Who Should Help Aliens & Sojourners? (Immigration, Part 3)

Russell Watkins/Department for International Development/flickr/license

Our Peculiar Motivations

Emotions run crazy as we consider what should be done about immigrants to America. Many conservatives, Christians included, are in wild-eyed fear with the thought of any more immigrants, what the Bible calls aliens and strangers, crossing our borders. They identify real, or supposedly real, dangers of an Islamic invasion or of importing terrorists or criminals. On the other hand, political and religious liberals seem almost entirely unconcerned about these issues. They seem to want the gates thrown open and do not care that a wholesale overthrow of American culture may be in the works because of it. Some of them may prefer the overthrow of our (now weak-kneed) Christian culture by an alien religion and law. Perhaps it is better to risk Sharia law than a resurgence of biblical law under a reviving Christian order. Not everyone, not even all Christians, seek justice according to God’s revealed and written law. Our motivations can be mixed and difficult to fully understand (and disturbingly, sometimes our motivations are evil and easy to understand).

One observation we may make about both the conservative right and the unconservative left is that both groups accept the idea that civil government, the central government, is the entity that should control immigration. Both agree that passports, visas, border patrol agents and authority, vetting, citizenship, transport of refugees into, and sometimes out of, our nation is all the proper work of government. A large number on both sides also agree that once immigrants arrive it is the civil government that should provide for and caretake immigrants. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are working seriously to stop all benefits to immigrants. Most Republican politicians would bluster and fume if accused of holding such an opinion (blustering and fuming generally being preferred to actually changing policy).

God’s Law—Engine for Justice

When it comes to understanding God’s law relating to immigration (or a host of other issues) many of us have no concept of how it should apply. We simply have no framework to even think about such a question. No one ever taught us the barest knowledge of how God’s law operates. We do not know what any rules are for its application. We do not know what the limits of application are or even know we could ask about such an idea. Our churches have typically spent zero effort to teach us any ideas about how God’s law applies in this life. Hence, questions I am discussing here seem other-worldly and are difficult to identify with.

Be assured, however, that God’s law and Word are understandable and applicable for daily life in America. One basic observation about government and law is that God’s law defines justice. We used to understand this concept pledging to our flag and saying “with liberty and justice for all.” We knew, without even thinking through why, that justice was a central function of proper government. Generations ago this concept was taken from the Bible and made a part of our cultural heritage. God’s law works toward justice in every line. His law informs us and our government what the duties of government are. Its duties are to enforce justice through enforcing the statutes in God’s law. That is the only work ever given to civil government.

This is why in Romans 13, the most famous passage about government in the New Testament, we read that the proper work of government is to “punish evildoers.” We find nothing in that chapter or anywhere else indicating any other purpose God has directed for civil government (God has, for instance, never instructed the government to maintain a helium supply, or warehouses full of cheese). This may get us confused sometimes because we think that the government has to adjust to the times and enter into new areas of operation. Times do change after all. What we fail to grasp is that when we expand the role of government into places where God has granted it no jurisdiction we are also inventing new definitions of justice that God never ordained. The government makes up both law and justice to suit its own ends. This usurps power God never approved for governments. It misunderstands the meaning and application of freedom. By granting the government power to create whole new categories of law and enforcement, we are giving government tremendous license and bringing tyranny and slavery to the citizens as they are forced to obey the new laws and definitions of justice. This is the overthrow of God’s legal system. By trying to create new areas of justice not revealed by God we bring only oppression to the nation. We create a government where every man in government declares what is right in his own eyes, tossing out God’s law declaring it insufficient for mankind. By redefining justice the government actually imposes injustice.

Civil government is ordained by God to enforce only the laws and direct principles of those laws found in His Word and nothing else. Government is an arbiter of justice and nothing more. That is its only biblical role. Some readers may remember that in the Old Testament the Judges and kings often led the armies of Israel out to war. How did that have anything to do with enforcing justice, you may ask? The answer is direct and simple. Other than clearing their land of enemies God had told them to eradicate, the armies of Israel were authorized only to fight defensive wars. In a defensive war the invading army or fighters violated justice under God’s law by killing, stealing, raping and looting (and turning off the internet). By defending against the invaders Israel was punishing evildoers just like Romans 13 discusses. The army brings justice for the nation. That is why it was the judges who led the army in Israel for the first four-hundred years. Judges handle matters of justice. Kings eventually took over this role, but replacing kings with judges was a violation of God’s revealed will. So, again, the only work God has given civil government to do is to enforce justice according to God’s written law. Any other work by government is sin, and disobedience, and a perversion of justice.

Who Should Help Aliens and Sojourners?

The aliens and sojourners Scripture speaks so much of must be helped by individuals and the church. We are commanded to do this work and have been given the freedom by God to do so. Everything that needs to be done for potential immigrants can and should be done by individuals and churches. The writer of Hebrews urges his readers:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2).

And in Jeremiah we read:

For I have loved strangers (Jeremiah 2:25)

There are a great many more Scriptures that discuss the importance of individuals and churches treating aliens and strangers well. All of this immigration work should be taken away from the government and given to those God has appointed it to. Churches can vet people according to their own standards. They can support immigrant families that they believe are worthy of support. Churches and individuals would bring in people who they believe are good potential citizens. They will have workers who get to know the immigrants and learn their needs and languages. Instead of setting arbitrary limits for immigration they would be busy connecting with good families to take in needy families. Immigrants would arrive with a network of concerned people who would be looking out for them and for the nation both. The entire process would be much more personal. If churches are worried about immigrant backgrounds they could work with government representatives to obtain records on the people they are to sponsor. Government and the private sector could help each other in their best areas of God-ordained strength.

God’s Solution for Both Justice and Mercy

Distributing immigration work to churches and individuals would create the best possible balance between justice and mercy. The civil government would be allowed to perform its proper work under God. It could concentrate on executing justice (and murderers) not being entangled in works of mercy belonging to others. Churches and individuals should take up the very work God has called us to; working acts of mercy on behalf of God. This is the pattern of Scripture and it is the path to genuine liberty and justice for all.

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See the first two Immigration articles here:

Immigration: Christian Courage OR Cowardly Conservatism (Part 1)
Do Open Borders Mean a Muslim Invasion? (Immigration, part 2)