Reference: Citizenship
Easton
the rights and privileges of a citizen in distinction from a foreigner (Lu 15:15; 19:14; Ac 21:39). Under the Mosaic law non-Israelites, with the exception of the Moabites and the Ammonites and others mentioned in De 23:1-3, were admitted to the general privileges of citizenship among the Jews (Ex 12:19; Le 24:22; Nu 15:15; 35:15; De 10:18; 14:29; 16:10,14).
The right of citizenship under the Roman government was granted by the emperor to individuals, and sometimes to provinces, as a favour or as a recompense for services rendered to the state, or for a sum of money (Ac 22:28). This "freedom" secured privileges equal to those enjoyed by natives of Rome. Among the most notable of these was the provision that a man could not be bound or imprisoned without a formal trial (Ac 22:25-26), or scourged (Ac 16:37). All Roman citizens had the right of appeal to Caesar (Ac 25:11).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one who is born in the land.
Ye shall have one manner of law, as for the sojourner, as for the home-born, for I am LORD your God.
For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you, and for the stranger who sojourns [with you], a statute forever throughout your generations. As ye are, so shall the sojourner be before LORD.
For the sons of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, these six cities shall be for refuge, that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the sojourner in giving him food and raiment.
And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, that LORD thy God may bless thee in al
And thou shall keep the feast of weeks to LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill-offering from thy hand, which thou shall give, according as LORD thy God blesses thee.
And thou shall rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates.
He who is wounded in the testicles, or has his private part cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of LORD. A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of LORD, even to the tenth generation none of his shall enter into the assembly of LORD. read more. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of LORD, even to the tenth generation none belonging to them shall enter into the assembly of LORD forever,
And having gone, he was joined to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
But his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy behind him, saying, We do not want this man to reign over us.
But Paul said to them, Having beaten us publicly, uncondemned men, being Romans, they cast us into prison, and now they thrust us out privately? Certainly not, but after coming, they shall lead us out.
But Paul said, I am really a Jewish man of Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. And I beg thee, allow me to speak to the people.
And as they stretched him out with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it permitted for you to scourge a Roman man, and uncondemned? And when the centurion heard, having come to the chief captain, he reported, saying, Look! What are thou about to do? For this man is a Roman.
And the chief captain answered, Of a great sum I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, But then I was born so.
For if I am indeed wrong, and have done anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die, but if there is nothing of what these men accuse me, no man can give me to them freely. I appeal Caesar.
Fausets
Paul's Roman citizenship was of the lower kind, which though not entitling him to vote with the tribes and enjoy a magistracy, yet secured to him the protection of the laws of the empire, and the right of appeal from his own hostile countrymen to Caesar, as also exemption from scourging (Ac 16:37; 22:25-28; 25:11). He seems to have inherited it from his father. Hence, he naturally uses the image to express the believer's high privileges as a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Our citizenship (Greek, or rather our life as citizens; politeuma, not politeia) is in heaven, etc. (Php 3:20); an image especially appropriate at Philippi, it being a Roman colony and possessing Roman citizenship of which its people were proud. Moreover, it was there that Paul had compelled the magistrates publicly to recognize a Roman citizen's privileges. So believers, though absent from their heavenly city in body, still enjoy its civic privileges and protection; pilgrims on earth, citizens of heaven (Eph 2:6; Ga 4:26; Heb 11:9-10,13-16; 12:22; Re 21:2,10; Lu 10:20).
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Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are made subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in the heavens.
Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are made subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in the heavens.
But Paul said to them, Having beaten us publicly, uncondemned men, being Romans, they cast us into prison, and now they thrust us out privately? Certainly not, but after coming, they shall lead us out.
But Paul said to them, Having beaten us publicly, uncondemned men, being Romans, they cast us into prison, and now they thrust us out privately? Certainly not, but after coming, they shall lead us out.
And as they stretched him out with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it permitted for you to scourge a Roman man, and uncondemned?
And as they stretched him out with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it permitted for you to scourge a Roman man, and uncondemned? And when the centurion heard, having come to the chief captain, he reported, saying, Look! What are thou about to do? For this man is a Roman.
And when the centurion heard, having come to the chief captain, he reported, saying, Look! What are thou about to do? For this man is a Roman. And the chief captain having come, he said to him, Tell me if thou are a Roman. And he said, Yes.
And the chief captain having come, he said to him, Tell me if thou are a Roman. And he said, Yes. And the chief captain answered, Of a great sum I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, But then I was born so.
And the chief captain answered, Of a great sum I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, But then I was born so.
For if I am indeed wrong, and have done anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die, but if there is nothing of what these men accuse me, no man can give me to them freely. I appeal Caesar.
For if I am indeed wrong, and have done anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die, but if there is nothing of what these men accuse me, no man can give me to them freely. I appeal Caesar.
But the Jerusalem above is free, which is mother of us all.
But the Jerusalem above is free, which is mother of us all.
and raised us up together, and seated us together in the heavenly things in Christ Jesus.
and raised us up together, and seated us together in the heavenly things in Christ Jesus.
For our citizenship exists in the heavens, from which also we await a Savior, Lord Jesus Christ,
For our citizenship exists in the heavens, from which also we await a Savior, Lord Jesus Christ,
By faith he lived alien in the land of promise as a foreigner, having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise.
By faith he lived alien in the land of promise as a foreigner, having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the fellow heirs of the same promise. For he anticipated the city that has the foundations, whose builder and architect is God.
For he anticipated the city that has the foundations, whose builder and architect is God.
All these died in faith, not having taken the promises, but who saw and greeted them from afar, and who confessed that they were foreigners and sojourners on the earth.
All these died in faith, not having taken the promises, but who saw and greeted them from afar, and who confessed that they were foreigners and sojourners on the earth. For those who say such things show that they are seeking a fatherland.
For those who say such things show that they are seeking a fatherland. And if indeed they remembered that from which they came out, they would have had time to return.
And if indeed they remembered that from which they came out, they would have had time to return. But now they aspire for a superior one, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
But now they aspire for a superior one, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
But ye have come to mount Zion, and to the city of a living God, a heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of heavenly agents,
But ye have come to mount Zion, and to the city of a living God, a heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of heavenly agents,
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having been prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having been prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And he carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
And he carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
Hastings
Smith
Citizenship.
The use of this term in Scripture has exclusive reference to the usages of the Roman empire. The privilege of Roman citizenship was originally acquired in various ways, as by purchase,
by military services, by favor or by manumission. The right once obtained descended to a man's children.
Among the privileges attached to citizenship we may note that a man could not be bound or imprisoned without a formal trial,
still less be scourged.
Cic. in Verr. v. 63,66. Another privilege attaching to citizenship was the appeal from a provincial tribunal to the emperor at Rome.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
But Paul said to them, Having beaten us publicly, uncondemned men, being Romans, they cast us into prison, and now they thrust us out privately? Certainly not, but after coming, they shall lead us out.
And the chief captain answered, Of a great sum I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, But then I was born so.
And the chief captain answered, Of a great sum I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, But then I was born so. Straightway therefore those who were about to examine him withdrew from him. And the chief captain was also afraid when he learned that he was a Roman, and because he was who bound him.
For if I am indeed wrong, and have done anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die, but if there is nothing of what these men accuse me, no man can give me to them freely. I appeal Caesar.