous practices of the benefactors and Fathers of the world. The early Church had a system of emergency assistance for Christians when there were dearths in the land.
We see the early Church operating a vast system of welfare through fervent charity all over the Roman Empire even though that was often getting persecuted because they would not sign up for the legal charity and the free bread and dainties offered by the Roman State and its Imperial Cult of Rome. This was the Christian conflict with Rome and many of the city-states.
- Acts 23:1 "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men [and] brethren, I have lived <4176>[1] in all good conscience before God until this day."
We see the same word translated conversation in Philippians translated have lived in Acts 23:1 "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men [and] brethren, I have lived <4176>[1] in all good conscience before God until this day." This statement was so offensive that Ananias the high priest commanded Paul to be smitten contrary to the law.[14] This ardor of hate attack was not just because he said I lived in good conscience but he said to the council[15] I have lived in good conscience as a citizen, basically attending to the civil affairs of the polis or government.
This was directly after the "chief captain" discovered this Paul had a "freedom" called "Rhomaios" which meant did not really mean Paul was a Roman citizen and released him and brought him before the council.
Earlier, a certain prophet, named Agabus Paul would be bound[16]
We should understand that the Apostles were converting people to Judaism, not Christianity, but that Judaism was according to Christ as King of the Jews. Jesus was in accord with Moses and what he meant his altars of Clay and stone and Jehovahnissi were to do. They were a social safety net without the "leaven of the Pharisees" but by fervent charity.
We know this because they, the Jews who got the baptism of Christ and were put out of the Judaism of the Pharisees, would not be called Christians until Antioch.[17]
These Gentiles who converted did not need to get the circumcision of the flesh but of the heart which even Moses insisted upon.[18]
Acts 21:25 "As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written [and] concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from [things] offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication."
Politeuma
With the use of the Greek noun politeuma[19] in Philippians Paul is literally saying that our "administration of civil affairs", our citizenship is not of the "world" of Rome but is in the kingdom of heaven[20] which was appointed[21] by Jesus the Christ who was another king[22] of those who would repent, seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God.
You should not be led to think that Paul is suggesting we are supposed to merely "talk to heaven" by this misleading translation of politeuma[19] when it is clearly defined as "the administration of civil affairs or of a commonwealth" and is from the term politeuomai.
Understanding the unique use of politeuma[19] and the term politeuomai[1] it may also help to know that they are from the Greek word polites[2] consistently meaning citizen and polis meaning city.[23]
The Modern Church is no longer "A city(polis)[23] that is set on an hill" nor the "light of the world"[24] because they have become of the world because the desire its dainties and are willing to bite one another through the men who call themselves benefactors but exercise authority one over the other.[10]
If all this true the Modern Church and the Modern Christians who follow its pernicious ways[25] can no longer claim to be the Body of Christ.
Appearance of politeuma
- Philippians 3:20 "For our conversation <4175> is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:"
Polites
The Greek term polites is from the Greek word polis meaning a city which includes some form of civil government.
This specific Greek term polites is defined specifically as "a citizen" or the "inhabitant of any city or country" or "polis" which could include people without a particular location but who conduct the civil affairs in a form of body politic as commonly expressed with words like politeuma[19] and the term politeuomai[1]. Both these terms come from polites[2] consistently meaning citizen and of course the term polis[23] which cane even refer to the people like the Nazarite Essenes.
Appearance of polites
- Luke 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen <4177>[2] of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
- Luke 19:14 But his citizens <4177>[2] hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this [man] to reign over us.
- Acts 21:39 But Paul said, I am a man [which am] a Jew of Tarsus, [a city] in Cilicia, a citizen <4177>[2] of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
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Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 4176 ~πολιτεύομαι~ politeuomai \@pol-it-yoo’-om-ahee\@ middle voice of a derivative of 4177 polites "the inhabitant of any city or country" from the word polis; v AV-live 1, let (one’s) conversation be 1; 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 4177 ~πολίτης~ polites \@pol-ee’-tace\@ from 4172; n m AV-citizen 3; 3
- 1) a citizen
- 1a) the inhabitant of any city or country
- 1b) the association of another in citizenship
- 1b1) a fellow citizen, fellow countryman
- 1) a citizen
- ↑ The idea of an indirect Democracy is implementing the process of the granting of power of choice to a select group who then become law makers.
