How should Christians live as exiles in their own culture?
Exile is the right picture for the Christian life, and it is not a defeat. Peter addresses his readers as foreigners living in the Dispersion, and he tells them to do two things at once: abstain from the desires that war against the soul, and live so well among their neighbors that slander turns into glory to God. Jeremiah told the exiles in Babylon to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the city's peace, because their welfare was bound up with it. So Christians neither conquer the culture, nor flee it, nor melt into it. They bless it, stay distinct where God has spoken, expect hostility without surprise, and keep their hope fixed on the city that is coming.
This question arose from studying Why did God send His people into exile? and How does the old story reach Jesus?.
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Exile is the right picture, and it is not a defeat
Peter writes “to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion,” and calls them “foreigners and pilgrims.” Hebrews describes the faithful as people who “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” and Paul says flatly, “our citizenship is in heaven.” Jeremiah's letter to Babylon assumed a long stay, not a quick exit. Being a resident alien is normal Christianity, not a crisis, and it is the posture Scripture expects us to hold for as long as we are here.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
Settle in and seek the city's good, because your peace is bound up with its peace
God did not tell the exiles to sabotage Babylon or to hide from it. He told them, “Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit,” and then gave the command that shapes Christian civic life: “Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.” He added that His thoughts toward them were “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.” Daniel lived this out: he rose to govern the whole province of Babylon while his windows stayed open toward Jerusalem.
Build houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit.
Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Yahweh, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon.
When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.
Be distinct where God has spoken, and stay in the room everywhere else
Daniel drew one clear line: “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties.” Yet he did not withdraw. He learned the language and literature, served in the administration, and God gave him “knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.” Jesus prays the same balance over His people: “I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.” Paul never asked the Corinthians to leave the world, only to stop being ruled by it. Exiles are not called to be strange where God has not spoken, but they must be unmistakable where He has.
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world.
Do good, submit where you can, and answer with hope rather than hostility
Peter's strategy is not protest but goodness: “having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God.” He says that “by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men,” and he compresses the ethic into four commands: “Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” When hostility comes anyway, the response is neither fear nor counterattack: “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear.” He grants that suffering may come, and simply says “it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.”
having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:
For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil.
Keep your eyes on the city that is coming
The exile posture only makes sense with a destination in view. Hebrews says the pilgrims were “seeking a country of their own,” and that “they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Jesus told His people they are “the light of the world,” and that “a city located on a hill can’t be hidden.” So live, Peter says, “in reverent fear” during “the time of your living as foreigners.” We are not home yet, and that is precisely why we can love this place deeply without needing it to be heaven.
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:
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What does it mean that the world hates Jesus?→Jesus Christ trail“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”How do I share my faith with others?→Our Walk with Him trail“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:”Why do I need the church?→The Church trail“Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Yahweh for it; for in its peace you shall have peace.
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:
For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
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