Render Unto Caesar: Wisdom for the Border Crisis

Recently I watched an argument between two news commentators about the Christian view of the current border crisis. One commentator a professed Christian passionately asserted that as Christians we were obligated to open our doors as a nation to anyone who wants to come into the country. In view of the many commands in scripture to take care of the poor, helping the immigrant is an obligated of any nation governed by Judao-Christian principles..She asserted that a biblical world view required Christians to support open  borders and let anyone who wants to come into the country, as long as our rich country has the resources to help the poor we cannot deny them entry. The other, a professed Catholic, said that while we had an obligation to clothe, house and protect anyone living among us there was nothing in a Christian commitment that required a nation to open its borders. 

The subject of immigration is a hot button in some Christian circles today. You can not raise the issue without passion arising. I understand that. What is happening at our border is a humanitarian crises as severe as some of the natural disasters we have responded to recently. That the Bible calls us to respond to the poor and the immigrant is clear .I am completely aware what the Bible has to say about the alien among us. We are to treat them humanely, clothe them treat them with basic human rights as we are all people. In other words, if we an immigrant crosses our border, and moves in next door to us we treat them kindly, graciously, helping them in the same way we would help any other neighbor. The church I attend has an outreach to the immigrant populations of Indianapolis. God has brought these immigrants to our shore and it is our obligation to minister to them. I am proud and completely supportive of what many churches in our area do to help the immigrants among us.

Any metropolitan church in America needs to recognize the opportunity for care and mission immigrants bring to our shores. All of us live in multi-ethnic communities and work in multi-cultural settings our obligation to preach the gospel, feed, clothe, house, educate provide care for those among us is clear. However, the scripture does distinguish between individual and congregation responsibility  and a government's  responsibility. Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's" The scripture does give differing responsibilities to those whose calling and duty is to obey the Great Commission and Great Commandment and those who are charged with governing. While every Christian, every congregation (and denomination) is to reach out and provide care, counsel and the gospel to everyone in the country be they here legal or otherwise, government immigration policy is a separate issue. 

Leaders are charged by God to bring order and structure to society. Managing immigration is part of that responsibility. The Jewish law did applied a restrictive jmmigation policy to the nation of Israel. Despite commands to help the immigrant assimilation was difficult. There is a scriptural difference between legal and illegal aliens; legals and illegals were treated differently under the Old Testament Law, even a legal alien did not have the full right of a citizen. When the Jews left Egypt there were some non-Jews, aliens who left with them, and were assimilated into Jewish culture (Exodus 12:38; Numbers 11:4; Jos 8:35) and some who were not. Aliens were required to obey many laws specifically directed at them (Lev 12:19;17:10,15; 18:26; 20:2; 24:16) and were restricted in what they could do. For some who obeyed the law their was a path way to citizenship, but they had to adopt certain covenant restrictions.

But not all aliens were allowed to assimilate. There were some ethnic groups that were not allowed to becoming citizens for up to 10 generations (Exodus 12:48; 34: 15- 16 Deuteronomy 7:1-4; 23:3) ; in at lease one case the Lord told the Jews to annihilate an ethnic group (Deut 14:21). The scripture often speaks of God judging the enemies of Israel base on how they treated Israel (Ob11). So clearly those immigrants from enemy nations were viewed differently under the law then those from Israel's allies. In Ezra Chapter 10 those Jews who have intermarried with some aliens are required to divorce them. 

While taking care of the alien's needs is all ways an obligation of the believing person, the scripture place a high regard on preserving culture, and national identity, in order, to preserve a culture where the message of salvation could be proclaimed. This requires restrictions on immigration. The responsibility of the individual to his neighbor was different from the responsibilities of governments to maintain order in society. While the Old Testament civil law is no longer obligatory for  New Testament church, it was still written for our instruction and can form the basis of civil law. Our citizenship is in heaven; our responsibility is to care for all people no matter what race so we wonder what should be our attitude toward immigration policy in the current political and social arena?  In other words is citizenship in the kingdom of God was a matter of ethnicity or political affiliation:

[19] So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. [22] In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
(Ephesians 2:19-22 ESV)

One who was a citizen of God's kingdom in the New Testament was one who had embraced the saving-work of Christ and the teaching of the apostles and the Old Testament prophets among whom the Holy Spirit was at work. So when the New Testament speaks of aliens it is usually speaking of those outside of a relationship with Christ. So in the New Testament anyone who is not a Christian is an alien from God's kingdom, while all Christians are aliens in world . Our home citizenship is somewhere else (2 Corinthians 5:20; Hebrews 12:18-29). So we are all aliens who have a loyalty to a higher authority (1 Peter 1:1). It is convoluted reasoning then to take passages like the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7 where Jesus tells believers how they are to live in a world where they are foreigners) and say it shapes the priorities governments should use in dealing with illegals. The Sermons tell those of us who are foreigners, citizens of God's kingdom, how to live in a respectful way in a world where our view and values are distinct.

