The Bible and Immigration

The Bible and Immigration

A hot topic

Immigration has been a hot topic for my whole life.

Spending years growing up in the Midwest I’ve seen the shrinking of small towns with the shuttering of factories. I’ve seen farms shrink as people have moved to the cities. And in the middle of this I’ve seen a huge influx of Mexican/Hispanic workers move in taking the low income jobs no one else wanted.

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I watched constant tensions and hatred towards these Mexican families….many of them moved here illegally. When local people felt the loss of factory jobs they realized that these Mexican families were working some of the only other jobs available. So the question of immigration constantly came up.

Over the last four years we’ve seen a serious border problem with caravans of people flooding the southern border to get into the US. President Trump controversially ordered the construction of a border wall, President Biden immediately halted this construction.

Immigration is constantly a hot political topic.

It also makes for a heated discussion even in our own families.

It can be a short conversation

At first look and in many conversations, this is a short conversation that begins and ends with Romans 13.

Respect your country and don’t break your country’s laws.

Romans 13:1–7 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

For many believers they simply think the only immigration that is right is legal immigration respecting the laws of the country you are in.

People who break the law should be held accountable right?

Yes, they should.

Illegal immigration is wrong.

But haven’t Christians always held to the idea of higher laws as well?

Didn’t Christians spend the first hundred years after Jesus dying at the hand of the government because they couldn’t deny their Lord?

Didn’t Christians disobey Nazi laws to hide Jews…to save lives?

Don’t Christians in Iran, China and other countries go to jail rather than renounce their faith?

What about laws in process that want to force doctors and nurses to participate in abortions?

Christians have always submitted to the laws of the countries they live in……

…..unless these laws conflict with who they are as followers of Jesus.

Romans 13 is crucial in understanding our relationship with the government….

But it’s a starting point, not an end

The government’s job is to create policy.

The church has an obligation to care. To love.

Exodus 22:21 ESV

21 “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 23:9 ESV

9 “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Malachi 3:5 ESV

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

Matthew 25:35 ESV

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Deuteronomy 27:19 ESV

19 “ ‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Biblically borders were less arbitrary than they are today.

Take the Kurds for example. Modern borders split their nation into pieces. Historically their land would have been defined by their national identity, not land.

Israel was a nation of refugees through the vast majority of their history.

The United States is a nation built on ideas, not on identity.

Conclusion

As Christians we support the laws and law enforcement agencies of our government.

But unless we are an officer, or ICE agent, we don’t do their jobs.

As Christians in America we use our voice to shape laws and politicians.

By praying

By contacting elected officials.

Not by berating illegal immigrants or complaining about them on Facebook or in person.

We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves.

This means speaking and acting with love towards everyone we meet.

This means showing love even to an illegal immigrant family we meet who lives down the street.

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Currently the immigration system is damaged and overwhelmed.

What we can do to help in this crisis of immigration:

1: Become informed about issues related to immigration.

2: Formulate your thinking about what immigration policy should be. And act.

3: Pray

Third, pray.

Pray that we have an immigration policy that actually works, and that will be fair to those who have waited in line and followed immigration law, but also not close the door to people who are increasingly desperate when they're coming into our country.

https://www.crosswalk.com/special-coverage/immigration/what-does-the-bible-say-about-immigration.html

https://www.watermark.org/blog/what-does-the-bible-say-about-immigration

The bible and the current immigration crisis—thoughtful

https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/bible-immigration

Illegal immigration

https://www.gotquestions.org/illegal-immigration.html