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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas

The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.

Roman citizenship

In the eastern provinces few people outside the colonies were citizens of Rome. A citizen could not be beaten or chained without trial, could appeal to Caesar, and outranked almost everyone around him.

Greek and Roman worldKings, rulers and courts

First, in plain English

The officer was about to have him whipped, until he showed the passport that said he was one of them. Being a citizen of Rome was a rare privilege in the eastern provinces. You could be born to it, be freed by a Roman master, live in a Roman colony, earn it in the army or by service, and under some emperors you could buy it. A citizen could not be beaten or chained without a trial and could ask for his case to go to Caesar. Lying about it could cost you your life.

What it meant then

In this period Roman citizenship in the provinces marked high status, and the cultural backgrounds notes call it very rare in the East outside the colonies. Keener lists the ways in. A man could be born to a Roman father, belong to a colony, be discharged from the auxiliary army, or belong to a local aristocracy Rome had honored. Most commonly, after birth in Rome or a colony, he could be freed by a Roman owner. Some bought it with bribes, which was common under Claudius, and being born a citizen ranked higher. The Porcian and Julian laws forbade binding or beating a citizen without trial, and even chaining an untried citizen was illegal. The CSB Study Bible adds exemption from crucifixion. A claim had to be honored before it could be checked. It was checked against records in the citizen's home city, or against the small wooden tablets some carried like a passport. Keener writes, "Falsely claiming citizenship was a capital offense." Magistrates who abused a citizen could lose their office. Wright notes that officials remembered Cicero's prosecution of Verres, whose crowning fault was crucifying a Roman citizen. The protection was not always honored. Josephus tells how the governor Florus had Jerusalem men of equestrian rank whipped and crucified, "although they were by birth Jews, yet were they of Roman dignity notwithstanding." Citizenship of a Greek city such as Tarsus was a local honor and did not make a man Roman. In many cities settled foreigners stayed resident aliens for generations. They had no vote but ranked above newcomers, and most Jewish communities held that status. Wright and Bird note that Paul never mentions his Roman citizenship in his letters.

The bridge to today

An analogy: a traveler under arrest abroad who produces a diplomatic passport. The guards who were rough a minute ago start worrying about their careers, because they have mistreated someone the law protects.

What it changes in the reading

Citizenship explains why magistrates who beat Paul without trial come to apologize in Acts 16:37-39 and why a tribune halts a flogging in Acts 22:25-29. Paul tells believers in a Roman colony, in Philippians 3:20, that their citizenship is in heaven.

Where the analogy breaks

Not immunity from arrest or trial. A diplomatic passport puts its holder beyond local law. A Roman citizen could still be held and tried; what he gained was freedom from binding, beating or crucifixion without trial, and even that was not always honored.

Where scholars disagree

How Paul's family became citizens. The cultural backgrounds notes suggest ancestors freed from slavery in Rome; Keener, special service to Rome or freedom granted by a well-to-do Roman; the CSB Study Bible, an ancestor's service, perhaps making tents for the army. Wright and Bird say no one can tell, though a Judean captive later freed is one possibility. Why Paul waited to speak at Philippi is read two ways: Keener sees a strategy that left the magistrates in the wrong; the cultural backgrounds notes suggest Paul and Silas may not have expected the illegality to be taken seriously there. Third, what heavenly citizenship in Philippians 3:20 implies. Keener and his notes stress that the Philippians knew what it was to be citizens of a supreme city they had never seen; Wright and Bird stress that citizens of Rome were agents of Roman civilization where they lived, not people waiting to retire to the mother city.

