Alien (3927) parepidemois by Greek Word Studies

Reside as aliens (3927) (parepidemos from para = near by and here implies a transitory sense describing one who passes near but on to something beyond + epidemos = stranger, epidemos from epi = in or among + demos = a people) Parepidemos is used 3 times in the NT (Heb 11:13; 1Pet 1:1; 2:11) and is translated in NAS as exiles, 1; reside as aliens, 1; strangers, 1. KJV translates it twice as "pilgrim". Parepidemos literally means a stranger alongside and so a stranger or sojourner. This person is not simply one who is passing through, but a foreigner who has settled down, however briefly, next to or among the native people. What a picture of the believer in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation! Parepidemos describes one who makes a brief stay in a strange or foreign place, who sojourns (stays as a temporary resident) or who resides temporarily among a native people to whom he or she does not belong. The parepidemos did not expect to be regarded as a native of the place he resided. Beloved are you becoming too comfortable and too familiar with this evil world system which is "devolving" and corrupting almost daily before our very eyes (and ears)? Remember that you are an "alien". Two cognate words (words related by derivation), parepidemeo and parepidemia, are used in inscriptions in connection with civil servants who distinguish themselves for exemplary conduct while on international duty. Vincent writes that parepidemos refers to "Persons sojourning for a brief season in a foreign country. Though applied primarily to Hebrews scattered throughout the world (Ge 23:4; Ps 39:12 [see Spurgeon's comment] parepidemos is used in Greek of both these OT passages), it has here a wider, spiritual sense, contemplating Christians as having their citizenship in heaven." (Vincent, M. R. Word studies in the New Testament. Vol. 1, Page 3-628) In chapter two Peter uses parepidemos to exhort his readers Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to (continually) abstain from fleshly lusts (sensual urges, passions of your lower nature), which (continually) wage war against the soul. (1Pe 2:11-note) (Note: The Christian life is a continual war, not a casual cake walk!) In the last use of parepidemos in the NT the writer of Hebrews referring to the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) records that " All these died in faith (controlled and sustained by their faith, cp He 11:1-note), without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers (xenos) and exiles (parepidemos) on the earth." (He 11:13-note) For the person of faith, God’s promise is as good as the reality. His promise of the glory ahead (cp Titus 2:13-note was as encouraging and certain to the patriarchs as actually possessing it could have been. They were exiles or refugees in their own Promised Land. They refused the temptation and urge to settle down and become comfortable in this present world (Gal 1:4). Their desire was to pass through the world without taking any of its character upon themselves, knowing that this world and even its lusts is passing away (1Jn 2:17-note). Their hearts were set on pilgrimage described by the psalmist below. These faithful patriarchs were passing through the promised land of Canaan to a better land. Let all God's faithful family continually refuse the lure of the passing pleasures the sins of this world have to offer and continually seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (Mt 6:33-note). The psalmist speaks of this "alien mindset" declaring How blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee. In whose heart are the highways to Zion! (Ps 84:5) (See Spurgeon's comment) Martyred missionary Jim Elliot was such a man of faith once declaring the powerful truth that... He is no fool to give what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. It was when Lot stopped being a sojourner, and became a resident in Sodom (Ge 13:1-18), that he lost his consecration and his testimony and everything he lived for went up in smoke! (Ge 19:1-29) Keep reminding yourself that you are residing as an alien in this present evil age and do not be conformed to (poured into the mold of) this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Ro 12:2-note) I’m a Pilgrim (Maxwell) I’m a pilgrim and a stranger, Rough and thorny is the road, Often in the midst of danger, But it leads to God. Clouds of darkness oft distress me; Great and many are my foes; Anxious cares and thoughts oppress me; But my Father knows. Oh, how sweet is this assurance, ’Midst the conflict and the strife, Although sorrows past endurance Follow me through life. Home in prospect can still cheer me: Yes, and give me sweet repose, While I feel His presence near me, For my Father knows. Yes, He sees and knows me daily, Watches over me in love; Sends me help when foes assail me, Bids me look above. Soon my journey shall be ended, Life is drawing to a close; I shall then be well attended— This my Father knows. I shall then with joy behold Him; Face to face my Savior see; Fall with rapture, and adore Him For His love to me. Nothing more shall then distress me— In the land of sweet repose: Jesus stands engaged to bless me— This my Father knows. Peter's point in using parepidemos is that God's saints are just passing through -- our future and our hope is in a city not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2Co 5:1). Consequently we need to live our lives with a song in our heart, especially a song like the little chorus we used to sing in Sunday School... This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through, My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. God wants His "chosen out ones" to live like it (like they're chosen out of this world which is passing away) and to focus their spirit, soul, heart and mind on the world to come. This does not mean that we become so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good but it does mean that we hold lightly the things of this world and continually seek "the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." (Col 3:1-note) Spiritual Christians keep themselves “loosely attached” to this world because they live for something and Someone far better. We need to remember that our stay on earth is temporary until they were called "to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (He 12:22-note). Webster says an "alien" is one "belonging to another person & place", a good description of believers who are not their own and don't call this world their home. Christians should be different, not odd. When you are different, you attract people; when you are odd, you repel them. The saint should understand that although he or she is just "passing through" and this world which is not our home, it does not suggest that we are to withdraw from the world. What this great truth does mean is that the sojourning saint should view all circumstances and all people in the light of eternity. The way we think about eternity will determine the importance we attach to people and things. It is true that as a man thinks in his heart, so he (or she) is and so will his conduct be. It is because a saint sees all things in the light of eternity that he is the best of all citizens, for it is only in the light of eternity that the true values of anything can be measured. Note that the NIV translates parepidemos as "strangers" but this should not be taken to mean that saints are not well known by their neighbors, but rather that their status is those who no longer are a native part of the world scene "for our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." (see notes Philippians 3:20; 3:21) Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. (He 13:13, 14-notes) Peter's understanding of the Christian life as that of an "sojourner" is beautifully illustrated in an early anonymous Christian work, Epistle to Diognetus "Christians...reside in their respective countries, but only as aliens. They take part in everything as citizens and put up with everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their home, and every home a foreign land...They find themselves in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their days on earth, but hold a citizenship in heaven." Spurgeon gives an interesting picture of how aliens should live "Imagine that you are in a round tower with slits in the walls used for shooting through with guns. Now imagine that you are whirled around the inner circumference. Would you appreciate the beauties of the surrounding landscape? No. But there are openings in the wall. Yes, but your eyes are set for objects near and do not have the time to adjust to distance as you are whirled past the slits. It would be as if the wall were solid. So it is with earthly living. The near and earthly wall obstructs the view. An occasional slit is left open, perhaps a Sunday sermon or personal Bible reading. Heaven might be seen through these, but the eye which is set for the earthly cannot adjust itself to higher things during such momentary glimpses. So long has the soul looked upon the world, that when it is turned for a moment heavenward, it feels only a quiver of inarticulate light. Unless you pause and look steadfastly, you will not see or retain any distinct impression of the things which are eternal." Wherever a Jew settled, his eyes were always towards Jerusalem. In foreign countries his synagogues were so built that, when the worshipper entered, he was facing towards Jerusalem. However useful a citizen of his adopted country the Jew was, his greatest loyalty was to Jerusalem. What a lesson for believers today. We should recognize ourselves as temporary residents of the world on their way to their eternal home. Our eyes should be constantly drawn to our "heavenly Jerusalem" (He 12:22-note). It's amazing how the world's glitter fades when we begin to make it our habit to continually set our minds on the things above and not on the things on the earth (Col 3:1, 2, 3-see notes Col 3:1; 3:2; 3:3) From a practical standpoint especially for you men out there who may be tempted from time to time by the lure of the seductive "secret" sensuality so readily accessible on the internet - there is a computer program that you need to examine. It is called "Covenant Eyes" and it actually monitors & records (at a central location) all your "pages visited" and shares that information with an accountability partner you have selected. Men, if this is not an issue with you that's fine but if it is and you're serious about living as a "sojourner" who is setting your mind on the things above, I highly recommend that you examine this relatively inexpensive program by click here (I receive no compensation). ><>><>><> J C Philpot in his work "Pearls" has a note entitled "Strangers!" (Aliens) and introducing his thoughts with a question worth pondering... What makes the children of God so strange? The grace of God which calls them out of this wretched world. Every man who carries the grace of God in his bosom is necessarily, as regards the world, a stranger in heart, as well as in profession, and life. As Abraham was a stranger in the land of Canaan; as Joseph was a stranger in the palace of Pharaoh; as Moses was a stranger in the land of Egypt; as Daniel was a stranger in the court of Babylon; so every child of God is separated by grace, to be a stranger in this ungodly world. And if indeed we are to come out from it and to be separate, the world must be as much a strange place to us; for we are strangers to . . . its views, its thoughts, its desires, its prospects, its anticipations, in our daily walk, in our speech, in our mind, in our spirit, in our judgment, in our affections. We will be strangers from . . . the world's company, the world's maxims, the world's fashions, the world's spirit. "They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (see note Hebrews 11:13) "I am a stranger with you and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." Psalm 39:12 "I am but a stranger here on earth." Psalm 119:19 (Spurgeon's Note) The main character of a child of God is that he is a stranger upon earth. One of the first effects of the grace of God upon our soul was to separate us from the world, and make us feel ourselves strangers in it. The world was once our home—the active, busy center of all our thoughts, desires, and affections. But when grace planted imperishable principles of life in our bosom, it at once separated us from the world in heart and spirit, if not in actual life and walk. We are strangers inwardly and experimentally, by the power of divine grace making this world a wilderness to us. (J. C. Philpot. Pearls). ><>><>><> SCATTERED THROUGHOUT: diasporas: (Dt 28:64; 32:26; Est 3:8; Ps 44:11; Jn 7:35; Jn 11:52; Jas 1:1)

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Alien (3927) parepidemois

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