Seek the Welfare of the City
This is the fifth chapter of a book in progress, with the working title “Be Not Afraid of Their Terror.” The first chapter is here:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
—Jeremiah 29:4-7
At the end of the 7th century BC, when God’s chosen people had turned so far away from Him that many worshiped the Baals and even sacrificed their children, He allowed His holy city, Jerusalem, to be conquered by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. Several years later, Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, refused to pay the required tribute and the Babylonian army laid siege to the city. There were few things more gruesome in the ancient world than a city siege. The goal was to cut off all supply lines and force the inhabitants to surrender or starve to death; cannibalism often broke out, and it did during the siege of Jerusalem, as had been prophesied (Jeremiah 19:9). Roughly ten years after Jeremiah wrote the above letter to those who had been taken into exile after the siege, the city would be destroyed.
Think about being on the receiving end of this letter. You’ve recently survived a brutal siege of the only home you’ve ever known, which you’ve been told from birth was God’s unassailable holy city—the priests and royalty you were raised to obey lied to you. You’ve likely seen people whom you love starve, and perhaps you’ve seen someone eating their own child to avoid death. When the city finally surrendered, it was plundered by the Babylonian army; men were slaughtered and their wives and daughters ravished. Lastly, the army captured and force marched you over five-hundred miles to a foreign city, where you now live in exile. After all of this, the prophet Jeremiah sends you a letter telling you that God requires you to seek the good of the civilization of your tormentors and captors.
Do you think you could be so dedicated to God as to follow those instructions? Can you think of a popular Christian on cable news, or with their own political podcast, instructing us to engage with our nation’s culture with at least a modicum of this mindset? Perhaps they would argue that this was a command only for those people in that place and time. If so, they would have to contend with the Apostle Peter, who, while referring to his location in the city of Rome as “Babylon” (1 Peter 5:13), wrote a letter to the “elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1), in which he told them:
Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
—1 Peter 2:13-17
Perhaps then one might say, “Those who are in charge are punishing good and praising evil, so we don’t have to obey.” Firstly, the overwhelming majority of Westerners’ daily interaction with the civil authority is of officials who “are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (Romans 13:3). Regardless, the very next thing Peter writes in his letter negates that argument: “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust” (1 Peter 2:18). The word translated as unjust is σκολιοῖς (skoliois: crooked, perverse, unfair), from which we get scoliosis. Though our English translations often have “servants” in both verses 16 and 18, the servant who is to obey the unjust master isn’t his slave (δοῦλοι, douloi), as in the “slaves of God” found in verse 16, but οἰκέται (oiketai), more like what we would call an indentured servant. We are to obey the temporary authorities God places over us, unless they explicitly insist we disobey the clear instructions of God, whom we are in a higher and deeper, eternal bondage to. Peter is telling Christians exiled in a foreign and hostile world—which includes us—to behave in a way that results in the physical welfare of that world.
It can be very difficult to cultivate such a mindset when it seems that the world is forever busy trying to minimize Christian influence and turn our children against our values, but that’s exactly what was going on in the places Peter was writing to, in what is now modern-day Turkey. Church tradition states that, around the same time this letter was written, the Apostle Philip was scourged and crucified in Phrygia, which lies right in the middle of the places Peter names—if you follow the later dating of more liberal theologians, the situation for Christians was even worse. No matter how bad the current Western predicament, your pastor wasn’t dragged from the pulpit and crucified by the government this week. And yet that was the very environment in which Peter told Christians to “put to silence the ignorance of foolish people” by doing good and “honor[ing] the emperor.” While it’s of great importance that you share the gospel with your neighbor, it’s just as important that you live the gospel in their presence. This means proactively seeking their material well-being too. Jesus makes this clear in the Sermon on the Mount:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
—Matthew 5:43-48
How does God treat His enemies? He gives them the same material benefits of His creation that He gives His adopted children (Matthew 6:31-32). What does He require of you? That you seek to model your life after His example. This is nonnegotiable, but to “seek the good of people who hate you” can be a nebulous concept. Exemplifying this is another commandment Jesus gave along similar lines, when he said, “And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well” (Matthew 5:40). If your initial inclination is to think, “Yeah, but…”, remember that Jesus carried this concept all the way to Calvary, where He bore all of the things you’ve done that are worse than taking a tunic, and paid the debt in full, on your behalf. If you really believe that, Whom are you to emulate?
One of the best explanations of the practical application of this instruction from Jesus comes from John Calvin’s commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. It serves as a reminder that, while living in a society with recognition of individual rights, which we can make use of, the Christian is ultimately held to a higher standard.
Christ now glances at another kind of annoyance, and that is, when wicked men torment us with law-suits. He commands us, even on such an occasion, to be so patient and submissive that, when our coat has been taken away, we shall be prepared to give up our cloak also. None but a fool will stand upon the words, so as to maintain, that we must yield to our opponents what they demand, before coming into a court of law: for such compliance would more strongly inflame the minds of wicked men to robbery and extortion; and we know, that nothing was farther from the design of Christ. What then is meant by giving the cloak to him who endeavors, on the ground of a legal claim, to take away our coat? If a man, oppressed by an unjust decision, loses what is his own, and yet is prepared, when it shall be found necessary, to part with the remainder, he deserves not less to be commended for patience than the man who allows himself to be twice robbed before coming into court. In short, when Christians meet with one who endeavors to wrench from them a part of their property, they ought to be prepared to lose the whole.1
It’s easy to mistakenly come to the conclusion that the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14) must be at some extreme ends of ascetic or indulgent behavior; the world is full of Christian pundits who insist that we must either let the world in or completely shut it out. What Calvin shows in his interpretation of the commandment is the truth that the Christlike answer to most situations lies in rejecting both extremes and instead resolving to simply be a reasonable human being who is willing to put the well-being of others first, should it be necessary. You should not be so permissive as to invite people to wrong you, but neither should you be so attached to outcomes that you cannot accept being wronged. Likewise, you should not assist people in committing sin, but you should still daily seek the common good of unrepentantly sinful people.
In a day and age where we are besieged by messaging that aims to force us into categorizing every human being as either friend or enemy, do not the teachings of Christ on a hilltop two millennia ago still stand as something boldly unique and separate from all such notions? Unique and separate is, by the very definition of the word, what it means to be holy. Peter, quoting Leviticus 11:44, wrote to our brothers and sisters living only one generation after that sermon. They were men and women who, like us, were facing very uncertain times and existed among a society that very much did not like their way of life.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
—1 Peter 1:14-19
Whatever you do, don’t forget Who ransomed you, how you were His enemy when He did it (Romans 5:6-11), and in what way He now requires you treat your enemies.
John Calvin, Commentary on Matthew, Mark, Luke, [on Matthew 5:40]