Passages where it appears

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-16-25-40\/","n":"Acts 16:25-40, The jailer and the Roman citizens","s":"At midnight an earthquake opens the prison. The jailer, about to kill himself, believes with his household; next day Paul reveals that he and Silas are Roman citizens beaten without trial, and the magistrates come to apologize.","r":"Acts 16:25-40"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-22-22-29\/","n":"Acts 22:22-29, A Roman citizen under the lash","s":"When Paul speaks of his mission to the Gentiles, the crowd erupts again. The tribune orders him examined by flogging, until Paul asks the centurion whether it is lawful to flog an uncondemned Roman citizen.","r":"Acts 22:22-29"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-25-1-12\/","n":"Acts 25:1-12, Festus and the appeal to Caesar","s":"The new governor Festus hears the case again at Caesarea. When he asks whether Paul will be tried in Jerusalem, Paul appeals to Caesar, and after conferring with his council Festus grants it.","r":"Acts 25:1-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2corinthians-11-16-33\/","n":"2 Corinthians 11:16-33, The fool's boast and the basket over the wall","s":"Forced to boast like a fool, Paul matches his rivals' Jewish credentials and then lists sufferings instead of achievements: lashes, rods, stoning, shipwreck, the dangers of the road, hunger and cold, and a night escape down the wall of Damascus.","r":"2 Corinthians 11:16-33"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/ephesians-2-11-22\/","n":"Ephesians 2:11-22, The dividing wall torn down, and a new temple","s":"Paul reminds Gentile believers that they were once far off, shut out of Israel's citizenship and covenants, and tells them Christ has broken down the dividing wall and built Jews and Gentiles into one household and one temple.","r":"Ephesians 2:11-22"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-1-12-26\/","n":"Philippians 1:12-26, Chains known to the whole palace guard","s":"Paul tells how his imprisonment has carried the gospel through the palace guard and made other preachers bolder, some from rivalry, then weighs living against dying and expects to stay on for their sake.","r":"Philippians 1:12-26"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-1-27-30\/","n":"Philippians 1:27-30, Live as citizens, contend like athletes","s":"Paul tells a church in a Roman colony to conduct itself as citizens worthy of the gospel, standing firm and striving together, unafraid of opponents, in the same struggle they once saw him face.","r":"Philippians 1:27-30"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philippians-3-12-4-1\/","n":"Philippians 3:12-4:1, The race, citizens of heaven, and a Savior from there","s":"Paul pictures himself as a runner straining toward the prize, warns against those whose god is their stomach, and reminds a Roman colony that its citizenship is in heaven, from where it awaits a Savior who will transform its lowly bodies.","r":"Philippians 3:12-4:1"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1peter-1-1-12\/","n":"1 Peter 1:1-12, To the exiles of the dispersion","s":"Peter writes to God's chosen exiles scattered through five provinces of Asia Minor, blesses God for a new birth into a living hope and an inheritance kept in heaven, and tells them their trials test their faith as fire tests gold. The prophets searched for this salvation, and angels long to look into it.","r":"1 Peter 1:1-12"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1peter-1-13-25\/","n":"1 Peter 1:13-25, Minds girded, foreigners, and the lamb","s":"Peter calls his readers to be ready and sober, holy as God is holy, and to live as foreigners in reverent fear, since they were ransomed not with silver or gold but with the blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish. Born again of imperishable seed, the living word, they must love one another deeply.","r":"1 Peter 1:13-25"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1peter-2-11-17\/","n":"1 Peter 2:11-17, Foreigners among the nations; honor the emperor","s":"As foreigners and exiles the readers must keep their conduct good among the Gentiles, who slander them as wrongdoers. They are to submit to every human authority, the emperor and his governors, and so silence ignorant talk; they are free people, but slaves of God. Honor everyone, love the believers, fear God, honor the emperor.","r":"1 Peter 2:11-17"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-20-1-6\/","n":"Revelation 20:1-6, Satan bound and the thousand years","s":"An angel with the key to the Abyss and a great chain seizes the dragon, binds him for a thousand years and seals him in the Abyss so that he cannot deceive the nations. Those beheaded for their witness, who refused the beast and its mark, come to life and reign with Christ for the thousand years, the first resurrection, over which the second death has no power.","r":"Revelation 20:1-6"}

Sources

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 16:37, 16:38, 21:39, 22:24-25, 22:28 and 22:29
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 16:22, 16:37, 16:38-39, 21:39, 22:26-27, 22:28 and 22:29, and on Philippians 3:20
ESV Study Bible, study notes on Acts 16:37, 22:25 and 22:28
CSB Study Bible, notes on Acts 16:37 and 22:26-28
N. T. Wright, Paul: A Biography, ch. 7, Into Europe
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 15, The Story of Paul's Life and Ministry
Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 2.14.9, trans. William Whiston
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Ephesians 2:19
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Philippians 1:19, 1:27 and 3:20
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Philippians 1:25 and 1:27
N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 19, Philippians, The Argument of Philippians, section 5
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on 1 Peter 1:17
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on 1 Peter 1:17

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