- ↑ In the idea of the Libera res publica the power of choice remains with the people under basic fundamental law where the power to a select group such as a jury may not be law makers but can determine "fact and law" according to precedent and conscience.
- ↑ Is the Bible about religion which it seldom mentions only once in a good way as Pure Religion or is it about governments and law including Natural Law? "This Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People." is attributed to the General Prologue to the John Wycliffe Bible translation of 1384, as Lincoln quoted at Gettysburg.
- ↑ Kingdom Taken
- Matthew 2:6 "And thou Bethlehem, [in] the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor(2233), that shall rule my people Israel."
- Matthew 9:16 "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. 17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." Jesus did not just reform the kingdom.
- Matthew 21:43 "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Jesus would take it as priest and king.
- Luke 13:9 "And if it bear fruit, [well]: and if not, [then] after that thou shalt cut it down." The Corbans of the world were covetous practices
- John 19:15...19 "But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar." The kingdom taken by the words of their own mouth.
- John 15:4 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." The people must seek The Way.
- John 15:8 "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."
- Luke 12:32 "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
- Luke 22:29 "And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;"
- Mark 15:26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS."
- Acts 17:7 "Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus."
- 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"
- See Taking and Giving the Kingdom
- ↑ Appoint a kingdom
- Matthew 21:43 "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
- Luke 12:32 "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
- Luke 22:29 "And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;"
- John 19:15 But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
- ↑ 3772 οὐρανός ouranos [oo-ran-os’] perhaps from the same as 3735 (through the idea of elevation); the sky; n m; TDNT-5:497,736; [{See TDNT 571 }] AV-heaven 268, air 10, sky 5, heavenly + 1537; 284
- 1) the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it
- 1a) the universe, the world
- 1b) the aerial heavens or sky, the region where the clouds and the tempests gather, and where thunder and lightning are produced
- 1c) the sidereal or starry heavens
- 2) the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings
- 1) the vaulted expanse of the sky with all things visible in it
- ↑ Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Not exercise authority
- Matthew 20:25 "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you:..."
- Mark 10:42 "But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you:..."
- Luke 22:25 "And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye [shall] not [be] so:..."
- ↑ Covetousness is idolatry
- Colossians 3:5 "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:"
- Ephesians 5:5 "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."
- 1 Corinthians 5:10 "Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat."
- For it is written that the tables of dainties provided by rulers of the world are a snare because they cause the masses to bite one another through government systems of legal charity which are covetous practices which are a form of fornication or adultery where the people are devoured as merchandise, curse children and are "entangled again in the yoke of bondage" with the aid of the false religion of the whore who rides the beast.
- ↑ Table as a snare
- Psalms 69:22-23 “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake."”
- Romans 11:9 “And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:”
- Proverbs 23:1 "When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee: 2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. 3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat."
- Exodus 23:32 "Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee."
- Exodus 34:12 "Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:"
- Deuteronomy 7:16 "And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that [will be] a snare unto thee."
- Judges 2:2 "And ye shall make no league [covenant] with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?"
- Proverbs 1:10 "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."
- Proverbs 6:2 “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.” Swear not
- Luke 21:34 "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."
- 1 Timothy 6:9 "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
- "Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?" Isaiah 40:21 is about the message of John the Baptist who was "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" Isaiah 40:3 to avoid the "snare" of the legal charity of the welfare state which which makes the word of God to none effect bringing man back into captivity as human resources.
- ↑ Polity.
- "The form of government of a nation, state, church, or organization."
- "An organized society, such as a nation, having a specific form of government."