But what does the New Testament say about foreign nationals, living among us? Unfortunately, because it is dealing with a spiritual kingdom, it does not speak directly to the issue. There are, however, some principles that apply

First, God establishes every nation so that through his dealing in their culture and history he might be found.

[26] And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, [27] that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, (Acts 17:26-27 ESV).

God then establishes the cultural, ethic and historical events that shape a nation for his ultimate purpose. The preservation of national and cultural boundaries is consistent with the work of God.

Second, God establishes governments to bring about his purposes and so that people might live in peace and harmony with each other (Romans 13) and with other nations. Governments can make rules to bring order and while we are not under the law in the same way Israel was. The principles of the law still apply to us Jesus said, he came to fulfill the Law not abolish it; in other words.  Paul speaking of the Old Testament said, "it was written for our instruction." We can be guide by the principles and practices in the law. Thus as God lead the leaders of Israel to preserve their national order and identity through the regulation of immigration, regulating our borders and controlling the flow of immigrants to our country is responsible government. Third, there are some areas of responsibility that God grant individuals and some to government (Matthew 22:15-22) and a Christian who is faithfully following Christ will be a good citizen.

From there principles we can draw a Christian view of immigration:

1. God has established the sovereign boundaries of national histories and ethnicity. A Christian government has a duty to preserve those boundaries for the sake of maintaining civil order and accomplishing God's purpose for a nation.

2. Our relationship with God and our individual social relationships have different applications then our roles as citizens.

3. Honoring people's human dignity does not mean everyone is entitled to the same goods and services. Obviously the scripture teaches that prisoners and criminals should be treated with dignity, but it gives governments rights to punish them and deny them certain privileges.

A Biblical immigration policy therefore, protects our God ordained sovereignty and defines as a matter of law who can enter the country under what grounds they can stay and may treat some groups different depending on whether they are our enemies or friends.

I believe Christians individuals and churches should help the needy without asking for identification or citizenship papers. If you know of a material or spiritual need of your neighbor you are to meet it. When Christians or churches provide food shelter or help to someone it is without regard to ethnicity or nationality (Luke 10:25 -37). We simply do not ask? It is not our concern. We need not verify citizenship before providing help. We help them because they are human beings created in the image of God, not because they are immigrants. As Christians we help them assimilated into society. Such assimilation requires legal functioning under the government where they live.

However, I also believe we are to recognize that God has established government to provide services for its citizens and we are to respect and obey governing authorities:

[13] Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, [14] or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. Peter 2:13-14 ESV)

The government does have a responsibility before God to protect our sovereignty and safety by determining who will be allowed in and what services they will be allowed. We are disobeying our government and our God when we help people break the law. If it becomes evident that a person or family that our church is helping is in the country illegally. We are not required to report them for deportation, their status does not limit our compassion or need to care. But neither are we required  to harbor them or defend them against deportation or penalties. We are not required to protect some one in our congregation who has broken the law from its penalties. We are not to harbor illegal aliens.

As Christians we will have differing views on what our country's immigration policies should be. Some may well believe the compassionate thing to do is to grant amnesty to those living here illegally, and let anyone who wants to come, come. I can accept a legitimate difference of opinion among believers. A Christian can also believe that God has a sovereign purpose for a nation and a government is fulfilling its duty to God when it defines a restrictive immigration policy. But please do not do what some Christian leaders have done and confuse an issue of government policy and social infrastructure and define your position as  biblical. To say that Christian must support open borders and welcome everybody into country regardless of it's impact on the social structure is the equivalent of asking Jesus whether he paid taxes. Jesus would respond to the immigration question the same way he did the taxation one. "Render Unto Caesar." Our individual and congregational responsibility to help the poor and immigrants is a separate issue from our governments responsibility to preserve our borders and our sovereignty. We will have neither justice nor compassion as long as those on all sides of the issue assume their position alone is the Christian one. 

(All scripture references from the English Standard Version ESVonline copyright Crossway 2001-2010 accessed July 18, 2010)