By C. Robert Wetzel
“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul” (1 Peter 2:11, New International Version ©1984).
Many people are convinced of the existence of intelligent life-forms from other planets. Aliens from outer space are a staple in numerous films and television programs. These aliens may take the form of benevolent explorers or, more likely, evil invaders. But according to the apostle Peter, we need not look to outer space for aliens. We can find them in the church.
In the summer of 1973, my wife and I found ourselves camping in an English farmer”s field with seven Milligan College students. We had been traveling for five weeks on what was called the “Humanities Tour of Europe.”
As some will remember, patriotism wasn”t seen as a virtue on college and university campuses in the early 1970s. But after seeing the way the rest of the world lived for more than a month, our students had become very patriotic.
In fact, as we completed our tour of England, it occurred to us that it was the Fourth of July. The students were a tad miffed the English were not celebrating it as a national holiday. And thus, the students announced that, after getting settled in camp that evening, we were going to have a “mile-long Fourth of July parade.”
After the evening meal, they set out two camp stools for my wife and me, while they went around to the other side of the van to prepare the parade. Soon they came marching by us as a fife and drum corps. One student”s head was bandaged and he was dragging his leg. Under the circumstances, it was a pretty good imitation of “The Spirit of “76.” They then rushed around behind the van and prepared themselves for the next segment of the parade. This time they pretended to be a float, with one of the girls posing as the Statue of Liberty. And so the parade went on””very creative and very noisy.
Fortunately there was only one other camping vehicle in the field with us. An older English couple was in their little caravan about 100 feet away. After the parade, two of our girls thought they should go over and apologize for the noise we had been making.
The woman responded, “Oh that”s quite all right. We rather enjoyed it. At first we didn”t know what you were doing. Then we realized you were celebrating the day we gave you your independence.”
Just Passing Through
This English woman”s remark was a good reminder of how much history and national identity can be a matter of cultural perspective. After all, we were the visitors to that country. We were just passing through. We were the aliens. At the time, I could hardly have known that in just seven years my wife and I would be moving to England to begin a mission work with our sister churches in the United Kingdom. We were then to become, in Peter”s words, the paroikous, that is, residents in a country other than our own.
When we settled in the city of Birmingham, one of the first things we had to do was register with the police as “resident aliens.” There it was, stamped on our identity cards: “Aliens.” And, once a year for the first few years we were there, two courteous policemen would come to our home to check our alien identification papers. No matter how long we lived there, and no matter how much we identified with British culture, these papers would remind us that we were not actually British; we were only resident aliens.
The experience of being a resident alien is helpful in understanding the Christian”s relationship with his or her country. The apostle Peter calls the Christians to whom he writes “aliens and strangers.” And, in fact, the entire Epistle of First Peter gives us a helpful picture of the tenuous relationship between Christians and the countries they called home.
Strangers in the World
Peter begins his letter by addressing his Christian readers as the “strangers in the world” (1 Peter 1:1, NIV ©1984). Just as the Jewish nation had been exiled and scattered, Christians now see themselves as strangers in a world that knows not the Christ. Whereas Old Testament Jews longed to return to a physical place, Jerusalem, Christians are now at home in a spiritual country. They are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God”s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9).
Yes, Christians are scattered in various countries, and they have obligations to those countries. They need to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar”s, but their first citizenship is in the kingdom of God, and their obligation is to render unto God that which is God”s.
Since God has chosen us as a royal priesthood and made us a holy nation that belongs to him, we need to live out the implications of that citizenship. As verse 9 indicates, we are to “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We praise him simply because he is God, and we praise him out of thanksgiving. He is the God who brought us from darkness to light, from loneliness and isolation to the fellowship of his church, from a fear of judgment and condemnation to a state of mercy and grace.
Not only are we a people of praise, we are also a people who are urged to abstain from sinful desires. Peter gives us two good reasons for doing so. Reason one, sinful desires war against our souls. Nothing should be more obvious! Life itself gives us daily examples of people who are plunged into misery or plunge others into misery because they yield to sinful desires.
Cravings for money, power, or illicit sex are forms of idolatry in which we are inclined to sacrifice all else, be it family, friends, or even personal welfare. Peter wants his readers to be victorious in this warfare between sinful desires and what we have in Christ.
The second reason for abstaining from sinful desires is because of the shame it will bring upon the Christian community. Peter says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12). Two things are at stake here: God”s glory and the salvation of those outside of Christ. The greatest evangelistic force the church can have is a body of believers living out the gospel in its worship and its quality of life. The greatest distraction to God”s glory is the shame brought upon the body of Christ by the moral failure of Christians.
Subject to Authority
But if we are, in fact, aliens and strangers in this world, what do we make of our American citizenship? How then do we celebrate the Fourth of July? It would seem that Peter anticipated a similar question in the minds of his readers. In verses 13-17 he considers the Christian”s obligation to his or her country.
Occasionally there arise Christian groups who have no trouble seeing themselves as aliens and strangers, but who use this understanding as an excuse to deny the authority of the state. And yet it is clear throughout the New Testament that believers are told to submit to the authority of the country in which they reside. Although we are aliens and strangers in this world, Peter is quick to add, “Submit yourselves for the Lord”s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right” (1 Peter 2:13, 14).
Granted, there were times when government officials used their authority to command specific acts that were contrary to Christian practice. And in such cases, the proper response was, “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (Acts 5:29). These are also the strong and refreshing words of Peter, a man who not too long before had denied his Lord.
Some discernment is obviously necessary. Because we are Christians, we cannot pick and choose which laws we will obey simply on the basis of personal taste and advantage. And yet I think of a church in a country that “tolerated” Christianity, but forbade Christians to evangelize. Christians were even forbidden to invite their non-Christian friends to a church service. But they could invite people to a church wedding. The Christians simply laced their wedding services with two or three strong evangelistic sermons. (Yes, I did say two or three, but that is another story).
Whether in an anti-Christian totalitarian country or in a highly secularized Western democracy, Christians may well find themselves to be aliens. It may not always be a pleasant thing, but ultimately it is good to be an alien.
C. Robert Wetzel is retired chancellor of Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Johnson City, Tennessee.Â
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