Over against the enemies of Christ’s death on the cross (v. 18), Paul sets the citizens of heaven. Notice the twofold contrast, they / we and world / heaven, in verses 19-20.
We, however, are citizens of heaven is literally “for our citizenship is in heaven.” The possessive pronoun “our” is in an emphatic position in Greek. The Greek particle often translated “for” has here an adversative force and introduces a contrast. “For” is not a natural connective with the previous verse. It is therefore best rendered as however, “by contrast” (New English Bible cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), or “but” (Goodspeed Revised Standard Version La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée).
The noun “citizenship” appears nowhere else in the New Testament, although its corresponding verb is used in 1.27 and in Acts 23.1. One possible meaning would be “our manner of life is in harmony with heaven,” but the majority of translators favor another meaning, for example, “commonwealth” (Goodspeed Revised Standard Version), “citizenship” (New English Bible), “homeland” (Jerusalem Bible). However, since the focus in the context is on people, some modern translations employ the term “citizens,” thus we … are citizens of heaven (Good News Translation Phillips New English Bible). It seems clear that Paul uses this political imagery to describe the fact that true Christians are temporary resident aliens here on the earth, but that they have their citizenship in the heavenly commonwealth (Eph 2.6, 19; Heb 12.22). It may be added that biblical writers often use heaven as a way of talking about God (Matt 3.2; 21.25; 22.2; Luke 5.18, 21, etc.). Consequently, we … are citizens of heaven can mean that our citizenship is of divine origin.
In order to show clearly the distinction between being citizens of heaven and doing those things which belong to this world, it is possible to translate we … are citizens of heaven as “we belong to heaven,” “our homeland is heaven,” “heaven is our native country,” or even “heaven is the place where we really belong.”
And we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven translates a Greek relative clause, literally “out of which also we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Since the relative pronoun traditionally rendered as “which” is singular, while heaven in Greek is plural, some commentators insist that the pronoun can refer only to “commonwealth.” This interpretation seems unnecessary, however, in view of the fact that the use of the plural number for heaven is a Semitism. Furthermore, “out of which” can be taken adverbially in the sense of “whence.” For this reason the majority of modern translators render explicitly from heaven (Phillips New English Bible Jerusalem Bible etc.).
The word rendered “wait” in a number of translations is a strong compound verb suggesting earnest expectation; it is often used in connection with the second coming of Christ (Rom 8.19, 23; 1 Cor 1.7; cf. Gal 5.5). This sense is reflected in several translations: eagerly wait (Good News Translation Phillips Barclay cf. Goodspeed New American Bible), “expect” (Bruce New English Bible).
Several aspects of the word Savior should be noted. First, it is in an emphatic position in the Greek text. Secondly, it is without a definite article, and therefore is to be understood in a descriptive sense, not a title of reference. The emphasis is thus on the role or capacity of the Savior (New English Bible “deliverer”) in his final return. Thirdly, it is a term rarely used as a title for Jesus in the New Testament. This infrequent use is probably due to the popular use of the same term in reference to the gods of the Greek religion and in emperor worship. It is quite possible that Paul deliberately uses Savior here to counter the claim of heathen emperor worshipers.
Since the focus here is on Jesus’ rule as Savior, the designation Lord Jesus Christ appears to serve only as a kind of proper name. But underlying this designation is an early Christological confession, “Jesus Christ is Lord” (see the discussion under 2.11).
Quoted with permission from Luo, I-Jin. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .