Thayer's
STRONGS NT 4176: πολιτεύωπολιτεύω: middle (cf.
Winer's Grammar, 260 (244)), present imperative 2 person plural
πολιτεύεσθε; perfect
πεπολίτευμαι; (
πολίτης);
1. to be a citizen (Thucydides, Xenophon, Lysias, Polybius, others).
2. to administer civil affairs, manage the state (Thucydides, Xenophon).
3. to make or create a citizen (Diodorus 11, 72); middle a. to be a citizen; so in the passages from Philo and the Ep. ad Diogn. cited in πολίτευμα, 3.
b. to behave as a citizen; to avail oneself of or recognize the laws; so from Thucydides down; in Hellenistic writings to conduct oneself as pledged to some law of life: ἀξίως τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, Philippians 1:27 (R. V. text let your manner of life be worthy of etc.); ἀξίως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, Polycarp, ad Philip. 5, 2 [ET]; ἀξίως τοῦ Θεοῦ, Clement of Rome, 1 Cor. 21, 1 [ET]; ὁσίως, ibid. 6, 1 [ET]; κατά τό καθῆκον τῷ Χριστῷ, ibid. 3, 4 [ET]; μετά φοβοῦ καί ἀγάπης, ibid. 51, 2 [ET]; ἐννόμως, Justin Martyr, dialog contra Trypho,
c. 67; ἠρξάμην πολιτεύεσθαι τῇ Φαρισαίων ἁιρεσει κατακολουθῶν, Josephus, Vita2; other phrases are cited by Grimm on 2 Macc. 6:1; τῷ Θεῷ, to live in accordance with the laws of God, Acts 23:1 (A. V. I have lived etc.).
