When I traveled to Turkey a few years ago, I annoyed my traveling party by gawking at the ancient Greek inscriptions. I spent hours working to decipher what these marble carvings said. 

Most of the Greek I read is in the New Testament. In the inscriptions, I encountered several words unfamiliar to me. But one appeared again and again that I could identify easily: ­“savior” (sōtēr).

As a reader of the Greek New Testament, I was surprised to see the contexts for the term “savior” in the inscriptions. In the majority of cases, the term referred to a political figure — often the emperor in power at the time. 

These marble inscriptions were lauding politicians as saviors.

As the United States is embroiled in political rhetoric leading up to a presidential election, it is tempting to succumb to similar thinking. We can slip from seeing our preferred candidate as a good choice to imagining him or her as a savior. It’s tempting to think that if we just defeat Candidate X and elect Candidate Y, we will be saved from disaster. 

We might not be that different from the ancient Greeks.

The Apostle Paul has words of wisdom for his ancient audience and for us. He writes, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). 

The word “citizenship” alone might tip us off to the political undertone of Paul’s words. Knowing the political contexts in which the word “savior” was used makes this undertone all the more clear. 

The earthly empire and its “savior,” the emperor, were the undisputed centers of political power. It would be tantamount to treason to suggest anything to the contrary. 

Paul’s message, though, does just that. 

Paul undermines the earthly empire’s claims to power in several ways. 

Although many translations of Philippians 3:20 render the opening words as “our citizenship,” this phrase can be translated just as accurately as “our government” or “our state.” The word Paul uses here is the same term the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle used to refer to the government generally. 

In other words, while Paul’s contemporaries would have pointed to Rome as the place of their government, Paul points to heaven.

Likewise, Paul upends the idea of where one ought to look for a savior. While the political wisdom and public inscriptions pointed to the emperor as savior, Paul identifies another figure: Jesus. Only Jesus is the true savior.

In our time, badmouthing a politician might earn nasty glances. For Paul, this subversive speech could have cost him his life. His claims about the government of heaven and the saving power of Jesus were not empty platitudes. They were potentially fatal remarks.

Despite the risk, Paul proclaimed what he knew to be true: Jesus is the one true ruler. His kingdom is the one true authority. No matter how dangerous the earthly politics of his day might have been, Paul declared his allegiance to the heavenly kingdom alone.

How might we learn from Paul’s example today? How might Paul’s boldness in proclaiming the power of Christ’s kingdom influence our relationship to the political turmoil that surrounds us?

While partisan news media outlets try to convince us that the success of our preferred candidate is the only thing that can save us from disaster, Paul’s words to the Philippians tell a different story. For those of us who claim our citizenship in heaven, the success of any earthly politician is incidental in the grand scheme. 

Our savior-in-chief does not come from a ­political party. Our hope is in the ­savior of the world whose power ­surpasses that of any politician.