CITIZENSHIP (Gr. πολιτεία, G4486, citizenship; πολίτευμα, G4487, commonwealth). In the NT, citizenship as a political term referred only to the coveted civitas of Rome. Such contexts as “a citizen of that country” (Luke 1:15) involve colloquial usage, and mean no more than inhabitant. Roman citizenship, like that of any modern state, depended primarily upon birth, but could also be conferred in the days of the Republic by a special legislative act, and in the days of the Empire by an administrative act. Rome was extraordinarily liberal in the bestowal of her citizenship, a policy unparalleled in the life of any other ancient city-state. Rome’s liberality, as A. H. J. Greenidge remarks, “which spread the name of Roman citizen first over Italy, and then over the greater part of the civilized globe, was not the outcome of any suddenly adopted policy, but persisted from the birth of the city to the world-embracing edict of Caracalla in a.d. 212.” This is not to imply a consistently applied and universal policy of extension. Julius Caesar, for example, was ahead of his contemporaries in his desire to extend the civic status. The commander of the Jerusalem garrison was openly envious of Paul, who was “born free” by virtue of the grant of civitas, perhaps by Pompey, perhaps even earlier, to certain Jews of Tarsus. Colonies, too, like Philippi, with their citizen élite, held a distinct and coveted position in the early empire in contrast to other cities and provincial proletariats. Nevertheless, the main movement is clear, and the consistent extension of the citizenship is obvious from surviving figures, and formed a bond of empire. Greenidge quotes some figures: “The male citizens who appeared on the census rolls were, at the close of the first Punic war (240 b.c.), 260,000; in 124 they had risen to 390, 36; in 85, after the incorporation of the greater part of Italy, to 963,000. Under Augustus (28 and 8 b.c. and a.d. 14) the figures were 4,063,000, 4,233,000, and 4,937,000; and the census of Claudius (a.d. 47) gave a return of 5,984,072 civium capita.”

The citizen had certain rights (iura), privileges (honores), and duties (munera) and these constituted its early political importance, an importance which eroded with the years and the coming of the principate. The ius provocationis (the appellatio, or appeal to Caesar) remained and was exploited by Paul. Among the duties was originally munus militare, or the obligation to serve in the army, but this disappeared. The vote or franchise (ius suffragii) became illusory under the principate. Senatorial honores could be expected only by the most eminent of provincial citizens. Certain civil rights of no mean value remained. The magistrates of Philippi were clearly alarmed to discover that they had imprisoned Rom. citizens without proper trial, and the centurion’s warning to Lysias revealed the serious concern in which the inviolability of a citizen was held. The same stories reveal the emerging importance of Rom. citizenship. In the six references involved, the word “Roman” is used for “Roman citizen,” and it is clear that the status was beginning to take shape as a symbol of imperial unity (Acts 16:37, 39; 22:25-27, 29).

The abstract term politeia occurred only in Lysias’ remark (22:28), but Paul uses the term politeuma for the Church’s spiritual citizenship or “commonwealth” (Phil 3:20), significantly applied to Philippi, a Rom. colony, with its provincial élite of citizenry. He exhorted the same people to “live as citizens worthy of the gospel” (1:27, original translation), using the cognate verb (politeuesthe).

Bibliography A. H. J. Greenidge, Roman Public Life (1896), 132-140; A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship (1939).