- "Government; form, system, or method of government: as, civil polity; ecclesiastical polity."
The American Heritage® Dictionary, 5th Edition
Webster's 1828 dictionary states,
- "POL'ITY, noun [Gr.] The form or constitution of civil government of a nation or state; and in free states, the frame or fundamental system by which the several branches of government are established, and the powers and duties or each designated and defined.
- Every branch of our civil polity supports and is supported, regulates and is regulated by the rest.
- With respect to their interior polity our colonies are properly of three sorts; provincial establishments, proprietary governments, and charter governments.
- 1. The constitution or general fundamental principles of government of any class of citizens, considered in an appropriate character, or as a subordinate state.
- Were the whole christian world to revert back to the original model, how far more simple, uniform and beautiful would the church appear, and how far more agreeable to the ecclesiastical polity instituted by the holy apostles.
- ↑ Acts 23:3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, [thou] whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? 4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God’s high priest? 5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.
- ↑ 4892 συνέδριον sunedrion [soon-ed’-ree-on] from a presumed derivative of a compound of 4862 and the base of 1476; n n; TDNT-7:860,1115; [{See TDNT 768 }] AV-council 22; 22
- 1) any assembly (esp. of magistrates, judges, ambassadors), whether convened to deliberate or pass judgment
- 2) any session or assembly or people deliberating or adjudicating
- 2a) the Sanhedrin, the great council at Jerusalem, consisting of the seventy one members, viz. scribes, elders, prominent members of the high priestly families and the high priest, the president of the assembly. The most important causes were brought before this tribunal, inasmuch as the Roman rulers of Judaea had left to it the power of trying such cases, and also of pronouncing sentence of death, with the limitation that a capital sentence pronounced by the Sanhedrin was not valid unless it was confirmed by the Roman procurator.
- 2b) a smaller tribunal or council which every Jewish town had for the decision of less important cases.
- ↑ Acts 21:10 And as we tarried [there] many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. 11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver [him] into the hands of the Gentiles. 12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done."
- ↑ Acts 11:26 "And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
- ↑ Circumcision from the beginning
- Leviticus 26:41 And [that] I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
- Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
- Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
- Jeremiah 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench [it], because of the evil of your doings.
- Jeremiah 4:14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
- Jeremiah 9:26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all [that are] in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all [these] nations [are] uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel [are] uncircumcised in the heart.
- Romans 2:27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? 28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.
- Colossians 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
- Jeremiah 4:14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
- Matthew 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 [Thou] blind Pharisee, cleanse first that [which is] within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, , scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men’s] bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 4175 ~πολίτευμα~ politeuma \@pol-it’-yoo-mah\@ from 4176; n n AV-conversation 1; 1
- 1) the administration of civil affairs or of a commonwealth
- 2) the constitution of a commonwealth, form of government and the laws by which it is administered
- 3) a state, commonwealth 3a) the commonwealth of citizens
- ↑ Philippians 3:20 For our conversation <4175> is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
- ↑ Luke 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
- ↑ Acts 17:7 "Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, [one] Jesus."
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 4172 ~πόλις~ polis \@pol’-is\@ probably from the same as polemos 4171 meaning war, or perhaps from polus 4183 meaning many, much, large; n f AV-city 164; 164
- 1) a city
- 1a) one’s native city, the city in which one lives
- 1b) the heavenly Jerusalem
- 1b1) the abode of the blessed in heaven
- 1b2) of the visible capital in the heavenly kingdom, to come down to earth after the renovation of the world by fire
- 1c) the inhabitants of a city
- 1) a city
- ↑ Matthew 5:14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."
- ↑ Pernicious ways
- 2 Peter 2:2 "And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."
- 2 Peter 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam [the son] of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
- 2 Peter 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
- Matthew 24:10 "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
- Matthew 24:24 "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
- Mark 13:22 "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect."
- 1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
- Romans 2:24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
- Matthew 7:14 Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.