Sojourners in Babylon: Saint Peter and the State

Harry Wills on living in exile as citizens of God's Kingdom

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners (πάροικος) and exiles (παρεπίδημος), to abstain from worldly desires, which war against your being. (1Pe 2:11)

St Peter as Founder of the Church, Woodcut, 1460 - 70

Living in the world, under human authorities, and expecting the imminent destruction of worldly power at Judgment (1Pe 4:7; Da 2:44; Hag 2:22; 1Co 15:24), Peter identified Christians as paroikoi (foreigners, non-citizens) and parepidemoi (exiles, sojourners). In addition, he identifies Rome as Babylon (1Pe 5:13), a key indicator of his opinion of the empire. Babylon, a watchword for tyranny and oppression against God’s people, the land into which the Jews were sent into exile, was an apt analogy. The image invoked is that Christians under Roman rule are like the Jews exiled in Babylon, foreigners sojourning in an oppressive state. Peter himself highlights the tyranny of the human authorities in Acts 4:26-28, but the language of foreigners in an oppressive Babylon also invokes Christ’s warning that because you are not of the world (lit. world order, society), the world hates you… If they persecuted Me, you will also be persecuted. (Jn 15:19-20) A warning Peter restates in his advice to not be surprised at the fiery ordeal… but rejoice since you participate in the sufferings of Christ. (1Pe 4:12-13)

The world certainly hated them. From the outset the church was denounced as criminal and seditious. (1Pe 2:12, 15; 3:16) Some accusations, however, namely their refusal to participate in the imperial cult and state religion, were true and legitimate causes for concern to the Roman authorities since they undermined the basis of their power. Pliny the Younger, governor of Pontus and Bithynia, cites the desertion of the temples and refusal to worship the emperor as reason enough to torture and execute Christians in ca. 110 CE, but identifies no other sedition than their ‘stubbornness’, ‘vowing to do no harm to anyone’, and ‘gathering for simple meals’. Clearly the early Christians of Pontus and Bithynia, to whom Peter’s letter is addressed, followed his advice:

Keep such virtuous conduct among the pagans that, even when they denounce you as criminals, they might glorify God on the day of Inspection through the good works they have witnessed... But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear their threats... But revere Christ as Lord ... If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. (1Pe 2:12; 3:14; 4:16)

Like the Bithynian Christians who died in an act of defiant witness according to Christ's words, (Mt 10:18) Peter disobeyed the authorities repeatedly in defence of the faith and Peter invites disobedience when he twice declares: It is necessary to obey God, not human beings! (Ac 4:19; 5:28 -9) In doing so, Peter necessarily denies the legitimacy of human authority, reminding me of the words of Speratus, one of the Scillitan Martyrs executed in 180 CE:

The empire of this world I do not recognise; but rather I serve that God whom no man has seen nor can see with human eyes. I have not committed theft; if I buy anything, I pay the tax, because I recognise my Lord, the King of Kings, and Emperor of all nations.

Following this line of thought and remembering Peter’s advice to be as non-citizens abstaining from worldly desires, including, presumably, wealth and rank, we find Christians rejecting Roman sovereignty and precluded from participating in the state. Tertullian, in his Apology, expresses a sentiment similar to Peter’s: We, whom all the passion for glory and rank leave cold, have no need to combine [into a state]. Nothing is more foreign to us than the state. One state we recognise for all – the universe. We can also assume that Peter was intimately aware of the admonitions of scripture to not imitate the ways of the Gentiles in rejecting God’s sovereignty (Lev 20:23; Dt 18:9; Jdg 8:23; 1Sa 8:4-20) and Christ’s explicit prohibition of top-down authority. (Mt 20:25-27; Mk 10:42-44). In other words, we are God’s universal Holy Nation (1Pe 2:9) for whom there is one Lord. (1Pe 3:14; Ac 5:29)

Therefore, we might be left confused by this controversial passage:

Subordinate (ὑποτάσσω) yourselves, on account of the Lord, to every human being (ἀνθρώπινος κτίσις); whether to the king, as being superior, or to governors, who are sent by him, for retribution to criminals and praise to well-doers. (1Pe 2:13-14)

The above translation clears up some of the confusion left by traditional ones. Firstly, Peter does not say or intend obedience – which is ὑπακοή (hypakoe) or πειθαρχέω (peitharcheo), words which Peter reserves strictly for Christ or God (1Pe 1:2, 14, 22; Ac 4:19; 5:29). Rather, Peter chooses ὑποτάσσω (hypotasso), which literally means to place or arrange under. But to whom? Often, we see ‘to every human institution’ but this is neither accurate nor well attested in Greek literature. NT scholar Paul Achtemeier uses a more literal translation of every human creature, or human being, better complementing verse 17: Honour everyone, love the fellowship, fear God, honour the king. As Achtemeier notes, Peter’s careful and deliberate emphasis on human before listing the king and governors not only limits any subordination to the Roman authorities as equal to subordination to everyone, but also subversively strips the emperor of his divine claims, the basis of his authority. Rather than recognising human authorities, Peter is simply reiterating the obligation to love one another and love one’s enemies. (Mt 5:43-48; 1Pe 1:22; 3:8)

Peter’s strategy is summarised well by Petr Chelcický:

Men of faith do good without waiting to be compelled to it by laws… But let them remember that the true authority is only that of God. Only under that authority can they fully live the Beatitudes… Then the pagan power becomes irrelevant.

More could be said concerning Peter’s radical alternative to the state: leadership by good example, (1Pe 4:10 -11; 5:1-7) a model exemplified by Christ. (Mt 20:25 -27) However, I would like to leave space to mention how relevant Peter ’s imagery of sojourners in a hostile land is in Europe today. Refugees are denounced, their existence labelled illegal, they are harassed, dehumanised, imprisoned, and killed. They too seek to live peaceably, often blessing the country that persecutes them. They are God ’s children exiled to a new Babylon. We, as Christians sojourning in the world, must live in solidarity with them and Christians in authority must ask themselves some difficult questions about participation in the state. We mustn’t hope in politicians to save us (Psalm 146:3-5), rather we must take up the sufferings of the dispossessed ourselves because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps. (1Pe 2:21)

To Him be the glory and the power forever. Amen. (1Pe 5:11)

Harry Wills